Masks Being Required On Grand Princess

[sueandkent]

I have friends onboard the Sept 14th sailing of the Grand Princess. She is reporting they are being required to wear masks when out and about on the ship. I can't find anything stating Princess has changed their mask policy. When I last sailed in March they had just removed the requirement for them except for crew. Not trying to open ANOTHER mask debate just interested if it's a ship's policy vs company policy. 

[dreaminofcruisin]

6 minutes ago, sueandkent said:

I have friends onboard the Sept 14th sailing of the Grand Princess. She is reporting they are being required to wear masks when out and about on the ship. I can't find anything stating Princess has changed their mask policy. When I last sailed in March they had just removed the requirement for them except for crew. Not trying to open ANOTHER mask debate just interested if it's a ship's policy vs company policy. 

 

Likely the ship's policy for that cruise.

We were on the Emerald Princess in August which started out as Masks Recommended.

About 1/2 through the cruise, we got a letter in our stateroom indicating a rise in cases among passengers and crew, so Masks were now Required in all indoor areas.

 

[Keksie]

That is exactly why we will not book a cruise until we can be sure that this would not happen.  

[JF - retired RRT]

50 minutes ago, Keksie said:

That is exactly why we will not book a cruise until we can be sure that this would not happen.  

That's going to be a looooooong wait.

[Keksie]

14 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

That's going to be a looooooong wait.

We can wait.  We have beaches and casinos we can go to.  A lot of places we can drive to with good restaurants and entertainment.  We liked to cruise and would like to again but don't want to take a chance on making all the arrangements, spending the money and then having an awful time.

[AZjohn]

2 hours ago, sueandkent said:

Not trying to open ANOTHER mask debate...

Intent was good but obviously not all posters wanted to comply 🙂

[I Fly]

We are currently on the Grand Princess for the 12-night Vancouver round trip to Alaska.  The Captain made a very early announcement well before we departed Vancouver (yes seven hours late) and he specifically said, RECOMMENDED not required, in terms of mask wearing.  We have been on cruises when masks were required even after Princess’s policy changed to recommended and we always got a letter delivered to the cabin.  There has been no letter delivered to our cabin with any instruction requiring masks indoors.  Many people are wearing masks, at least 80% maybe even higher, but there are some who are not.  I could have missed an announcement about mask wearing, but I can certainly attest that no letter was delivered to our cabin.  Just as another update about our cruise, as we departed Vancouver seven hours late, we will skip Icy Strait and have an entire day in Juneau, after an additional sea day getting up to Juneau.

[antsp]

Just ignore the request and carry on

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, I Fly said:

We are currently on the Grand Princess for the 12-night Vancouver round trip to Alaska.  The Captain made a very early announcement well before we departed Vancouver (yes seven hours late) and he specifically said, RECOMMENDED not required, in terms of mask wearing.  We have been on cruises when masks were required even after Princess’s policy changed to recommended and we always got a letter delivered to the cabin.  There has been no letter delivered to our cabin with any instruction requiring masks indoors.  Many people are wearing masks, at least 80% maybe even higher, but there are some who are not.  I could have missed an announcement about mask wearing, but I can certainly attest that no letter was delivered to our cabin.  Just as another update about our cruise, as we departed Vancouver seven hours late, we will skip Icy Strait and have an entire day in Juneau, after an additional sea day getting up to Juneau.

First-hand report always beats second-hand hearsay where someone may misinterpret word meaning.  Recommended is not required (something like clothing recommendations).

[Dar & Bob]

5 hours ago, sueandkent said:

I have friends onboard the Sept 14th sailing of the Grand Princess. She is reporting they are being required to wear masks when out and about on the ship. I can't find anything stating Princess has changed their mask policy. When I last sailed in March they had just removed the requirement for them except for crew. Not trying to open ANOTHER mask debate just interested if it's a ship's policy vs company policy. 

The Grand has been doing a Vancouver to Whittier and Whittier to Vancouver itinerary.  All summer any of the ships doing this itinerary have been requiring masks (we were on a July sailing).  Most were guests were wearing masks most of the time but it wasn't stictly enforced - more enforcement by other guests than staff 🙂  The ships that sail roundtrip to/from Seattle there is no mask requirement.  Go figure.

 

I believe the "requirement" is due to the Canadian government since we also had to wear masks on our flight into Vancouver and friends had to wear them for the last 20 minutes (canadian airspace?) of their flight.  

[JF - retired RRT]

34 minutes ago, Dar & Bob said:

flight into Vancouver and friends had to wear them for the last 20 minutes (canadian airspace?) of their flight.  

