Current Covid Restriction on The Ships

[SweetSpot]

Recent cruisers, have they lessened any of the covid precautions? Are we able to serve ourselves at buffets, the drink station or ice cream? Are they still seating every other row, three seat between parties, in the theatre. Not allowing drinks into the theatre? Any added entertainment?

 

[tink2020]

Leaving the Fantasy today

But YES to your overall question! Not everything is back to normal, but when the mask requirement changed 3/11 it was like a switch flipped.

• Kids can come and go as they please in Oceaneer Club and Lab, including going between both (if both are open)

• beverages are self-serve on pool deck and on castaway cay, but not in cabanas. Ice cream is still not self-serve.

• no masks anywhere but Walt Disney Theater, as advertised - and now you can seat yourself again in a theater (that is allowing far more people)

• no food and drink in theater still

• LOTS more entertainment! We had 3 shows, 2 variety acts (in WDT… that also performed many smaller shows), and a movie in WDT as well. That was very much like old times!

• no queueing for shops anymore, though Whosits still only allows one party.

• some things did still hit capacity pretty early, especially bingo and a few trivias. FYI.

• lounges all have regular hours again, unlike when they’d recently only been open for beverage seminars

• no masks required on Castway Cay, though they asked us to bring them in case some of the shops asked for them, etc

• still somewhat staggered dining arrival times and only one party per table at dinner. We don’t mind either of those changes, personally

• still no hair braiding

• still pool capacity and 15-minute limit nonsense, despite the small fountain areas having twice as many people in a quarter of the space, unmonitored

• So much more live music, etc than our December cruise…. even in the atrium each night, which was really noticeable when it was missing!

• “official” pirate night is back, though it wasn’t announced in advance. Even our servers were surprised by it in the dining room Fireworks weren’t themed and no deck party or buffet, but many trivias, game shows, crafts, etc were themed - along with dinner.

• still using virtual queueing to leave in ports, except when it didn’t work. Then everyone just lined up as they used to, and nobody seemed bothered by it.

• if you do a port adventure, you have to check back on the ship when it’s finished and then you can check right back off if you want to explore more. We hadn’t done Disney-led excursions since maybe 2018, so I’m not sure when this began. It was very much presented as a COVID thing though (“safety”, “bubble”, “guests who don’t check in with the group may have to quarantine”, etc)

• character dance parties - except socially distanced, “dance on your dot style”, silent DJ parties (though only for adults), etc were back. Honestly SO much more to do; we were back to the problem of having too many to choose from and having to miss some! After an extremely limited December cruise, this was a really nice problem to have.

That’s off the top of my head on no sleep… though I keep coming back to edit for more.

LMK if you have any specific questions!

 

[Dug720]

• no food and drink in theater still

That is due to masking. I know when Broadway first reopened they had limited bars in the theaters - but it became a big problem with people not putting masks back on between sips as they were supposed to and nursing a drink for the whole performance with mask off that they've all closed again because the actors weren't comfortable with the amount of unmasking going on.

 

[lizzyb]

Thanks for the update!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

• no food and drink in theater still

Did you actually try? I brought drinks into the theater on a Magic sailing months ago. Everyone seemed to assume they weren't allowed but when I asked the CM she said of course I could, as long as I put my mask on when not actively drinking.

 

[Disneygirlxo91]

Leaving the Fantasy today

But YES to your overall question! Not everything is back to normal, but when the mask requirement changed 3/11 it was like a switch flipped.

• Kids can come and go as they please in Oceaneer Club and Lab, including going between both (if both are open)

• beverages are self-serve on pool deck and on castaway cay, but not in cabanas. Ice cream is still not self-serve.

• no masks anywhere but Walt Disney Theater, as advertised - and now you can seat yourself again in a theater (that is allowing far more people)

• no food and drink in theater still

• LOTS more entertainment! We had 3 shows, 2 variety acts (in WDT… that also performed many smaller shows), and a movie in WDT as well. That was very much like old times!

• no queueing for shops anymore, though Whosits still only allows one party.

• some things did still hit capacity pretty early, especially bingo and a few trivias. FYI.

