Sky Princess implements new mask wearing rule … sip and cover!

[Sox Fan Cruiser]

As long as it keeps capacity down on my December Sky cruises I’m good. I’ll sip and cover where they ask and not complain about it. I’m on a cruise.  Small price to pay in my view. 

Edited October 23, 2021 by Sox Fan Cruiser

[wrongwaywatson]

5 hours ago, awhcruiser said:

But you wouldn't spread any germs without wearing a mask?

Considering I don't touch my face often.....not nearly as much.   We would be breathing into the mask and then touching the mask, repeated several times over.  

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

31 minutes ago, wrongwaywatson said:

Considering I don't touch my face often.....not nearly as much.   We would be breathing into the mask and then touching the mask, repeated several times over.  

Many of us realize we should remove and replace our masks by the straps as opposed to the actual mask material, as well as replacing them throughout the day.

[wrongwaywatson]

1 minute ago, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

Many of us realize we should remove and replace our masks by the straps as opposed to the actual mask material, as well as replacing them throughout the day.

Most should, yes, but I still say that it is a ridiculous rule.  Why is it you can eat dinner without reapplying your mask, and you are sitting with other people.  In the bar, you may be sitting with just your spouse, but you have to replace your ask between sips?  It makes no sense.  

[Musky Ike]

I do a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense to me. That is how I kept my job and stayed married. If you want something bad enough, you just put up with stuff.

[Steelers36]

On 10/23/2021 at 9:29 AM, Ladyshopper23 said:

Last night in the theatre there were several announcements in the theatre before the comedian started.

In our cinemas here, people remove masks when seated.  But they were selling seats as socially distanced.  Now, they can fill all seats - but everyone has to be vaccinated to get in anyway.  IDK what next visit will entail, but no staff was in theater checking masks.  Is Princess Theater totally full?  

[Level six]

16 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

In our cinemas here, people remove masks when seated.  But they were selling seats as socially distanced.  Now, they can fill all seats - but everyone has to be vaccinated to get in anyway.  IDK what next visit will entail, but no staff was in theater checking masks.  Is Princess Theater totally full?  

All I know is every single cruise I have been on the theater is like a petri dish.  On night one, there is one person coughing, by night 14 more than 1/2 the theater is coughing. 

 

When we went to Greenland almost everyone(at least 80% from the sound of it) was sick onboard.  We were literally sick for two months after the cruise with coughing and breathing issues, this was September 2019. On our next cruise pre covid Nov 2019 32 days, I wore a mask in the theater didn't get sick.

 

I hope they are enforcing the mask rule, especially in the theater. 

[PrincessLuver]

2 hours ago, Musky Ike said:

I do a lot of things that don't make a lot of sense to me. That is how I kept my job and stayed married. If you want something bad enough, you just put up with stuff.

 

Best comment of the entire thread......thanks for sharing some solid wisdom!!!!

[Blackduck59]

Well it's not too late for us to cancel so we will. We have not had a good feeling about our upcoming New York to Quebec city on Caribbean Princess, first the medallion fiasco now the senseless rules. So we look to spend our vacation dollars with another line. We are replacing this east coast with a Pacific Coastal on Viking. Perhaps east coast in 2023, HAL has an itinerary we like.

[wowzz]

All I can say is that although there are "sip and cover " signs up in a few venues on Sky at the moment, they are being totally ignored by the passengers, and the crew don't care.

But all pax wear masks when walking around.

I am very happy with the current arrangements. Others will think differently.

[wrongwaywatson]

When we booked we were under the impression that if you were vaccinated and showed a negative test you would not need to wear a mask.  
I have no intentions of cancelling and I will abide by the rules.  Thankfully our upcoming cruise is only 10 days, so the Sip & Cover doesn't apply.  Like I have stated above, I will comply and I won't complain onboard, because it isn't the Staffs doing.  However, I will avoid areas, as much as possible, where masks are required.

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

10 minutes ago, wrongwaywatson said:

When we booked we were under the impression that if you were vaccinated and showed a negative test you would not need to wear a mask.  
I have no intentions of cancelling and I will abide by the rules.  Thankfully our upcoming cruise is only 10 days, so the Sip & Cover doesn't apply.  Like I have stated above, I will comply and I won't complain onboard, because it isn't the Staffs doing.  However, I will avoid areas, as much as possible, where masks are required.

Sip and cover still applies on shorter cruises in certain locations.

[Redwing55]

22 hours ago, AnyMajorCruiseDude said:

Many of us realize we should remove and replace our masks by the straps as opposed to the actual mask material, as well as replacing them throughout the day.

A ton of people also don't routinely wear a mask.  And I suspect you get more than a handful not wearing masks properly or at all and people will more and more blow off wearing a mask.  The numbers don't support the practice.

[Buckeye10640]

21 minutes ago, wrongwaywatson said:

When we booked we were under the impression that if you were vaccinated and showed a negative test you would not need to wear a mask.  
I have no intentions of cancelling and I will abide by the rules.  Thankfully our upcoming cruise is only 10 days, so the Sip & Cover doesn't apply.  Like I have stated above, I will comply and I won't complain onboard, because it isn't the Staffs doing.  However, I will avoid areas, as much as possible, where masks are required.

I pretty much feel as you do. I will follow the rule but I dont like or agree with it.  But sorry to tell you, Sip and Cover applies to cruises of  10 days or more. I know this because mine is 10 days.....

