The article says that parks are safer because they're mostly outside whereas cruises are mostly inside but the parks seem to have way more opportunities for people to touch things without clean hands and they don't require vaccinations and COVID tests. The absolute safest thing to do is probably be outside and require vaccines, testing, distancing and mask wearing so those five things combined are probably the ideal.
Being mostly outdoors can help prevent the spread of the virus BUT also encourages some people to be mask free which could increase their chances of contracting or breathing their germs on people when there isn't enough distancing. That being said, I've seen videos of park cast members sanitizing ride vehicles between riders but I don't know if this practice is still ongoing.
Based on what I saw at Disney Springs, Pop Century and on the Disney Fantasy, it felt like the cruise was the safest. Vaccines and tests aside, that was because they limited our ability to touch anything, enforced social distancing (inside and out) and required masks anytime we were inside. I saw them regularly wiping down EVERYTHING even more than they usually do which is saying something since the
DCL has received many awards for cleanliness. Since most of the ship counts as inside there weren't many opportunities to breathe on other people maskless. The lines for the Aquaduck and outdoor food spots were short and distanced.
Even though the area is mostly outdoors, at Disney Springs the security guard and security dog wouldn't let you in unless you had on your mask. I think they figured this shopping/dining district was enclosed enough that they wanted to be extra safe especially since there weren't any social distancing ground markers. That being said, I did see a few people walking around with their masks around their necks who then pulled them up when they entered a store/restaurant or when they were caught by security. Each store/restaurant had a hand sanitizer machine but their use wasn't strictly enforced like on the ship.
Pop was the most lax with everything because even though we were required to be masked indoors, the social distancing wasn't strongly enforced so some people would try to stand right on top of each other in the food lines. Also, around the pool, no one had on a mask and many of those people were just loitering and strolling around the pool area without swimming or eating.
In regards to theme parks that aren't Disney, Universal was NOWHERE near as clean or safe as the Disney Fantasy. After 4 nights on the Fantasy I was actually nervous during my two days at the Universal parks where most people were pretending there wasn't a pandemic.
No social distancing and barely any mask wearing indoors or out.