• lounges all have regular hours again, unlike when they’d recently only been open for beverage seminars

• no masks required on Castway Cay, though they asked us to bring them in case some of the shops asked for them, etc

• still somewhat staggered dining arrival times and only one party per table at dinner. We don’t mind either of those changes, personally

• still no hair braiding

• still pool capacity and 15-minute limit nonsense, despite the small fountain areas having twice as many people in a quarter of the space, unmonitored

• So much more live music, etc than our December cruise…. even in the atrium each night, which was really noticeable when it was missing!

• “official” pirate night is back, though it wasn’t announced in advance. Even our servers were surprised by it in the dining room Fireworks weren’t themed and no deck party or buffet, but many trivias, game shows, crafts, etc were themed - along with dinner.

• still using virtual queueing to leave in ports, except when it didn’t work. Then everyone just lined up as they used to, and nobody seemed bothered by it.

• if you do a port adventure, you have to check back on the ship when it’s finished and then you can check right back off if you want to explore more. We hadn’t done Disney-led excursions since maybe 2018, so I’m not sure when this began. It was very much presented as a COVID thing though (“safety”, “bubble”, “guests who don’t check in with the group may have to quarantine”, etc)

• character dance parties - except socially distanced, “dance on your dot style”, silent DJ parties (though only for adults), etc were back. Honestly SO much more to do; we were back to the problem of having too many to choose from and having to miss some! After an extremely limited December cruise, this was a really nice problem to have.

That’s off the top of my head on no sleep… though I keep coming back to edit for more.

LMK if you have any specific questions!

For the theater for shows do you have to sit directly next to the party by you or can you leave space?

In terms of hair braiding on castaway when we did our double dip on the magic in December it was open. However I noticed on the dream in March it was closed. I wonder if this is Covid related or not since they have had it since Covid.

 

[insureman]

Did you actually try? I brought drinks into the theater on a Magic sailing months ago. Everyone seemed to assume they weren't allowed but when I asked the CM she said of course I could, as long as I put my mask on when not actively drinking.

On the Fantasy a couple of weeks ago the CMs turned away people with drinks and food and told them they could return when finished.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

On the Fantasy a couple of weeks ago the CMs turned away people with drinks and food and told them they could return when finished.

Weird that policy is either going back and forth or is different depending on the ship. We had one bartender at Preludes serving drinks. No popcorn or other food though.

 

[lklgoodman]

Leaving the Fantasy today

But YES to your overall question! Not everything is back to normal, but when the mask requirement changed 3/11 it was like a switch flipped.

• Kids can come and go as they please in Oceaneer Club and Lab, including going between both (if both are open)

• beverages are self-serve on pool deck and on castaway cay, but not in cabanas. Ice cream is still not self-serve.

• no masks anywhere but Walt Disney Theater, as advertised - and now you can seat yourself again in a theater (that is allowing far more people)

• no food and drink in theater still

• LOTS more entertainment! We had 3 shows, 2 variety acts (in WDT… that also performed many smaller shows), and a movie in WDT as well. That was very much like old times!

• no queueing for shops anymore, though Whosits still only allows one party.

• some things did still hit capacity pretty early, especially bingo and a few trivias. FYI.

• lounges all have regular hours again, unlike when they’d recently only been open for beverage seminars

• no masks required on Castway Cay, though they asked us to bring them in case some of the shops asked for them, etc

• still somewhat staggered dining arrival times and only one party per table at dinner. We don’t mind either of those changes, personally

• still no hair braiding

• still pool capacity and 15-minute limit nonsense, despite the small fountain areas having twice as many people in a quarter of the space, unmonitored

• So much more live music, etc than our December cruise…. even in the atrium each night, which was really noticeable when it was missing!

• “official” pirate night is back, though it wasn’t announced in advance. Even our servers were surprised by it in the dining room Fireworks weren’t themed and no deck party or buffet, but many trivias, game shows, crafts, etc were themed - along with dinner.

• still using virtual queueing to leave in ports, except when it didn’t work. Then everyone just lined up as they used to, and nobody seemed bothered by it.

• if you do a port adventure, you have to check back on the ship when it’s finished and then you can check right back off if you want to explore more. We hadn’t done Disney-led excursions since maybe 2018, so I’m not sure when this began. It was very much presented as a COVID thing though (“safety”, “bubble”, “guests who don’t check in with the group may have to quarantine”, etc)

• character dance parties - except socially distanced, “dance on your dot style”, silent DJ parties (though only for adults), etc were back. Honestly SO much more to do; we were back to the problem of having too many to choose from and having to miss some! After an extremely limited December cruise, this was a really nice problem to have.

