Sip & Cover question??

[portcbob]

Hi fellow Coral Cruisers.

We are on a 28 nighter on the Coral around Aussie coming up and have read about the rule or alleged rule on Princess ships referring to Sip & Cover 

Apparently in the bars/lounges inside this rule is Mandatory, is this correct???.

For pax already cruised on the Coral is this actually happening and being enforced 

Could be a deal breaker for us.

Thoughts??

[Cbtours]

12 minutes ago, portcbob said:

Hi fellow Coral Cruisers.

We are on a 28 nighter on the Coral around Aussie coming up and have read about the rule or alleged rule on Princess ships referring to Sip & Cover 

Apparently in the bars/lounges inside this rule is Mandatory, is this correct???.

For pax already cruised on the Coral is this actually happening and being enforced 

Could be a deal breaker for us.

Thoughts??

The universe lounge and princess lounge say sip and cover. I think one of the bigger bars(explorers???) have the sign but I’m not sure how much it is being enforced.

th3 people who frequent them more will be able to report tomorrow 🥳

 

[Mikey22]

34 minutes ago, portcbob said:

Hi fellow Coral Cruisers.

We are on a 28 nighter on the Coral around Aussie coming up and have read about the rule or alleged rule on Princess ships referring to Sip & Cover 

Apparently in the bars/lounges inside this rule is Mandatory, is this correct???.

For pax already cruised on the Coral is this actually happening and being enforced 

Could be a deal breaker for us.

Thoughts??

Most people wore Masks walking throughout all of the ship indoors.

In the Theatre and Explorer’s lounge there were signs and announcements to “Sip and Cover” at all times.

Most people complied although some just kept sipping to avoid it.

To be honest it was probably a good idea as there was an older demographic onboard last week and plenty of people appeared to have a cough.

 

[NSWP]

These are available at Guest Services…$99 plus 18% gratuity of course.

[Chiliburn]

11 minutes ago, NSWP said:

These are available at Guest Services…$99 plus 18% gratuity of course.

Doesn’t the medallion filter the air?

[mum and son]

I'm onboard now and I would say mask wearing is pretty low. I'd take a stab to say that less than 50% are wearing them in lifts (signs say you have to). Most people I encounter don't appear to have a mask with them at all. We carry ours, especially when heading to food or drink, but really only put them on to enter the dining room. There is a staff member on the entry to the buffet handing out masks so you notice most people in the food service area wearing them but when they come up for their second (or third) round of food they mask is long gone. 

 

I don't think I've seen anyone in a bar wearing a mask if they are sitting at a table. Some people wear them on entry but they are long gone after that. I haven't seen any sip and cover!

 

Last night I was in Universal Liunge watching a comedian and don't recall seeing any masks.

Edited June 24, 2022 by mum and son

[arxcards]

I can't for the life of me work out why they are shortening cruises 😉

 

To the original question, the same "Sip & Cover" rules were on place on Pacific Explorer. If you were seated at a bar or close to it, Sip & Cover was expected. If you were out with your own group seated in the lounge, it wasn't.

 

Dining worked well, and similar to what we had at restaurants in NSW for months - mask till seated and served, then not required till leaving.

 

We generally don't go to the theatre much anyway, and chose not to make an effort this time.

[MMDown Under]

56 minutes ago, arxcards said:

I can't for the life of me work out why they are shortening cruises 😉

 

To the original question, the same "Sip & Cover" rules were on place on Pacific Explorer. If you were seated at a bar or close to it, Sip & Cover was expected. If you were out with your own group seated in the lounge, it wasn't.

 

Dining worked well, and similar to what we had at restaurants in NSW for months - mask till seated and served, then not required till leaving.

 

We generally don't go to the theatre much anyway, and chose not to make an effort this time.

We have returned to attending the theatre, with 100% occupancy, wearing a mask.  We also limit the time of the show, trying to minimise the risk.  No travel and no theatre is too much for so long.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

I've given up trying juggle a drink in the theatre. The shows are short so we just have a drink after we leave the theatre if we want one.

[Chiliburn]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

I can't for the life of me work out why they are shortening cruises 😉

 

 

On the news they are saying Covid numbers could be higher that the peak of the pandemic in a few weeks.

I would say it’s got something to do with it .

The restart is in its infantcy and I don’t think they blow it.

[NSWP]

2 hours ago, mum and son said:

I'm onboard now and I would say mask wearing is pretty low. I'd take a stab to say that less than 50% are wearing them in lifts (signs say you have to). Most people I encounter don't appear to have a mask with them at all. We carry ours, especially when heading to food or drink, but really only put them on to enter the dining room. There is a staff member on the entry to the buffet handing out masks so you notice most people in the food service area wearing them but when they come up for their second (or third) round of food they mask is long gone. 

