American Queen Steamboat River Cruise

Looking for any tips/advice about the American Queen River Cruise, Memphis to New Orleans. May 30th - June 6, 2015

Ports are Memphis, TN.

Greenville, MS

Vicksburg, MS

Natchez, MS

St. Francisville, LA

Baton Rouge, LA

Nottoway, LA

Mew Orleans, LA

Thanks.

There has been very little mention of American Queen on this forum. Someone else started a similar thread in Feb. 2014 and didn't get any responses:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1983315

We took the American Queen from Memphis to New Orleans about three years ago. We very much enjoyed the cruise as well as the destinations. I loved the hop-on, hop-off tour buses - they were very helpful in getting a feel for the ports. Be sure to leave some time for just walking around the cities - they were very interesting. Life on board is very relaxing; you will probably find a number of alumni groups from different universities. We enjoyed the food, although the service was sometimes hit or miss. We loved the public rooms - -particularly the card rooms and the library -- and do go hear the riverloreian talk about the Mississippi. We had not been to New Orleans before and absolutely fell in love with the city.

One thing I must add - we hit some very cold weather - had to buy a sweatshirt in Baton Rouge.

Also, the river was high - we missed a couple of ports.

It truly is a relaxing cruise, much more so than a European River Cruise. If at max capacity the AQ carries about 450 passengers.

Food is subjective. I found it to be good, but not necessarily fabulous. I actually liked the Front Porch Café (Deck 3 aka Texas Deck) at the front of the boat more. It was casual, and had a friendly vibe and the service was better than the dinning room.

The public rooms are beautiful, and the production shows in the theater were actually quite good. If you want to sit in one of the boxes in the theater go to deck 3. Some of the boxes do say reserved (For suite guests) but the very forward boxes are for anyone.

Favorite spot on the boat was on deck 4 at the front. They had lots of rocking chairs that one could just sit and relax and admire the view.

For the most part I found the staff to be friendly. The dining room staff appeared to have too many tables, and were inexperienced, which did cause some service issues.

The boat will dock fairly close to the French Quarter. I hope you gave yourself some time to explore New Orleans's as it's a wonderful city.

If interested, I have a full write up on our experience. Click on my web page (Bottom of my signature) and click on the tab that says "See the USA"

We took the American Queen from Memphis to New Orleans about three years ago. We very much enjoyed the cruise as well as the destinations. I loved the hop-on, hop-off tour buses - they were very helpful in getting a feel for the ports. Be sure to leave some time for just walking around the cities - they were very interesting. Life on board is very relaxing; you will probably find a number of alumni groups from different universities. We enjoyed the food, although the service was sometimes hit or miss. We loved the public rooms - -particularly the card rooms and the library -- and do go hear the riverloreian talk about the Mississippi. We had not been to New Orleans before and absolutely fell in love with the city.

One thing I must add - we hit some very cold weather - had to buy a sweatshirt in Baton Rouge.

Also, the river was high - we missed a couple of ports.

Thanks for the info about the buses. It sounds like a easy way to tour the towns. I am looking forward to visiting the card rooms, hopefully find others that enjoy playing cards and games.

I don't think we will have to worry about it being too cold since we are going the end of May and 1st week in June. Thanks, Charliebeth

There has been very little mention of American Queen on this forum. Someone else started a similar thread in Feb. 2014 and didn't get any responses:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1983315

I have been very surprised that there has not been any response from anyone that will be on our cruise. We have taken other ocean and river cruises and have always found other fellow cruisers to chat with before the trip.

It truly is a relaxing cruise, much more so than a European River Cruise. If at max capacity the AQ carries about 450 passengers.

 

Food is subjective. I found it to be good, but not necessarily fabulous. I actually liked the Front Porch Café (Deck 3 aka Texas Deck) at the front of the boat more. It was casual, and had a friendly vibe and the service was better than the dinning room.

 

The public rooms are beautiful, and the production shows in the theater were actually quite good. If you want to sit in one of the boxes in the theater go to deck 3. Some of the boxes do say reserved (For suite guests) but the very forward boxes are for anyone.

