What is the on-board experience like right now?

[PaddleAddict]

We cruised in February for the first time in years. The on-board experience was masks for all while indoors regardless of vaccination status. They also had vaccinated and unvaccinated venues. The kids club was limited capacity and allowed only one guaranteed reservation for the entire cruise (a three-day cruise). 
 

We are thinking about booking another cruise for summer and I scoured the FAQs on the RCCl website but I can’t for the life of me get any real information. What is the on-board experience like? Masks indoors still? Distancing? Non-vaccinated passengers not allowed in certain places. Of most importance to us is the kids club. We don’t want to cruise if it’s still limited in any way as that was very disappointing to both my kids and my husband and I. 

[Norwich Cruiser]

We cruised on Navigator b2b last week only the staff wore masks no social distancing or segregation of vaccinated or unvaccinated guests.

 

Kids club was fully running.

 

Windjammer is completely back to self service.

 

On board experience was excellent.

 

 

[PaddleAddict]

3 minutes ago, Norwich Cruiser said:

We cruised on Navigator b2b last week only the staff wore masks no social distancing or segregation of vaccinated or unvaccinated guests.

 

Kids club was fully running.

 

Windjammer is completely back to self service.

 

On board experience was excellent.

 

 

Thank you so much for this report! This is the ship we will be looking at, probably the Catalina/Ensenada itinerary.

 

Do you happen know if unvaccinated passengers can get off the ship in Ensenada? In February it wasn’t allowed unless you booked a ship tour. 

[broadwaybaby123]

I was on Anthem back in April. Everyone 12+ had to be vaccinated in order to cruise, so there was no segregation. Staff wore KN94S while masks were optional onboard for those fully vaccinated. About half the guests, myself included, wore them. We still had to wear them in the terminals and obey local guidance with masking while in port, except on Cocoa Cay and Labadee.

 

I can't comment on the kids club since we didn't travel with kids. The buffet was self-serve. No social distancing, but it was encouraged.

[Ocean Boy]

I was on Allure in April. It was a completely normal cruise in every way other than crew masking and ship only booked to about 60%. I never wore a mask the entire week including ports, airports, planes, and cruise terminals.

[smokeybandit]

Onboard experience is almost back to normal other than the constant stress of being thrown in covid jail

[Ocean Boy]

21 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Onboard experience is almost back to normal other than the constant stress of being thrown in covid jail

I never even gave it a thought.

[Norwich Cruiser]

6 hours ago, PaddleAddict said:

Thank you so much for this report! This is the ship we will be looking at, probably the Catalina/Ensenada itinerary.

 

Do you happen know if unvaccinated passengers can get off the ship in Ensenada? In February it wasn’t allowed unless you booked a ship tour. 

That’s the same itinerary we did.

 

Unvaccinated passengers were allowed off with no ships tout booked.

 

As I said all staff wore masks and a few passengers although they were not mandatory.

 

We sailed about 80% full.

[mndity]

11 hours ago, PaddleAddict said:

 

Just off Quantum after 7 days visiting Alaska and 5 hours in Victoria (4pm to 9pm).  All staff was double masked and wore gloves.  Only problem..... wife tested positive when we got home for Covid.  Sure there is a chance with almost 5000 passengers of crew on board and she had both shots and a booster.  She just gets another few days at home.  No serious issues, just slight fever, cough and sore throat.  Don't know of any problems with unvaccinated. 

[hazeleyes46]

14 minutes ago, mndity said:

Just off Quantum after 7 days visiting Alaska and 5 hours in Victoria (4pm to 9pm).  All staff was double masked and wore gloves.  Only problem..... wife tested positive when we got home for Covid.  Sure there is a chance with almost 5000 passengers of crew on board and she had both shots and a booster.  She just gets another few days at home.  No serious issues, just slight fever, cough and sore throat.  Don't know of any problems with unvaccinated. 

Did she have to test to go back to work? 

[mndity]

she is off work all this week and will have to mask for a week when she does go back.  She does run a daycare center so the masking is an extra measure.

[juhacorno410]

We got off Quantum on the 13th , all staff N-95 masked,  99 % of passengers were not, and I came home with pneumonia, still not doing that great after 10 days on steroids and antibiotics, and many, well over 200, reported coming home and testing positive for covid according to our facebook group.

 

Princess and Holland now require masks inside, not sure if Royal will also adopt that policy.  Staff was very good.

Edited June 22, 2022 by juhacorno410
left out 2 words

[irishgal432]

I have been on multiple cruises since the restart.  I just got back from Alaska in a Star Class room.  Although the cruise was nice and we enjoyed ourselves, I will not be booking any further cruises for a while for the following reasons:

 

1. Even though masked etc, we had a last minute change due to our genie being "unfit" for duty, then our second genie had covid which made us be contract traced to get tested.  My son ended up with Covid the day after we got back.  I knew the risks going in, but its not until you are faced with the realities that Covid sets in.  We are all vax and boosted so he didnt have any major issues.