Yeah, that's effective. 🤪

[Sunwanabe]

5 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

That's going to be a looooooong wait.

Hopefully the stage is near for when you are not feeling well, just stay in your own cabin. 

[Wakepatrol]

40 minutes ago, Sunwanabe said:

Hopefully the stage is near for when you are not feeling well, just stay in your own cabin. 

And when has this ever worked?

[Dar & Bob]

2 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Yeah, that's effective. 🤪

That's exactly what we all thought. Thus our conclusion that the masks are due to the Canadian government.  We wore them mostly onboard but occasionally forgot and didn't really get reprimanded 

 

[CanWeGoYet?]

I went on an Alaska cruise last May.  Not Princess, but obviously we had the whole ArriveCan thing to deal with and there was definitely no mask mandate.  Most I saw on the cruise did not mask.  Very few wore masks, even in the elevator.  What would happen routinely is people who had been riding the elevator with no mask on, would then turn around and face the wall of the elevator if someone got on to ride the elevator with them.  It was baffling - did they believe the covid germs would be confused as to not seeing a face and not know how to infect them?  LOL.  I mean the germs are likely there hanging in the air in the elevator even if you ride alone.  Unless you can hold your breath the entire elevator ride- you are pulling the air into your lungs along with any droplets suspended.  People going to crowded comedy club or seeing shows in the theater, most not masked.  Not surprising that on the roll call, there was a lot of reports of people coming up positive after getting home.  

[The Mikado]

There’s only one way to ensure you don’t get covid on a cruise ship…

[Bgwest]

8 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

First-hand report always beats second-hand hearsay where someone may misinterpret word meaning.  Recommended is not required (something like clothing recommendations).

Always going to be a few alarmists in every crowd. 

[Torfamm]

I was on the Grand two weeks ago and masks were required.

[MissP22]

52 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

I was on the Grand two weeks ago and masks were required.

And what were the approx. percentages of people who complied?

 

If it was anything like our cruise where it was mandatory in the theater and elevators- not many. 

[sueandkent]

On 9/16/2022 at 11:57 AM, I Fly said:

We are currently on the Grand Princess for the 12-night Vancouver round trip to Alaska.  The Captain made a very early announcement well before we departed Vancouver (yes seven hours late) and he specifically said, RECOMMENDED not required, in terms of mask wearing.  We have been on cruises when masks were required even after Princess’s policy changed to recommended and we always got a letter delivered to the cabin.  There has been no letter delivered to our cabin with any instruction requiring masks indoors.  Many people are wearing masks, at least 80% maybe even higher, but there are some who are not.  I could have missed an announcement about mask wearing, but I can certainly attest that no letter was delivered to our cabin.  Just as another update about our cruise, as we departed Vancouver seven hours late, we will skip Icy Strait and have an entire day in Juneau, after an additional sea day getting up to Juneau.

Thank you. My friend onboard did say "required" in her message to me but I trust you are correct. Thanks for popping on to clarify and have a safe rest of your cruise. 

[Torfamm]

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

And what were the approx. percentages of people who complied?

 

If it was anything like our cruise where it was mandatory in the theater and elevators- not many. 

It was certainly the majority that complied.  Masks were required everywhere except in your own cabin or eating or drinking and "Sip and Cover" signs were up in the bars. There are always people who refuse to comply though.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Torfamm said:

It was certainly the majority that complied.  Masks were required everywhere except in your own cabin or eating or drinking and "Sip and Cover" signs were up in the bars. There are always people who refuse to comply though.

And as long as they do not enforce their own rules, there will always be passengers who do not comply.

[Torfamm]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

And as long as they do not enforce their own rules, there will always be passengers who do not comply.

This is true. There are lots of people who will only do what they are told is required if someone makes them do it. 

[rbtan]

On 9/16/2022 at 11:56 AM, Keksie said:

That is exactly why we will not book a cruise until we can be sure that this would not happen.  

We HAD to wear them on Oceania in Jan. Didn't bother us. You were able to remove them once seated in the GD. Unlike that crazy "Sip & Cover" thing they did in Princess for a while.

[capriccio]

9 minutes ago, rbtan said:

We HAD to wear them on Oceania in Jan. Didn't bother us. You were able to remove them once seated in the GD. Unlike that crazy "Sip & Cover" thing they did in Princess for a while.

That was the process on the Caribbean Princess in January too and it was being enforced but the ship was about 1/3 filled and at the height of Omicron passengers overwhelmingly complied.  I didn't notice anyone complying - or being asked to comply - with Sip & Cover.  We did see crew reminding unmasked passengers as they left the MDR to put on their masks and crew pointing to their masks when passing an unmasked passenger in the Piazza.