Countess

[CruisinCadie]

We found you get the best reception in the library, the game room, the chart room.  Probably Perks too.

 

Isn't the entertainment great?  I assume you have Ian, Eva, and Shaun.  They were wonderful.

 

Kathy

[candydane]

Where is the smoking area? My husband smoke cigars.  Thanks.

[CruiserFromMaine]

@CruisinCadieThe entertainers are new for this cruise, their first cruise on the Countess. Clark, Melissa and Doronte. I’ll check out the reception in those forward areas. Our cabin is midship. 
 

@candydane   The smoking areas are outside the River Grill on Deck 2 and on the Sun Deck. 

[wandb]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:37 PM, CruiserFromMaine said:

We’re on board now and having a fun time! Very good shows and food at dinner is also very good. Wi-Fi is not that good, some sites I can’t connect to. 
 

Any questions, let me know! 

Im excited to hear such good news!!  We are in Pittsburgh and looking forward to boarding in a day and a half!!

 

Did you have a port stop in Madison, IN?

when we signed up for this cruise I was so glad to see the HOHO stops--in Madison and also in Wheeling WV. Many wonderful old historic homes to tour!

 

Now we are skipping Wheeling (wonderful Victorian Old Town) completely and having a river cruising day, which is fine. 
But in Madison, which has the largest historic district in the US (133 blocks!!) we now touring a railroad museum, a fountain, and a saddletree factory!!

 

If you stopped in Madison, did they add anything to the HOHO tour?

[ericosmith]

4 hours ago, wandb said:

But in Madison, which has the largest historic district in the US (133 blocks!!) we now touring a railroad museum, a fountain, and a saddletree factory!!

In the app it shows the Shrewsbury-Windle House, the Schofield House and the Lanier Mansion in addition to the stops you mention.

[wandb]

8 hours ago, ericosmith said:

In the app it shows the Shrewsbury-Windle House, the Schofield House and the Lanier Mansion in addition to the stops you mention.

The app is incorrect on several port stops. When I called AQV earlier, (about Cincinnati), she listed the HOHO stops. Very different from the app and the book received with the documents.

 

I think all three of those homes are closed on Monday---the day we will be there. I may try to get up a group to do a tour of 2-3 homes of whatever is available that day, but can't do that till we are aboard and meet some folks. Have not had even one response to our roll call. 

[ericosmith]

Ah, it's the day of the week thing.  I wouldn't lose complete hope.  We were cruising on the Mississippi on Thanksgiving day and several stops opened just for cruise passengers.  Only the tour staff on the boat will know what's really going to happen.  

[CruiserFromMaine]

I think the sites may make an exception and open if the Countess is in port. The people in all the stops seem very happy when we arrive. Obviously, no guarantees though. 

[patca]

We are back from our May 23 cruise.  We had a great time.

Report on aft cabins:  We had cabin 368 at the rear of boat.  Noise was tolerable.  At times during the night, it would get very loud.  It sometimes woke me up..  There was a constant engine noise when under way, but it was  not bothersome.  There was no spray from the paddle and we loved sitting out on our balcony.  The room was good size and bathroom was very large and beautiful.   We would not book this cabin again.

Food was excellent and my husband had two lobster tails every night.  He is a picky eater, but enjoyed all of the appetizers, salads, soups and dessert along with his lobster.  I enjoyed a variety of entrees and enjoyed them all, The entertainment was very good.  The same three people every night, but varied programs.  They were very talented.  Ports were not very interesting and many times, nothing was open (Memorial Day weekend).  We enjoyed our extra nights in Nashville and Louisville,  The Quilt Museum in Paducah was interesting.  The Lincoln tour from Brandenberg was also interesting.

Any Questions?

[patca]

I found the WIFI very good from our cabin,  Never had a problem connecting.  Service was very good.  Sometimes a wait between courses, but this gave us more time to get to know our tablemates.

 

[CruisinCadie]

Madison, IN, the Saddletree Factory was fascinating.  The downtown shopping district was fun to explore.  We also stopped at one of the Civil War mansions, but this was on a Wednesday. It was my understanding that the museums would open especially for the cruise ship passengers if the ship were scheduled to be in port.  Since we had a second day there due to high river water, we would have had to pay to visit these places on Thursday.

 

The fountain was more of a get off the bus, take some photos, and get back on the bus when it comes around again. 

 

We didn't see the Railroad Museum, but the attached historical society museum was interesting.  We just wanted to be back on the ship in time for lunch and couldn't do everything.

 

[ericosmith]

For those of you just back, how does main dinner seating work?  Do they have tables for 2 and are they preassigned or first come first served?  That seems to differ from boat to boat.  Thanks

[patca]

We did not request a table size and we were preassigned to a table of 6.  I saw very few tables for two, maybe three or four. I think you can request a table for two when you make your booking.  We were very fortunate to have wonderful tablemates.

[obuoy4848]

We just returned from our May 30-June 7, 2022 cruise on Countess.  It was a very scenic trip up from Louisville to Pittsburgh.  Staying in Louisville for 2 nights was a much preferred stop at the Brown Hotel.  The Embassy in downtown Pittsburgh at the end of the trip did not appeal to us as tourists.

All of the stops we made were handled exceptionally well by the staff, drivers, cruise docents, etc.

Our cabin was 212 --- private deck.  We went through 13 locks---some at night, when all the outside

lights on the boat come on.  Although we enjoyed all of the stops and some extra tours, the scenery along the way was outstanding.  Cruise director, Clark & Melissa, and Doronte

were Broadway

quality entertainers.  We are now looking forward to another cruise in 2023 on the Mississippi.