denamo

2 minutes ago, RCCL Fan said:

 

Allure has always been my favorite ship, we've sailed her several times.  I was thrilled when they announced she was coming to Texas. 

 

Lately we've been on a smaller ship kick....  Vision, Serenade, Enchantment and have loved them and found several reasons why we preferred them to the big lady Allure.    

 

I do think Voyager class might just be the perfect compromise for us.... I think we have some voyager class bookings in our future.   Waiting to see what gets permanently placed on the 5 night routes out of Galveston.

 

 

We've done each of those and there is something to be said for each class and the charms it offers.  Maybe we'll see you on board some day.  I grew up in Arlington, so familiar with your neck of the woods. Thanks again for such a thrilling review.

Thank you for your delightful review!  So invigorating to live vicariously.  We've just done a Mississippi River cruise, and it's a complete 180 degrees from an ocean cruise.  We did enjoy it.  Would do another. Just a different experience.

Can't wait until next month for our Royal Caribbean cruise in 19 months.  The longest we've ever gone since discovering cruising!!

The Allure is probably our favorite ship.  We really like the Oasis class of ship.  We're fellow Texans, so can hardly wait until the Allure is in Galveston!

2 minutes ago, Blizzard54 said:

The port of Seattle has free Luggage Valet, paid for by the port.  It should be up and running but I suppose we will not know for sure until someone on the first Serenade gives a report.  First cruise ends July 26th.

Thanks for the input. Thinking that is the case.  We always feel Luggage Valet is the way to go!

We're on an Alaska sailing in August.  Our arrival time has been changed for two hours later in Juneau..  We won't be in port for our excursion booked through the Cruise Planner.  Called and was told I would have to cancel and book at the current rate. ☹️  Not a fan of this policy.  Would prefer they honor the price paid.

Anyone know if Royal might possibly automatically switch us to the later time without more payment or should I just bite the bullet, cancel, and pay the extra?

Wondering if Luggage Valet has been re-started with cruising.  Think possibly the only ship that might have offered it is the Freedom of the Seas.  Any input on this?  Hoping it will start with our upcoming Alaska cruise.

21 minutes ago, sixbirches said:

I was able to check in today for our Aug 20 Ovation cruise. so, look and see if your is available 

Yes, check in available. 34 days till cruising. All done! 🙂

23 hours ago, gardenbunny said:

Thanks for such good info.  This will be our first time on this type of cruise.  We leave 8/1 to 8/8 Memphis to NOLA.   I like your comments on the casual relaxed atmosphere on board.  Our pre hotel is the Graceland Guesthouse.  We arrive a day early and bought tickets for a tour.  We only bought 1 ship excursion for Vicksburg Battlefield.  My husband enjoys history.  Entertainment and food sounds nice.  Thanks for clarity on the HOHO and dress on board for dinner.  Nice casual seems good to make packing easy.

Having done 2 World Cruises in past 4 years and abrupt halt in 2020, very excited to be getting back on board any ship. 😁

You're welcome. I tried to give what I thought I would have like to have known. Wishing you a great cruise!

This was a very popular excursion.  It was completely sold out. It's good you already have tickets purchased. 

Thanks all for your responses.  We're on the Ovation in Alaska next month.  Hope we can still use it.

Anyone know if the Diamond Plus perk BOGO Specialty restaurant for the first two nights still available?  This is a nice perk.  Don't know with the changes being made to the loyalty program if this is still in place. 

38 days and no check in available.  For an Alaska cruise on the Ovation.

Just back from our July 4 Memphis to New Orleans sailing.  We had a great time and would consider doing an American Queen sailing again. It is a very different experience from a large cruise ship. That was the only comparison we had. Honestly, these two experiences couldn't be more different. One bit of advice I would give is not to compare.  Just know it's going to be different.

I'm not going to give day by day review, but overall info.  If you have any questions, please ask.

Mask /  Covid Testing Policy

Was so happy about the no mask policy.  Only time masks were required were when riding on the buses.  It was pretty lenient and not all always wore one.  It's  a CDC policy, so AQSC followed that.  No Covid test required.

Afternoon Check-In

This was held on the second floor in meeting rooms of the Sheraton.  Ran very smoothly.  Received our tickets for our pre-cruise excursion. Also received our card to be used for our room access on board.  They were having some problems with the computer, so we had to have a picture taken and credit card info done later on the boat.

