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Beginning Feb 15 no more masks in Vax venues and smoking permitted in the Casino


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I'm surprised no one has posted from Matt's blog:

Beginning February 15, 2022, the stricter mask rules will go away and that means guests will not have to wear face masks at venues designated for vaccinated guests only, such as select bars, lounges, restaurants, shows and Casino Royale. 

Royal Caribbean International Assistant Vice President of Guest Experience, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez, told travel agents protocols will go back to the way they were before the stricter mask rules were added due to Omicron, "After February the 15th, we'll now allow smoking in the casino again. That is actually aligned, with us going back to protocol the way they were before, where you don't have to wear a mask in vaccinated areas."

I did not miss the smoking in the Casino.
I won't miss the masks in the vax only areas!

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/

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8 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

I'm surprised no one has posted from Matt's blog:

Beginning February 15, 2022, the stricter mask rules will go away and that means guests will not have to wear face masks at venues designated for vaccinated guests only, such as select bars, lounges, restaurants, shows and Casino Royale. 

Royal Caribbean International Assistant Vice President of Guest Experience, Aurora Yera-Rodriguez, told travel agents protocols will go back to the way they were before the stricter mask rules were added due to Omicron, "After February the 15th, we'll now allow smoking in the casino again. That is actually aligned, with us going back to protocol the way they were before, where you don't have to wear a mask in vaccinated areas."

I did not miss the smoking in the Casino.
I won't miss the masks in the vax only areas!

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/


 

What If your cruise leaves February 12?  Lol 

 

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  • Pattycruise changed the title to Beginning Feb 15 no more masks in Vax venues and smoking permitted in the Casino
6 minutes ago, CJS2766 said:

I'm just hoping by the time we cruise Alaska this May that we won't have to wear masks at all! (fingers crossed) 😂

I'll go one step further... I'm hoping by May, the coronavirus and all its variants will no longer be public health issues.

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1 hour ago, Va4fam said:

This is good news and great timing for everyone sailing after February 15th......including ME!!!

Wish they would have kept the casino smoke free.  

The smoke-free casino (and the reduced odor in nearby venues) almost makes wearing masks palatable. 

Almost - still don't like wearing the mask.

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so many of these stories and press releases and news items like these are all just about the company covering themselves from the Karen's and the media, it's about public perception so as to not hurt the stock price, it's PR from the people at HQ in Miami.  who among the staff on the actual cruise ship trying to keep actual customers happy wants to go around telling people to pull their masks up?  you could take the position of "most masks are not very effective so why mandate them at all" but you could also say "if Royal was 100% committed and serious about it they would mandate only the more expensive k95 or n95 masks or even supply them to every passenger" but at the end of the day, if this were a real out of control pandemic the ships wouldn't be running.  if they didn't have strict 'protocols' in place they would be getting dragged all over social media and in DC and in Tallahassee and they just don't want the noise.

my folks are on oasis this week -  these rules how it is already, most people are being courteous about it, wearing them in the promenade and elevators, but in bars and restaurants once you get to your seat/table there's not many wearing and no enforcement which is exactly how it was downtown Chicago a couple weeks ago at most bars/restaurants and perfectly fine by me.  if people want to wear them, great.  they sure can.  if people are not sure if they'll feel safe, they don't have to go to restaurants or shows or fly or go on cruises.  life is full of risk assessment and everyone is different.  

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2 hours ago, bryresangel said:

Another vote for no smoking in the casino. I hate even walking through there.

Yeah, I wish the casino would remain no-smoking too. We used the casino as a convenient cut-through on Adventure last month when we needed to get from one side of deck 4 to the other. 

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Casinos track the spending habits of gamblers to the point that it is it's own science. That science still shows smokers are more valuable than non smokers, when that changes, so will their rules. I think flavorless, low vapor ecigs could solve the problem with the limited distance between smoking and non smoking sections, since it eliminates the smell, the drift and the second hand issues 50 feet away. But the smokers aren't there yet, especially the high rollers from foreign countries that have higher smoking rates and often much higher bets. I'll bet Royal already has the casino revenue per person from the cruises before the smoking ban and during and those numbers are the reason smoking is back regardless of some people's personal experiences or anecdotal observations. I don't like the musicals and shows, I would prefer they did something else with all that space, time and money but it turns out I'm not in the majority so part of my fare goes to something I don't enjoy. But I'm not mad about it, I understand that a private business caters to their guests, they pivot when it makes them more money or gets them more guests, not less money and guests and they certainly don't make all their decisions based on exactly what I want, they do what works for them.

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I have never been a gambler but would love to visit & see what the fuss is all about - but if smoking is allowed then I'll not be venturing into the casino.

I'm sure that the staff must find working conditions challenging & I'm surprised that RC do not take this into consideration!

I think a previous statement as to changing the casino policy to a vapourless e-Cig, could appease both the smokers, non-smokers & the health of their employees!

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The issue I have is how the rollback of the protocol was announced. Needs more clarity as to when it starts. On one hand it shows the date of the rollback to the previous mask rules as February 15…but it also shows ‘cruises departing through February 14, 2022 masks must be worn in vaccinated-only venues’. I’m hoping my cruise leaving tomorrow doesn’t require masking for the full nine days, but rather on the the 15th, we can go back to pre-omicron masking. That would be reasonable. Fingers crossed.

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14 hours ago, Sharla said:

I'm not ok with allowing smoking in the casinos again!

I totally agree - my thought is that if they were ever going to fully ban smoking then this would have been the perfective opportunity to do so.  I wonder if RCCL has ever actually polled their current customers to ask if smoking in the casino is a deal breaker for them?  Another option would be to ask guests to complete a survey while cruising.  It may be a case that below a certain cut-off age smoking is just not that important as less people seem to be starting when young.  Maybe we will get there, just wish it had been now!

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Iam sorry,but, smoking in such a confined area, anyplace, is not a good idea, and when you exhale smoke do you not think viral particles are carried in it.  And as far as masks or no masks, vaccinated or not vaccinated.  What’s the point of any if it, on board ship, realy?  Sit to dinner no masks, people go to their cabins, with their unvaxxed children with no masks, then make everyone cover up while you walk around. But they go to casino, no masks let’s smoke. Let’s all sit packed in theatre, no masks. But in balcony make people wear masks while there is so much room between folks. I mean it ReAly makes no sense. Any if it.  I mean if there smoking in casino I believe I’d wear a mask anyway but make kids wear their mask here when they probably aren’t wearing them anyplace else, including school now, ok rules are rules but I’d like to know who got to who to have a rule that was implemented 6-7 weeks ago changed back  

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