New Mask Guidance Published March 9, 2022

[azbirdmom]

The language about requiring masks in the casino and Princess theater have been removed.  Screen shot below pertaining to masks but they also formalized  smoking again being allowed in the casino, allowing tests to be done 3 days prior to embarkation in some situations, along with other changes.

 

Full details here: https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/frequently-asked-questions/us-cruises/

 

[tonit964]

I'm glad that testing is now 3 days for "up to date" vaccines. Makes it a little less stressful.

[Sunwanabe]

Masks will be required in certain areas, they don't specify upfront from what I can see. I would look to the theatre as one area it would remain.

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

The language about requiring masks in the casino and Princess theater have been removed.  Screen shot below pertaining to masks but they also formalized  smoking again being allowed in the casino, allowing tests to be done 3 days prior to embarkation in some situations, along with other changes.

 

Full details here: https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/frequently-asked-questions/us-cruises/

 

Many thanks for posting this updated info. I'd not yet seen it. 

[azbirdmom]

39 minutes ago, Sunwanabe said:

Masks will be required in certain areas, they don't specify upfront from what I can see. I would look to the theatre as one area it would remain.

 

The prior language explicitly stated that they would be required in the casino and Princess theater, and also at embarkation / disembarkation.  This leaves it up to the ship.

[bafinegan]

Interesting they differentiated between "fully vaccinated" and "up to date"  for pre cruise covid testing.  Up to date also includes the possibility of more than one booster I see.

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

 

Lets just say if smoking is being allowed in the casino again?

 

My mask will stay firmly ON my face 😷

 

[wowzz]

About time they sorted out the protocols for European cruises.

[MissP22]

My mask will stay firmly in my pocket and only used when absolutely required.

[Aladdin22]

11 hours ago, wowzz said:

About time they sorted out the protocols for European cruises.

Definitely! We board Sky in UK on 28th and want to know

[muchofamuchness]

17 minutes ago, Aladdin22 said:

Definitely! We board Sky in UK on 28th and want to know

I cruise in June from Southampton and I got an email from Princess earlier this week that said it was going to give details of the testing and vaccination requirements for the cruise. However when I clicked on the link to the testing requirements it just had the US situation and said:

 

"Looking for another destination?

We’re working with government authorities on protocols and will share final details before you sail – stay tuned!"

 

Same situation for the onboard protocols e.g. masks.

 

In this and other respects it sometimes feels a little bit like Princess forget that they sail from other countries. That might be understandable if they were a line who occasionally sailed from the UK, but they will be basing a number of ships here over the summer as well as marketing sailings to UK customers, and at least a basic level of clarity is needed now, even if there's the understanding that anything can change these days. In any case they shouldn't send an email claiming to have the details when they don't...

 

I'm fine for now - it's a while until my cruise - but it's a matter of weeks until Sky Princess arrives at Southampton and I'm sure others with cruises booked sooner will be starting to worry.

[Cruise Puss]

Clarity is certainly needed for European/UK cruises.  We have just cancelled a cruise out of the UK on Sky in July, mainly because of the ongoing restrictions - we are sick to death of them.

 

We have moved to a cruise in September hoping that all restrictions will have ceased and we will have resumed normal cruising again by then, if not, we will be cancelling yet again.

 

Europe needs to catch up with America and get back to normal.  This virus is now a cold and most people have been vaccinated so why on earth we aren't getting back to normal is quite unbelievable.

 

 

Edited March 10, 2022 by Cruise Puss

[runner2013]

I only had a chance to read everything quickly, does this rule change for testing take effect immediately?

[muchofamuchness]

21 minutes ago, Cruise Puss said:

This virus is now a cold and most people have been vaccinated so why on earth we aren't getting back to normal is quite unbelievable.