 

I don't think I've seen anyone in a bar wearing a mask if they are sitting at a table. Some people wear them on entry but they are long gone after that. I haven't seen any sip and cover!

 

Last night I was in Universal Liunge watching a comedian and don't recall seeing any masks.

It is obvious Princess don't care if the lurgy spreads. They may live to regret their lack of enforcement re masks etc.  Part of the truth is staff don't really want confrontation with pax. As has been shown in the past when loads of pax walk straight past the washy, washy stations and hand sanitsers, sure do use them but some don't.

Edited June 25, 2022 by NSWP

[portcbob]

2 minutes ago, NSWP said:

It is obvious Princess don't care if the lurgy spreads. They may live to regret their lack of enforcement re masks etc.

How true mate.

[mum and son]

The ship feels pretty empty. The Coral Princess seems to have a lot more lounge venues and less activity around the atrium area so people are spread out. I asked the dining room staff last night about occupancy and they said there were approx 1400 pax onboard.  I think I read that the Coral holds 1750ish at two berth occupancy, and the staff said she holds 2200-2300 when full so that explains why the ships seems so quiet. 

[SinbadThePorter]

I got off Coral last Thursday. We had 65% of passenger capacity.

 

Sip & Cover was required but not enforced in the main lounge areas. Which meant that there was probably 90% compliance on the first day of the cruise and 10% on the last. The audience would be told to put on masks if not drinking and some would, but almost all of those would come off again within a few minutes.

 

In the MDR you walked in wearing a mask and took it off as soon as you sat down. Then put on your mask to leave.

[portcbob]

16 hours ago, SinbadThePorter said:

I got off Coral last Thursday. We had 65% of passenger capacity.

 

Sip & Cover was required but not enforced in the main lounge areas. Which meant that there was probably 90% compliance on the first day of the cruise and 10% on the last. The audience would be told to put on masks if not drinking and some would, but almost all of those would come off again within a few minutes.

 

In the MDR you walked in wearing a mask and took it off as soon as you sat down. Then put on your mask to leave.

Thanks mate.👍

[Cbtours]

21 hours ago, Mikey22 said:

Most people wore Masks walking throughout all of the ship indoors.

In the Theatre and Explorer’s lounge there were signs and announcements to “Sip and Cover” at all times.

Most people complied although some just kept sipping to avoid it.

To be honest it was probably a good idea as there was an older demographic onboard last week and plenty of people appeared to have a cough.

 

We walked past explorers last night and it wasn’t very crowded but everyone we saw was sipping and chatting, no one was wearing masks. So it’s def not being enforced.

[plettza]

I was on the 16th sailing and found no one was really sipping and covering.  I did initially but felt pretty stupid being the only one doing it when seated in places like Universal and Explorer's.  Also, I packed my own mask which is essentially a shell that holds a replaceable KN95 filter which I found was not easy to scrunch down to uncover my mouth for the sippin' part.

 

 

A lot of people wouldn't even bother wearing a mask when moving about in mask-mandatory locations but other than a recorded announcement, no real enforcement occurred except at Bordeaux (which was out restaurant) and Horizon upon entry.

Edited June 25, 2022 by plettza

[NSWP]

3 hours ago, Cbtours said:

We walked past explorers last night and it wasn’t very crowded but everyone we saw was sipping and chatting, no one was wearing masks. So it’s def not being enforced.

With all due respect..a disaster waiting to happen.

[arxcards]

29 minutes ago, NSWP said:

With all due respect..a disaster waiting to happen.

Potentially. We know people that tested positive after the first cruise on Explorer. They don't know how they caught it. 

 

We didn't though, but it was more than luck of the draw. Generally, the things we have done over the years to avoid cruise flu and noro still apply. On top of that, we protected ourselves by wearing masks indoors while there were others nearby. If you are the only one wearing a mask, you are still at least 90% protected vs everyone wearing a mask.

 

After the cruise, we caught the train back to Newcastle. Mask wearing is also required, but there were less people wearing them than on the ship, and nobody enforcing it.

[JohnGc]

46 minutes ago, NSWP said:

With all due respect..a disaster waiting to happen.

I agree, I am also disappointed. I am following the situation very carefully. My wife and I have our cruise at the start of 2023 depending on the situation at the time. I was hoping the return of cruising, after such a disastrous couple of years, that they would be super cautious. We were so looking forward to cruising again and can only hope that they will get their act together. We realise that the vulnerable will still be taking a gamble cruising but it would be nice to know that the odds of getting Covid is as low as it can possibly be. 

Edited June 26, 2022 by JohnGc