Wearing masks onboard

[mared1]

We were on a 10 day cruise & some people did wear masks. We did not and now have Covid symptoms. Either from cruise or crowded airport & flights 

[tcneal]

I just got off the Radiance last week and didn't see many masks.  More on embarkation and disembarkation day but not many during the cruise.   Take it for what it is worth, but I came home with COVID.  I'm not saying the mask would have prevented it but I didn't mask.  It's really a personal choice and didn't hear anyone questioning those that did.

[Crazy planning mom]

I still wear my masks in crowded indoor places but I am definitely the minority even in crowded NYC subways 

[KansasK]

22 hours ago, Giantfan13 said:

I was just curious if people are still wearing their masks anytime while onboard? We just came off the Anthem on Friday and read here that there were about 250 reported Covid cases and those are the ones reported. We are 'extra' seniors and we have adopted the policy to always wear masks while indoors on the ship. There were several times (maybe even more than that) when we seemed to be the only ones wearing masks in entire venues.

 

Is anyone still masking up.

 

Cheers

Len

We wore masks when inside the ship when we were on the Allure last July.  We wore them inside except when eating.  I saw someone every day with a mask on, but not many masks at all. We have a cruise in April this year and we plan to do the same thing.  If you missed getting Covid, good for you! 

[Giantfan13]

We are very comfortable wearing masks indoors. We have no problem doing it. If others as with most of the other passengers don't, that's up to them. But believe me I saw many people turning their heads to cough and not in their sleeve, just out therein he air. 

 

As for the number of Covid on our cruise, some one posted this in a thread who was on this same cruise and had this info. Does it really matter. As some one else said, there are always people who have or will get Covid on or after every cruise.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

Cheers

Len

 

[BND]

23 hours ago, smokeybandit said:

Less than 5% of passengers wear masks in my experience. Probably 10-15% of the crew does.

Crew just joining the ship are required to wear a mask for several days as they're no longer quarantining (they do test them when they board before they check into their cabins and start working.)  So, those crew you see wearing masks, some, (maybe most) at least, aren't doing it by choice.

Edited January 21, 2023 by BND

[gmerick]

The crew that mask are wearing RCI dark masks over N-95 masks.  I see no reason to wear a blue surgical mask or a designer cloth mask.  Airports, airplanes, elevators, malls, busses, theaters I wear an N-95.  Like a previous poster, I breakfast on my balcony.  When the stateroom attendant is in the room, I'm on the balcony with the door shut; for both of our sakes.  That's just what feels appropriate and comfortable to me.  Small ship cruise in November I didn't mask on the boat -- came home positive.  On Anthem next week I'll be masked.  As always -- you do you, and YMMV.

[NeedsVitaminSea]

We just booked our first cruise since 2019 and we’ll be wearing KF94 in all indoor spaces outside of our cabin. We will also avoid crowds and eating indoors.  I’m the only person masking at work anymore so I’m used to not caring what others think of my educated decision to protect myself. Masking is much more acceptable to me than having to stay home forever. 

[smokeybandit]

2 hours ago, NeedsVitaminSea said:

We just booked our first cruise since 2019 and we’ll be wearing KF94 in all indoor spaces outside of our cabin. We will also avoid crowds and eating indoors.

If you want to avoid crowds and eating indoors then maybe cruising isn't right for you at this point.

[jean87510]

On 1/19/2023 at 9:16 PM, BND said:

Nope.  We've done 7 cruises since Nov 2021 restart and have only worn masks when they were required..  We also only have worn them on land when required.  We've also never had the virus.  

Same with us.  8 cruises since Nov 2021, lot's of testing, masks, and we have also never tested positive either.  We also traveled during the non cruise period on land vacations.  Regarding masks, one can do what they like.  I only wear one for dr. appts.

[smokeybandit]

On 1/19/2023 at 9:16 PM, BND said:

Nope.  We've done 7 cruises since Nov 2021 restart and have only worn masks when they were required..  We also only have worn them on land when required.  We've also never had the virus.  

5 for me but also numerous other flights for non cruise trips. No issues

[Tatka]

13 hours ago, mared1 said:

We were on a 10 day cruise & some people did wear masks. We did not and now have Covid symptoms. Either from cruise or crowded airport & flights 

Last January everyone was wearing masks at all times and many still got infected/sick including us. Then we were on 5 maskless cruises during which each of us got sick once.

Not sure about direct connections between masks and getting sick.

[Tatka]

5 hours ago, NeedsVitaminSea said:

We just booked our first cruise since 2019 and we’ll be wearing KF94 in all indoor spaces outside of our cabin. We will also avoid crowds and eating indoors.  I’m the only person masking at work anymore so I’m used to not caring what others think of my educated decision to protect myself. Masking is much more acceptable to me than having to stay home forever. 

Eh… not sure you can completely avoid crowds on cruises.

How can avoid eating indoors? No MDR at all? 

[lovesthebeach2]

We’ve done 9 cruises since the startup, two of them being 14 nighters - transatlantic and Arctic. 
On the 9th cruise which was Jewel on December 31, I came home and got Covid the next day.

I had to have gotten it from the ship, I live local and we drove to the port. I’m fully boosted, and received my last booster after our Arctic cruise in late September.

 

I only wore masks in the beginning when it was enforced and gradually stopped, but now we both plan to wear them in elevators and crowded theaters. We’re very careful with washing our hands so I don’t think that is what caused me to get Covid, and we took the stairs a lot,  but at times the elevators were packed and we did use them. Covid isn’t fun, I’m still not 100%.

 

if you’re comfortable wearing the mask I would because no one near me looked or acted sick, yet I got it. Don’t worry about how many others are or aren’t wearing them.

