‘Wear your mask and eat’ – new bizarre ruling for cruise passengers

The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has come under attack from a top cruise boss over its latest ruling.

The feared health organisation had ruled that vaccinated passengers would be required to wear masks in outside areas, even when eating or drinking indoors.

Frank Del Rio, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, last week commented on the absurdity of some of the CDC’s regulations, including wearing masks while eating.

“In between bites of your meal and in between sips of your beverage, you have to put on your mask, take off your mask. So nobody should order soup because your mask might get sloppy,” said Mr Del Rio.

“So that, to me, is just preposterous.” 

Later, the CDC amended its ruling to allow vaccinated passengers to remove masks outdoors unless they’re in a crowded area.  However, unvaccinated passengers will still be required to wear masks.

But the tough rules on restaurant eating remains. “Removal of the mask for extended meal service or beverage consumption would constitute a violation,” the CDC stressed. 

One can only imagine, sliding a mask on and off in-between bites of a meal, is an extremely unsettling inconvenience on what’s meant to be a relaxing holiday. 

The CDC has relaxed some of its restrictions on shore excursions. Previously, it  banned all independent shore exploration, regardless of the passenger’s vaccination status.  Now it has ruled that vaccinated passengers “may engage in self-guided or independent exploration during port stops if they wear a mask while indoors.”