Masks now required on Jade out of Athens.

[RunBikeCruiseDC]

5 hours ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

But why shall I spend money on something I won't enjoy? I will not enjoy a cruise if I have to wear a mask so why shall I do it?

 

I love to travel but if I have to wear a mask I prefer to stay at home. I like my home so why is that sad?

 

Your new world is obviously not my new world. I can choose to stay at home and only do short trips over the day, which I did last summer and also this summer. No need for me to spend money on trips I won't enjoy. 

I'm with you on this.  I also don't get paid time off so I want to fully enjoy myself on a vacation.   We're doing shorter trips over the summer.    I'd rather save $$$ for when I can enjoy things fully.  Although I don't like being not able to travel carefree like we used to, I can manage for a bit longer.  Our next international trip and cruise is scheduled for 2022 so hopefully things will be more normal.  2024-2025 will be big years for my husband and I (milestone anniversary and birthdays),  we have some huge events to look forward to those years so this needs to blow over by then. 😉

[cscurlock]

I thought that to even take an international flight to Europe you needed to be vaccinated.  If that is the case what is the point of the mask?  I mean, isn't that the goal of getting the vaccine in the first place, to put yourself in a position to return to normal.  Seems like the mask thing is overkill is that is the case if Rob-Rob is vaccinated.   

[JamieLogical]

People who book cruises or any international travel right now have GOT to be willing to roll with the changes. Every single day, local and national governments are changing their COVID mitigation requirements in response to surges in variants, vaccination rates, and all sorts of fluid information. I am booked on the Celebrity Equinox for July 25 and it looks like we will be missing our Tortola stop all of a sudden, due to a spike in cases in BVI. I don't blame Celebrity for this. Am I disappointed? Of course! But I knew what I was signing up for. I knew there were risks involved in booking one of these early sailings. I am surprised how angry people are at NCL when all they are doing is trying to ensure their ship can still sail. If the local and national governments in the Med are saying masks are required, then masks are required. Just like ships sailing out of the US have to (currently) comply with the CDC's regulations. If the CDC suddenly changed the requirement that ships out of the US had to require masks, would you still be mad at NCL or would you be mad at the CDC?

[Kiwiwolf]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

People who book cruises or any international travel right now have GOT to be willing to roll with the changes. Every single day, local and national governments are changing their COVID mitigation requirements in response to surges in variants, vaccination rates, and all sorts of fluid information. I am booked on the Celebrity Equinox for July 25 and it looks like we will be missing our Tortola stop all of a sudden, due to a spike in cases in BVI. I don't blame Celebrity for this. Am I disappointed? Of course! But I knew what I was signing up for. I knew there were risks involved in booking one of these early sailings. I am surprised how angry people are at NCL when all they are doing is trying to ensure their ship can still sail. If the local and national governments in the Med are saying masks are required, then masks are required. Just like ships sailing out of the US have to (currently) comply with the CDC's regulations. If the CDC suddenly changed the requirement that ships out of the US had to require masks, would you still be mad at NCL or would you be mad at the CDC?

But the issue is that the guidance they are quoting in the email is from 4/2021 with no changes since then. They also sent out announcements 3 weeks ago (in time to use their peace of mind refund/fcc policy) and proceeded to send one yesterday (so we cannot use the peace of mind refund/fcc policy). This is a bait and switch and people need to be fully informed (read the OP and subsequent posts) instead of saying that we need to be flexible... this isn't about flexibility. This is about poor communication and a shady approach by NCL. Simple. 

[sicness4x4]

I always thought it was possible for the mask mandate to return. I do think NCL informing us 10 days before the cruise with information from April is BS. Oh well, it is a cruise and I do plan on actively eating and drinking most of the time.

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by sicness4x4

[Alegeeter]

I agree with you that it's poor communication and NCL needs to do better. I don't think this qualifies as a bait and switch, however.