That’s off the top of my head on no sleep… though I keep coming back to edit for more.

LMK if you have any specific questions!

Who were the variety acts? We cruise in one week. Glad they have more entertainment now.

 

[insureman]

Weird that policy is either going back and forth or is different depending on the ship. We had one bartender at Preludes serving drinks. No popcorn or other food though.

Preludes was closed on our cruise.

 

[Ohmymonty]

Leaving the Fantasy today

But YES to your overall question! Not everything is back to normal, but when the mask requirement changed 3/11 it was like a switch flipped.

• Kids can come and go as they please in Oceaneer Club and Lab, including going between both (if both are open)

• beverages are self-serve on pool deck and on castaway cay, but not in cabanas. Ice cream is still not self-serve.

• no masks anywhere but Walt Disney Theater, as advertised - and now you can seat yourself again in a theater (that is allowing far more people)

• no food and drink in theater still

• LOTS more entertainment! We had 3 shows, 2 variety acts (in WDT… that also performed many smaller shows), and a movie in WDT as well. That was very much like old times!

• no queueing for shops anymore, though Whosits still only allows one party.

• some things did still hit capacity pretty early, especially bingo and a few trivias. FYI.

• lounges all have regular hours again, unlike when they’d recently only been open for beverage seminars

• no masks required on Castway Cay, though they asked us to bring them in case some of the shops asked for them, etc

• still somewhat staggered dining arrival times and only one party per table at dinner. We don’t mind either of those changes, personally

• still no hair braiding

• still pool capacity and 15-minute limit nonsense, despite the small fountain areas having twice as many people in a quarter of the space, unmonitored

• So much more live music, etc than our December cruise…. even in the atrium each night, which was really noticeable when it was missing!

• “official” pirate night is back, though it wasn’t announced in advance. Even our servers were surprised by it in the dining room Fireworks weren’t themed and no deck party or buffet, but many trivias, game shows, crafts, etc were themed - along with dinner.

• still using virtual queueing to leave in ports, except when it didn’t work. Then everyone just lined up as they used to, and nobody seemed bothered by it.

• if you do a port adventure, you have to check back on the ship when it’s finished and then you can check right back off if you want to explore more. We hadn’t done Disney-led excursions since maybe 2018, so I’m not sure when this began. It was very much presented as a COVID thing though (“safety”, “bubble”, “guests who don’t check in with the group may have to quarantine”, etc)

• character dance parties - except socially distanced, “dance on your dot style”, silent DJ parties (though only for adults), etc were back. Honestly SO much more to do; we were back to the problem of having too many to choose from and having to miss some! After an extremely limited December cruise, this was a really nice problem to have.

That’s off the top of my head on no sleep… though I keep coming back to edit for more.

LMK if you have any specific questions!

Thanks for the update...I've got a cruise booked on the Fantast for next month, so I'm curious...

Were character interactions any different? Are they still distancing? My boyfriend has never gotten a Mickey hug and I'm really hoping the restrictions will losen in time for us.

What was the capacity/attendance on your cruise? I was wondering if after the mask restriction was lifted if they quietly increased capacity.

Were people dressed up in costume for pirate night? Or was it such a surprise that no one had the chance to pack?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Kwami]

I guess it's a month since, but in mid-February, drinks were not allowed in the Walt Disney Theater and Preludes was closed on the Dream. My mother was actually turned away because she had her water bottle in her hand when we arrived at the theater and they wouldn't let us get seats until she went back to her room to drop off the water bottle. And pirate night has always been on the 4-night Dream sailings! Only the Fantasy stopped doing it for some reason...

Glad to see that things are opening up, though. I don't especially want the crowds to return, but I guess they're necessary for Disney to bring back all of the missing entertainment. It looks like deck parties are the last big thing that still hasn't returned. Hopefully, soon!

 

[Disneygirlxo91]

I guess it's a month since, but in mid-February, drinks were not allowed in the Walt Disney Theater and Preludes was closed on the Dream. My mother was actually turned away because she had her water bottle in her hand when we arrived at the theater and they wouldn't let us get seats until she went back to her room to drop off the water bottle. And pirate night has always been on the 4-night Dream sailings! Only the Fantasy stopped doing it for some reason...

