My husband is allergic to cats, dogs, and pretty much everything animalwise
He doesn't react to the guinea pigs nearly as bad as he does to our cats - but he does take zyrtec daily.
We have two cats. One is very soft and mellow, but she is skittish and doesn't like being held. The other loves attention, but gets overstimulated easily. I've had cats my entire life, and I love that each cat has its own personality and quirks. Some cats are more cuddly than others.
We've had our guinea pigs less than a month. I've never had guinea pigs before, though I did have a hamster. one of our guinea pigs - Link - likes to sit on our lap and watch TV. The other, Moose, seems more like a rambunctious toddler. He will chirp and make tiny squeak noises if we hold him, nudges us with his nose, but he wants to be running all over. He *loves* when we make a "towel" cave on our laps and he can burrow around in it. He's an Abyssinian and only likes to be pet a certain way because of the way his hair is. Link loves (or at least doesn't seem to care?) being pet - he's a silky. Neither is really quite as interactive as a cat or dog though. It's very different with a cage-animal. Like you're not just going to sit on the couch and one come running up. You're not going to have it follow you around the house. If your husband is seeking that kind of pet - might be worth checking out hypoallergenic dogs that are smallish? Before we got our guinea pigs, we had thought about getting a small/medium dog as a therapy animal for our daughter because it would provide a social animal that is cuddly (our cats are lovely, but they don't really serve therapy purposes for our daughter lol)
The guinea pigs require a bit more maintenance than the cats - but we have fleece bedding so it's pretty easy still.
But we are quite smitten with the guinea pigs
They aren't as cuddly as dogs or cats, but they are fun, our daughters love petting them and taking care of them, and we enjoy watching them. Right now they hide/sleep a lot in their cage - but I'm hoping as they get more used to living here they'll warm up