Face masks are back on North and Southbound Alaska

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Many may not be aware of the "domino" effect of having Covid on ships right now. I can't speak for Whittier, but can tell you exactly about this in Vancouver. Let's say 50 pax test positive for Covid (a low number that many here would argue is irrelevant if you look at it as a % - true, but...). These 50 passengers must be disembarked separately, must have a quarantine plan, must have transportation, must have hotel rooms. Then their travelling party (remember, not everyone sails with only one other person - many are family groups that wish to stay together) needs to be taken care of. The tourism industry (and especially the cruise industry) shut down in Vancouver for 2 years and it is nowhere near close to being back to normal operating procedure just yet - hotel rooms are in short supply as they are unable to operate at 100% capacity due to lack of staff, transportation, such as coaches, are also very much depleted as staff that were laid off 2 years ago have moved on to other jobs. Behind the scenes, land staff are working non-stop to get all the plans in place for passengers to disembark the ship while being Covid positive and have these plans satisfy the Canadian Government/CBSA. The longer this takes, the longer it is until the ship gets cleared for new passengers to embark. Once Covid guests are disembarked, there is an intense deep clean, that also holds up anyone getting on the ship. Then you have folks, such as myself, that work at the port and are potentially exposed constantly to any of the passengers that may have decided to just not report being sick/positive or who may be carrying it but just not testing positive yet. If enough of us get Covid, there will be no staff at the port getting you on and off the ships....it really is a domino effect and I applaud any and all efforts that are made to at least TRY to keep Covid off the ships.

 

I guess my point is, if you are one of the people who are against masking, testing, Covid protocols, etc. that is your right, BUT please don't then complain and throw a tantrum because your are waiting 3 hours to board your ship....because it is very likely that part of the reason for this is Covid on the cruise before yours. And we rinse and repeat.  

Thank you so much for putting this in perspective.

Some cruisers think it is all about THEM!

When, in fact, it is all about US!  ALL of us.

I feel the cruise lines went back into Alaska too heavily with all these ships.

Too many ships to handle after closing for 2 years.   

 

But, it is what it is.

 

Thank you for sharing this great information and stay safe!

 

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Many may not be aware of the "domino" effect of having Covid on ships right now. I can't speak for Whittier, but can tell you exactly about this in Vancouver. Let's say 50 pax test positive for Covid (a low number that many here would argue is irrelevant if you look at it as a % - true, but...). These 50 passengers must be disembarked separately, must have a quarantine plan, must have transportation, must have hotel rooms. Then their travelling party (remember, not everyone sails with only one other person - many are family groups that wish to stay together) needs to be taken care of. The tourism industry (and especially the cruise industry) shut down in Vancouver for 2 years and it is nowhere near close to being back to normal operating procedure just yet - hotel rooms are in short supply as they are unable to operate at 100% capacity due to lack of staff, transportation, such as coaches, are also very much depleted as staff that were laid off 2 years ago have moved on to other jobs. Behind the scenes, land staff are working non-stop to get all the plans in place for passengers to disembark the ship while being Covid positive and have these plans satisfy the Canadian Government/CBSA. The longer this takes, the longer it is until the ship gets cleared for new passengers to embark. Once Covid guests are disembarked, there is an intense deep clean, that also holds up anyone getting on the ship. Then you have folks, such as myself, that work at the port and are potentially exposed constantly to any of the passengers that may have decided to just not report being sick/positive or who may be carrying it but just not testing positive yet. If enough of us get Covid, there will be no staff at the port getting you on and off the ships....it really is a domino effect and I applaud any and all efforts that are made to at least TRY to keep Covid off the ships.

