Face Masks on Australian Cruise Ships

[Russell21]

2 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

 I suppose one issue I found that wasn't mentioned, was on occasions, I found it difficult to hear people when they were speaking while wearing a mask, particularly when there was background noise. However, my problem is poor hearing.

One of the advantages of wearing a good set of hearing aids is that my brand made a program that can be used when people are wearing masks. It accentuates the higher frequencies which are weakened coming through a mask. 

[Aus Traveller]

Just now, Russell21 said:

One of the advantages of wearing a good set of hearing aids is that my brand made a program that can be used when people are wearing masks. It accentuates the higher frequencies which are weakened coming through a mask. 

I have got a good set of hearing aids. I haven't asked at the hearing clinic if there is a different setting to be used when people are wearing masks. I have profound hearing loss in the higher frequencies so I doubt that anything could help any more than my aids do already. 🙂

[cruiser3775]

It's not just the quality of the hearing aids that is the problem for people who wear them. It is the fact that you can't see lip movements, and most of us have taught ourselves to read lips a bit.  Even with this problem, I would still want people on board to be wearing masks.

[ekka49]

2 hours ago, Aussieflyer said:

Whilst that of course is your choice, the figures for deaths from COVID indicate that the countries with the lowest number per capita are Singapore, South Korea and Japan. These are countries with a strong mask presence either like Singapore with masks indoors mandated or Japan where mask wearing is common. 

Vaccination does not provide immunity and many people (me included) with 4 vaccinations have come down with COVID. Although not seriously ill, it certainly was not a walk in the park as they say and I was in bed for a few days, with lingering cough and fatigue for several weeks. Also, there would be immunocompromised passengers on board probably (we saw several people who looked like they were just finished chemo) and mask wearing in my opinion is a responsible way to help to protect them.

I have had no issues with wearing a mask onboard (or on a plane) and I do wear one in shopping centres and other places where there are a lot of people.

We agree with your statement.

 

[Aus Traveller]

41 minutes ago, cruiser3775 said:

It's not just the quality of the hearing aids that is the problem for people who wear them. It is the fact that you can't see lip movements, and most of us have taught ourselves to read lips a bit.  Even with this problem, I would still want people on board to be wearing masks.

I agree totally. When I got my first hearing aids the audiologist told me that I was lip-reading. As you say, people with hearing loss learn to do it instinctively. I also agree, that in the current health situation, people need to wear masks and we will somehow manage to understand what they are saying.

[2022cruisey]

I was also commenting with the experience of wearing masks during a 7 day cruise in June.  No problem at all for me or my teen children.  I wear one all day at work to teach teenagers and I can tell you that they have no problem hearing what I teach them.  It is a minor thing to wear, but after having covid twice for extended periods, it is an easy way to stop transmission.  

[Russell21]

15 hours ago, Aus Traveller said:

I have got a good set of hearing aids. I haven't asked at the hearing clinic if there is a different setting to be used when people are wearing masks. I have profound hearing loss in the higher frequencies so I doubt that anything could help any more than my aids do already. 🙂

From being in Artillery in the Army and countless ramset shots etc in the building game I have the same problem. Your doubt comes from lack of experience with the program.

[arxcards]

On 8/20/2022 at 7:56 PM, Matkai said:

So disappointed that Australia is so slow in dropping all of the autocratic COVID rules, so we have decided to delay booking our cruise until the requirement for mask wearing is dropped or fly to the US and cruise from there.

What is the point of us all being vaccinated just to board the ship, only to be forced to wear masks... that is not what I call a relaxing holiday! 

 

There is sound reasoning behind it. How many weeks ago, 3 or 4, that Coral Princess had over 100 crew in quarantine with covid, and only days away from risking operational security to the extent of having to park-up for a week or two. As it was, onboard services were curtailed, as there was insufficient crew to provide them. 

 

I am at the stage I don't wear a mask for me, but to protect the crew. These guys are wearing masks 100% of the time they are on duty.

 

I was ust thrown-off a 3 night cruise, and the mask thing is easily managed. Also it helps - if you have a religious or cultural need to wear a head covering, it appears you can exempt yourself from needing a face covering. 😉

 

Yes, wait or go to the US if you don't want to put a mask on while moving about indoors.

[Hernextdoor]

20 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Leave cabin wearing mask to go to breakfast/lunch/dinner. Once seated remove mask to eat. However in the buffet you should wear your mask when going up for more food etc. After your meal put your mask back on before leaving your table. 

 

If you go outside to the pool you can take your mask off.

If you go for a walk around the promenade deck you can take your mask off 

If you go to one of the inside bars you can take your mask of while seated.

