People are choosing to stay onboard instead of wearing masks in ports

[TNcruising02]

Between the mask requirements at the ports, these ports being some of my least favorites, and me sailing on a brand new ship, I am pretty sure we will stay on the ship.  It's too hot to wear masks on excursions in August.  Exploring the Mardi Gras on port days will be a lot of fun.  The only downside is that I know the residents at the ports could really use the business.  I might hop off for a quick purchase or two.

[sgttami]

I haven't gotten off the ship in port for years so I'd be staying on anyway.

[tap_out]

Add us to the list happy to stay on board.  The Havana and cheers make it harder and harder to get off the boat. There is an all time favorite excursion of mine in the dm/amber cove I would love to do but going to wait till I'm on board to get a defentive answer on the mask requirements before I book.  

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Maybe there isn't much to do in the way of excursions and no reason to get off.  I was looking at Costa Maya for my cruise and the selections were slim.  Even for Cozumel, which I have been to before, there was only about half of the excursions than there was pre-Covid.  

I wonder how many of the local excursion companies have not survived the pandemic. That may be the reason that there are only slim pickings for excursions. The cruise lines do rely on them for providing their excursions.

[EngIceDave]

We go on 8-day Horizon on Sept 4

 

Really have little interest in DR or Aruba again....Bonaire we'll golf cart around, but overall, after the last year and a half, we want to chill. We planned to stay on board all along.

 

I don't think anyone should assume it's all about masks.

 

Also, we're new to retirement, so we're learning how this chilling BS works

 

 

 

 

[helene109]

13 hours ago, Cruise Related said:

Yep, that’s what I did last week. Stayed on the ship. Most awesome cruise ever! 

Not a bad idea for my 8-14 Mardi Gras as it changed to Nassau instead of Grand Turk too

[arkaine23]

Surprised and not surprised.   Do what you want within the rules.  Masks don't bother me, especially the Cariloha bamboo viscose blend masks.  We have local Carilohas in Houston and Galveston, but you can also buy them online.  Heat is one of the reasons we always cruise in March-May, or September, so I understand the july/august cruisers' stance that heat + mask isn't ideal.  I'll be wearing one and getting off the ship.  I want some beach time where the water and sand aren't brown!  Hospitalized covid patients in Texas have nearly quadrupled since the lowest point we reached just last month.   Who knows how much higher that'll be in another month when we cruise?

Edited July 30, 2021 by arkaine23
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[sparks1093]

We'll likely play it by ear. I'd hate to pass up DW being able to see Bermuda so staying onboard might not be in the cards. (Of course this depends on Bermuda's rules in November.)

[19cruiser59]

I've been to La Romana before and frankly, I think La Romana is the worst port south of the Bahamas.( never been to Jamaica) We got off and looked around the port shops for about an hour then happily went back onboard. None of the excursions were appealing at all. Wearing a mask for the time off the ship wasn't the issue.

[snowballs mom]

We are doing a B2B on the Panorama at the end of September. We have not done the Mexican Riviera in years, so we have snorkel/beach excursions booked for the first leg. We are planning on staying on the ship for the second one. 

 

 

[LHARTWICK]

For our 9/4 cruise, we've been to these ports multiple times, so we'll stay on board except for Cozumel.  I'm dangerously low on vanilla so we'll be going to Los Cinco Soles to stock up!!  Had I known the world was about to go down the toilet in JAN 2020 I sure would have bought a lot more of it on that cruise!  I had been wondering the same thing that the OP referred to.  I expect a much fuller ship on port days.  😞

[BrotherCraig]

Any port where I would need to wear a mask will not be a port I will be exploring.  No thanks.  I don't blame anyone for staying onboard.

[sailingships]

8 hours ago, helene109 said:

Not a bad idea for my 8-14 Mardi Gras as it changed to Nassau instead of Grand Turk too

That change to Nassau was almost a deal breaker for me. I was looking forward to GT. Nassau is a sea day.

[cruisingguy007]

3 hours ago, snowballs mom said:

We are doing a B2B on the Panorama at the end of September. We have not done the Mexican Riviera in years, so we have snorkel/beach excursions booked for the first leg. We are planning on staying on the ship for the second one. 

 

 

 

I doubt they'll have a mask rule in Mexico and staying onboard the second go round will be great. We stayed on board at two of the three ports and it was very enjoyable and the ship was empty. All the ports are interesting and have a lot to do so most people get off. I was actually able to swim laps in the main pool it was so empty. My youngest son loved the water slides to, he must have went on them 100+ times, all the staff knew his name since we spent so much time there. You'll have the best of both by doing it the way you are doing it. Have a great trip!   

[TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail]

We will definitely get off at Half Moon Cay.  Probably book a shore excursion at Amber Cove.  For Bimini we are uncertain; would at least get off the ship & visit a nearby beach but won’t wait the 2-3 holding hours at port@Cruise Related mentioned they experienced a couple of weeks ago.