Pre-Cruise Hotel & Breakfast

Reading some less than stellar reviews about the Sheraton and needing to arrive on Friday due to flight schedules, we stayed at a Hampton Inn close to Beale St.  We had a great time exploring Beale Street on Friday.  Took a Lyft to the Sheraton on Saturday.  They held our luggage until rooms were ready.  We took the trolley and explored a bit more of Memphis while waiting.  We didn't spend too much time at the Sheraton.  Our room was fine.  The bathroom really needed some work.

The pre-cruise breakfast was very good.  Do get there on time.  Some showed up a minute or two after 9:00, and the breakfast buffet was already being cleared.  You will leave your luggage in your hotel room with the tags attached that were sent pre-cruise.  Yes, our luggage did appear in our cabin on board!

Pre-Cruise Excursion

Having never been to Graceland, we knew we needed to make a call on Elvis! 🙂 We were taken to Graceland via the AQSC bus.  There was a guide who gave us some history of Memphis along the way.  We were dropped off and able to see Graceland and have enough time to get some lunch at one of the restaurants on the premises.  We were given a time to be back at the bus.  We then took a riding tour with a couple of photo op stops along the way.  Following the tour, we headed to the boat.  It had a most unusual circular entrance to get to the boat.

On Board

We were greeted with a celebratory flute of champagne.  We sat in the Grand Bar area for a bit before going to our cabin. Luggage was in our cabin upon arrival.  The room was very spacious.  We had a balcony which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The bathroom was undoubtedly the largest we've ever seen on a cruise vessel.

Meals

Breakfast and Lunch are available at both the River Grill and Main Dining Room.  Breakfast ends at 9:00 and lunch ends at 1:00 P.M. in both venues.  We did arrive after being off the boat when lunch was over a couple of times and ordered room service. 

Two times for dinner seating: 5:30 & 8:00.  We were assigned the later time, but by a fluke, we were changed to the earlier time.  While 5:30 is early, we preferred that since seeing the evening show after dinner was more to our liking. The Main Dining room is the only place to get dinner.  Room service can be ordered during dinner hours, and items on the evening dinner menu can also be ordered then.  One couple at our table did that one evening.

I've seen quite a discussion here about dress for evening meals in the dining room.  Our cruise was extremely relaxed in the evening for dress.  Saw men in shorts, jeans, and slacks.  Women's ran the gambit of dresses, to slacks, to capris.  I don't recall seeing any woman in shorts.  No one was denied access to the dining room regardless of dress.  Not sure if this is for all cruises, but it's how it was for ours.

Entertainment

The entertainment was phenomenal!  There was an ensemble of 3 vocalists and a band of 4.  We were very entertained by this musical group for the evening show time.  One evening we had a magician.  He was amazing. After the evening show, the band would then play in the Grand Bar area.  Warning...if you are a night owl, there won't be much here after 10 P.M.  The bar is located directly below some of the rooms, so it understandable as to why they need to shut down early. 

There was a Riverlorian (historian) on board.  Our one disappointment was the times his talks were scheduled. We prefer to get out and get going and his talks would be scheduled in the morning.  We totally enjoyed the ones we could make. Couple of them were in the afternoon.

Snacks

There is a small space on the main floor to get popcorn, cookies, soft serve ice cream, coffee, tea, and a variety of juices at any time. 

HOHO Buses

These hop on hop off buses had not run since before Covid.  We were happy they were running once again. You can get a ticket to get on at certain times before noon.  Some cruisers were taking afternoon premium excursions, so they needed to be sure and have a spot on the HOHO bus that morning.  There was always plenty of room.  There are several stops at each port.  Some cruisers would ride the bus through all of the stops and decide which places they wanted to get off.  There is a local guide who gives a history of the towns and an overview of each stop.  Since the boat is still on a limited number of cruisers, we never had a problem getting a spot of a morning or getting on at a location.

Since ships are now sailing with less than full capacity, maybe this is impacting why they are waiting to have shows booked on board rather than through the Cruise Planner.  Having show reservations made prior to boarding when sailing with a full ship, is probably done not to overwhelm the reservation system once on board.  With 30% capacity we've seen ships sailing now, reservations on board probably works.

4 hours ago, nogihs said:

So if we cant sigh in how do we keep track of our calendrer?  Example pre booked excursions, if we are pre registered and anything under Your Voyage.

As has been said, you will receive confirmation via email.  Be sure to check your junk email, it could go there.

18 hours ago, BillNY said:

I was told, upon calling an AQSC rep, as you may see in my earlier post, that the test was still required. After reading LewiLewi’s post, I called again a few days later and was told that, yes, indeed, as of July 1, testing was no longer going to be done or required. The funny thing was I’m pretty sure it was the same rep who had told me a few days before that it was still required. 