 

2. Another Covid issue, the cd and activities manager  were "quarantining due to protocols".  Some of the other activities staff were also not around. Our main headliner Goddess was unable to perform, no reason stated. Shows  a nd other venues were packed due to other cancellations.

 

3. Even though we had Star Class, we did go to the Windjammer as Quantum was limited on specility resturants.  There was little variety for lunch every day, it was the same thing.  Did not do dinner, so i cant comment on that.

 

4. They were out of basic liquor items such as a few wines, few rums.

 

5.  Guest services lines were very long every time I walked past, except in the middle of the port days.

 

6.  The staff although great were exhausted due to covering for others and longer than normal contracts, as they cannot get staff to the ships.

 

Is this royals fault.  Not at all.  The only thing I can blame Royal for and not booking anymore sailings is the ships are over a capacity that makes cruising what it was pre pandemic.

 

[smokeybandit]

As long as the CDC requires such strict response to covid cases/suspected exposure, it' be like this,.

[barbeyg]

3 minutes ago, irishgal432 said:

3. Even though we had Star Class, we did go to the Windjammer.  There was little variety for lunch every day, it was the same thing.  Did not do dinner, so i cant comment on that.

 

6.  The staff although great were exhausted due to covering for others and longer than normal contracts, as they cannot get staff to the ships.

 

Hope your son is back to normal.  We got Covid when we sailed Alaska in May, Ovation.   It is what it is these days, isn't it?  🙂

 

I quoted the above.  We don't typically eat much in the Windjammer, but dinner was pretty much the same the couple of nights we ate there on our cruise.  A bit of change with a few desserts (some days), but mostly the same food.  We stopped by for ranger cookies another night, and it appeared to be mostly the same food that night too.  It would have been nice to have a bit of variety, but I understand they are doing the best they can. 

 

Our staff was great too.  Stretched very thin, and I really hope that RCI is able to staff more workers soon.  I felt bad for them.  They didn't complain, but you could tell they were stretched.

 

Here's hoping by next year, things smooth out.

[Tatka]

On 6/21/2022 at 7:18 AM, smokeybandit said:

Onboard experience is almost back to normal other than the constant stress of being thrown in covid jail

 

Really? We cruised 7 times since the restart and never worried about this.

It is not like there was any mass tests. We were slightly worried on B2B during this winter when we needed to test.

[Tatka]

On our March cruise masks were not mandatory anymore.

On June's buffets became self served. (this one I think could leave as is actually)

[smokeybandit]

14 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

Really? We cruised 7 times since the restart and never worried about this.

It is not like there was any mass tests. We were slightly worried on B2B during this winter when we needed to test.

I live at high altitude, so going to sea level I always get congestion and sore throats in the morning.  But in the back of my head it's "well what if it's covid and someone rats me out for coughing"

[Tatka]

9 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

I live at high altitude, so going to sea level I always get congestion and sore throats in the morning.  But in the back of my head it's "well what if it's covid and someone rats me out for coughing"

 

 I have seen people coughing and nobody was reporting them.

 Only people who visit medical office with complaints and test positive get quarantined. 

[PaddleAddict]

Thank you all so much for the replies! Some of this makes us more inclined to book, especially if the kids clubs are operating normally again. But it would be really disappointing to cruise if the experiences are diminished due to so many staff out for covid. Maybe they should not be booking the ships so full? 
 

We all had covid already so not too concerned about picking it up. More worried about noro, which we’ve gotten on cruises. Too bad the buffets are self serve again. I really liked not having to touch the utensils. 

[F27TW]

53 minutes ago, Tatka said:

 

 I have seen people coughing and nobody was reporting them.

 Only people who visit medical office with complaints and test positive get quarantined. 

 

 

 .. would you honestly go and "report" someone you saw who'd coughed?  Nobody likes a tattletale, you know .. . . 

 

 

[Tatka]

Of course I won't.

I am there to relax, not watch what other people do.

 

If they cough on me I will respond for sure. 😆

[cynt]

I've cruised 4 times since the re-start, September, Christmas, Easter and May. Everything is back to normal. No mask, no segregation of vaccinated and not vaccinated, no wristbands, self serve in the buffets (I must admit I miss the servers serving everyone), jam packed elevators (LOL!), no social distancing, all the tables available in the Windjammer, No scanning in and out of Windjammer, chair hogs are back and everyone seems more relaxed and respects those who want to social distance and wear mask.

[neverbeenhere]

Yup,. most cruises are back to normal-ish.  Someone mentioned being Contract Traced, not that's pretty scary.

[Tatka]

   Actually I witnessed some weird scene. I was riding elevator on Oasis several weeks ago. Now people rarely adhere to Covid rules about 4-6 people in elevator (rules are not even posted I think). So there was one lady who did not like that someone who was #9 entered elevator. She started screaming at him demanding to leave... But that was only one nuisance out of 7 days cruise.