Live on the Jazz

[vino100]

This will be my first attempt at a “live” post. 
 

The complementary pre cruise hotel was the New Orleans Inter Continental. Check in was very smooth and the boarding docs were well presented . Voucher for breakfast , boarding group and Covid test info was in a folder as well as lanyards with our name. 

Embarkation day

 

a preset breakfast was served in a dining room reserved for ACL passengers. We had to show our vaccine card to be seated. We were offered mimosas which was a nice touch. 
Following breakfast we went to the Covid testing room where we handed in the health questionnaire and presented our vaccination card. 
A medical professional then swabbed each nostril. If he didn’t text us with the results, we were Covid free. Loved not getting a text. ! 
we were informed that no one tested positive. Good news for all

We were in group one, so boarded the bus at 11:00. Short ride to the boat, or is it a ship? I guess I need to find that out. Lol

 

first impression ( please keep in mind I have only been on a Uniworld river cruise)

 

The outside looks similar to a European river boat. Once on board there was nothing similar to Uniworld . The decor is very sterile, but not necessarily bad. Just different. Our cabin and balcony are much larger than Uniworld, but once again the decor is very minimal. 
 

lunch

 

This is where there is a huge difference between the two lines. We have been on over 30 cruises and never have we only had 3 choices for lunch. And no , that 3 isn’t a misprint. 
Realizing food is subjective, the choices and quality were greatly lacking. We are hoping dinner will be improved. 
We were given the menu for dinner and asked to mark our choice. Once again only 3 choices. 
On a positive note, we had a wonderful waiter named Cody. We will try to sit in his area tonight. 
 

I have always believed that if you don’t have a good time on vacation it is no one’s fault but your own. I’m feeling very blessed to be on this boat sailing down the mighty Mississippi.

 

To be continued 

[vino100]

Dinner

Great improvement over lunch. All 3 choices were delicious and substitutions were welcomed. Another wonderful server, Jasmine, was a delight. Now we have 2 areas to be pampered. 
One thing we do find strange is choosing what you want for lunch and dinner in the morning. 
 

entertainment 

Great piano man on board. Fun night hearing Elton John. 

 

 

 

 

[DaveinCharlotte]

4 minutes ago, vino100 said:

One thing we do find strange is choosing what you want for lunch and dinner in the morning.

This gives the chef an idea of what to have on hand, so meals will be served quickly and no-one will be disappointed because they ran out of what they wanted.  You are under no obligation to actually order what you selected in the morning.  Nice thing about seeing the day's options in the morning...if there's nothing that strikes your fancy, you can opt out and eat upstairs in the back-porch cafe.

[jklc123]

As a future ACL cruiser and veteran of many Uniworld cruises, I’m enjoying these posts. Thanks!

[vino100]

2 hours ago, DaveinCharlotte said:

This gives the chef an idea of what to have on hand, so meals will be served quickly and no-one will be disappointed because they ran out of what they wanted.  You are under no obligation to actually order what you selected in the morning.  Nice thing about seeing the day's options in the morning...if there's nothing that strikes your fancy, you can opt out and eat upstairs in the back-porch cafe.

Yes, I fully understand why they only offer 3 choices. I stand by my comment that I think it is strange since no other cruise I have sailed has this policy. Of course no one will go hungry. Lol

[vino100]

1 hour ago, jklc123 said:

As a future ACL cruiser and veteran of many Uniworld cruises, I’m enjoying these posts. Thanks!

thank you. 

[jagoffee]

5 hours ago, DaveinCharlotte said:

This gives the chef an idea of what to have on hand, so meals will be served quickly and no-one will be disappointed because they ran out of what they wanted.  You are under no obligation to actually order what you selected in the morning.  Nice thing about seeing the day's options in the morning...if there's nothing that strikes your fancy, you can opt out and eat upstairs in the back-porch cafe.

On our recent Harmony cruise the back-porch was only opened during lunch hours.  Yours was open during dinner hours?  Perhaps our limited hours were a staff shortage due to Covid?

I was disappointed in the lack of casual dinner hours.  
 

 

[DaveinCharlotte]

14 hours ago, jagoffee said:

On our recent Harmony cruise the back-porch was only opened during lunch hours.  Yours was open during dinner hours?

No, not really.  Cafe on the Melody (they call it the "Ellipse Cafe") opens promptly at 6:30am, serving breakfast options until 9:30am. Then they reopen at 11:00am and stay open through 5:00pm.