 

 

 

I suppose the challenge for them is that because the medical advice doesn't reflect that point of view, they as a business are going to have to make a decision as to operations (what if half of the crew are off sick with symptoms?) and duty of care (what if everyone who goes on a cruise gets COVID?). It's a question of balance I suppose, between offering an experience that's as close to on land whilst avoiding liability. They have obligations that you or I as individuals don't have to think about. Probably why they haven't completely ruled out masks in certain places on board - they can at least use their discretion...

 

If it means they have to say they'll have more stringent protocols for now (maybe relaxing them closer to the date), so be it - it's outside our control. But we need to know, so that as you say you can make a decision as to whether or not you postpone.

[Lady Arwen]

13 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

Lets just say if smoking is being allowed in the casino again?

 

My mask will stay firmly ON my face 😷

 

My feet will stay firmly outside of the casino!

[ChangeOrder]

21 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

they also formalized  smoking again being allowed in the casino,

Noooo! 😞

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, ChangeOrder said:

Noooo! 😞

I hear ya!  Princess had this one opportunity to get with the times, but they chose to take ten steps backwards.  I honestly thought they had the foresight and the the intelligence to get rid of a very outdated policy.  Soooo, after our Emerald cruise to the British Isles, we’ll gladly take ourselves back home to Celebrity, where we belong.  

[ChutChut]

20 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

I hear ya!  Princess had this one opportunity to get with the times, but they chose to take ten steps backwards.  I honestly thought they had the foresight and the the intelligence to get rid of a very outdated policy.  Soooo, after our Emerald cruise to the British Isles, we’ll gladly take ourselves back home to Celebrity, where we belong.  

Agree. Smoking should NOT be allowed anywhere on the ship. Talk about unhealthy and exposing others to deadly stuff!!!!

[Yehootu]

16 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Not going to happen.  Canada is open to cruise ships, and this is the one condition that would have cancelled the previous bill, and is included in the current bill.

100%, at least now there's a guidance and I'm sure many more versions will come out. Our May cruise stops in Victoria, then back into YVR the next day. I'm curious if Victoria will be cancelled.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 3/9/2022 at 12:26 PM, azbirdmom said:

The language about requiring masks in the casino and Princess theater have been removed.  Screen shot below pertaining to masks but they also formalized  smoking again being allowed in the casino, allowing tests to be done 3 days prior to embarkation in some situations, along with other changes.

 

Full details here: https://www.princess.com/plan/cruise-with-confidence/cruise-health/frequently-asked-questions/us-cruises/

 

Where does it list the new smoking rules?  Thank you.  

[Lady Arwen]

7 hours ago, ChutChut said:

Agree. Smoking should NOT be allowed anywhere on the ship. Talk about unhealthy and exposing others to deadly stuff!!!!

You expect it on a Carnival or NCL ship, but Princess?  I really expected more from them.

[azbirdmom]

2 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Where does it list the new smoking rules?  Thank you.  

 

Since December the Princess website included language in the CruiseHealth FAQs indicating that smoking was not permitted indoors and also included the no smoking guidance in the section re: casino protocols.  All of the no smoking language was removed from the FAQs on March 9th.  A couple of days before that folks onboard started reporting that smoking was allowed in the casino again, and someone on the Sky shared this from the Patter:

 

[Steelers36]

All we can do is write Princess HQ (CR, Padget, Swartz, Siebaldi) and let them know what we think about the return to smoking in the Casino.

[cmh]

On 3/9/2022 at 12:35 PM, tonit964 said:

I'm glad that testing is now 3 days for "up to date" vaccines. Makes it a little less stressful.

I am sailing April 11th and my cruise still states a negative test two days prior to leaving.

[tonit964]

8 minutes ago, cmh said:

I am sailing April 11th and my cruise still states a negative test two days prior to leaving.

It's two days if you are "fully vaccinated" and three days if you're "up to date" which means boosted.

 

If you go to your summary page, there should be a red box at the very top that says Update Health & Travel Advisory. Click on that and it will tell you what's required for your sailing.