I havent cruised since Covid : What is different now ?

[Doollie]

Our last cruise was Feb 2020, and now we are planning a cruise for Dec 2022 departing a US port.  What to expect that will be different please ?  We are fully vaxxed.

[bcwife76]

You're going to find the answers will vary from cruise line to cruise line. You didn't mention which cruise line you are sailing with. Perhaps you would get more specific answers if you posted on the cruiseline boards (Princess, NCL, etc).

[WESTEAST]

We returned recently from our restart cruise of the Pacific Coast (LA-LA). Once we were onboard the ship, nothing really had changed; some passengers wore masks as did some crew but it was a personal choice.  Did see crew cleaning the public areas regularly during the day with focus on hand-rails, etc.  Check-in was initially completed at home with uploading our photos, vaccination record and did make check-in a little faster. No problems at LAX airport with line-ups or luggage and returning home to Canada was simple as well using ArriveCan and the Advance CBSA Declaration within ArriveCan. You may find more specific details on individual cruise line boards as mentioned. We cruise Oceania and there is little to no buffet lines (the buffet isn't self serve as staff place food on your plates once you select what you want) though at times there can be people in front and behind you. There is a small buffet by the pool area but rarely any lines. The Cruise Director frequently announced reminders for everyone to wash their hands and hand sanitizers were everywhere. Basically just like our last cruise in February 2020 though, we were careful with wearing our masks in congested areas on tour, taking stairs versus elevators, etc.    

[Fred&Lily]

We're in same position as the OP with our last cruise in January 2020. The one big difference is we are not vaxxed and just waiting for news that all restrictions are over.  

[CaptainBazz]

We just did an Alaska cruise from Seattle. Fourth cruise since last December. Each cruise got better and better from a Covid pint of view. On this cruise hardly anyone wore a mask and the majority of the crew did not wear a mask. No restrictions on anything.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

we done a 14 day TA on Celebrity and 21 day Baltic & Arctic TA on Royal 
Biggest difference is lack of staff and the amount of untrained staff

and the famous supply issues

best part the ships were only about 60% filled 

on Royal there was a big changeover of staff as a lot of crew could not get US visas 

[peter grant]

It's pretty close to impossible to predict what the situation will be by December, but you can bet on two things: rules will be relaxed or non-existent by then (unless there's a serious Covid upsurge) and the more Americans on the cruise, the more relaxed the rules. We cruised to Alaska on HAL in September: all service staff were masked at all times, virtually all passengers masked up when not sitting down, you had to be fully vaccinated and a pre-cruise antigen test was required. But that's all changed now. 

 

Personally, I'd buy the best cancellation protection I could find, because if I can't feel safe I won't want to go.

 

Holland America had cut costs (particularly food costs) and jacked up prices; I'd be surprised if other lines aren't in a similar mode.

[TeaBag]

We are on a Celebrity TA in 12 days with vaccinations mandatory as well as a negative proctored test 1-2 days before boarding.  Transatlantics are treated differently.

[turnin50]

We just got back (yesterday) from an 11 day cruise on Royal Vancouver to Hawaii. All crew and officers were masked everywhere, the ship seemed clean although didn't really notice constant sanitizing like I'd heard was going on. Most passengers unmasked and we were often packed in elevators with coughing and sneezing passengers, none of us really seemed bothered by that. No toiletries in the cabin bathrooms, room service would take sometimes over 2 hrs if they answered the phones at all so overall I think there was huge staff shortages. Having said that, I ended up getting covid (fully vax'd and boosted) and had to quarantine the last 5 days of the cruise.