Masks and social distancing - what's the latest?

[malony33]

Hi, fellow Celebrity cruisers,

I'm scheduled to cruise the Caribbean on the Apex , leaving Nov. 4. I've been out of commission with a health problem - surgery soon - so the Nov. 4 cruise might have to be put off anyway. Some info on the latest rules and regs re: COVID... anything you know that is the most recent news would be so appreciated, since I've felt too crummy to read even Cruise Critic - oh, no! Thanks, as always.

Barb Malony ♥️

Fort Myers, FL, formerly

Toms River, NJ

[jalves]

Go directly to the source.  The celebrity web page has a banner right at the top.  Click on it for the latest info.  Much more accurate than second hand, out of date reports here.

[Jim_Iain]

TerryTX is currently aboard Equinox and answered the same question.   He said on Equinox crew all were wearing masks but PAX were not required to wear them.    He did point out that about 10% were wearing masks anyway.

 

On social distancing he said the ship was at 50% capacity and no marked social distancing.    People were self social distancing and theater was nearly empty.

Edited August 29, 2021 by Jim_Iain

[steveweese]

I plan on social distancing as best that I can  Everyone should. 
 

Just saying

[Jim_Iain]

1 minute ago, steveweese said:

I plan on social distancing as best that I can  Everyone should. 
 

Just saying

I agree.    I live in a County that is or near the top of Vax at 95% and still almost everyone is wearing mask both inside and out and even with mask walk around others in the street when the sidewalks are narrow.  

 

At least with the current smoke from the fires here in California it is also helping as long as you wear an N95 or better mask. 

[BigAl94]

As we're closer to the beginning of the pandemic than the end, stick with the masks for the forseeable!

[TeeRick]

2 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

As we're closer to the beginning of the pandemic than the end, stick with the masks for the forseeable!

Wow that is pessimistic 

[Fredric22]

4 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Wow that is pessimistic 

Not only is it pessimistic it is actually dead wrong.  Yikes!  Do people honestly think the world, not to even mention the cruise industry, can survive in pandemic mode for much longer?  We have effective vaccines.  COVID has been de-fanged.  Choose to wear a mask or stay home if you would like to, but the majority are ready to move on.  Happy cruising! 

[lyndarra]

40 minutes ago, Fredric22 said:

  COVID has been de-fanged.  

Not in FL.

[Jeremiah1212]

FWIW the CSO recommendations were updated last week with the suggestion that the no masking and social distance policies for 95% vaccinated cruises are reconsidered. I would keep an eye on the website this week….

[cbfb]

11 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

FWIW the CSO recommendations were updated last week with the suggestion that the no masking and social distance policies for 95% vaccinated cruises are reconsidered. I would keep an eye on the website this week….

I hope they consider the fact that even though there have been a few cases on ships there has not been anything even close to an outbreak. Two or three people and the rest of the ships are negative. To me that shows what is being done is working. 

[PTC DAWG]

9 hours ago, BigAl94 said:

As we're closer to the beginning of the pandemic than the end, stick with the masks for the forseeable!

Sad face…

[OhioCraig]

The CDC needs to start worrying about other activities that are causing super spreader events and leave cruising alone.  The cruise industry seems to have things under better control than anything else. 🤬

[Ken the cruiser]

We're booked on the Nov 4 Apex cruise as well and are so looking forward to seeing this classy new ship, especially since we just go off the Edge after 3 weeks sailing on her. Passengers were not required to wear masks onboard, but it was easy to social distance from folks most of the time. 

 

For example, we would put on our masks if we needed to take an elevator for some reason, especially when other folks were riding in it as well. We also asked to be seated in the dining room away from others as we were on a B3B and really didn't want to catch someone's cold or something worse and be denied going on the next leg if we failed the antigen test.

 

When you go to the theater or The Club to watch a show, it's pretty easy to stake out your own spot as the ships are only running between 40-50% capacity. As far as going ashore, right now you can pretty much count on wearing a mask if you're on a Celebrity arranged excursion. 

 

Bottom line, as long as we used common sense, we felt very safe onboard the entire 21 days! 😎

[TeeRick]

Common sense is unfortunately not so common in the world today.  But hopefully most of us cruising types have at least some of it.😀

[Peteymil]

We just got off the Millennium and felt very safe, and we are extra cautious people. Staff was fully masked. At 42% capacity it was very easy to social distance. A few times we did not like the table we were taken to and when we explained that we wanted to be more isolated, we were immediately moved. 
Nothing was crowded so we could always find a spot that we were happy with. We wore masks, but were in the minority. 
We really got spoiled by having such an empty ship.

Of course I’d give up that emptiness in a heartbeat if we could just get rid of COVID!!

[TeeRick]

2 hours ago, Peteymil said:

We just got off the Millennium and felt very safe, and we are extra cautious people. Staff was fully masked. At 42% capacity it was very easy to social distance. A few times we did not like the table we were taken to and when we explained that we wanted to be more isolated, we were immediately moved. 
Nothing was crowded so we could always find a spot that we were happy with. We wore masks, but were in the minority. 
We really got spoiled by having such an empty ship.

Of course I’d give up that emptiness in a heartbeat if we could just get rid of COVID!!

Hope you had a great cruise!

[Peteymil]

15 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Hope you had a great cruise!

It was fantastic!!

[TeeRick]

12 minutes ago, Peteymil said:

It was fantastic!!

We are on Millennium Sept 24 if all goes well!

[Peteymil]

On 8/31/2021 at 9:04 AM, TeeRick said:

We are on Millennium Sept 24 if all goes well!

I truly hope that all does go well and you get to go!!

[Iamtheeggma]

On 8/29/2021 at 8:31 PM, Fredric22 said:

Not only is it pessimistic it is actually dead wrong.  Yikes!  Do people honestly think the world, not to even mention the cruise industry, can survive in pandemic mode for much longer?  We have effective vaccines.  COVID has been de-fanged.  Choose to wear a mask or stay home if you would like to, but the majority are ready to move on.  Happy cruising! 

I’m fully vaccinated and recently got COVID b/c I was not wearing a mask and social distancing. Make your own judgement where we are in continuum.