 

I guess my point is, if you are one of the people who are against masking, testing, Covid protocols, etc. that is your right, BUT please don't then complain and throw a tantrum because your are waiting 3 hours to board your ship....because it is very likely that part of the reason for this is Covid on the cruise before yours. And we rinse and repeat. 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[PacnGoNow]

8 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Many may not be aware of the "domino" effect of having Covid on ships right now. I can't speak for Whittier, but can tell you exactly about this in Vancouver. Let's say 50 pax test positive for Covid (a low number that many here would argue is irrelevant if you look at it as a % - true, but...). These 50 passengers must be disembarked separately, must have a quarantine plan, must have transportation, must have hotel rooms. Then their travelling party (remember, not everyone sails with only one other person - many are family groups that wish to stay together) needs to be taken care of. The tourism industry (and especially the cruise industry) shut down in Vancouver for 2 years and it is nowhere near close to being back to normal operating procedure just yet - hotel rooms are in short supply as they are unable to operate at 100% capacity due to lack of staff, transportation, such as coaches, are also very much depleted as staff that were laid off 2 years ago have moved on to other jobs. Behind the scenes, land staff are working non-stop to get all the plans in place for passengers to disembark the ship while being Covid positive and have these plans satisfy the Canadian Government/CBSA. The longer this takes, the longer it is until the ship gets cleared for new passengers to embark. Once Covid guests are disembarked, there is an intense deep clean, that also holds up anyone getting on the ship. Then you have folks, such as myself, that work at the port and are potentially exposed constantly to any of the passengers that may have decided to just not report being sick/positive or who may be carrying it but just not testing positive yet. If enough of us get Covid, there will be no staff at the port getting you on and off the ships....it really is a domino effect and I applaud any and all efforts that are made to at least TRY to keep Covid off the ships.

 

I guess my point is, if you are one of the people who are against masking, testing, Covid protocols, etc. that is your right, BUT please don't then complain and throw a tantrum because your are waiting 3 hours to board your ship....because it is very likely that part of the reason for this is Covid on the cruise before yours. And we rinse and repeat. 

Edited June 6, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[USCcruisecrazy]

On 6/4/2022 at 8:14 AM, Keksie said:

That is the reason we are not booking until we are sure the masks have gone away for good.  Would hate to have a cruise booked thinking the protocols were to our liking only to have them changed before the cruise.  Will just stay with fun land vacations where masks are not required.

Exactly why we leave 29 June for 2 weeks in Alaska...no ship required...no masks required. It's going to be another epic Alaskan vacation!!!

[mm_FM]

If helpful, we are on the Royal (embarked 6/4 in Whittier) and were on a land tour prior (and traveling independently before that). Masks are now required and compliance seems fairly high.

 

We had planned to mask in public areas (we mask for work, have managed to avoid COVID thus far despite being frontline/essential workers, and would like to avoid being sick on vacation if possible, let alone quarantined on ship or in Vancouver at the trip’s end), so this was no concern to us.
 

However, I imagine there are some passengers who are likely disappointed if not upset, since masking on the land tours was uncommon and never even encouraged (we were among a rare few masking on the bus, trains, in the lodge public areas, etc.). Then, we arrive in port, and the staff immediately and emphatically required masking, etc. It was a notable and rapid shift in policy and tone, passengers were scrambling, and we commented that an announcement during any previous phases of the trip probably would have been preferable to help passengers have a sense of the changes and potentially give them options (it seems many folks who don’t like masking are pretty strident in that position). I’m sure there will be some passengers who refuse (we’ve seen a few). Moreover, I am sympathetic to the staff who must now try to enforce this policy and customer service staff who will undoubtedly get an earful about it. However, I think we were the small minority of passengers who had the policy shift mid-trip and future travelers should be aware, but who knows? We didn’t realize how radically our itinerary had changed from our 2020 booking until on-ship despite being dutiful planners. 
 

This is our first cruise, so we have no comparisons. Hope this info is helpful. We appreciated the live reports to help us get a sense of how to prepare for the new era of COVID-travel, so thought I’d pay it forward a bit.

[PacnGoNow]

26 minutes ago, mm_FM said:

If helpful, we are on the Royal (embarked 6/4 in Whittier) and were on a land tour prior (and traveling independently before that). Masks are now required and compliance seems fairly high.

 

We had planned to mask in public areas (we mask for work, have managed to avoid COVID thus far despite being frontline/essential workers, and would like to avoid being sick on vacation if possible, let alone quarantined on ship or in Vancouver at the trip’s end), so this was no concern to us.
 

