Will Mask Requirement be Reinstated

[stevenr597]

I have heard "rumors" that Princess is beginning to require wearing of masks on select ships in select areas of the ship.  It appears that with the recent high number of Covid + individuals on ships such as Island Princess, that the cruise line is seriously considering requiring wearing of masks.

Anybody else hear these "rumors."

[nunuc2000]

Not a rumour... was already implemented on certain ships 10 days ago, and there are a couple of other threads ongoing about this already.  

[Cali Viajera]

All northbound and southbound Alaska cruises for Princess require masks. Cruise tours also require masks.

[Buckeye10640]

It is a fact that it has been reimplemented on certain ships and itineries. There is no across-the-board mandate at this time. Its  impossible to know for sure what the status will be for any future cruise unfortunately 

[Tonsoffun44]

Hope they aren't requiring a certain type unless it's provided onboard. Figured the masking would be back - Hope the testing requirement goes away before January. 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Tonsoffun44

[MissP22]

As long as they don't implement it for my next cruise I won't cancel before final payment. 😉 

I can stay home and vacation to local places not wearing any mask and still enjoy myself. 

[railman]

We were on a recent Ruby Alaska voyage.  We masked everywhere except while in our cabin and eating.  We never ate in the buffet.  We were in the minority wearing masks, I would guess less than 20% of the passengers wore one.  I tested positive three days after returning home.  I wish Princess would restore the mask mandate!

[AE_Collector]

We would be much more likely to consider another cruise soon if they would bring mandatory masking back in most instances. As it is right now…. We are not likely to.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, AE_Collector said:

We would be much more likely to consider another cruise soon if they would bring mandatory masking back in most instances. As it is right now…. We are not likely to.

 

There are posts such as your and also other posts that say "I will cancel the cruise if there is a mask mandate."

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

There are posts such as your and also other posts that say "I will cancel the cruise if there is a mask mandate."

Yes, and that truly puts the cruise line bean counters between a rock and a hard place. Whichever policy they choose, they lost a part of their potential customer base.

[trvlwrld]

Had Covid-got it from a cruise-extremely sick for over a month, but WON’T cruise IF mask mandates are in place.  I now having breathing issues (long covid) so wearing a mask makes breathing even more difficult...if you are worried about getting sick then by all means wear a mask, but please don’t impose that on me!

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, AF-1 said:

They have thousands of guests to deal with and safety is a top concern. 

That concern obviously includes the more than a thousand crew members on each ship living in close quarters who interact with an ever changing group of thousands of guests.

[PacnGoNow]

This posting said it was a RUMOR!  The only ships requiring masks are the ones with a lot of covid guests.  The mask requirement is to slow down the transmission on board.  And YES, some do get quite ill from covid, just read the

posts.  

 

A rumor is a rumor or spreading of misinformation.  
 

If you have a large amount of covid onboard, just deal with it and follow the rules.  No one likes to wear a mask, but why get in such tissy?

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

For all of the discussion about masks and if they work, I would point out that the cruise lines have far more data on spread on board than we do. They know that many do not like wearing masks. Yet when cases climb on board the one major change they make is to mandate masking. I doubt they would take that step unless their own data shows it effective in reducing spread. Notice that I said reducing not totally stopping. The same as other study data has indicated.

[MissP22]

Since most people eat in the crowded DR the chances of catching an infection must be reduced at the buffet. 😉

[caribill]

12 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Yet when cases climb on board the one major change they make is to mandate masking. I doubt they would take that step unless their own data shows it effective in reducing spread.

 

In other words, "locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen."

 

Having masking from the start of the cruise could:

o prevent some cruisers from being in isolation and having their vacation ruined

o prevent some cruisers that were infected from infecting others on the cruise

o prevent some cruisers from bringing the virus home after the cruise

[Guest ldtr]

1 minute ago, MissP22 said:

Since most people eat in the crowded DR the chances of catching an infection must be reduced at the buffet. 😉

Again depends upon the number of people in close proximity.  The buffet does have more movement around tables as people come and go.  If one masks going while moving around, including getting food, and selects a table away from high movement areas, risk can be greatly reduced.

[Guest ldtr]

5 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

In other words, "locking the barn door after the horse has been stolen."

 

Having masking from the start of the cruise could:

o prevent some cruisers from being in isolation and having their vacation ruined

o prevent some cruisers that were infected from infecting others on the cruise

o prevent some cruisers from bringing the virus home after the cruise

Sure it would, but they can deal with some cases and are willing to avoid alienating some passengers. What the industry cannot deal with is a large number of cases or a number of really serious cases.  The point is that when they see cases climbing and they need to take action they turn to masking.  Something that they would not do unless they had data that shows that it works in keeping case counts down.

 

Bottom line is if you do not want to be one of the number of cases they are willing to accept, mask with a good quality mask.

Edited June 14, 2022 by ldtr

[caribill]

9 minutes ago, ldtr said:

 

Bottom line is if you do not want to be one of the number of cases they are willing to accept, mask with a good quality mask.

 

It is those without a mask, have Covid and do not know it who need to wear a mask to avoid spewing the virus into the air.

 

That, in addition to the uninfected wearing masks, is the best practice for preventing the spread.

[stevenr597]

I do hope that they keep it voluntary.

I do notice that many who wear a mask, including some of the crew, do not wear them properly, usually anchoring them below the nose, and in certain instances below the chin. 

[DM6045]

A couple of moths ago we returned from a back to back (14 + 18nights) on a different line from the UK and the medical officer onboard is an old family friend who gave me some figures of onboard covid numbers.

The first 14 day cruise was the ships first since masking and covid protocols had been officially dropped and there was no mandatory onboard testing (unless self reported as symptomatic) I would say only 5-10% wore masks properly onboard during the trip and generally acted as though covid no longer existed. At the end-of that trip 17% of the passengers had reported symptoms and tested postive so combining that along with the asymptotic and those who didn't report their symptoms for fear of isolation the realistic figure is more likely to be in the 20-25% region.

The second cruise was longer at 18nights there were also more passengers onboard and although it was still not a requirement to mask officers and crew were actively recommending it when moving around and using lifts etc… meaning that I would guess aprox 85-90% passengers wore them around the ship unless eating/drinking, we also had ffp2  masks left in our cabin for use incase we didnt bring any due to no requirements. On this trip we also had 2 mandatory covid tests due to the requirements of ports we were docking at one on day 3 and one on day 15 (so we expected higher figures on this trip due to the tests picking up those who were asymptomatic.) but by the end only just under 6% had tested positive.

This clearly said to me that although masking certainly will never fully stop it spreading it is certainly capable of limiting a mass outbreak onboard that the industries reputation cannot afford.