[JamieLogical]

3 minutes ago, Kiwiwolf said:

But the issue is that the guidance they are quoting in the email is from 4/2021 with no changes since then. They also sent out announcements 3 weeks ago (in time to use their peace of mind refund/fcc policy) and proceeded to send one yesterday (so we cannot use the peace of mind refund/fcc policy). This is a bait and switch and people need to be fully informed (read the OP and subsequent posts) instead of saying that we need to be flexible... this isn't about flexibility. This is about poor communication and a shady approach by NCL. Simple. 

 

I suppose you are right that NCL could do a better job of posting the health & safety requirements of their homeport countries and the port stops they are visiting. Right now, their sail safe page only addresses NCL's fleet-wide policies and says something along the lines of being subject to government regulations, which covers their a**es, but is not super informative. Celebrity has separate pages for each homeport country so passengers can dig into what the requirements will be for their specific sailing. Their page about Athens sailings specifically mentions the mask requirement. https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/travel

[Kiwiwolf]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I suppose you are right that NCL could do a better job of posting the health & safety requirements of their homeport countries and the port stops they are visiting. Right now, their sail safe page only addresses NCL's fleet-wide policies and says something along the lines of being subject to government regulations, which covers their a**es, but is not super informative. Celebrity has separate pages for each homeport country so passengers can dig into what the requirements will be for their specific sailing. Their page about Athens sailings specifically mentions the mask requirement. https://www.celebritycruises.com/healthy-at-sea/travel

Much better approach! 

[JamieLogical]

1 minute ago, Kiwiwolf said:

Much better approach! 

 

I still don't really consider this a bait and switch and I still think it is on passengers to understand that traveling is just not a sure thing right now. They need to be prepared to roll with the punches and if things like mask requirements, mandatory testing, port cancellations, etc. are going to ruin your trip, don't book your trip in the first place. NCL should have done a better job of communication, but passengers should also have been prepared for sudden changes in plan.

[Kiwiwolf]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I still don't really consider this a bait and switch and I still think it is on passengers to understand that traveling is just not a sure thing right now. They need to be prepared to roll with the punches and if things like mask requirements, mandatory testing, port cancellations, etc. are going to ruin your trip, don't book your trip in the first place. NCL should have done a better job of communication, but passengers should also have been prepared for sudden changes in plan.

There was no sudden change here though. That's my point and the frustration with their communication. They send embarkation policies weeks before and then resent one yesterday outside of the window quoting EU Pathway policies that haven't been updated or changed since 4/2021. I'll bow out from here on responding since you clearly want to have the last word and completely dismiss the point that things haven't changed since 4/2021 and sent advertisement and notifications saying the experience was a certain way. Sure it might not be a bait and switch fully, but it is enough for people to be weary of doing business with them moving forward. 

[Kiwiwolf]

17 minutes ago, sicness4x4 said:

I always thought it was possible for the mask mandate to return. I do think NCL informing us 10 days before the cruise with information from April is BS. Oh well, it is a cruise and I do plan on actively eating and drinking most of the time.

 

Exactly, and yes I'll have food and drink in hand as much as possible anyway. But the BS is definitely prevalent here. 

[JamieLogical]

1 minute ago, Kiwiwolf said:

There was no sudden change here though. That's my point and the frustration with their communication. They send embarkation policies weeks before and then resent one yesterday outside of the window quoting EU Pathway policies that haven't been updated or changed since 4/2021. I'll bow out from here on responding since you clearly want to have the last word and completely dismiss the point that things haven't changed since 4/2021 and sent advertisement and notifications saying the experience was a certain way. Sure it might not be a bait and switch fully, but it is enough for people to be weary of doing business with them moving forward. 

 

I don't think we are disagreeing. I think NCL did a poor job of communicating. And while this isn't a sudden change, it does seem to be news to a lot of passengers aboard the Jade. So their reaction is still as if it is sudden. And in additions to saying that NCL messed up, I am saying that passengers should also have been prepared for sudden changes.