 

So no, not exactly "dinner hours."  But if we didn't like the day's meal options, we would skip lunch and have a hamburger mid/late afternoon.  With heavy snacks coming up at happy hour, we never went hungry!  

[DaveinCharlotte]

17 hours ago, vino100 said:

Yes, I fully understand why they only offer 3 choices.

Actually, I meant to address why the ship would ask in the morning for the day's choices, not why the ship would offer only 3 choices.

 

Thanks for posting as you go, and glad the trip is going well so far.

 

BTW, there have been many gripes here about lack of internet service.  On the Melody, we had perfect internet, up 24/7 and could get it anywhere on the ship (even in the bus outside, waiting for an excursion to start!).  Your frequent posts suggest you too are getting good internet coverage.  True? 

[jagoffee]

8 hours ago, DaveinCharlotte said:

No, not really.  Cafe on the Melody (they call it the "Ellipse Cafe") opens promptly at 6:30am, serving breakfast options until 9:30am. Then they reopen at 11:00am and stay open through 5:00pm.

 

So no, not exactly "dinner hours."  But if we didn't like the day's meal options, we would skip lunch and have a hamburger mid/late afternoon.  With heavy snacks coming up at happy hour, we never went hungry!  

Thanks.  Your situation was a lot better than ours.  Perhaps our hours were just temporary.  Ours also was not open at all on the first full day.  (Related to staff)

 

 

 

[vino100]

I’ve tried 3 times to post and it keeps disappearing, hope this one goes through. Any help with posting would be greatly appreciated. 
 

yesterday was an out to river day. The water level was too low to dock at Houmas and Saint francisville. Disappointing,but not ACL fault. 
 

food

lunch was at the back porch. My hamburger was good and they also served hot dogs and wraps. 
A bonus was the nice selection of ice cream bars . 
dinner was very disappointing. 3 at our table ordered the strip steak. It would have taken a chainsaw to cut through the meat. All 3 of us left the steak uneaten. One person ordered the osso buco and it was very good. 
since there are only 3 selections for dinner one would think they would all be good. 
this is not a cheap cruise and I expected better. 
 

please remember this is just my opinion. 
 

I'm using my own internet so haven’t logged onto the ships. 


 

[BillHana]

Thank you for your Jazz postings. Sorry, I don't know how to make this work any easier but I do appreciate your information. Our upcoming Jazz cruise Oct 31 will be our first river cruise after 25 big ship ocean cruises.  Hope you continue to have an enjoyable cruise.

[vino100]

Thanks, We are having a good time. 
 

excursions 

 

Natchez

 

we went to Frogmore plantation and gin mill. I loved this excursion! 
the owner is the tour guide and a real delight. We learned how today’s cotton is processed and then the cotton gin of Eli Whitley. We also toured the areas of enslaved people. Very moving, but informative. 
 

also in Natchez was Monmouth historical Inn and garden. Not as good, but we were given a mint julep, which I have never had before. 
 

food

 

we ate off the ship at Natchez at the Magnolia Grill. Awesome food and fun servers. 
 

soooooo, food on the ship. So hit and miss with more miss than hit. 
yesterday they ran out of hamburger buns , the day before vanilla ice cream and last night mashed potatoes. Okay, while this is not earth stopping, poor planning on someone’s part. 
we do love our servers , such fun hard working young people. 
 

today we are in Vicksburg. 
 

 

[Lvwindstar007]

8 hours ago, BillHana said:

Thank you for your Jazz postings. Sorry, I don't know how to make this work any easier but I do appreciate your information. Our upcoming Jazz cruise Oct 31 will be our first river cruise after 25 big ship ocean cruises.  Hope you continue to have an enjoyable cruise.

We are also on the 31 Oct Jazz cruise. We hope everything continues relatively smoothly.

 

[vino100]

Up the river we sailed to Vicksburg. Very interesting on the Mississippi since there are so many barges being pushed by tug boats. 
 

Excursions

 

Morning tour was Antebellum Vicksburg experience. Really interesting and informative tour . We had a great, great , great grandson of Jefferson Davis as our tour guide. So much southern history that this California girl is enjoying. We also toured an antebellum house where the owner gave a great presentation. 
 

Afternoon tour was Vicksburg National Military park. Since the park is huge, most was on a bus with narration . If the buss had better a/c it would have been a great tour. Still , I learned so much about the siege of Vicksburg. 
 

food

 

we ate lunch off the ship at a great restaurant at the top of the hill,  where the boat docked. The biscuit company of Vicksburg has not only great biscuits ,but everything was delicious. 
 

Dinner was very good on the ship. 
 