I am going on a cruise next month, and will, of course follow whatever the rules are, without a fuss.  It is a good thing I will be wearing a mask, as it will hide my amusement at the largely performative nature of the ritual. All that taking on and off merely transfers any pathogens from the mask to your hands - hands which then press lift buttons, use condiment dispensers at the buffet, etc. I was watching  a You Tube video the other day of a woman who recently sailed out of Brisbane on a Princess ship - she wore her mask into the MDR, then took it off and placed it ON THE DINING TABLE!  🤮

[cruisermsoon]

I think it's generally accepted now that COVID is mainly an airborne virus, and hence the importance of mask wearing.

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

27 minutes ago, Hernextdoor said:

I am going on a cruise next month, and will, of course follow whatever the rules are, without a fuss.  It is a good thing I will be wearing a mask, as it will hide my amusement at the largely performative nature of the ritual. All that taking on and off merely transfers any pathogens from the mask to your hands - hands which then press lift buttons, use condiment dispensers at the buffet, etc. I was watching  a You Tube video the other day of a woman who recently sailed out of Brisbane on a Princess ship - she wore her mask into the MDR, then took it off and placed it ON THE DINING TABLE!  🤮

Which is why we carry sanitiser so we can sanitise our hands after removing our masks by the earloops, press lift buttons with our knuckles, don't go to the buffet, etc. 

 

Certainly there is some risk in removing and replacing masks but if done with care it is less risky than being unmasked in congested areas around the ship, especially the lifts. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

This diagram shows the risk levels of transmission with and without masks. The key point to remember that an infected person may not know they have been infected because they don't have any symptoms. In most cases people are infectious for around two days prior to symptoms developing and some people remain fully asymptomatic.

 

 

 

[Russell21]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Which is why we carry sanitiser so we can sanitise our hands after removing our masks by the earloops, press lift buttons with our knuckles, don't go to the buffet, etc. 

Which I also do, and it helps to cope with the annoyance of being allergic to alcohol based sanitisers in that it forces me to carry an alternative spray in a small pouch on my belt. It's not the alcohol that is the problem, thank dog, I also have trouble with wash up liquid, liquid soaps from dispensers, and many brands of soap. For those with a similar problem sanitisers based on Benzaconium Chloride are just as effective as the alcohol based ones.

[shireboi]

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Which is why we carry sanitiser so we can sanitise our hands after removing our masks by the earloops, press lift buttons with our knuckles, don't go to the buffet, etc. 

 

Certainly there is some risk in removing and replacing masks but if done with care it is less risky than being unmasked in congested areas around the ship, especially the lifts. 

 

why bother ?? 

 

don't go out of the cabin - if you think that the 'buffet' is such a risky place... or even think about the lift buttons, the door handles, waiting in line at a bar or restaurant, having the crew deliver something... etc etc.  

 

1 hour ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

This diagram shows the risk levels of transmission with and without masks. The key point to remember that an infected person may not know they have been infected because they don't have any symptoms. 

 

 

Yep - such as myself - utter no symptoms at all !!   zero - but double boostered.  THAT is what we should be doing.   

[OzKiwiJJ]

46 minutes ago, shireboi said:

 

why bother ?? 

 

don't go out of the cabin - if you think that the 'buffet' is such a risky place... or even think about the lift buttons, the door handles, waiting in line at a bar or restaurant, having the crew deliver something... etc etc.  

 

 

Yep - such as myself - utter no symptoms at all !!   zero - but double boostered.  THAT is what we should be doing.   

We don't go to the buffet because we prefer the ambiance of the MDRs, and table service over self service.

 

Ar bars we sit somewhere comfortable and order our drinks from the waiter.

 

I don't quite understand your comment about zero symptoms. Are you implying you tested positive to Covid but had no symptoms? If so I hope you were responsible and isolated until you tested negative. Double boosted does not mean you won't catch Covid, it just means you are not likely to be affected as severely thus putting less strain on our already overworked health services.

 

We have had one delightful cruise so far this year, enjoying all the usual things we enjoy onboard. Wearing masks did not detract from our enjoyment. We are looking forward to being back on Coral in just under two weeks.

[joejoe 59]

On 8/21/2022 at 12:57 PM, Matkai said:

Has anyone who here actually been on a cruise and been forced to wear face masks for a majority of the time? 

I notice all comments are from people who say that are going on a cruise with mandatory face masks, or say that they would only go on a cruise with face masks, but no-one is actually commenting from their actual first hand experience.

