Just Booked American Queen Memphi - Nola June 14

[Lyncruiser]

Thanks to Steamboats and everyone else for the interesting reviews and viewpoints. We just booked today. We've never been Steamboating, but have cruised numerous times with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.

I'd love to hear thoughts on the best shore excursions. We're very interested in plantation homes, antiques and gardens.

Thanks!

[steamboats]

Lyncruiser,

You may want to check this thread first

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=755583

started by Jswen (but her cruise was changed because of the flood situation).

For more tips to do something on your own check our website

http://www.steamboats.org/traveller/...ppi-river.html

These are all steamboat related things to see.

steamboats

[Lyncruiser]

Thanks! I'll check those out.

[Jswen]

Hi LynnC,
We were on the AQ two weeks ago and did the following excursions:
Vicksburg Battlefields was done by my husband and he said it was great. The river was to high to dock at Vicksburg so the tour was bused from Natchez.
In Natchez I walked up the road from where the boat was docked and toured the Rosalee Plantation, it is not far from where the boat docks and to me was one of the best restorations that I saw, plus I was the only one on the tour so that was fantastic as far as speaking directly to the docent and being able to take our time with the visit.
We did the swamp tour.....it was OK the guide and owner Mr Torres loved hunting and killing alligators so he discribed the process in grand detail, we did see lots of alligators.
We went to Oak Alley on the bus, the grounds are spectacular. The mansion its self is in need of sprucing up, but still very interesting. Have a mint julip at the little gift shop, they are great.
By the time you trip comes around the water will be back to normal and you should make all the regular stops, I missed not being able to dock at all the little towns.

[Lyncruiser]

Jswen --

Thanks so much for your suggestions! Rosalee Plantation sounds great. I'm putting that on our itinerary now! I had wondered about the Vicksburg battlefield excursion. We have three men in our party and they likely would enjoy that. And, glad to know about the swamp tour and the detailed hunting descriptions. Hmmmm.

Thanks again for posting. We're definitely going to do Rosalee, which I didn't know about!

Sorry to hear you weren't able to dock due to high water. We've never done a river cruise before. I hope we'll be able to dock. We'll see.

Thanks!