[DCGuy64]

9 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I still don't really consider this a bait and switch and I still think it is on passengers to understand that traveling is just not a sure thing right now. They need to be prepared to roll with the punches and if things like mask requirements, mandatory testing, port cancellations, etc. are going to ruin your trip, don't book your trip in the first place. NCL should have done a better job of communication, but passengers should also have been prepared for sudden changes in plan.

Correct. I don't know why, but for some reason there are those who believe that every single change a cruise line makes is grounds for an exception to be made regarding cancellation and refunds, even things as patently obvious nowadays such as health and safety issues that aren't even so much the cruise line's decision as they are regulations imposed on them by local jurisdictions. NCL can't simply ignore what officials in Greece are requiring. They HAVE to obey the rules. And it's clear from reading NCL's conditions that things like this are a possibility. This thread is about NCL's specific policies and I support their decision.

[Alegeeter]

I also think if this was EU Pathway policy since April, yes NCL could have and should have communicated things earlier but it's also the responsibility of the passenger to know what is going on around them. NCL was probably waiting until closer to sail date to notify passengers knowing how quickly things change. And they could still change again! And if it does and NCL re-issues a new notification, passengers will be upset the "NCL changed their minds again" even if it isn't up to them! It's a lose-lose.  I'm on a Jade sailing in August and have made sure I keep up to the date on the situation, finding my own news sources and not relying on NCL to tell me what's going on.

 

[JamieLogical]

To sum up, NCL messed up. If this mask requirement from local government has been in place since April, NCL should have posted that info on their website the way Celebrity has. While this information was available to passengers from other sources, NCL should not expect passengers to do that kind of research on their own and NCL should do its best to keep passengers up to date on local regulations.

 

Separately from that, cruising and international travel is a bit of a gamble right now. Local governments are constantly tweaking regulations in response to latest data around variants, vaccinations, etc. If wearing a mask, getting multiple COVID tests, social distancing on board, having to take ship-only excursions, or having ports canceled with little warning is going to ruin your cruise experience, DO NOT book a cruise right now.

[Kiwiwolf]

12 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I don't think we are disagreeing. I think NCL did a poor job of communicating. And while this isn't a sudden change, it does seem to be news to a lot of passengers aboard the Jade. So their reaction is still as if it is sudden. And in additions to saying that NCL messed up, I am saying that passengers should also have been prepared for sudden changes.

It's news because they sent us information 16 days before embarkation that did not mention masks at all and pointed us to the website saying mask free cruising. Then then proceeded to send the same email adding the mask and quoting EU Pathway guidance that has not changed since 4/2021 yesterday (so we can't get a refund or use their peace of mind refund). This is what I am saying and what you are missing in your responses that you are using to push this on the customer. My word, I don't know how else to paint the picture that this is shady. 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Kiwiwolf

[Kiwiwolf]

5 minutes ago, Alegeeter said:

I also think if this was EU Pathway policy since April, yes NCL could have and should have communicated things earlier but it's also the responsibility of the passenger to know what is going on around them. NCL was probably waiting until closer to sail date to notify passengers knowing how quickly things change. And they could still change again! And if it does and NCL re-issues a new notification, passengers will be upset the "NCL changed their minds again" even if it isn't up to them! It's a lose-lose.  I'm on a Jade sailing in August and have made sure I keep up to the date on the situation, finding my own news sources and not relying on NCL to tell me what's going on.

 

No, they sent notification of masks after the window closed on refunds/fcc policies. They sent a notification 16 days before leaving out mask regulation and pointing us to the website that said mask free cruising. Stop pushing this on customers. 

[JamieLogical]

13 minutes ago, Kiwiwolf said:

It's news because they sent us information 16 days before embarkation that did not mention masks at all and pointed us to the website saying mask free cruising. Then then proceeded to send the same email adding the mask and quoting EU Pathway guidance that has not changed since 4/2021 yesterday (so we can't get a refund or use their peace of mind refund). This is what I am saying and what you are missing in your responses that you are using to push this on the customer. My word, I don't know how else to paint the picture that this is shady. 

