What date for no masks?

[39august]

Titles says it. Have a friend going on RCI Monday, and she hopes not to have to wear a mask indoors. And yes, all her family are vaxxed/ 

[GTO-Girl]

18 minutes ago, 39august said:

Titles says it. Have a friend going on RCI Monday, and she hopes not to have to wear a mask indoors. And yes, all her family are vaxxed/ 

They new mandate will not be in effect for your friends cruise.  I believe the date is 3/1.

 

But you still have to wear masks indoors except for the designated “vaccinated only” areas…..so they have not completely done away with masks indoors…

 

[neverbeenhere]

No masks will be required indoors on June 31, 2022.

[nelblu]

When the CDC says so.

[CruisingHogFan]

1 hour ago, 39august said:

Titles says it. Have a friend going on RCI Monday, and she hopes not to have to wear a mask indoors. And yes, all her family are vaxxed/ 

 

 

No one knows that answer yet. She will have to follow current protocols which include mask wearing unless in certain venues indoors.
 

 Could be next month or next year before no masks…

 

 

[davekathy]

2 hours ago, 39august said:

Titles says it. Have a friend going on RCI Monday, and she hopes not to have to wear a mask indoors. And yes, all her family are vaxxed/ 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-smoking-policy

[The sea calls my name]

According to the information from Vicki Freed's Coffee Talk on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2022 if the date where selected bars lounges, dining venues, shows, and the casino will not require mask for fully vaccinated passengers.

[alohayall]

From RC website.  I read this to mean it starts with cruises departing Feb 15 onward (unless revised again).  Not totally mask-free, even for vaxxed, as we wear them where it is a mixed vaxxed / unvaxxed crowd. 

 

[alohayall]

Okay, that was actually already answered.  

[travelhound]

3 hours ago, 39august said:

Titles says it. Have a friend going on RCI Monday, and she hopes not to have to wear a mask indoors. And yes, all her family are vaxxed/ 

I think that most of these ridiculous protocols will unwind very quickly.  If not, we will have to look at other less stressful vacation options in Florida 🙂

[Dewaldcruiser]

If you want to cruise, but don't like masks, NCL will no longer require masks as of March 1st.  To do this, they are requiring everyone age 5 and up to be vaccinated.

 

I do not understand RCI's reluctance to follow suit.

[MommaBear55]

3 hours ago, 39august said:

Titles says it. Have a friend going on RCI Monday, and she hopes not to have to wear a mask indoors. And yes, all her family are vaxxed/ 

Going February 14? 100% mask wearing indoors unless in the pool or sitting and actively eating or drinking. 

[ONECRUISER]

4 minutes ago, Dewaldcruiser said:

If you want to cruise, but don't like masks, NCL will no longer require masks as of March 1st.  To do this, they are requiring everyone age 5 and up to be vaccinated.

 

I do not understand RCI's reluctance to follow suit.

It's coming, not soon enough though. Can easily see in few months will be done with it

[smokeybandit]

9 minutes ago, Dewaldcruiser said:

If you want to cruise, but don't like masks, NCL will no longer require masks as of March 1st.  To do this, they are requiring everyone age 5 and up to be vaccinated.

 

I do not understand RCI's reluctance to follow suit.

Because RC is a family cruise line while NCL has abandoned families throughout the entire pandemic.

[ONECRUISER]

33 minutes ago, travelhound said:

I think that most of these ridiculous protocols will unwind very quickly.  If not, we will have to look at other less stressful vacation options in Florida 🙂

Coming Fast. Even here in former Lockdown Michigan the Restaurants and Grocery Workers stopped wearing them 9 months ago. Even last couple Days County Health and Schools are starting drop the Masking r

Edited February 12, 2022 by ONECRUISER

[GTO-Girl]

I am hoping they stop this testing!!  So stressful for so many people!!

[Computer Nerd]

3 hours ago, nelblu said:

When the CDC says so.

CDC has no say in it anymore. Cruise lines are able to make their own decisions since 15 Jan 2022.

[Jumping Cruiser]

What I find rather confusing is how Celebrity don’t require masks at all for vaccinated cruisers, but they have the same vaccination requirements as RCCL (12+ must be fully vaccinated), who do require masks if not in a fully-vaccinated area. I understand that more families will choose Royal over Celebrity, but wouldn’t it make sense to just have the same policy across all the RCG brands? 

[smokeybandit]

10 minutes ago, Jumping Cruiser said:

What I find rather confusing is how Celebrity don’t require masks at all for vaccinated cruisers, but they have the same vaccination requirements as RCCL (12+ must be fully vaccinated), who do require masks if not in a fully-vaccinated area. I understand that more families will choose Royal over Celebrity, but wouldn’t it make sense to just have the same policy across all the RCG brands? 

Different target audiences. Less likely to have kids on Celebrity, which means more likely (actually, pretty much guaranteed) to get to that 95% threshold to allow for no masks.

Edited February 12, 2022 by smokeybandit

[Jumping Cruiser]

2 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Different target audiences. Less likely to have kids on Celebrity, which means more likely to get to that 95% threshold to allow for no masks.

Yeah, I get that, but even with the testing protocols for kids! I would probably have more confidence that Children who have had multiple negative tests are covid free, over those who are fully vaccinated.

Hopefully, all this will come to an end soon enough and we can go back to worrying about more old fashioned questions, like noisy cabin locations and where’s the bed placement!😂

[travelhound]

5 hours ago, ONECRUISER said:

Coming Fast. Even here in former Lockdown Michigan the Restaurants and Grocery Workers stopped wearing them 9 months ago. Even last couple Days County Health and Schools are starting drop the Masking r

Let's hope the cruise industry is able to get back normal 🙂

[ONECRUISER]

2 minutes ago, travelhound said:

Let's hope the cruise industry is able to get back normal 🙂

Cruising getting back to normal, something we can all agree on!

[BirdTravels]

8 hours ago, Dewaldcruiser said:

If you want to cruise, but don't like masks, NCL will no longer require masks as of March 1st.  To do this, they are requiring everyone age 5 and up to be vaccinated. I do not understand RCI's reluctance to follow suit.

Until March 1st, NCL has been running 100% vaccinated cruise (no unvaccinated kids). And they have been testing 100% of their passengers at check-in. NCL had a no-mask policy on US cruises until there was major COVID outbreak on one of their ships in December. 

 

From Mid-December to March 1st, NCL has required indoor masking. 

 

Starting March 1st, NCL is allowing unvaxxed kids up to 5% of the embarked passengers. 

[BirdTravels]

7 hours ago, GTO-Girl said:

I am hoping they stop this testing!!  So stressful for so many people!!

Yes. Stop testing so COVID positive passengers can get onboard and cause a mass outbreak that will shutdown ships. It would be a bit stressful when everyone onboard is confined to their staterooms. 

[Billy Baltic]

3 hours ago, HappyInVan said:

Yes, cruise ships are excellent places for omicron to spread if there are insufficient safety protocols. 😷

Omicron will laugh at the safety protocols. Its much easier to spread but thankfully, for the vast majority, it’s relatively mild. My family all had Covid during Christmas, I believe it was Omicron as it was sweeping through Ireland at the time. Over a six week period in December and January, 10% of the population tested positive. Government advisers estimated that the real number was closer to 20% - 30% as testing capacity was flooded. Hospital admissions dropped.  Numbers in ICU dropped. Most restrictions are lifted in Ireland now. 
We caught Covid from someone who visited our house for 5 - 10mins. No close contact. Just in the same room as them. I was fully vaccinated and boosted. Omicron will sweep through ships, regardless of masking, vaccination, distancing etc.