Majestic Requiring Masking on January 29th cruise from Auckland

[paradiselivin1]

Received this notification via email overnight:

 

IMPORTANT NOTICES
UPDATED MASK POLICIES FOR YOUR CRUISE
In response to the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 currently spreading throughout Australia caused by the spread of new subvariants,
we have updated the mask-wearing policy for your voyage.
- Guests are required to wear face masks on board while indoors.
- We recommend guests wear face masks outdoors on onboard where larger
numbers of people are congregating and physical distancing cannot be maintained.
- Masks are required during embarkation, disembarkation, when on Princess
transportation such as water shuttles and motorcoaches, and during Princess shore excursions.
- We recommend you follow these onboard masking protocols while ashore
independently, particularly when indoors, on public transportation or in crowded areas.
- Health experts recommend the use of higher-grade masks such as KN95 or
surgical. Replacement masks will be available on board if needed.

[DHP1]

No surprises. We had to wear our mask on our cruise which was no big deal 

[thunderbaycruiser]

All Australian / New Zealand Princess cruises have had mask mandates since Majestic pulled into Sydney with over 800 cases of covid last November. 

 

We just got notification that our Feb 11 cruise out of Sydney will require masks. Frankly I am relieved the mask mandate is still in place.

[DHP1]

1 hour ago, thunderbaycruiser said:

All Australian / New Zealand Princess cruises have had mask mandates since Majestic pulled into Sydney with over 800 cases of covid last November. 

 

We just got notification that our Feb 11 cruise out of Sydney will require masks. Frankly I am relieved the mask mandate is still in place.

We were on that cruise with 800 cases of Covid. Glad to see Princess has made this mandatory. The first 5 days of our cruise, no one was wearing masks including the staff and in the meantime, people were coughing like crazy. 
Enjoy your trip and good luck with the long flight there and back. 

[PacnGoNow]

23 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

We were on that cruise with 800 cases of Covid. Glad to see Princess has made this mandatory. The first 5 days of our cruise, no one was wearing masks including the staff and in the meantime, people were coughing like crazy. 
Enjoy your trip and good luck with the long flight there and back. 

Why didn’t they do a ship wide testing?

 

They did it on our South Pacific, maybe because you were ahead of us with a lot of covid cases?  
 

I think that is the reason for the Enhanced Voyages, to catch cases early. Then, they test 3 days out.  IDK what they’re doing this month.

 

 

[paradiselivin1]

3 hours ago, DHP1 said:

We had to wear our mask on our cruise which was no big deal 

Agree. We did last month on Enchanted although it was not required and few people (including crew were masked). I had read that the laundry had reopened on Majestic and was thinking that was tied to the whole mask wearing requirement but must not be the case. We fully intended to wear masks but wanted other to be aware of the requirement which was not indicated for our cruise online until now.

[Kiwi Brenda]

This is the NZ Ministry of Health update from 9 Jan 2023. Might give you a bit of insight regarding mask requirements/recommendations. The latest variant nicknamed Kraken was first reported only last week here. 

[Oceansaway17]

well just be glad you are able to sail, I hope they do not shut down again.

Right now NZ is having very bad storms with damaging winds.  Just can't cut a break.

[capriccio]

9 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Why didn’t they do a ship wide testing?

 

They did it on our South Pacific, maybe because you were ahead of us with a lot of covid cases?  
 

I think that is the reason for the Enhanced Voyages, to catch cases early. Then, they test 3 days out.  IDK what they’re doing this month.

 

 

We are on the 28 day Round Australia cruise in April so I am watching this - and the Australian and New Zealand cruisers board - very carefully (while home with Covid this week).  As I understand it right now everyone must present/have available to present the results of a rapid antigen test taken within 24 hours before departure.  It does not have to be medically observed.  Then all passengers are retested on the second day of the cruise.  It will be interesting on our cruise which is actually a B2B if all passengers, both new and old, will be retested 2 days after the intermediate embarkation/disembarkation port.  That would make sense to me.

[AZjohn]

Yes, been keeping a close eye on this for our Feb 23rd Australia/NZ cruise.

It is what is is and will comply as we did on a cruise in 2022. Not a big deal to us.

 

But, we also know that Covid doesn’t magically disappear while dropping masks while eating meals in MDR. Gut feel this is likely the area where there is the most spread. But as I said, it is what it is and can’t really eat with your mask on 🙂.

[nini]

I am sorry to read this. This affirms why I cancelled our Transpacific leaving Sydney on March 31st. We really wanted to do this, however, the stress is incredible to fly to a foreign country and then do a covid test before embarking. We were elated when we tested negative at our London hotel last May before boarding in Southampton.

Flying over 8,000 miles and then needing to test was not appealing. Due to the specifications, we would not be able to test before leaving home. It takes a long time to get there!

I wish all of you safe and healthy travels.

[paradiselivin1]

I've been following the current and recent cruise roll calls for information as some people are posting while cruising. Quite helpful. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2830789-january-3-2023-13-day-new-zealand/   I will try to keep an eye on our roll call for January 29th if anyone has questions but it sounds like things are going well on the current cruise.