[scott4020]

Look we are all clearly crazy for booking a cruise during a ever changing pandemic.

I'm not happy with the sip and cover rule but if it's enforced I just won't go into the bars. 

But I totally expected to wear a mask when going through public spaces.

 

My biggest gripe is Princess should have offered the option for passengers to cancel without penalty.

[wrongwaywatson]

1 minute ago, Buckeye10640 said:

I pretty much feel as you do. I will follow the rule but I dont like or agree with it.  But sorry to tell you, Sip and Cover applies to cruises of  10 days or more. I know this because mine is 10 days.....

I thought it applied to cruises longer than 10 days?  Truthfully, it won't effect me, much, because I won't go to the bars to have a drink.  I may sit outside, where it wouldn't be required.  

 

[Buckeye10640]

2 hours ago, waltd said:

Last I looked the Pandemic has no set rules.   No one can predict what is going to happen next week let alone next month.   YOU should not have booked a cruise with the pandemic going on.  

Some of us booked our cruises before anyone ever heard of Covid. Mine was booked in 2019 for 2020. Princess cancelled in 2020 and automatically moved it to 2021. A year ago did I think we would still be dealing with this in Oct 2021.  Heck no. Even earlier this year I was feeling optimistic. But to the point,  many of us didnt just run out and book our cruise last month, we have been waiting years for it. 

Edited October 25, 2021 by Buckeye10640

[Buckeye10640]

36 minutes ago, wrongwaywatson said:

I thought it applied to cruises longer than 10 days?  Truthfully, it won't effect me, much, because I won't go to the bars to have a drink.  I may sit outside, where it wouldn't be required.  

 

Yep it is for 10 days or longer. And I too expect to spend alot of time outside.

[choochella]

I totally agree with Scott4020 that Princess should give the option of canceling without penalty if they are going to adopt certain rules as the pandemic changes. When booking, there is no indication of what will transpire in the future. 

[wrongwaywatson]

2 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Yep it is for 10 days or longer. And I too expect to spend alot of time outside.

Well, poop!   Really, the only place indoors that I tend to sit and drink anything is coffee in the International Cafe.  

[Redwing55]

1 hour ago, wrongwaywatson said:

Well, poop!   Really, the only place indoors that I tend to sit and drink anything is coffee in the International Cafe.  

Sounds like we'll be holding a coffee keep as we walk around the ship.  Honestly, I'm not kidding.  I actually do this.  I should drink a lot of liquids and in the evening, I stop by the IC more than once and grab a cup of decaf.  I carry it around and usually go through a couple.  Now, I suspect most of us don't take a sip, then wait ten minutes, then take another sip.. rinse and repeat.  I do it fairly regularly.

 

  I wonder how this works in practice.  I've not been to a bar/restaurant, where I've had to wear a face covering for a period of time, while I had a beverage or food.  Truly, I wonder how effective this mask policy can be.  Of course, my engineering/health background drives me to conclude that masks don't provide a huge impact.  So, I'm not too concerned, but like I mentioned elsewhere, if one has big concerns with catching this virus, would they really trust others wearing a mask from time to time to protect them?  I'm not on that page.

[mcrcruiser]

4 hours ago, Redwing55 said:

So you're ok with trusting other persons behavior to protect your health?  Hmm.  I'm thinking that one should take whatever precautions they can to protect themselves and go from there.  Get vaccinated can be huge.  From there, it's mostly a matter personal choices.  If I think I might die due to someone else breathing near me, I'm not trusting them wearing something that is questionable to protect my life.  So if one doesn't think a vaccine and a 95 type mask won't do the job, one likely shouldn't be cruising.

Many people wear masks that are not N95 rated masks .Imo the cruise lines need to supply only those rated masks to people on board for protection .s far as sip & cover ,that is very questionable  imo . what the cruise line needs to do is make sure people are at least 6 feet apart from each other at a bar 7 not say sip & cover 

[Ken the cruiser]

You know for those that don't want to wear a mask indoors while on a cruise, you can always book a cruise with Celebrity. We were on a B3B on the Edge back in August and never had to wear a mask while indoors on the ship and I believe that is still the case today on Celebrity ships. Just saying ...

[Buckeye10640]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You know for those that don't want to wear a mask indoors while on a cruise, you can always book a cruise with Celebrity. We were on a B3B on the Edge back in August and never had to wear a mask while indoors on the ship and I believe that is still the case today on Celebrity ships. Just saying ...

If I were booking today for a cruise in the near future I would most certainly be looking into Celebrity or NCL or even RCI. But we already have this cruise booked (originally booked over 2 years ago) and at a price point I cant get close to if I cancel for FCC. And we would have to match up our approved vacation time, travel plans etc. to a new sailing.  Too complicated for changing a Nov cruise. 

[wrongwaywatson]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You know for those that don't want to wear a mask indoors while on a cruise, you can always book a cruise with Celebrity. We were on a B3B on the Edge back in August and never had to wear a mask while indoors on the ship and I believe that is still the case today on Celebrity ships. Just saying ...

I would if I could transfer my FCC over there, LOL!  The problem is we had our fully paid for 2020 cruise cancelled (of course, as it should have been) and we are using that.  Also, the ridiculous Sip & Cover was not in place when we booked.  heck, when we booked this one, if you were vaccinated, masks weren't required.  So, it's not as simple as saying to "just go sail on Celebrity".