 

In my mind, it is two separate and distinct issues. NCL is wrong to have communicated this the way that they did. Full stop. They were wrong.

 

People earlier in this thread were saying that having to wear masks onboard would ruin their cruise. This has ALWAYS been a possibility. Take NCL and Greece out of this equation. Lets say Cruise Line A is sailing out of Country B. All of the sudden, a spike in cases in Country B happens. Rather than cancelling cruising altogether (which is also a real possibility), Country B tells Cruise Line A that their ship can still sail, but now all passengers have to wear masks. This scenario can literally happen ANYWHERE in the world right now with ANY cruise line. If passengers aren't mentally prepared to deal with this scenario, then they should not be cruising.

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by JamieLogical

[ECCruise]

11 hours ago, HaveWeMetYet said:

 

It sure is nice to not have any cruises booked and not have to sweat out what is going to happen.

We've got 15 cruises booked and don't know what will happen on any of them.

 

But you know what?  If I have to wear as mask at certain times on any number of them, I'll take that.  It simply is not a big deal to me.  I would much rather be in Europe or Asia or Africa than sitting at home gloating because I have nothing to worry about.

[sicness4x4]

Nothing about this cruise should have mentioned "Mask Free" since the EU Pathway guidance is from April 2021, the same month this cruise was first available to book. I feel for the cruisers upset by the mask mandate and feel they have legitimate reasons for a refund, but anyone traveling should be prepared for previous restrictions returning.

 

[Kiwiwolf]

1 minute ago, sicness4x4 said:

Nothing about this cruise should have mentioned "Mask Free" since the EU Pathway guidance is from April 2021, the same month this cruise was first available to book. I feel for the cruisers upset by the mask mandate and feel they have legitimate reasons for a refund, but anyone traveling should be prepared for previous restrictions returning.

 

Exactly my point! 

[Rob-Bob]

I understand that things can change, but this is NCL and their ship on the high sea.  This is what they have been sending out and continue to send out:

 

NCL letter says  

"SailSafe Protocol Reminder

Some noteworthy key points:

• Currently, we are full vaccination until 10/31/21. This means:
  • Cruise Mask-free – Breathe freely and witness smiles everywhere you go!
  • No Social Distancing Required – Get up close and personal with confidence, everyone on board is vaccinated.
  • All Restaurants & Experiences Are Fully Open – Dine in any of our restaurants mask-free, including our self-service buffet. Plus enjoy all entertainment options.
  • Peace of mind knowing all guests and crew on board are fully vaccinated."

They sent this out 3 days ago.  Now they change their tune after the refund period has passed.  Having to comply with a certain countries protocols is certainly understandable but NCL does appear to have been deceitful regarding masking up on their ship.  Maybe this was to entice people to book, maybe not.  Either way it is not a good look.

 

I have a cruise booked with NCL for March 2022.  I really am not sure I can believe anything now.  I am most likely going to cancel.  Will try again when we have a year of cruises in the books.

 

I will try to have a good time on the Jade.  Who knows maybe it will be maskless as advertised.  

[craig01020]

I'm thankful for this forum as a source for the latest news and info.

[Karaboudjan]

Why do people seem to be assuming that NCL had to know weeks ago that these cruises would require masks?  I am not familiar with the EU guidelines, but if they are truly guidelines then I take it that NCL could choose how closely to adhere to them or not.  Things were looking better a couple of months ago so maybe they felt they would be okay mask-less with 100% vaccinations.  Obviously things are not looking so good now.

[JohnIreland]

Just now, Karaboudjan said:

Why do people seem to be assuming that NCL had to know weeks ago that these cruises would require masks?  I am not familiar with the EU guidelines, but if they are truly guidelines then I take it that NCL could choose how closely to adhere to them or not.  Things were looking better a couple of months ago so maybe they felt they would be okay mask-less with 100% vaccinations.  Obviously things are not looking so good now.

 

The guidance hasn't changed since April.