Post allure august 8-15

[rtazz17]

We were  on last weeks cruise on allure.. We have cruised for years. I wont say I regret going but its near that. By mid week I had enough of everything. Not being able to get coffee or touch anything pretty much. Wash your hands 5 times to get a coffee,lol. If your familiar with what normally is available,activities etc,there was hardly any. You dont think you will miss a lot of it until its not there. Cruising at 1/3 capacity the ship was a ghost ship. If you hate people you will enjoy it. Board walk(ghost town),we were the only ones on boardwalk at 9pm several nights,central park(ghost town). Yeah sounds great untill you realize what makes things fun is the energy of the people there. Never get to see any of staffs faces,no big deal right? No it gets old. Im not saying some might not enjoy it but there wasnt much to do. St thomas you were walking streets in masks in 90 degree weather. I guess it is what it is. I thought it would be better but it wasnt. First couple days were ok but I literally wore a mask more in 7 days then I did in 16 months. Hours daily. If you think you can hold a drink in your hand and walk around the promanade mask less think again,not happening. At the end of the week I was very much looking forward to going home. Knowing what I know I wont do it again. Yes this is how it probably has to be right now for cruising to survive. Just posting our experience. I fooled myself into thinking it would be fun,but I think I knewin the back of my head it probably wasnt going to be.If you are genuinely afraid of covid you will enjoy it. Because its like the protocols we lived with in march of 2020. 

 

Please dont jump all over me in this post. Just my opinion your mileage may vary.

 

I am a firefighter/paramedic 20years on job. Well aware of all the facts of covid. Treated patients since the beginning of covid. So please dont advise me on what you think the facts are. Im well aware. 
We are in our 40s with two older teenagers for reference. Maybe older crowd would enjoy more? Idk. But we arent hermits and this is what it seemed like.   
 

on a better note we did enjoy florida. Guess being with people and seeing faces is what we enjoy. Retiring there in 7 years. 

[newcruzer2]

Thank you for review. I am sorry you had a bad time. All your comments would probably echo mine if we had gone yet. I am about to pay final payment, and I must say your review saddens me Greatly. I don't get the vaccine JUST to go on vacation but after 2 1/2 yrs of No vacation, I was foolishly hopefully for better than your experience.

As a fully vaxed couple we hopefully to be mask free on-board ( by Dec )

HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT

[Dickfey]

Did they have any entertainment ?

[Ocean Boy]

Very interesting to read your comments.

[ScubaDo]

Thank you for your honest post. I have worked in surgery all of my life, but wearing a mask in public is like I never escape my job. Many do not understand this. We go on cruises to escape. I am vaccinated, and I understand. Just sayin' 🙂

[PTC DAWG]

Fair enough, I sailed Celebrity Equinox recently at less than 40% capacity two weeks ago, it was wonderful…

 

Sailing Allure in Sept with extended family…8 in 4 cabins, Eastern Caribbean.  One question, are masks required in Vaccinated (V) venues? 
 

Our ship should be fully vaccinated over 12…

[Espn]

Very interesting comments and my family has the same concerns as what you actually experienced. I was hoping things would lighten up by the last week of October but I am not really hopeful. Thanks for the insight.

[ticketsunlimited]

Great insight and looking forward to giving it a whirl on Oasis in September.  The more insight like this and other reviews it will all prepare us mentally to know what to expect and how to adjust.  Once again thanks for your perspective.