We can all speculate or guess what we think it would be like, but have no real idea until you we have actually experienced it - I have read many posts on other forums from people who have and I am yet to find a positive comment, many complaining of headaches, being constantly uncomfortable, feelin unsocial / isolated, skin behind ears being rubbed raw, and overall lack of enjoyment the entire time-  with many saying they would not cruise again until the mask mandates are lifted.
 

We only got off the Coral on Friday.  We always wore our masks walking in the public areas once seated at a bar took it off. We needed it to walk into the dining rooms or buffet but once seated didn't need it, they did enforce  this. Out on the open deck they weren't needed. We didn't end up with any headaches. 

[arxcards]

11 hours ago, Hernextdoor said:

I am going on a cruise next month, and will, of course follow whatever the rules are, without a fuss.  It is a good thing I will be wearing a mask, as it will hide my amusement at the largely performative nature of the ritual. All that taking on and off merely transfers any pathogens from the mask to your hands - hands which then press lift buttons, use condiment dispensers at the buffet, etc. I was watching  a You Tube video the other day of a woman who recently sailed out of Brisbane on a Princess ship - she wore her mask into the MDR, then took it off and placed it ON THE DINING TABLE!  🤮

I agree that mask wearing by many is done in a way that it won't protect the user. But that is their problem, unless they are coughing in your direction.

 

Touch points are a secondary risk. Sit in a busy spot on the ship - outside the buffet when they ring the dinner bell, outside the theatre at the start/end of a show, the embarkation conga line. Count the number of people that cough or sneeze in that space over a 5 minute period, and that is your risk level, so wear a correctly fitted mask to protect yourself.

 

It is sort of required, but rarely enforced. There was a large group of people on the cruise that disembarked this morning who had a religious or cultural resistance to wearing a mask anywhere on the ship. The staff never like to upset anyone, so this was rarely challenged. Apart from that, most passengers did the right thing most of the time.

[Clara H]

Hey,I highly doubt that anything could help me any more than my hearing aids already do because I have severe hearing loss in the higher frequencies. On a mobile device, you can take hearing tests online. On my phone, there is an app that lets me change the sound settings based on the situation. Following the test, you can try out different hearing aids. They might rip up some paper to make a rustling sound to demonstrate to you that they are working. My hearing aids are of good quality.

[MMDown Under]

On 8/22/2022 at 10:09 PM, arxcards said:

I agree that mask wearing by many is done in a way that it won't protect the user. But that is their problem, unless they are coughing in your direction.

 

Touch points are a secondary risk. Sit in a busy spot on the ship - outside the buffet when they ring the dinner bell, outside the theatre at the start/end of a show, the embarkation conga line. Count the number of people that cough or sneeze in that space over a 5 minute period, and that is your risk level, so wear a correctly fitted mask to protect yourself.

 

It is sort of required, but rarely enforced. There was a large group of people on the cruise that disembarked this morning who had a religious or cultural resistance to wearing a mask anywhere on the ship. The staff never like to upset anyone, so this was rarely challenged. Apart from that, most passengers did the right thing most of the time.

My girlfriend in NY is Jewish, who lives in an ultra jewish neighbourhood.  She has no time for these people who pay no taxes to the community, yet put the local community at risk because they follow no rules.  The latest, they were trying to force the neighbouring community to supply water to them.  Heaven forbid if everyone was so selfish!  My girlfriend and all her family were the first to catch Covid.

[lissie]

On 8/21/2022 at 2:57 PM, Matkai said:

Has anyone who here actually been on a cruise and been forced to wear face masks for a majority of the time? 

I notice all comments are from people who say that are going on a cruise with mandatory face masks, or say that they would only go on a cruise with face masks, but no-one is actually commenting from their actual first hand experience.

We can all speculate or guess what we think it would be like, but have no real idea until you we have actually experienced it - I have read many posts on other forums from people who have and I am yet to find a positive comment, many complaining of headaches, being constantly uncomfortable, feelin unsocial / isolated, skin behind ears being rubbed raw, and overall lack of enjoyment the entire time-  with many saying they would not cruise again until the mask mandates are lifted.
 

Yes SF-Barcelona departed 24 July this year - we had to wear masks from a few days after SF until we arrived in Barcelona the first time 22 Aug -  also   laundries closed and max of 4 in a lift.  

 

Its really no big deal - compared to being locked in your cabin in isolation for 7 days  In fact the masks that Cunard handed out - which I think are called FFP2 are the most comfortable masks I've ever worn - stopped my glasses falling off my nose which happens with the KN95s .  Coming up 3 years into this pandemic I think most people have found a comfortable mask