No masks required for crew

[TrueCruiseaholic]

Crew still have the option to wear facemasks, but they are no longer required. This has been implemented on all ships.

[tinaincc]

good to hear...heading back toward 'normal'

[phoenix_dream]

I am currently on Summit and haven't seen any crew without masks

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Crew still have the option to wear facemasks, but they are no longer required. This has been implemented on all ships.

Has that been published by X?

[SunNFunCruzer]

1 hour ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Crew still have the option to wear facemasks, but they are no longer required. This has been implemented on all ships.

 

Does this mean that the mandatory quarantine of infected and positive cruisers is also over? How can you have one, without the other? Where did you learn this?

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 hour ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Crew still have the option to wear facemasks, but they are no longer required. This has been implemented on all ships.

I’m currently on the Equinox and all of the crew working inside are wearing masks.  Masks appear to be optional for crew working outside.

[WonderMan3]

26 minutes ago, phoenix_dream said:

I am currently on Summit and haven't seen any crew without masks

Smart crew

[TrueCruiseaholic]

Information I received is that the optionality of masks which started on Infinity and Reflection is expanding to all ships. Perhaps ships will wait until the beginning of their next itinerary.

 

I haven't heard anything about this affecting passengers, passenger or crew quarantining, or anything outside of "if crew don't want to wear facemasks, they don't have to."

[bigbenboys]

On our Sept 8th sailing our waiter told us that staff did not have to wear masks when not interacting with guest. That no masks requirement for staff was coming soon. Looks like it is starting.

[MR_T]

We we’re on the Reflection departing September 16th and was told that the crew had the option starting that cruise to wear or not… I’d say as a guess 5% decided to still mask up… 

[C4HCG]

1 hour ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

Does this mean that the mandatory quarantine of infected and positive cruisers is also over? How can you have one, without the other? Where did you learn this?

How do you make that link?

[Northern Aurora]

I am posting from the Solstice.  All crew and staff who I am observed are wearing masks.  Will be interesting to read reports from other passengers.

[jwlane]

2 hours ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Information I received

It would be much more helpful to actually provide a source of that information, vs the initial bold claim that "This has been implemented on all ships."

[TrueCruiseaholic]

9 minutes ago, jwlane said:

It would be much more helpful to actually provide a source of that information, vs the initial bold claim that "This has been implemented on all ships."

Cruise director on Infinity just announced it to a room full of people.

[SunNFunCruzer]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

I am posting from the Solstice.  All crew and staff who I am observed are wearing masks.  Will be interesting to read reports from other passengers.

 

I've had the same experience. All staff masked up. In fact, when I approached to ask a question, A mask that was loosely on a face, was corrected and tightened. No sign of this new policy on Solstice yet thankfully.

[jwlane]

1 hour ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Cruise director on Infinity

Maybe he included the "staff did not have to wear masks when not interacting with guest" part?  What do you observe on Infinity---are they unmasked?

[TrueCruiseaholic]

Crew on Infinity and Reflection (see Reflection related comment in comment #10) have not been required to wear facemasks in guest areas for at least one or two weeks. The policy is expanding to all other ships when the other ships choose to implement the change in policy.

[WKUTopperFan]

I hope when I'm on the Apex this Thanksgiving I can see the crew member's smiles. 

Edited September 30, 2022 by WKUTopperFan
Grammatical

[SusieAV8R]

7 hours ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Crew still have the option to wear facemasks, but they are no longer required. This has been implemented on all ships.

About time!!  thank goodness!!

[the penguins]

7 hours ago, TrueCruiseaholic said:

Crew on Infinity and Reflection (see Reflection related comment in comment #10) have not been required to wear facemasks in guest areas for at least one or two weeks. The policy is expanding to all other ships when the other ships choose to implement the change in policy.

Can find no reference to this on X's site. X's policy on crew masking and testing seems to be unchanged.

[wineoclock]

Personally I think no masks for the crew is fine, as long as the staff who want to wear them can do so. 

[C4HCG]

9 hours ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

Because the crew have a lot of guest interactions I can avoid. I can avoid fellow guests, but I have to engage with crew for various reasons, and crew live in very close quarters.

 

Masks slow the spread of airborne droplets. Masks are most effective when everyone masks. Absent everyone masking, having crew protecting themselves from guests is good for everyone. If crew start spreading Covid to guests and Celebrity forces quarantines, I think there will be a passenger mutiny. Just my opinion, of course.

Fair enough. I think we need to get back to normal and treat covid like any other disease. If people are worried they will get it and need these kinds of protective measures in place then maybe socialising in any way is not for them, including cruises. Extending the logic that crew should wear masks means Hotel employees should, restaurant workers, taxi drivers, shop staff, etc etc. Madness and their effectiveness is doubtful according to some experts. As you say, all about opinions.

[wineoclock]

We were in San Sebastián in June. We are in several excellent restaurants. Our least favourite atmosphere wise was the one where the staff wore masks. 

[C4HCG]

18 minutes ago, wineoclock said:

We were in San Sebastián in June. We are in several excellent restaurants. Our least favourite atmosphere wise was the one where the staff wore masks. 

I get that, for some reason it becomes a less friendly atmosphere.  

[the penguins]

1 hour ago, C4HCG said:

Fair enough. I think we need to get back to normal and treat covid like any other disease. If people are worried they will get it and need these kinds of protective measures in place then maybe socialising in any way is not for them, including cruises. Extending the logic that crew should wear masks means Hotel employees should, restaurant workers, taxi drivers, shop staff, etc etc. Madness and their effectiveness is doubtful according to some experts. As you say, all about opinions.

One big difference between all your examples and the crew on a ship is that the crew have to live and work in the same enclosed environment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We have cruised several times since the restart and under varing changes of protocols (some mid cruise). The most recent major change was allowing more unvaccinated passengers to travel and from other threads this change is still "bedding in". I am sure the crew will be delighted to have the mask mandate dropped. Until then enjoy your cruise and, if you haven't yet cruised, I assure you that you will be able to tell when a crew member is smiling behind the mask.