With Covid precautions is it difficult to socialize on board?

[Johnthesailor]

We usually cruise with friends but are thinking of booking a March cruise by ourselves.  With lower passenger counts, masks, social distancing etc is it difficult to meet people on board?  Are there still opportunities to share dinner tables with others and are people accepting of it or are the vast majority isolating themselves or just dining with their own “pod”.  Do people socialize in the lounges pre-dinner or does the distancing tend to preclude that.  Are people sitting and talking at the inside bars and/or the pool bar?  Do “pickup” teams still form for trivia?  I doubt the hallway parties are occurring but are there still lots of opportunities for socializing?

 

Thanks,

John

[Shippy]

 We just made our dinner reservations for our March cruise.

They still gave you the option for a shared table or not.

I choose a shared table for each one and there was no problem.

 I cannot imagine that would be an option unless it were true. We enjoy dining with others.

[labonnevie]

The option to “share” is always available, but does not always get you a table mate (currently on board Explorer). 

We included sharing in our first 3 specialty dining reservations, only one resulted in actually sharing. At CR we have often said we are willing to share, but rarely do we end up with others.
IMO two issues at play here; vastly reduced passenger load, and extreme hesitancy on the part of passengers to meet and engage with strangers due to covid. This seems to apply in lounges as well. There is plenty of space to socially distance and that is what people are doing. 

[JMARINER]

My experience is similar to #labonnevie (post #3).

 

I was on the Splendor just before Omicron and things were little less intense. But this week on another cruise, things have really tightened up. Mask wearing is almost universal all the time. Some pax hook up and share table, but most don't and keep to themselves. Many are staying away from crowded venues. But I think as Omicron subsides life aboard will return to normal, probably in a month or two.

 

J

[2012_Alaska_bound]

14 hours ago, labonnevie said:

The option to “share” is always available, but does not always get you a table mate (currently on board Explorer). 

 

I love to share a table with others, but found on our Alaska cruise on Mariner in July of 2019, we never got any takers! I mentioned this to Tammy Heath, and we thought maybe it was because there were more family groups onboard, or because it was a shorter cruise? All my cruises before that (Alaska 2012 Navigator, Baltic 2014 Voyager, and Amazon 2018 Navigator) we always had shared tables.

 

Hoping our TA in April on Splendor we can find some people to share with.

[Wuzzle10]

We sailed on Seabourn for 1 week in August 2021 and shared a table 6 nights out of 7, we enjoy sharing a table and meeting new people

cannot wait to go on Explorer next January for our first Regent cruise