[FireEMT978]

6 hours ago, rtazz17 said:

We were  on last weeks cruise on allure.. We have cruised for years. I wont say I regret going but its near that. By mid week I had enough of everything. Not being able to get coffee or touch anything pretty much. Wash your hands 5 times to get a coffee,lol. If your familiar with what normally is available,activities etc,there was hardly any. You dont think you will miss a lot of it until its not there. Cruising at 1/3 capacity the ship was a ghost ship. If you hate people you will enjoy it. Board walk(ghost town),we were the only ones on boardwalk at 9pm several nights,central park(ghost town). Yeah sounds great untill you realize what makes things fun is the energy of the people there. Never get to see any of staffs faces,no big deal right? No it gets old. Im not saying some might not enjoy it but there wasnt much to do. St thomas you were walking streets in masks in 90 degree weather. I guess it is what it is. I thought it would be better but it wasnt. First couple days were ok but I literally wore a mask more in 7 days then I did in 16 months. Hours daily. If you think you can hold a drink in your hand and walk around the promanade mask less think again,not happening. At the end of the week I was very much looking forward to going home. Knowing what I know I wont do it again. Yes this is how it probably has to be right now for cruising to survive. Just posting our experience. I fooled myself into thinking it would be fun,but I think I knewin the back of my head it probably wasnt going to be.If you are genuinely afraid of covid you will enjoy it. Because its like the protocols we lived with in march of 2020. 

 

Please dont jump all over me in this post. Just my opinion your mileage may vary.

 

I am a firefighter/paramedic 20years on job. Well aware of all the facts of covid. Treated patients since the beginning of covid. So please dont advise me on what you think the facts are. Im well aware. 
We are in our 40s with two older teenagers for reference. Maybe older crowd would enjoy more? Idk. But we arent hermits and this is what it seemed like.   
 

on a better note we did enjoy florida. Guess being with people and seeing faces is what we enjoy. Retiring there in 7 years. 

Curious, are you and your family vaccinated?

[ticketsunlimited]

24 minutes ago, FireEMT978 said:

Curious, are you and your family vaccinated?

Good question.  It will make a HUGE difference in a persons experience with the protocols in place.

[Ocean Boy]

8 minutes ago, ticketsunlimited said:

Good question.  It will make a HUGE difference in a persons experience with the protocols in place.

Actually, from what I have been reading lately it seems that as things evolve the vaxxed and unvaxxed are being treated more and more alike than differently.

[ticketsunlimited]

Just now, Ocean Boy said:

Actually, from what I have been reading lately it seems that as things evolve the vaxxed and unvaxxed are being treated more and more alike than differently.

The way it should be.

[Ocean Boy]

1 minute ago, ticketsunlimited said:

The way it should be.

Then why did you say it would make a huge difference? And the way it should be is that everyone should be vaccinated to get on the ship. It is the best way to avoid problems.

[ticketsunlimited]

12 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Then why did you say it would make a huge difference?

Because the unvaxxed will be wearing a mask for a much longer percentage of the cruise than the vaxxed.  Many more areas to cruise like you would pre-covid, Casino, viking lounge, diamond club...much different experience.  That's why I said it.

I myself could not give up those options and pay that kind of money without being vaccinated but we all are wired differently.

My wife and I love the time spent in the casino in our "down time" so we would wait to cruise other wise.

We will see how it all plays out in September when we hop on Oasis.  It will be different in many ways for a lot of us.  

We all need a vacation so we will all make it work in our own way, right?

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by ticketsunlimited

[lazydayz]

OP,  thanks for sharing your perspective.  I am glad my next cruise is on the Mariner, with a full day at Coco Cay. I can see how wearing a mask would get annoying after a few days.  
 

We were fortunate to cruise the Carnival Horizon in early July, before the mask requirements.  The ship was at 70% capacity.  It was lovely.  

[Got Out There]

We are not likely to cruise anytime soon for essentially what OP said.  Not interested in wearing a mask period.  And yes we are fully vaccinated.  Just returned home from what was our fourth week long trip to Mexico over past twelve months.  Thought about Adventure out of Nassau but we were not confident we would enjoy our trip with current protocols. 
 

Mexico top rated AI seems to be working wonderfully for us.  (Excellence Resorts ).

 

We still look at pricing on cruises and what I find interesting is how the prices are so low with number of cabins available for sale

so low too over the next few months.  Granted this is low season, but wow rates are low…..seems like there are many like us just looking elsewhere for vacations rather than cruising. 

