Oldone79

👎 Looked forward to seeing  some of the American  Duchess but after watching the entire movie there was little more  than the few pictures you have posted. Unless you are into this type of a movie and want to watch it for that reason do not waste your time.

37 minutes ago, Haysiedaze said:

A quick summary of the trip.

• We enjoyed the cruise and the Covid protocals made it less stressful. 
• We were at 247 passengers (around 50% capacity)
• We found the food to be very good but that is subjective.
• The excursions were hit or miss for us. We did 4 premium excursions.
• The LS cabin was very nice and Adam the River Butler was outstanding (we don't usually travel like this but it was very enjoyable).
• We went to all but the last nights shows. We only enjoyed 2 of them as some were just way too loud for us. I can't imagine how those with hearing aids could stand it (Unless they turned them down).
• Our table mates were 93 and 89 years old (we are in our 60's). They are two of the most blessed people in the world. Their energy and vitality put us to shame. They were very enjoyable to dine with.
• The whole crew was friendly and couldn't do enough for us.
• Our waiter in the dining room did offer and did bring us drinks to the table from the bar.
• I got to tour 7 different cabin categories. The B category had some rooms with a tall dresser but others did not. Be careful booking these as those without it had limited storage.
• The ship was kept very clean and they were sanitizing the public areas daily.

Regards, Steve

Thank you for all of your posts and the summary of the cruise. For those of us who are anticipating our first cruise with AQV they are so important.

19 hours ago, AQJazz said:

I had low expectations for the Countess but I really liked her. In the lobby and dining room the view of the river was wonderful. Comfortable spaces (library, card room, grand lobby) to hang out in. The theater had a nice layout and I liked the tiered seating. The quality of the entertainment was very high but like the Duchess limited compared to the Queen. I will say the Countess had a limited number of guests, so I’m not sure if it would feel crowded at full capacity.

I did like the Duchess River Grill, especially the spacious outside area. On the Countess the outside eating area fell short, the spray from the paddlewheel was strong making it impossible to be out there.

 

The Queen still wins out but we would take a Countess trip again.

Thank you for sharing about the Countess.  We will have to consider the Queen for the future if we can find her sailing on other than the lower Mississippi when the time works for us.

22 hours ago, AQJazz said:

A couple of years ago I used Uber to get from the airport to the Hilton. No issues.

 

Don’t miss Citygarden, a wonderful urban sculpture garden a couple of blocks from the Hilton.

Thank you very much glad to hear no issues and Uber worked out well. We will put Citygarden on our plans for the extra day we plan to spend there.🙂

We will be at the Hilton St. Louis At the Ballpark for our pre-cruise hotel night and need advice as to the best way to get there from the airport.

I'm sure  train or bus might be most reasonable but do not know if that might be too much at our ages with the luggage. 

How have you gone?  Thanks for the help.🙂

On 11/9/2021 at 6:23 PM, blubberwon said:

If you never been on the Paddlewheeler I would give it a chance, and hopefully they are better. I have 5 cruises already booked 2 on the Duchess, 1 on the Countess, and 1 each on Victory 1 and 2  in 2022 and 2023.

Thank you for sharing.  The fact that you have 5 cruises booked certainly conveys your thoughts on cruising with this line.

We have decided that 2022 and 2023 will see us onboard the American Countess and plan to enjoy a relaxing cruise on the rivers of our country. We see many more reviews about the American Queen and personally being on a "real steam padlewheeler" is not that important to us- the paddlewheeler look will be just fine.  After many years of Ocean cruising we no longer are looking for entertainment to keep us occupied nor are we cruising for "fine dining". From the looks of things Covid is far from gone but hopefully AQV will be able to hire and keep experienced staff and long wait times for food will be a thing of the past. 

There seems to be little said on CC about the American Countess except for a couple of nice reviews with photos. It would be nice if those that have taken a cruise on her would come back with their thoughts. I've been a member of CC for years longer than my profile shows-  (forgot password/changed email address so could not get old account back) and have always enjoyed reading what others have had to say about their cruise - reviews are OK but comments seem to mean more.

Again, thanks to both you and adstz for your comments about the dining room

We have the American Countess Sept 19-27. St. Louis to Red Wing booked. We chose this direction just to have the extra day on the river.  For us that is the entire reason for taking the Upper Mississippi River cruise.

Just curious - is there a reason you only mention the Queen or the Duchess?

8 minutes ago, Oldone79 said:

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer it is appreciated. 

 

 

Interesting...just reading on ACL post from current cruiser who felt the food was bad and had to get in line for their own drinks and take them to their seats.  She didn't like having to order dinner at breakfast time and to have only 3 choices. They ate 2 dinners and 1 lunch off the boat it was so bad. She mentioned how expensive the cruise was and how dissappointing. Her comparison was made to a Uniworld River cruise she'd taken.  She felt the value was not there for this cruise on the Jazz.

This makes me wonder if it is just USA river cruises that leave much to be desired in their dining rooms?  I am hoping that by next September things will look up.  I have read positive reviews from repeat cruisers so lets just hope it has been because of all of this Covid pandemic that has turned  the world upside down.

It is hard to think if they are always this bad that the cruise companies can keep going.

On 10/25/2021 at 2:31 PM, adstz said:

Covid and inexperienced people both. Our server (Randall) had 5 years on the boat but his assistant was new (and not really interested in "serving" people). Server was let go after a couple of days. (Good bye, off the boat entirely) New assistant after a few days.

Seems they work 6 weeks then get 2 weeks off. Our new assistant (E.J.) was just coming back from her time off.

