Sunday, January 16, 2022

Thinking about taking a cruise? We just took three.

by Michael Trufant

My wife, Carole, and I were blessed to experience three cruises in the last two months, December and January. One each on Carnival Cruises, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Celebrity Cruises. I'll share my opinions and experiences from what actually happened versus all the chatter in media and social media.

We had three delightful experiences. Overall, here's our experience across all three ships:

  •  Each ship's occupancy rate was anywhere from thirty-five to seventy-five percent capacity. That was a gift.
  • All three permitted only fully-vaccinated passengers onboard and everyone provided a COVID test no more than two days before sailing.
  • Passengers provided documentation for their vaccinations. 
  • All of the cruise lines required masks in ALL indoor spaces except when eating or drinking. It was not a big inconvenience. Outdoors and out by the pool areas, no masks were required.
  • Crew provided hand sanitizer before entering dining areas, theaters, and entering or exiting the ship.
  •  The crew cleaned the surfaces almost right behind us. We felt very safe.
  • Hand sanitizing stations were available in various locations on each ship. There was no lack of cleanliness.
  • All ports were open, although a few ports restricted entry to passengers who only had a cruise-provided excursion or a government-approved excursion if not provided by the cruise line.
  • The theater shows were often re-configured and scaled down for health and passenger safety.
  • The dining was spaced out, so much of the time it was just Carole and me. 
We thought that being onboard was safer than going to the local grocery store. People who we met shared the same thoughts with us about the prevention measures we witnessed on the ship. The ships were hyper-focused on cleanliness and health to a much higher degree than any venue on land.

It was delight to be on a cruise. It was joyful, pleasant, fun, relaxing, safe, rejuvenating and a wonderful experience. Because the ships are sailing with lower capacities, the ships were not crowded, there was plenty of free space and no scrambling to find a deck chair or anything.  At times, we felt like we the only ones on board. What a gift that we will take advantage of as long as we can. It was the best cruise of our lives.

All this to say, we feel this is a great time to cruise and to not listen to all all the hysteria on social media and the mainstream media. Our cruises were delightful, clean and safe. Of course, you need to make your own decisions about your personal health matters, but from taking three cruises in two months, we thought we hit the jackpot for pleasurable experiences. 

Michael Trufant is a retired entrepreneur and he and his wife, Carole, are the publishers of the St. Augustine Beachside e-Magazine (this publication). They can be reached at sabeachside@gmail.com