 

Favorite spot on the boat was on deck 4 at the front. They had lots of rocking chairs that one could just sit and relax and admire the view.

 

For the most part I found the staff to be friendly. The dining room staff appeared to have too many tables, and were inexperienced, which did cause some service issues.

 

The boat will dock fairly close to the French Quarter. I hope you gave yourself some time to explore New Orleans's as it's a wonderful city.

 

If interested, I have a full write up on our experience. Click on my web page (Bottom of my signature) and click on the tab that says "See the USA"

Hi Laura, I just read your write up and enjoyed it very much. Thanks for the many tips about the boat. We are staying 2 nights in New Orleans after the cruise.

Since we will arrive early Sat. morning and our flight is at 6pm on Monday, we are renting a car. Planning on spending some time visiting some nearby area's. Thanks, Charliebeth

As a history enthusiast, I'm really interested in doing one of these cruises and have been doing some research.

American Cruise Lines has a new paddlewheeler in 2015, the American Eagle. They also have others on order. Their staterooms are double the size of the other riverboats and have private balconies instead of just an open deck in front of your cabin that anyone can use. Try to compare cabin square footage and how meals are served when looking at the different cruise lines.

They say their shore excursions are 'more than just a hop-on, hop-off' tours but I don't have any direct experience with that. Maybe someone else has been on this specific cruise line and can comment.

American Cruise Lines has currently two ships: Queen of the Mississippi and the American Eagle.

Cabins are definitely larger than on the American Queen.

Food is pretty much comparable.

American Queen offers a free HoHo Bus in each port plus additional shore excursions (you have to pay for). American Cruise Lines offers shore excursions (you have to pay for).

Both American Cruise Lines vessels do have a paddlewheel which adds a little to the speed provided by Z-drives. The American Queen has a real steamengine propelling the paddlewheel plus additional Z-drives.

steamboats

We've recently sailed on American Eagle from New Orleans to Memphis and I can post my review here. It is not a pleasant experience though:

First of all and the most important: if you ever been on a river cruise in Europe/Asia with let’s saying Viking, AmaWaterways, Tauck, Avalon etc…- do not take this cruise: you’ll be vastly disappointed. But first let me briefly describe our trip:

We stayed at a hotel next to the French Quarter, in the morning got to the New Orleans port and had a smooth on time check-in. For an unknown reason musicians already stopped the embarkation entertainment and all welcome drinks were gone. It was a first call something is wrong, but we realized it later. So here is what we experienced during this cruise and what defers it from let's say an ordinary Danube cruise:

- Same people (mostly college students on a summer break) work as a housekeeping stuff and serve dishes in the dining room. That’s the source of all service issues.

- Very limited breakfast selection and by menu only. So expect to spend twice much time than if there was a buffet.

- No barbecue on top deck in spite of a mostly nice weather.

- Overall very limited food selection: only American food. No such things as thematic dinners: let’s say French, Italian etc…

- Mostly “Gallo family” wines used. (the cost is around $3 in our local Walmart store).

- Minor thing but no wine service in the dining room: need to pour glasses by ourselves. Wine is already on a table.

- The acoustic in the dining room is terrible.

- Our cabin was never vacuumed

- Many cabins have dampness issues. Shame for a new ship and whoever designed it!

- Slow wireless internet disappearing at the same time as your cellphone service.

On top of that the American Cruise Lines did not even fulfill what was promised with no explanation given: we never visited Oak Alley Plantation as advertised in the day by day schedule on their website.

Overall it was a 1 start cruise for us but thanks to the entertainment and included tours which were pretty good I am giving it 2 stars.

Here is the summary: I'd recommend this cruise only if you absolutely do not care about the service you receive, your kin is impatiently waiting for your death and tons of money under your bed still needs to be spent.

I rarely come to this forum but try to answer questions if there are any...

I am pretty sure I watched a program on A Wealth of Entertainment channel the other night on this cruise. The title of the programs are "Dream Cruises." Mostly they focus on European river cruises, but this one was on the Mississippi cruise.