Recent cruise reviews

[Izena]

I’m  disappointed we haven’t  heard from anyone that has taken the first cruises to start with ACL.   No comments from ACL.

 That the first cruises were successful.  The silence makes me concerned.

[A93hokiecruiser]

Agree! I'm sailing April 10th on the Star and I was hoping to see comments too.

[jklc123]

I'm curious, too.

 

[Love.II.Cruise]

I'm also curious.

[A93hokiecruiser]

I found this on FB - "we had 24 guests on the ship. It’s capacity was 100. All of us went on one bus to most excursions.  There was one time they used two smaller busses. We were the first ship to sail in North America since last March.."

[BaumD]

I’ve been following the Independence on Marinetraffic and it has been hitting all the ports on the schedule.

[Texasramblinreck]

I have been looking for reviews as well.  We are on the America Jazz July 11 and our final payment is due April 12.  We both have our vaccines, but concerned about this testing requirements just 4 days before.  CDC released their recommendations today for vacillated travelers.  Hopefully ACL will make some adjustments.  This will be our first River Cruise, been on 15 ocean cruise, but need a warmer feeling before I put down the remaining $!0,500.

[DaveinCharlotte]

17 hours ago, Texasramblinreck said:

I have been looking for reviews as well.  We are on the America Jazz July 11 and our final payment is due April 12.  We both have our vaccines, but concerned about this testing requirements just 4 days before.  CDC released their recommendations today for vacillated travelers.  Hopefully ACL will make some adjustments.  This will be our first River Cruise, been on 15 ocean cruise, but need a warmer feeling before I put down the remaining $!0,500.

We're in a similar situation -- will be on American Star mid July, and it's soon time to pay our ten grand.  We too have our vaccinations, and are concerned about the timing of the PCR test.  Seems problematic getting it early enough that results will be ready in time yet late enough it will still be current upon arrival.  And no idea how one gets PCR results to ACL; we do not have a smartphone.  We think American Queen Steamboat Company has the right idea...mandate vaccinations, and administer the PCR test themselves upon arrival.  Like you, we hope ACL will adjust.

[cwatts15]

We just got back from sailing the lower Mississippi on the Queen of the Mississippi. There was originally about 110 passengers per customer service about 3 weeks before cruise but only 38 actually boarded. Most cancelled due no vaccinations. The cruise was good. Great service. Food was mostly good.

 

As for the excursions- we had signed up and paid for some premium excursions but when we got on board they were all cancelled except Graceland. They had 2 buses running small group excursions. The excursions were mostly good but some were challenging for some of our family members that had mobility issues so they couldn’t go. We wore our masks and had to social distance most times. Graceland VIP tour was not good for us due to the mobility challenges we faced.

 

We had a great speaker on the Civil war daily and a lady that gave a few craft classes. Entertainment was a  couple playing piano and a singer. There was cocktails every evening.

 

Service was excellent all over the ship. We wore masks in public areas and took them off while dining or drinking.

 

We had no problem boarding. They did a health screening-simple questions, and they did a rapid antigen test before we board the ship.

 

This is my 1st cruise with ACL and overall I enjoyed it. However, I am still not happy with how ACL is not being transparent about mandating vaccinations, now I heard was through April 30th. All they say on the website is that they are” regularly communicating with guests about additional requirements like vaccinations and shoreside operating requirement” like cancelling many excursions without notifying us until we get on the ship. Disappointing

 

But besides making Covid vaccinations mandatory for all passengers right now,

 I also found out that the crew is not vaccinated. I spoke with many of them and I was told that since they didn’t have there vaccines, the crew were not able to get off the ship -that they were “in a ship bubble”.  I was surprised to hear this. I assumed that the crew would be vaccinated since they were mandating them for passengers. Well, I assumed wrong!  
 

As for the “ship bubble”, I saw crew mingling with the public on the shore, unloading delivery trucks and bringing supplies to the ship, and was told by a crew member that several of them got to go to Walmart for their personal supplies. They don’t mention this at all.

 

I worry about this because they are only requiring 1st shot vaccine at least 2weeks before cruise for passengers. There is varying data on the effectiveness of the vaccine ranging from 52%-90% 2 weeks after 1st dose. Maybe it will be better with J&J vaccine. People are still vulnerable and even more so if you have unvaccinated crew that don’t truly stay in a bubble.

 

I just think ACL needs to be more transparent about their current Covid policies and vaccination requirements for both crew and passengers, so passengers can consider the risks and make a true informed decision about whether they should go on their cruise or reschedule.

 

My advice is call frequently about updates and don’t be surprised about any changes you find out about when you get on board. Everything they do is covered under there right to change anything due to Covid. 
 

Happy sailing!

[BaumD]

7 hours ago, cwatts15 said:

We just got back from sailing the lower Mississippi on the Queen of the Mississippi. There was originally about 110 passengers per customer service about 3 weeks before cruise but only 38 actually boarded. Most cancelled due no vaccinations. The cruise was good. Great service. Food was mostly good.