I have not mentioned the excursion director , but she is not only competent but  very personable. Great job Anna. 
 

 

[vino100]

Arrived in Baton Rouge yesterday. We had no planned excursions , but walked to the old governor’s mansion. No fee to get in and it was very interesting. 
 

we have really enjoyed our fellow passengers. There are 46 West Point graduates from the class of 1961. They have such great stories to tell.
 

Last night the entertainment was a duo who played the fiddle and guitar, well they also sang. Cajun and country music was well received and a good time was had by all. 
 

the cruise director has also done a superb job. 

[jimdee3636]

On 10/9/2021 at 7:56 AM, vino100 said:

Arrived in Baton Rouge yesterday. We had no planned excursions , but walked to the old governor’s mansion. No fee to get in and it was very interesting. 
 

we have really enjoyed our fellow passengers. There are 46 West Point graduates from the class of 1961. They have such great stories to tell.
 

Last night the entertainment was a duo who played the fiddle and guitar, well they also sang. Cajun and country music was well received and a good time was had by all. 
 

the cruise director has also done a superb job. 

I know the cruise is over, but it seemed that your experience was (mostly) good. Were the last few days as enjoyable as the first ones? Did you get good value for your money overall?

 

Thanks.

[vino100]

 We did have a good time on the cruise. I always believe if you don’t have a good time on your vacation it is your fault. So would I go on another ACL cruise ? No. 

My only other river cruise was on Uniworld so that is how I evaluated the comparisons. We paid the same amount of money for both the 7 day cruises. In the same category cabin.

 

Uniworld

many choices for all meals 

all food was wonderful

did not have to fill out a form at breakfast for what you wanted for lunch and dinner . 

Full bar open all day

servers that came to your seat and asked you what drink you wanted to order

Room service available

We did have a butler, but I am not going to compare that since ACL does not offer that with any category. this was just a nice perk ! 

 

ACL

Larger cabin with a balcony

Hotel room the night before cruise .

 

Food was so hit and miss that we ate 2 dinners and 1 lunch off the boat. 

There were 2 “happy hours’ per day. Please don’t think you can get in line even 3 minutes before the set time because you will be told it wasn’t time.

I have never been on a cruise where there were no servers to take your drink order. You had to wait in line ,order and then take your drink to your seat. 

 

Uniworld and ACL

 

Both had great employees . ACL had younger servers in the dining room and they were so hard working . We enjoyed interacting with them .

entertainers on both were enjoyable. Both brought on local entertainers and were also enjoyable.

Cruise director and shore excursion director were excellent on both.

 

In closing, I just don’t think the value is what it should be on ACL. 

Any questions I will be happy to answer. 

 

 

[jklc123]

Thanks again for your review and comparison with Uniworld. The dining and evening happy hours seem like the most disappointing parts of the trip, and not very pleasant for sure. Is that the main reason you wouldn’t sail again with ACL? We have a Great Lakes cruise with Pearl Seas scheduled for late spring and Hudson River with ACL in the fall 2022. We’ll see if we’d want to travel again with either line.

[vino100]

On 10/24/2021 at 9:57 AM, jklc123 said:

Thanks again for your review and comparison with Uniworld. The dining and evening happy hours seem like the most disappointing parts of the trip, and not very pleasant for sure. Is that the main reason you wouldn’t sail again with ACL? We have a Great Lakes cruise with Pearl Seas scheduled for late spring and Hudson River with ACL in the fall 2022. We’ll see if we’d want to travel again with either line.

yes, the main reason is the food and beverage was not as I expected. 
this was not a cheap cruise and I was very disappointed . 
Please remember this is just my opinion. 

[jklc123]

7 hours ago, vino100 said:

yes, the main reason is the food and beverage was not as I expected. 
this was not a cheap cruise and I was very disappointed . 
Please remember this is just my opinion. 

And I appreciate your opinion. We’re consoling ourselves about the prices of their cruises with at least not having to pay for long flights overseas.

[suzyluvs2cruise]

Thanks for your honest review vino100. We've done a river cruise with Viking and would have to say there's no comparison for a very close price point. It's something we wanted to try but, sadly, we weren't wowed. Adding to that was the fact that my husband was diagnosed with Covid 2 days after we returned home. I was concerned for both crew and other guests so wrote to ACL Customer Service & CEO plus called Customer Service. Our cruise was July 25 and, to date, no response from ACL. Adding that to the lackluster experience make it a no for sailing with ACL again. It's too bad as they do offer some nice itineraries. 

Edited October 30, 2021 by suzyluvs2cruise