However, I imagine there are some passengers who are likely disappointed if not upset, since masking on the land tours was uncommon and never even encouraged (we were among a rare few masking on the bus, trains, in the lodge public areas, etc.). Then, we arrive in port, and the staff immediately and emphatically required masking, etc. It was a notable and rapid shift in policy and tone, passengers were scrambling, and we commented that an announcement during any previous phases of the trip probably would have been preferable to help passengers have a sense of the changes and potentially give them options (it seems many folks who don’t like masking are pretty strident in that position). I’m sure there will be some passengers who refuse (we’ve seen a few). Moreover, I am sympathetic to the staff who must now try to enforce this policy and customer service staff who will undoubtedly get an earful about it. However, I think we were the small minority of passengers who had the policy shift mid-trip and future travelers should be aware, but who knows? We didn’t realize how radically our itinerary had changed from our 2020 booking until on-ship despite being dutiful planners. 
 

This is our first cruise, so we have no comparisons. Hope this info is helpful. We appreciated the live reports to help us get a sense of how to prepare for the new era of COVID-travel, so thought I’d pay it forward a bit.

Very kind of you to post.

 It is posted on the website, referencing the mask mandate, in Alaska.  It was updated on June 3rd.  It has always stated, under health protocols, that it may change in different venues or situations and signage will be posted. 
 

Stay safe.

[USCcruisecrazy]

So, back in January of this year when the 7-day running average of new case was 470,000 a day and deaths were a 7-day average of 2582, they made masks optional except when going through the port.  That was a CDC requirement and not a Princess requirement.  Move forward to June of 2022 where the 7-day average of new cases is 106,000 (just over 20% of January) and the deaths are 284 (11% of January numbers) and now masks are again being made mandatory.  Just another example of how inconsistent and non-science based their decisions are.

[dickinson]

24 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

So, back in January of this year when the 7-day running average of new case was 470,000 a day and deaths were a 7-day average of 2582, they made masks optional except when going through the port.  That was a CDC requirement and not a Princess requirement.  Move forward to June of 2022 where the 7-day average of new cases is 106,000 (just over 20% of January) and the deaths are 284 (11% of January numbers) and now masks are again being made mandatory.  Just another example of how inconsistent and non-science based their decisions are.

Masks were MANDATORY in January on Princess.  We cruised for two weeks mid February and it was still mandatory.  I believe it became "suggested" on March 1.  Please get your numbers straight as I think the 7 day average was much lower March 1 than January.  Don't know how it compares to today.

[USCcruisecrazy]

4 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Masks were MANDATORY in January on Princess.  We cruised for two weeks mid February and it was still mandatory.  I believe it became "suggested" on March 1.  Please get your numbers straight as I think the 7 day average was much lower March 1 than January.  Don't know how it compares to today.

Thanks for the correction.  My real point was that things aren't worse as far as deaths...spread is a useless stat because the strength of the virus is so much weaker.  Anyway, I looked at 1 March, the date you say it changed...deaths were at a 7-day average of 1915 on that day.  That's still only 15% of the deaths now as of 1 March.  So still makes no sense!!!

[memoak]

19 minutes ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

So, back in January of this year when the 7-day running average of new case was 470,000 a day and deaths were a 7-day average of 2582, they made masks optional except when going through the port.  That was a CDC requirement and not a Princess requirement.  Move forward to June of 2022 where the 7-day average of new cases is 106,000 (just over 20% of January) and the deaths are 284 (11% of January numbers) and now masks are again being made mandatory.  Just another example of how inconsistent and non-science based their decisions are.

Not inconsistent at all. It appears that cases are up on cruises. Not just Princess, a friend of mine just got stuck in quarantine in Athens following a cruise on an upscale line. Also they are boarding people in Whittier following land tours which means they are at least a week from their last tests and have probably been unmasked for that time

[Guest ldtr]

14 hours ago, AE_Collector said:

No need for any of this, Princess vacation protection allows you to cancel up to a day or so before you board. 

However, that give you a FCC, he was talking about canceling and getting a cash refund.

[Bgwest]

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

Thanks for the correction.  My real point was that things aren't worse as far as deaths...spread is a useless stat because the strength of the virus is so much weaker.  Anyway, I looked at 1 March, the date you say it changed...deaths were at a 7-day average of 1915 on that day.  That's still only 15% of the deaths now as of 1 March.  So still makes no sense!!!

Just the ongoing saga of the cdc desperately struggling to appear to be relevant. 