Glad to see that things are opening up, though. I don't especially want the crowds to return, but I guess they're necessary for Disney to bring back all of the missing entertainment. It looks like deck parties are the last big thing that still hasn't returned. Hopefully, soon!

I had a bottle of water when I went to the theater in early March but now that I think about it, it might of been in my bag. That is crazy they made her return to her room to drop it off.

 

[tink2020]

Duplicate response

 

[tink2020]

Did you actually try? I brought drinks into the theater on a Magic sailing months ago. Everyone seemed to assume they weren't allowed but when I asked the CM she said of course I could, as long as I put my mask on when not actively drinking.

Oh they for sure weren’t allowing it. Both in December and this week (walking in without thinking) we had to finish what we were eating or drinking, and saw several others asked to do the same.

For the theater for shows do you have to sit directly next to the party by you or can you leave space?

In terms of hair braiding on castaway when we did our double dip on the magic in December it was open. However I noticed on the dream in March it was closed. I wonder if this is Covid related or not since they have had it since Covid.

That is strange! We hadnt seen it on our last cruise either, so assumed it hadn’t returned. On the island I could see it being hit or Miss…I wonder if it returned at all on the ships, intermittently.

in the theater you can absolutely leave space!

Weird that policy is either going back and forth or is different depending on the ship. We had one bartender at Preludes serving drinks. No popcorn or other food though.

super strange! I could understand preludes sometimes having staff, sometimes not… but couldn’t even imagine them allowing beverages given our experiences

Who were the variety acts? We cruise in one week. Glad they have more entertainment now.

Taylor mason (ventriloquist, though less ventriloquism than in the past - more other stuff)

eric Jones (Magic)

& Moonshot (a capella)

Thanks for the update...I've got a cruise booked on the Fantast for next month, so I'm curious...

Were character interactions any different? Are they still distancing? My boyfriend has never gotten a Mickey hug and I'm really hoping the restrictions will losen in time for us.

What was the capacity/attendance on your cruise? I was wondering if after the mask restriction was lifted if they quietly increased capacity.

Were people dressed up in costume for pirate night? Or was it such a surprise that no one had the chance to pack?

Thanks for sharing!

characters all still distanced :/
People dressed up, but not any more than had in December when there were no actual pirate activities. I was surprised how many people had then, just sort of on their own (organized online, I think)

 

[CaptainAmerica]

For the theater for shows do you have to sit directly next to the party by you or can you leave space?

In terms of hair braiding on castaway when we did our double dip on the magic in December it was open. However I noticed on the dream in March it was closed. I wonder if this is Covid related or not since they have had it since Covid.

My December double dip, Castaway was different the two different stops even within the same sailing. One stop, almost all of the shops were closed, we had to wear masks on the tram, and drinks were poured by crew. On the second stop, no masks on the tram, lots of shops were open, and and drinks were self-serve.

 

[lklgoodman]

Yea Taylor Mason!! We've seen him on 3 previous cruises and he's always great! Hope he's still on when we cruise next Saturday!!

 

[RysMomma]

This is making me feel a bit more positive for my August crusie!

 

[Avasmama]

How was the night entertainment in the tube? Was there more and less social distancing?

 

[Cheburashka]

For the theater for shows do you have to sit directly next to the party by you or can you leave space?

Were character interactions any different? Are they still distancing? My boyfriend has never gotten a Mickey hug...

What was the capacity/attendance on your cruise? I was wondering if after the mask restriction was lifted if they quietly increased capacity.

Were people dressed up in costume for pirate night? Or was it such a surprise that no one had the chance to pack?

I was on the same cruise as the PP.

You could sit as you liked in the theatre. CMs didn't try to control seating in any way, neither telling you to scoot down the row nor to stay separate from other parties. Thank goodness. (If I take the trouble to arrive early & snag an aisle seat, it's because I really want an aisle seat. Don't tell me to scoot over so that latecomers can have the aisle.)

No character hugs, still distanced photos. Characters did appear at scheduled times for these photos, which was different than when I cruised in October. However, the app just said "character photo"& didn't specify which character when or what type of outfit.

Not much pirate dressing up. No real pirate party, as PP mentioned. I did know in advance from social media that there would be a pirate-themed dinner, so for many it wasn't a surprise.

I don't know if they increased capacity, but it was a crowded, busy cruise. Just like any spring break Fantasy cruise would have been in the past.