BaumD

I think it is a decision the captain makes, not a corporate policy.

You will probably be the youngest people on the ship. The average age on ACL is probably about 70. Very different than cruising on some of the larger cruise ships. No pools, no casino, no specialty restaurants. entertainment is very limited. After dinner there will either be a musical presentation with a trio or duet or possibly a lecture. No flashy shows like on the big ships.

Dump the

Cruise was good. Although northern Mississippi is low, not as bad as lower. Our cruise was not impacted by water levels. Arrived at each port either on time or early.

half the passengers stayed at a hotel in Alton, near the pier. About a week before the cruise, ACL moved about 1/2 the passengers to a hotel in St Louis, a block way from the Arch. Much better than Alton! ACL busses picked us up in downtown St Louis and took us on a tour of Alton (home of worlds tallest man at 8-11) before taking us to the boat. After the cruise the busses took us to MSP airport. Bus left the ship in Redwing at 7:30am.

Another fact to consider. Your cruise is not from St. Paul to St. Louis. Your cruise will start in Redwing Minnesota and end in Alton Illinois. Redwing is about an hour south of the MSP airport and Alton is about 30 minutes north of St. Louis.

Just finished the same cruise in the reverse direction. I know the ship travels faster downstream than upstream, so you will probably spend more time in Port than we did going northbound. As far as seeing fireworks, it may be unlikely. In most ports you leave during the afternoon or early evening and I would suspect fireworks don’t start till after 9 o’clock at night. If you happen to pass a large town or city at fireworks time, you might get a good show as they may be firing fireworks across the river.

When we took the star from Jacksonville to Charleston this past spring, we embarked at Amelia Island. It appears some cruises start in Jacksonville and some start in Amelia Island. You need to check with ACL to see which starting point for your cruise

Currently on the Melody. THERE IS WIFI !  Docked at Hannibal, MO and signal is very strong. 
Now there is no TV as they have a satellite receiver problem. ACL is flying out a satellite expert to fix it. Many unhappy college football fans.

ParkNgo on Eller Drive. Easy.

I'm sure some of the food issues are supply chain problems and the inability to source the products they need.

Melody is the newest ship. Ship has to fight the current going northbound, so tend to move faster going southbound which may allow for more time in ports.

I also had a similar issue. Website shows I have two completed cruises, but in reality I have three. When I called ACL to inquire, they told me that one of my cruises was part of a group booking and even though their records in house show I have three cruises, for some reason the website only shows two.

No laundry service. Only do it yourself machines. But machines are only on some of the newer ships.

There was a rockslide in Skagway a few weeks ago. It damaged the rail lines and one of the docks. Keep that in mind when looking at the excursions for Skagway

Airlines are changing flight schedules daily and canceling flights left and right. Once the airline makes a change I’m sure it takes celebrity a few weeks to catch up and notify the passengers. Unfortunately, this is the new normal.

c

Also on the Star in early April. No evaluation. Maybe they don’t want to know the truth!  My guess is they stopped the evaluations after 75% of the people complained about no WiFi. Either that or they also eliminated WiFi at their main office and the person who sends out the evaluations can’t do it as they have no internet access. 

Never showed my COVID card. They never asked to see it. 

Andy is still Cruise Director. Aimee is new cruise director. Young, engaging, talented. Hard to believe this is her first week as CD. 

On the Star right now

Rapid antigen test at embarkation - YES

COVID waiver - YES

COVID card - was never asked and never showed my card

MASKS- 90% of people do not wear masks on ship. We’re told it was policy to wear masks, with a wink and a nod! Not all crew are masked either. 

Mask on busses - very few masks on busses. While on shore, if local regulations require masks, make sure you have one with you. So far, FL and GA, no masks. 

Tested everyone as you board. 

Suitcasfull

on board and when they brought me my COVID results, she said “I have a letter for you”!  Thanks for the review and sound like you had a great trip. Hoping for the same. 

i have AT&T. leaving in 3 days for American Star. My Iphone plan has unlimited data, but does not allow it to be a hotspot. I can upgrade my plan and get a hotspot, but limited GB's and of course, more money. My Ipad has only 1Gb of data per month. May need to upgrade that. Have not heard a word from ACL about WiFi and leaving on Saturday.

All references to internet service or WiFi has been deleted from their website. Looks like it's gone.

Their WiFi system is (was) based upon cellular. So....no cell signal....no WiFi. Did Columbia river a few years ago and yes, cell signal is very poor in many areas.

Going on the Star in a few weeks. Girlfriend happened to ask me last night (before this thread) if there was WiFi on the ship as she has very limited data on her phone and no data on her ipad (only wifi). I told her yes. Looks like adding 25GB of data for the month will cost about $40.00.