[AE_Collector]

I thing far too much attention is paid to required/not required and far too little attention to common sense. For example, flying anywhere on a crowded plane, 2 weeks of vacation activity, flying back on the crowd plane and going to work next day in a job where you tend to be in crowded situations and not being bothered to wear a mask (in most cases where masks aren’t required doesn’t make it illegal to wear one) is simply irresponsible behaviour of someone if they were to do that. JMHO….

Edited June 6, 2022 by AE_Collector

[Cali Viajera]

We will be on a land cruise tour beginning June 18.We are required to have a Ovid test before the tour and before embarking in Whittier. We spend two days in Vancouver before flying back to. California.That’s 3 Covid tests we have to pass!

[sunsetme]

Hmm who is bringing the virus onboard? the precruise travelers or the crew?

[capriccio]

11 hours ago, dickinson said:

Masks were MANDATORY in January on Princess.  We cruised for two weeks mid February and it was still mandatory.  I believe it became "suggested" on March 1.  Please get your numbers straight as I think the 7 day average was much lower March 1 than January.  Don't know how it compares to today.

We had the same experience.  We cruised in January on the Caribbean Princess and they were absolutely mandatory; in fact crew had no problems reminding people to put on masks.  We also cruised on the Enchanted Princess for 10 nights beginning March 10 right after they loosened the masking requirements.  They were still required in elevators, embarkation, disembarkation, tenders and on excursion transportation which we complied with.  We saw 100% compliance on our excursions (masks were required by many Caribbean ports still) and embarkation and disembarkation, maybe 75% on elevators (although most people not wearing them put them on when they saw us wearing them), and down to about 25% in the theater. 

 

Two of our group of 6 came down with Covid one on the day before and the other on the day of disembarkation so they most certainly caught it on the cruise.  The only difference between their activity and the four of us who didn't get Covid (and we all self quarantined and then tested a couple of days after disembarkation) was that they had used the gym every day (sometimes multiple times a day) without wearing masks and wonder if that was where they caught it.  Luckily they were fully vaccinated and double boostered and had relatively mild cases.

[dickinson]

6 hours ago, capriccio said:

We had the same experience.  We cruised in January on the Caribbean Princess and they were absolutely mandatory; in fact crew had no problems reminding people to put on masks.  We also cruised on the Enchanted Princess for 10 nights beginning March 10 right after they loosened the masking requirements.  They were still required in elevators, embarkation, disembarkation, tenders and on excursion transportation which we complied with.  We saw 100% compliance on our excursions (masks were required by many Caribbean ports still) and embarkation and disembarkation, maybe 75% on elevators (although most people not wearing them put them on when they saw us wearing them), and down to about 25% in the theater. 

 

Two of our group of 6 came down with Covid one on the day before and the other on the day of disembarkation so they most certainly caught it on the cruise.  The only difference between their activity and the four of us who didn't get Covid (and we all self quarantined and then tested a couple of days after disembarkation) was that they had used the gym every day (sometimes multiple times a day) without wearing masks and wonder if that was where they caught it.  Luckily they were fully vaccinated and double boostered and had relatively mild cases.

I'm sure people catch it from being unmasked... gym and  dining areas are hot spots. People seem to think MDR is a safe zone as they would unmask as soon as they sat down, not just when food was in front of them.  That means sitting for an average of 90 minutes or longer with no mask in a crowded room.  On the Regal in February mask compliance was probably 90% (If I hold this drink in my hand and never sip it I don't need to wear a mask thought a few people!).  I never saw crew tell someone to put a mask on.... even when said crew was talking to a maskless person. This happened a couple of times in Princess Live. 😞

[MissP22]

2 minutes ago, dickinson said:

I'm sure people catch it from being unmasked... gym and  dining areas are hot spots. People seem to think MDR is a safe zone as they would unmask as soon as they sat down, not just when food was in front of them.  That means sitting for an average of 90 minutes or longer with no mask in a crowded room.  On the Regal in February mask compliance was probably 90% (If I hold this drink in my hand and never sip it I don't need to wear a mask thought a few people!).  I never saw crew tell someone to put a mask on.... even when said crew was talking to a maskless person. This happened a couple of times in Princess Live. 😞

We were on the Enchanted on Mar 10 as capriccio was & practically did most of the same things mask less  without catching covid. If you're going to catch it you will regardless of a mask or not. 

