Emergency notice from Princess
 

We are sailing this Sunday on the Majestic Princess from Seattle to Alaska. I just got a notice from Princess that we must wear a mask in all indoor public areas of the ship. The exceptions are while you are eating or drinking you may remove the mask. I'm OK with this because we are better safe than sorry but I think there will be some unhappy passengers. I will not be an unhappy passenger as it's still quite a privilege to take a cruise.

It's not just Princess. Looks like all the lines sailing from the US are instituting the same mask policy. Carnival and I think RCL are also requiring even vaxxed passengers to get tested at their own expense before boarding.

Also looks like all the mass market ships sailing from US or Caribbean ports have enough cases on board to trigger a CDC investigation: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...al-travel.html

our last cruise was February 2020 out of Dubai. 12 hours before we were due to embark we got notices from Royal Caribbean that if you had been in China w/i 15 days prior to embarkation you will be denied boarding. This of course was for concern about spreading COVID-19. I was up quite late watching the Super Bowl when I got this message.
Now I do not know how many passengers were affected by this nor do I know what if anything was done for them if they had to cancel for this reason. Some had to have been denied boarding.

Vaccinated friends came down with COVID on an Alaskan cruise recently. A cruise is high risk as far as I am concerned.

I hope you have a wonderful time! Please report back about your experience. I am interested to know how you like the large ship.

Thank you katybird. We sailed about an hour ago and within 30 minutes we saw a pod of orcas. The ship is magnificent, it will be a great week.

How wonderful. I hope the rest of your trip goes well. We loved Alaska.

Bon Voyage! :)

AFAIK There have been two outbreaks on small cruise ships in Alaska which do NOT require vaccination. One passenger on Celebrity Millenium was reported. There have been (of course) many more outbreaks on the Florida cruises. But we don't have public figures for those who tested positive after leaving the ships.

With Delta being transmissible even when vaccinated and movement of passengers between airports, hotels and ships in Seattle and the cruise ports, they are going to be cautious. Good for them.

Let us know how your Alaska cruise goes!

Exactly why would there be "many more outbreaks" on Florida cruises? Not everyone who cruises from Florida actually lives in the state.

It's not only Florida. See: https://www.cruiselawnews.com/

I think it's crazy that anyone is allowed (or would want to) take a cruise without the vaccine. Our cruise was wonderful. It was refreshing to be in the company of vaccinated people as well as people who understand the importance of masking. I highly recommend Princess for the rules they have in place to protect us.

Thanks, P M

Princess now wants a test 48 hours before sailing (a month ago it was 3 days).