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One thing to know about your time in various ports. It changes constantly.

When we did Natchez we were scheduled to be in port from roughly from 8 am to 8 pm.

We got off the ship around 9 am and did the HOHO bus. Got back around 2 pm to kick back a while. Noticed that the all aboard time had been changed from 7:30 to 7 pm.

Decided to walk up to a close by restaurant for dinner. As we were leaving we noticed that the all aboard time was now 6:30 pm. We went and had dinner (The Magnolia Grill at the top of the boat ramp - wonderful food) and were back on board by 6 pm.

We were the last to board.

Weather and changing river conditions can affect how much time you have at each port.

We were on the Queen in October 2021. The River Grill was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All served buffet style. Dinner might have some of the same offerings as in the main dining room but not always. Not a terribly large number of foods either. Very limited but good.

Our main complaint was more that there weren't many tables inside to eat at. 

Just booked my first Celebrity cruise. We are loyal Princess cruisers looking for something new.

We have always gotten the military OBC with Princess.

How do you apply for this credit with Celebrity?

Thanks for the help.

26 minutes ago, cdcampione said:

Queen Dress Code.............Is there a dining venue where you can have dinner wearing nice dress shorts and a collared shirt?

2 places to eat most nights. Dining room - most people dressed nice but I don't think you would be turned away if you weren't. Or the Front Porch which is buffet with no dress code.

It's more about how comfortable you would be.

When we were on American Queen in early October the on board offer was free companion fare. Great deal.

Do not remember but it could have applied to 2021 sailings only.

We personally did not enjoy the trip enough to book another one.

When booking online the difference between saver and plus is usually $40 per day. I would really question where they are getting that amount from. Unless you have 2 people booked then that would be correct.

I went to the Princess website and did a mock booking for a mini suite for your cruise. The price difference is $200.

Recently off the American Queen (Memphis to New Orleans). We had a cabin on deck 3 with open veranda. This just means you sit outside your cabin on a public deck. I measured the width of the cabin (using my arms) and found it was about 8 feet wide. The bed is a queen and we had about 5 feet from the end of the bed to the outside doors.

I saw inside one of the interior cabins when they had the door open and they appeared a little smaller than what I had.

You have to be efficient with the storage of your items. There is a free standing closet and a reproduction secretary to use for storage. Not much room at all.

These have to be the smallest cabins for the price anywhere.  

22 hours ago, pris993 said:

Have not found a good TA, in all the years I was using them.  With computers and lots of info available I  found I could do just well for my self with out a TA.  I don't need someone to do the leg work for me,  have the time to do for myself. 

I too have the time to do my own research and enjoy doing it. I certainly don't rely on my TA to do that.

I do, however, continue to use a TA because she discounts Princess. We average 10% (sometimes more and sometimes less) discount over the current website price.

I just compared our price from our TA for a September 2023 cruise with the price on the big box website. They gave $545 in a gift card as incentive. That brought the price down to about what my TA is charging with her discount.

I have also booked a U.S. river cruise (October 2021) through her. She was not allowed to discount the price up front. However, when the cruise was over she rebated part of her commission by check. Good deal for us.

We have done cruise tours twice to Alaska.  Which train car you get can make a difference.

The first time we packed a hanging case with our "formal" clothes that went ahead to the ship. We each had a suitcase (large) and a backpack. This worked well. On the train it was hard to find a place for even a backpack. The tables were small and with 4 adults it was very crowded. We kept our backpacks on the floor between our feet but that meant you couldn't move your feet as there was no room left.

The second time we didn't bother with the hanging case. We were in a different train car that had regular forward facing seats. A little more room to maneuver there. 

For what it is worth I saw people with lots of big cases on the train and Princess didn't stop them. It's more about where you are going to put things.

For those who may be interested.  We got off the Queen a week ago. The cost is $20 per bag as previously stated.  We each got 5 days clothes into a bag.

The tag on it said "in by 9 out by 5". Purser said that was incorrect. 24 hour return.

We gave them our clothes at 8 am on a Tuesday.  They were back in our room around 3 pm on Thursday. They were clean but unwearable because they were so wrinkled. I had to go to the 4th floor laundromat and throw them through the dryer with a wet towel to get the wrinkles out.  Needless to say we didn't pay for the poor service. 

21 hours ago, Oldone79 said:

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

 

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.

Just now, Roger88 said:

What can you tell us about then liquer? I recently heard that it wasnt good and that it was overpriced in terms of cocktails and stuff. Did you drink much on board? 

Alcohol is included in the price of your cruise.

I don't drink much but my husband would have a few every day.  He mostly drank Jameson's. The bartender he got to know poured a nice stiff drink. There was no charge as long as you didn't ask for premium brands. (but if you tipped well you could get the premium brand without being charged)

One bartender tried to tell my husband that Myer's Rum was premium.  The next day he had no objections to pouring it without charging.

The people at our dinner table liked chardonnay. Every night at dinner there was a red and a white wine offered as the wine of the day. You could also order whatever wine you wanted from the bar.

I drink mostly Diet Coke and it came from a gun. 

Alcohol during the dinner service was mostly non existent unless you were drinking wine. My husband had to go to the closest bar to get his own drinks. Of course, dinner service in general was terrible.

But that's another story.

3 minutes ago, Ant@sea said:

Did you attempt to change cabins? If so, what was the response?