We took the elevators most of the times without a mask, which most people did, & never a word was said except for a few people exiting in a huff when it got to crowded. 

They tried to tighten up the protocols 2 cruises later but most people continued in the same fashion without masks although masking seemed to increase somewhat just before the April crossing. 

[dickinson]

@MissP22 I beg to differ with you about masks.  They DO work.  Until Princess dropped the mask mandate March 1 there were barely any posts on here about people catching Covid.  Since then... a lot.  With Omicron the type of mask makes a difference.  N95 or Kn95 (or the Korean equivalent KF94) is so much better.  I have heard that cloth masks are not so good anymore. Of course, wearing a mask correctly is also important.

[MissP22]

1 minute ago, dickinson said:

@MissP22 I beg to differ with you about masks.  They DO work.  Until Princess dropped the mask mandate March 1 there were barely any posts on here about people catching Covid.  Since then... a lot.  With Omicron the type of mask makes a difference.  N95 or Kn95 (or the Korean equivalent KF94) is so much better.  I have heard that cloth masks are not so good anymore. Of course, wearing a mask correctly is also important.

With out having a debate on the effectiveness of masks, I guess we'll just live life dangerously and hope for the best. And yes we'll be cruising without wearing one unless reminded constantly during the trip. We can't stand having to breath through a mask, especially the N95 or Kn95 type.

Perhaps making a homemade one from the thinnest possible material would satisfy the Princess crew when sailing.

[Keksie]

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

  People seem to think MDR is a safe zone as they would unmask as soon as they sat down, not just when food was in front of them.  That means sitting for an average of 90 minutes or longer with no mask in a crowded room.  

So when food is in front of you it is not possible to transmit or catch covid?  Do you time eating with your mask down so that it only takes 15 minutes total?  Does this include drinking or just food?

[LCW]

Well, this has been an interesting thread, but I got my answer.  As masks are now required, there seems to be lack of cleaning protocols compared to earlier in the season,  and an increase in cases, we will have to postpone.  I can't wear a mask as it exacerbates my condition (And the mask didn't prevent me from getting two colds), and I'm high risk for covid.   I don't want to be trapped in my cabin on a cruise I spend $10K for.   

 

What I find interesting is we've gotten several different answers on mask requirements from Princess. One lady on chat told us that masks were only required IN Vancouver and IN Whittier. Another rep told us they weren't required, then the last that they were.   Seems Princess has a lot of training to do with their customer facing staff. 

  

 

 

[dickinson]

4 minutes ago, Keksie said:

So when food is in front of you it is not possible to transmit or catch covid?  Do you time eating with your mask down so that it only takes 15 minutes total?  Does this include drinking or just food?

I think you misunderstood.  Of course you could catch covid while physically eating.  We can't eat masked.  BUT we can look at the menu masked.  When we finish our appetizer course we can mask up while waiting for the next course, etc.  If one wants a sip of something while waiting for food there is sip and cover.  I find that if sitting in the MDR for 90 minutes I am not physically eating for 90 minutes but probably only about 20 minutes or so.  The rest is waiting for food and talking with DH and being masked.

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

 

We took the elevators most of the times without a mask, which most people did, & never a word was said except for a few people exiting in a huff when it got to crowded. 

 

We never said a word but we may have been successful in elevators because 1) we were a group of 6 and 2) two of our group are 6'3" tall and can seem rather authoritative (they are my brothers and are actually very sweet and non-argumentative) to some people 😊.

[Keksie]

19 minutes ago, dickinson said:

I think you misunderstood.  Of course you could catch covid while physically eating.  We can't eat masked.  BUT we can look at the menu masked.  When we finish our appetizer course we can mask up while waiting for the next course, etc.  If one wants a sip of something while waiting for food there is sip and cover.  I find that if sitting in the MDR for 90 minutes I am not physically eating for 90 minutes but probably only about 20 minutes or so.  The rest is waiting for food and talking with DH and being masked.

I didn't misunderstand.  I personally don't understand the point of sip and cover.  Any time you take the mask down you are exposing yourself to the virus.  Constantly pulling a mask up and down seems counterproductive to me.  I have never worn a mask in a restaurant.