Edited August 17, 2021 by Got Out There

[Ocean Boy]

8 hours ago, ticketsunlimited said:

Because the unvaxxed will be wearing a mask for a much longer percentage of the cruise than the vaxxed.  Many more areas to cruise like you would pre-covid, Casino, viking lounge, diamond club...much different experience.  That's why I said it.

I myself could not give up those options and pay that kind of money without being vaccinated but we all are wired differently.

My wife and I love the time spent in the casino in our "down time" so we would wait to cruise other wise.

We will see how it all plays out in September when we hop on Oasis.  It will be different in many ways for a lot of us.  

We all need a vacation so we will all make it work in our own way, right?

 

I don't disagree with you. My point was that over time it appears the vaccinated need to be just as masked up as the unvaccinated. I don't think it is an experience that I care to pay for.

[dani negreanu]

16 hours ago, rtazz17 said:

I wont say I regret going but its near that.

 

Thank you for your honest review.

 

We were hoping against hope that by this time of the year, "things" will change to the better, alas....

[LizikinsLivesToCruise]

10 hours ago, FireEMT978 said:

Curious, are you and your family vaccinated?

This is my question, too.

[katiel53]

12 hours ago, FireEMT978 said:

Curious, are you and your family vaccinated?

I thought that everyone going to St Thomas from Aug 8 until Oct 31 had to be vaccinated to get on the ship.  At least, that's what the Covid info states on the RC website.

[PTC DAWG]

4 minutes ago, katiel53 said:

I thought that everyone going to St Thomas from Aug 8 until Oct 31 had to be vaccinated to get on the ship.  At least, that's what the Covid info states on the RC website.

Everyone 12 and over, that's the rule now for that iten.  

[orville99]

47 minutes ago, katiel53 said:

I thought that everyone going to St Thomas from Aug 8 until Oct 31 had to be vaccinated to get on the ship.  At least, that's what the Covid info states on the RC website.

We just received an update from RCL, and they have extended this vax-only policy through December 31

 

Edited August 17, 2021 by orville99

[PTC DAWG]

2 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We just received an update from RCL, and they have extended this vax-only policy through December 31

That seems to address "covid testing"..not fully vaccinated cruises..which I think only applies to the St. Thomas (Eastern Route) at this time.   

[orville99]

13 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

That seems to address "covid testing"..not fully vaccinated cruises..which I think only applies to the St. Thomas (Eastern Route) at this time.   

Somehow the second screen grab did not populate the original post.

 

I thoroughly expect the "vax-only" policy to be implemented fleet wide, as the variants continue to expand on both eastern and western routes. All it would take is Cozumel to implement the same policies as the USVI and the mixed vax/no vax ship will have sailed. (pun thoroughly intended)

[Majorleague]

Hello all, we were on this cruise as well so I thought I would post my experience since everyone has a different view on things. Family of 5, fully vaxed, active in our 50’s and kids in early 20’s. The Boardwalk was weird to see. Like an old, abandoned amusement park. Sad not to see kids on the carousel. Central Park being empty was something I liked. I generally go there for some downtime to escape the crowds, so that being empty was fine by me. I realize the crew needs the masks but it takes away their personality a bit and makes the language barrier tougher in some instances. I am a promenade people watcher and found that sitting anywhere with a bottle of water and no mask left me unbothered. In an empty elevator or empty hallway, many had no mask. When others got closer, masks came on. When I looked in Boleros and Dazzles they seemed fairly unoccupied. The casino was jumping every night (no mask needed). The pool area is where I typically enjoy meeting new people and this was no different. Nice not to have to fight for a chair, although the hogs are still doing their all-day entitlement thing. We are beach people so the masks were not an issue when we exited the ship. In summary, I was very worried the masks would make me nuts for a week but luckily it didn’t. Keep in mind that on a cruise we are generally into the Schooner Bar, casino, central park, the pub, and going to the beach. Now, if you mask me up in the casino, sitting poolside, or the Schooler Bar, that is a game changer for sure.