Edited July 30, 2021 by TooManyWakeUpsTilWeSail

[BlerkOne]

Ah, but if the choice is to wear a mask on the ship or wear a mask in port. Decisions, decisions. And you know some of the people on the ship will be unvaccinated.

[cruisingguy007]

31 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Ah, but if the choice is to wear a mask on the ship or wear a mask in port. Decisions, decisions. And you know some of the people on the ship will be unvaccinated.

 

That's more of a choice to cruise or not to cruise for many. I doubt many will want to cruise with masks and those that do will be complaining the entire cruise about those who are wearing their masks wrong or not at all. 2020 all over again. You'd have to be nuts to pay a bunch of money to put up with that proposition/drama. Cruising is cool but not that cool.  

[BlerkOne]

12 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

That's more of a choice to cruise or not to cruise for many. I doubt many will want to cruise with masks and those that do will be complaining the entire cruise about those who are wearing their masks wrong or not at all. 2020 all over again. You'd have to be nuts to pay a bunch of money to put up with that proposition/drama. Cruising is cool but not that cool.  

That's how they cruised last year in Europe. Cruisers who can, and will follow simple instructions are likely to have successful cruises. How many cases of covid did they have? And this was pre-vaccines.

[cruisingguy007]

11 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

That's how they cruised last year in Europe. Cruisers who can, and will follow simple instructions are likely to have successful cruises. How many cases of covid did they have? And this was pre-vaccines.

 

Masks didn't prevent covid on the ships. The number of cases remains controversial with the CLIA claiming 50 cases but cruise critics claiming otherwise. 

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2021/05/articles/disease/cruise-lines-claim-that-cruising-in-europe-and-asia-has-no-or-only-limited-transmission-of-covid-19-not-an-equivalent-comparison-to-the-u-s/

[BlerkOne]

2 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Masks didn't prevent covid on the ships. The number of cases remains controversial with the CLIA claiming 50 cases but cruise critics claiming otherwise. 

 

https://www.cruiselawnews.com/2021/05/articles/disease/cruise-lines-claim-that-cruising-in-europe-and-asia-has-no-or-only-limited-transmission-of-covid-19-not-an-equivalent-comparison-to-the-u-s/

Where does the ambulance chaser make any claims about masks? Another defective conclusion. and still pre-vaccine.

[DGNewton]

On 7/29/2021 at 6:03 PM, AtSeaWithChris said:

I'm hearing from more and more of our friends that are cruising deciding to stay onboard instead of wearing masks. Having a ship to yourself to enjoy may not happen like in the past. They noticed a large number of people deciding not to get off in La Romana today with the mask requirements. In La Romana people are required to wear a mask everywhere unless they are eating, swimming, or drinking. 

We had an amber cove excursion and cancelled. We did not get off at all in either DR port.  Only Aruba and Curaçao. 
 

it wasn’t the mask requirement, but more the uptick in Covid and the DR not having many vaccinated people.  We felt that the first two countries were stricter during the earlier lockdown and more in control 

[lazydayz]

On 7/29/2021 at 6:36 PM, Cruise Related said:

Yep, that’s what I did last week. Stayed on the ship. Most awesome cruise ever! 

That's what we did as well.  The port wasn't interesting enough to overcome the mask requirement.  We did venture off in Aruba, Curacao and Amber Cove. 

[DGNewton]

On 7/31/2021 at 1:59 PM, lazydayz said:

That's what we did as well.  The port wasn't interesting enough to overcome the mask requirement.  We did venture off in Aruba, Curacao and Amber Cove. 

Awesome cruise!!!!

 

Did you get to experience the Piano players OMG - we are cruising again just to see them again by Oct!

[tree.critter]

Currently on the Mardi Gras, today was our first port stop and unvaccinated  were not allowed off the ship. Masks required on all transportation and indoor spaces and highly recommended outdoors but not mandatory with social distancing. I and many fellow cruisers stayed on board but it had nothing to do with mask policy but guessing we have at least 75% diamond and platinum cruisers. Most of us have been to Puerto Rico multiple times and all of us are on this ship for the first time and we’re still exploring and enjoying the ship. I don’t plan to get off the ship at all on this first leg, will visit when we are on the western leg next week. 

[lazydayz]

1 hour ago, DGNewton said:

Awesome cruise!!!!

 

Did you get to experience the Piano players OMG - we are cruising again just to see them again by Oct!

 

It was a great cruise.  We saw the piano players a few times, and really enjoyed hearing one while we dined at Chops.  

 

I was also pleasantly surprised by Amber Cove.  We have been to two other DR ports before and were not impressed, but really enjoyed Amber Cove and will gladly go back there.