No, we didn't. Probably should have as we were only sailing with about 240 passengers.

We were travelling with friends and had side by side cabins.

Off the American Queen one week ago. Alcoholic drinks were included any time bars were open. We asked about an upgrade to get premium spirits. Was told by the purser it would be $149 for the 7 day voyage to upgrade. My husband decided he could make do with the "well" drinks offered. He then found a friendly bartender and ordered the upgraded drinks (and tipped her generously). Much cheaper options than the upgraded package.

Our final bill included the 2 premium excursions (that were not cancelled) and the daily tips. 

Just got off the American Queen on Monday, October 18. We had cabin C320.

The cabins are much smaller than what you get on an ocean liner. I was aware of that and willing to put up with it.

What I was not aware of was the NOISE. On the port side of the boat (where we were) there is a CONSTANT 24/7 loud engine noise. At first I thought it was because they have a mobile generator loaded onboard because of earlier problems. When I went down to the engine room and talked to an engineer she said that the noise is always there. It has nothing to do with the additional generator. (which I understand they will be off loading as soon as their generator is fixed) 

While inside the cabin it becomes a background noise and we were able to put up with it.

However, while sitting outside the room to watch the world go by it is VERY loud. I could only sit out for short amounts of time as it caused a headache. To me it really impacted my ability to relax after a day of walking around ports.

I did walk around to the starboard side and there was no noise other than what you would expect.

For what it is worth (in these Covid times) service was not at all what you would expect for the prices you pay. 

Just a warning for those booking future cruises.

We boarded Monday in Tunica. Maybe because of water level but we also noticed there is major work being done at the port and along the river in Memphis. 

Today we are scenic cruising instead of visiting Vicksburg. Low water is the issue.  This was the port my husband was looking forward to the most.

We board next Monday. I have noticed a few posts saying they boarded in Tunica instead of Memphis.

Is this normal? What time do the buses leave from the Sheraton Downtown Memphis to go to Tunica? It appears to be about an hour away.

Thanks for any help.

I just tried and got the error message. I think it's not just you. Must be system wide.

55 minutes ago, willift said:

We’re on the Queen. We boarded in Tunica and they were hours behind schedule. Manpower and lack of Good Management seems to be the main issue Late seating Dinner has started after 8pm and we haven’t been out before 10:30 yet. Front Porch got closed down on Tues/Wed middle of the day Something Covidy is happen the Crew is wearing mandated masks. I would NOT  book a Cruise this year after this experience and I’d look at the Covid rules for a way to get refund. l have been a big fan of American Queen and bragged their praises and now I’m embarrassed by the product. 

We are boarding the Queen in 10 days or so and I am very disappointed to hear your report. They are not allowing any changes without the cancellation charge of $500 per person. We tried as I am not that comfortable yet with the idea of traveling.

As they have already had my money for well over a year I don't understand why we couldn't switch dates.

To add to my hesitancy the hotel we have booked in New Orleans (Hyatt Centric French Quarter) for 3 nights is scheduled to reopen on October 15 and we arrive October 18. Again, they won't let us cancel our reservation. I sure hope they reopen on time as this is the third reopening date they have announced.

Going to make the best of the trip but I hope things calm down with Covid.

I would also ask this question on the Carnival forum.

Maybe they test on board before you leave. I'm pretty sure Princess is giving free pcr tests the day before disembarkation for those flying to other countries who may need it. Don't quote me but this is what I thought I read.

We leave in about 4 weeks for our trip from Memphis to New Orleans. We will be traveling for 14 days total.

I'm curious about laundry onboard the American Queen. Can I do my own (if need be)? Is their service good and reliable? Is it expensive?

I hope to do some wash at our AirBNB before boarding but will still need something done to get us all the way home wearing clean clothes.

Thanks in advance for any info.

20 minutes ago, CeCe_ said:

Our mobile phones have international plans and that will cover internet while on the cruise and in Alaska.  You may want to check with your cell phone company if you can purchase a special plan for a week, which is probably less expensive than buying from Princess.

Just so you know you are not covered by your phone company for internet while on the ship. Your mobile phone will use the ships internet to connect if you use it while on board. As stated before, it can get very expensive.

You should be covered while on land in Alaska. I have had no problems on land while covered by Verizon or Xfinity Mobile.

We are booked for August 2022, Vancouver to Sitka. I asked my travel agent to find out how to change our dates to 2023. We are doing 2 other cruises in 2022 and wanted to spread out the third one. 

Victory replied that it would cost us $250 each and we would lose our payment for insurance.

Really great customer service. I don't want a refund, just want to change dates. We are over a year from sail date. There is no reason that they shouldn't honor this request with no fees.

Not a happy customer right now.

11 hours ago, Ombud said:

I got mine from https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov

 

 

 

I had J&J so fully vaxed with 1 dose

Ombud:

Just curious. I went to this website so I could have a copy of my vaccination card on my phone. Once it provided the info I didn't know what to do with it. I want it easily accessible on my phone but there was no option to "save". I ended up taking a screenshot of it. What else can you do to "save" this info to your phone?

I wish they would make these things more user friendly.

I think it is phrased incorrectly. It means minors can only have soft drinks not alcohol. They do observe a minimum age for alcohol. Adults can get alcohol, soft drinks, fancy coffees, mocktails. The soft drinks are from a gun at the bar.  Minors just don't have access to the alcohol.