The biggest problem was the kitchen. We would be seated by 5:15, order by 5:30. Our appetizers and starters would be served within a reasonable amount of time. The first 4 nights our dinner would not be served until 7:15 or 7:30 and would be cold, cooked incorrectly or plated incorrectly. Unacceptable. Finally, my husband had a discussion with the maitre d'. He apologized over and over and admitted that there was an "issue" with the kitchen and not our server (which we already knew). The last 3 nights we had quick service and hot food. 

Some of the problem appeared to be training also. I had to ask for fresh ground pepper always. It was never offered. Drinks, other than water, were not offered if you weren't drinking the wine of the day. That was offered over and over. We had to ask for coffee with dessert, again, not offered. However, it was usually cold so we stopped asking.

Breakfast in the main dining room could be interesting too. There was a small buffet but you could also order off a menu. No eggs at the buffet so my husband would gather some things from the buffet and then order some eggs freshly cooked. At the buffet they would mostly hand you things to avoid you touching the serving utensils. (makes sense to me)

I do understand that you can't compare the service to a large ship where the servers want to do this for a living and are well trained. But the service in the dining room (at these prices) should be like a very good restaurant on land.

And it definitely was not.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer it is appreciated. 

4 hours ago, adstz said:

Of course, dinner service in general was terrible.

But that's another story.

OK very anxious to hear that story as we sail on the American Countess in 2022.

We took one Viking River cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam years ago and made the mistake of comparing it to our 40+ ocean cruises which was a big mistake. Ocean cruises hire very experienced servers from foreign countries. The river cruise had mostly inexperienced people in comparison. Meal selections were underwhelming and luch buffet left much to be desired.  As a result we went back to ocean cruises.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts....was it American Queen, Covid, or inexperienced people from the USA that made the dinner service terrible? 

These USA river cruises are so very, very expensive.  Do you think we should go not expecting much except to just enjoy the river and figure the price is just what the price is?  We can still cancel and just loose $500 and our insurance premium so anxious to hear your thoughts.  Thanks

Very nice collection of photos. They give a good feel to what cruising on the American Duchess would be like.

Update Oct 1, 2021

12 minutes ago, DaveinCharlotte said:

Are you referring to AQSC's American Queen, or to the old Delta Queen?

Posted on American Queen Steamboat Company site https://www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com/blog/how-does-a-steamboat-work/

"What makes the American Queen different from most of the riverboats in existence today is that a true steam engine is used to drive the paddlewheel. This steam engine is basically the same as the engines of the past century. How does a steamboat work then, you may ask? The American Queen’s stern wheel is driven by a four-cylinder, horizontally-inclined, tandem-piston, steeple compounded, double-acting reciprocating steam engine. "

Thank you Calliope,

This is just what we were looking for. Also read your other post re: Cumberland River being scenic.

Since I posted this in Aug.  we have booked  both the Upper Mississippi going north and the Cumberland on the American Countess. Looking more for the beauty of the river rather than activities. The atmosphere of having a "paddlewheel " I'm sure will add to the experience.

Maybe next cruise we'll take the American Queen.🙂

Thank you -

One of best reviews I've read. Your video gives a true feeling for what the areas of the boat are like and what we can expect. The things you included are especially helpful for someone who has never cruised with AQSC.

We have two cruises booked on the American Countess and now it will be hard to  wait until our turn to board.

Thank you for a very informative review.  We appreciated your wide range of comments and they will help us prepare for our upcoming American Countess cruises.

I have read those posts.

Agree no cruise line or company is immune to complaints.  This poster had a serious issue that should have been addressed.

The person on AQSC that said they were awful should have been aware that with especially river cruising rivers flood and contracts say itineraries will be altered if this should happen- not infrequent in Europe to have a river cruise turned into a land cruise at the last minute. AQSC has multiple lines to call and leaving voice messages for any business might result in a message not being returned. If there was an office party someone should have handled calls.

We all make our decision to cruise with a particular company for various reasons and we will still make ours to not cruise with ACL.

First I want to say I hope your husband is doing well and will continue to do so.

Having been a member of these boards for many years after getting a quote from ACL I decided to read reviews and found yours. A company that would treat those that have just cruised with them with such little concern is not one for us. Thank you for posting you made our decision to accept an AQSC quote instead very easy.

Thank you so very much!

Just what we were hoping for.

Barbara

Thank you for the review- great information.

I do have several questions:

1) With all the locks you passesd through at night was this noisy ?

2) Did you see any wild life between Red Wing and Alton, IL?

3) We are considering booking  both the Tours Into the Mississippi on the Winona Tour Boat and Grant in Galena - Exploring the Home of Ulysses S. Grant on our upcoming Upper Mississippi cruise 2022.  Were you happy with these tours? Do you book  and pay for these before cruising?

4) What type of entrees were served for dinner? I've seen many comments about "Southern Cusine" on Lower Mississippi cruises but nothing mentioned for Upper river cruises.

Thank you for the information.

Looking for experience from people who have taken this cruise.

We have taken many, many Ocean and 1 European River cruise so not as interested in the boat but more so on what the river was like and what you saw.

Appreciate any help you can give us.

This is the meaning.

"Yellow: The ship meets the threshold for investigation (for crew or passenger COVID-19 cases), or a state or local health department has notified the CDC of passenger cases occurring within five days of disembarkation"

Apparently today per Reuters Aug 20, 2021 "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday people at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 should avoid travel on cruise ships, including river cruises, irrespective of their vaccination status.  Older adults and people with medical conditions are more likely to get severely ill from the disease and should take professional advise before cruise ship travel, the agency said."