 

As for the excursions- we had signed up and paid for some premium excursions but when we got on board they were all cancelled except Graceland. They had 2 buses running small group excursions. The excursions were mostly good but some were challenging for some of our family members that had mobility issues so they couldn’t go. We wore our masks and had to social distance most times. Graceland VIP tour was not good for us due to the mobility challenges we faced.

 

We had a great speaker on the Civil war daily and a lady that gave a few craft classes. Entertainment was a  couple playing piano and a singer. There was cocktails every evening.

 

Service was excellent all over the ship. We wore masks in public areas and took them off while dining or drinking.

 

We had no problem boarding. They did a health screening-simple questions, and they did a rapid antigen test before we board the ship.

 

This is my 1st cruise with ACL and overall I enjoyed it. However, I am still not happy with how ACL is not being transparent about mandating vaccinations, now I heard was through April 30th. All they say on the website is that they are” regularly communicating with guests about additional requirements like vaccinations and shoreside operating requirement” like cancelling many excursions without notifying us until we get on the ship. Disappointing

 

But besides making Covid vaccinations mandatory for all passengers right now,

 I also found out that the crew is not vaccinated. I spoke with many of them and I was told that since they didn’t have there vaccines, the crew were not able to get off the ship -that they were “in a ship bubble”.  I was surprised to hear this. I assumed that the crew would be vaccinated since they were mandating them for passengers. Well, I assumed wrong!  
 

As for the “ship bubble”, I saw crew mingling with the public on the shore, unloading delivery trucks and bringing supplies to the ship, and was told by a crew member that several of them got to go to Walmart for their personal supplies. They don’t mention this at all.

 

I worry about this because they are only requiring 1st shot vaccine at least 2weeks before cruise for passengers. There is varying data on the effectiveness of the vaccine ranging from 52%-90% 2 weeks after 1st dose. Maybe it will be better with J&J vaccine. People are still vulnerable and even more so if you have unvaccinated crew that don’t truly stay in a bubble.

 

I just think ACL needs to be more transparent about their current Covid policies and vaccination requirements for both crew and passengers, so passengers can consider the risks and make a true informed decision about whether they should go on their cruise or reschedule.

 

My advice is call frequently about updates and don’t be surprised about any changes you find out about when you get on board. Everything they do is covered under there right to change anything due to Covid. 
 

Happy sailing!

Thanks for a complete update!

[BaumD]

Cwatts15. - were you allowed off the ship on your own or did you have to stay with a ship’s excursion?

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Thank you CWatts15 for your comprehensive review. I had been wondering how ACL was doing with their start up. Sounds like some hiccups that need to be worked out but at least some line is sailing.

[BaumD]

Looks like 2/3 of the people signed up for the cruise had to cancel due to the last minute vaccine requirement. That's 70+ people who are probably very unhappy with ACL. Wonder if they got their money back or if the are stuck with vouchers?

[Izena]

 Cwatts — thanks for the info.   
 

this is such a terrible time for the cruise industry   - damned if they do and damned if they don’t.  
 

 

[DaveinCharlotte]

On 4/2/2021 at 5:09 PM, Texasramblinreck said:

We both have our vaccines, but concerned about this testing requirements just 4 days before.

Looks like ACL has been listening -- they just dropped their 4-day-in-advance PCR requirement for fully-vaccinated passengers!

 

"Fully vaccinated guests are not required to obtain a COVID-19 test prior to travelling to the ship and will be asked to present proof of the vaccine (i.e. vaccination card) at time of boarding. A guest is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last recommended dose of vaccine."

 

Still have to get the rapid test upon arrival, of course.

[cwatts15]

16 hours ago, BaumD said:

Cwatts15. - were you allowed off the ship on your own or did you have to stay with a ship’s excursion?

We went on their excursions, but we walked into town by ourselves without any issues.

[cwatts15]

12 hours ago, DaveinCharlotte said:

Looks like ACL has been listening -- they just dropped their 4-day-in-advance PCR requirement for fully-vaccinated passengers!

 

"Fully vaccinated guests are not required to obtain a COVID-19 test prior to travelling to the ship and will be asked to present proof of the vaccine (i.e. vaccination card) at time of boarding. A guest is considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the last recommended dose of vaccine."

 

Still have to get the rapid test upon arrival, of course.

That is awesome!!!

[cwatts15]

16 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

Thank you CWatts15 for your comprehensive review. I had been wondering how ACL was doing with their start up. Sounds like some hiccups that need to be worked out but at least some line is sailing.

It went much smoother than I thought it would. I am glad ACL are stepping up and cruising before many others. We are ready to be cruising again and support there efforts. We just need to know what the rules are, what to expect, and don’t want to be taken advantage of in the name of Covid.