 

[AF-1]

My wife and I sailed Freedom a few weeks ago.  We wore masks onboard; especially in elevators.  The ship was max capacity with over 1,000 kids.  I would say less than 1% wore masks.  It did not bother me to wear a mask

[Morecruisesplz]

On 1/19/2023 at 6:54 PM, Giantfan13 said:

I was just curious if people are still wearing their masks anytime while onboard? We just came off the Anthem on Friday and read here that there were about 250 reported Covid cases and those are the ones reported. We are 'extra' seniors and we have adopted the policy to always wear masks while indoors on the ship. There were several times (maybe even more than that) when we seemed to be the only ones wearing masks in entire venues.

 

Is anyone still masking up.

 

Cheers

Len

On 2nd of B3B on Explorer all staff had masks one morning. They blamed it on stomach bug with crew but made no sense. After that many cruisers also started wearing masks.

[time4u2go]

1 hour ago, Tatka said:

How can avoid eating indoors? No MDR at all? 

Some ships have outdoor seating areas for their Windjammers.

[Tatka]

4 minutes ago, time4u2go said:

Some ships have outdoor seating areas for their Windjammers.

I know … just seems a bit complicated to use it all the time.

[onthewater51]

Wife and I came off Oasis on 1/15 from a 10 day cruise.  We both got sick the day before it ended with coughing and sneezing.   As soon as we disembarked we both took a test.  She tested positive for Covid and I negative. Go figure   Neither of us wore masks.  

 

Very  few on board wore masks   This was  our 3rd cruise since cruising re-started and we had no issues on the other two, and very few wore masks on them. It got me thinking about demographics. We’re in our mid-late 60’s.  

This cruise was primarily younger. I’d say 30-40 years.  Seemed everyone was coughing or sneezing. The other two trips were a much older crowd and on smaller ships. I wondered if that had something to due with it.  

[livingonthebeach]

18 minutes ago, onthewater51 said:

Wife and I came off Oasis on 1/15 from a 10 day cruise.  We both got sick the day before it ended with coughing and sneezing.   As soon as we disembarked we both took a test.  She tested positive for Covid and I negative. Go figure   Neither of us wore masks.  

 

Very  few on board wore masks   This was  our 3rd cruise since cruising re-started and we had no issues on the other two, and very few wore masks on them. It got me thinking about demographics. We’re in our mid-late 60’s.  

This cruise was primarily younger. I’d say 30-40 years.  Seemed everyone was coughing or sneezing. The other two trips were a much older crowd and on smaller ships. I wondered if that had something to due with it.  

 

Maybe - I have cruised several times since the restart. I think it has a lot to do with percentage of capacity and not so much as whether it is a small or large ship. The only time I got sick was on a fully loaded Odyssey OTS. It wasn't the C souvenir I brought back but a lingering cold / flu for almost a month. Don't know what it was but it was nasty! 

[Tatka]

46 minutes ago, onthewater51 said:

Wife and I came off Oasis on 1/15 from a 10 day cruise.  We both got sick the day before it ended with coughing and sneezing.   As soon as we disembarked we both took a test.  She tested positive for Covid and I negative. Go figure   Neither of us wore masks.  

 

Very  few on board wore masks   This was  our 3rd cruise since cruising re-started and we had no issues on the other two, and very few wore masks on them. It got me thinking about demographics. We’re in our mid-late 60’s.  

This cruise was primarily younger. I’d say 30-40 years.  Seemed everyone was coughing or sneezing. The other two trips were a much older crowd and on smaller ships. I wondered if that had something to due with it.  

I don’t think we saw many people wearing masks on Enchantment last March. 12 dayer, older crowd. It was also crowded in places like Schooner or Boleros. Still almost no one had masks. We didn’t get sick back then.

 

My husband got sick on Anthem now. 11 dayer, older crowd, almost no masks. On Anthem during Thanksgiving we had 1300+ kids and many young people. Haven’t seen much coughing.

 

I got sick on Adventure in September. 9 days to New England and Canada. Older crowd.

 

No logic whatsoever.

[Tatka]

28 minutes ago, livingonthebeach said:

 

Maybe - I have cruised several times since the restart. I think it has a lot to do with percentage of capacity and not so much as whether it is a small or large ship. The only time I got sick was on a fully loaded Odyssey OTS. It wasn't the C souvenir I brought back but a lingering cold / flu for almost a month. Don't know what it was but it was nasty! 

Flu/cold we brought from Grandeur in January 2019 was much nastier than Covid we had 3 times after cruises. 

[ZoeyVictoria]

We have been on 19 cruises since the restart and have followed masking protocols (worn when required only). My SO had a mild case of Covid after number 12 (7 nights on Princess in May-June), but I remained negative and felt fine. We don’t mask, but we wash our hands extremely frequently and I am very, very careful about not touching food after handling salt/pepper shakers, chair arms, or elevator buttons. So far, so good, but I will not be surprised if I eventually pick it up.  On our last cruise, I mentioned to my SO that the very few masks that were being worn were more noticeable to me than they had been since the very beginning. 

[livingonthebeach]

1 minute ago, Tatka said:

Flu/cold we brought from Grandeur in January 2019 was much nastier than Covid we had 3 times after cruises. 

 

Wow - just goes to show you can anything, anywhere and much worse, not strictly limited to the dreaded C souvenir.  

[midwife1021]

Last month, few masks seen.  I had one with me at all times, and mostly would use it if I was going to be in a packed elevator or in an interior area without much air flow.  There seemed to be a decent amount of air flow in most areas of Oasis.

Someone posted in our roll call about a bunch of people in their large group having active covid at the time of the sailing and still went on the ship 🤬.

 

Thankfully, none of us from my group brought any "viral souvenirs" home from our sailing. 

Edited January 21, 2023 by midwife1021