I believe that the hotel is not being listed indicates that the rep you spoke with was confused, maybe because of the Washington requirement. 

I recommended to the rep that the company should send clarifying emails to those of us who gad already received docs with the old info. 

 

Checked online once more and, our American Countess cruise is next Sunday, July 4, from Memphis, and the hotel for the American Countess was not listed.

Agree with your assessment of the rep I spoke with was confused, and there should be an email with updated procedures sent.  👍

I also attempted to create a login.  Nope, no go. 

Not sure why, but AQSC wants everything to go through the travel agent.  Since I booked with a non AQSC travel agent, my cruise docs did not come directly from AQSC.  The docs were sent to the travel agency I used, and then the travel agency had to send them to me.  Seems like a a somewhat antiquated way of doing things.  I was actually surprised we could book extra excursions online.  Even with that, I had to enlist help through their chat function since one of the excursions was on a wait list status. 

But, I guess these are "steamboats", so we're emulating times past! 😂

I was curious about the post of no Covid testing to be done pre-cruise.  I called AQSC late yesterday and the rep I spoke with said that is not true.  She even looked through her email for any update.  I mentioned the American Countess wasn't listed to sign up for an appointment time for our July 4 embarkation.  I told her only boats from Washington state with embarkation dates in July were listed to make an appointment. 

She was adamant about the fact that we would be tested.  Checked online today (Saturday, 6/26/21), but still no American Countess appointment times listed for our July 4 embarkation. Our testing date would be a week from today.  It's a mystery! 😃 

I'll keep everyone posted here.

8 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

Please let me know all about your cruise; hotel, checkin, etc. This will be our first American River cruise and we can’t wait to get back to sailing again.

Will do!

6 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

I just spoke with someone in the AQS office who said that as of July 1, no antigen tests will be administered. Just bring your CDC vaccination card. I’m good with that.

This is awesome.  We're on the American Countess, July 4.  I've been checking the site to sign up for the Covid test, but our boat isn't listed.  The boats that have times to sign up for a Covid test in July are in Washington state.  Maybe it has to do with state requirements.

On 6/22/2021 at 9:59 AM, Beth Y said:

It's Vernon's Smokehouse.  It's near the main entrance in the Graceland complex.  The meal deals were very good.  I had this four-meat platter with two sides, cornbread, a drink, and the most amazing banana cream pie. 😊

Oh, wow!  That looks delicious.  Will have to give it a try.

We did get our cruise docs.  They first went to our travel agent and were then mailed to us by them.  Seems like an unnecessary step when they could come directly to me.  Seems AQSC only deals with the travel agent if not booked directly through them.  Point is, we got them!

On 5/29/2021 at 4:50 PM, CruiserFromMaine said:

You’re welcome—have a great cruise!

 

If you’ve got any interest in history, I’d recommend the Vicksburg tour. Plus. I don’t know what else you’d do. 

I did call AQSC.  The person I spoke with said the HOHO buses would be running, but not as typical.  The bus would take a group on a bus to designated places, wait, and then everyone would get back on as a group.  Not sure if this is accurate info, but it's what I was told. Guess we'll see.

2 hours ago, precious89904600 said:

Update: I spoke with manager of TA and things have taken a turn for better. The manager went above and beyond helping with my family booking even after hours . I guess we just got off on wrong foot. I hope things keep moving forward in our relationship

This is great news. Glad you're able to get the service you need.

Thank you so much for your review.  Like you, this will be our first river cruise after many ocean cruises.

We will be taking this same route beginning on board July 4.  I am disappointed for our cruise, the Vicksburg Battlefield tour has been returned to premium status.  We were originally to have been on board in April, but AQSC booted us (booked as a guarantee).  😞  But...great positive is they upgraded our cabin to the top level.  So we'll take it!

Your report of staying in another location prior to the hotel the cruise company chose was very reassuring since we are doing the same. 

Your tips about breakfast, lunch, and room service are appreciated.  I know on the earlier cruises, room service wasn't available.  Glad to hear it has been re-instated.

We're ready to give river cruising a chance after not traveling for such a long period of time!

There's a vlogger on YouTube who lives in Germany and has been cruising throughout the pandemic.  The last cruise he was on, cruisers had to take a Covid test on board prior to disembarkation, and cruisers had to pay for it.  So, there's a precedent for having to pay.

10 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

The best place to post is the West Coast Departures board.

Good suggestion. Thanks!