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Beware American Cruise Lines


Hydrokitty

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Recently returned from Columbia and Snake River cruise on the Queen of the West. Cruise and scenery were wonderful but I cannot in good conscience recommend American Cruise Lines and I will not sail with them again because:

 

1. restaurant manager combing his hair over clean water glasses

2. dairy products on breakfast buffet from 7 to 9 without refrigeration or ice

3. notwithstanding assurances that you can order anything you want on or off the menu, you might wait an hour or more for your food if you do....even a bowl of blueberries and cup of cottage cheese!

4. don't appear in the dining room at 9:05 a.m. for breakfast and expect to be served because the wait staff becomes the housekeeping staff at 9:00 a.m.

5. don't fall or have a heart attack on the ship because there are no band-aids or emergency first aid on board.

 

And if you write a letter to the company president advising him of the above, don't expect an answer from him. It's been a month since I wrote to him and I have yet to have a reply of any kind....except for a brochure asking me where I would like to go on my next American Cruise Line trip!!

 

It's really too bad. We're experienced river cruisers and frequent travelers and would love to do the Mississippi River cruise but I will be looking for another company to sail with.

 

PS: I did file a trip review but since this is where river cruisers go for info, I'm posting it here as well.

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Recently returned from Columbia and Snake River cruise on the Queen of the West. Cruise and scenery were wonderful but I cannot in good conscience recommend American Cruise Lines and I will not sail with them again because:

 

1. restaurant manager combing his hair over clean water glasses

2. dairy products on breakfast buffet from 7 to 9 without refrigeration or ice

3. notwithstanding assurances that you can order anything you want on or off the menu, you might wait an hour or more for your food if you do....even a bowl of blueberries and cup of cottage cheese!

4. don't appear in the dining room at 9:05 a.m. for breakfast and expect to be served because the wait staff becomes the housekeeping staff at 9:00 a.m.

5. don't fall or have a heart attack on the ship because there are no band-aids or emergency first aid on board.

 

And if you write a letter to the company president advising him of the above, don't expect an answer from him. It's been a month since I wrote to him and I have yet to have a reply of any kind....except for a brochure asking me where I would like to go on my next American Cruise Line trip!!

 

It's really too bad. We're experienced river cruisers and frequent travelers and would love to do the Mississippi River cruise but I will be looking for another company to sail with.

 

PS: I did file a trip review but since this is where river cruisers go for info, I'm posting it here as well.

Hi

Thanks for the info. I was hoping to meet up w. you on Yangtze cruise, but I guess not.

Tom:)

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Hi

Thanks for the info. I was hoping to meet up w. you on Yangtze cruise, but I guess not.

Tom:)

 

That would have been fun! But we're still going to China only on a land/cruise tour with vantage. I decided there's just too much to see that's inland so I booked it for October, 2015. But I'm nowhere's near done cruising so keep me in the loop when making plans! Our next major trip is Vantage Budapest to the Black Sea in June. And thanks for the help. My CC friends really came through for me this time.:)

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That would have been fun! But we're still going to China only on a land/cruise tour with vantage. I decided there's just too much to see that's inland so I booked it for October, 2015. But I'm nowhere's near done cruising so keep me in the loop when making plans! Our next major trip is Vantage Budapest to the Black Sea in June. And thanks for the help. My CC friends really came through for me this time.:)

Hi

Our China trip is w. Vantage, Oct, 2014. Other planned trips are in my signature. We pretty much stick to Vantage and Celebrity.

Tom:)

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Hi

Our China trip is w. Vantage, Oct, 2014. Other planned trips are in my signature. We pretty much stick to Vantage and Celebrity.

Tom:)

 

Wonder if we've been on any cruises together....we also pretty much stick to Vantage and Celebrity! China will be my 7th Vantage trip and my last Celebrity was on the Infinity April, 2013 through the Panama Canal....it was fantastic!! (our first big ship, not our last)

 

Coudn't do China in 2014 since we're doing Budapest to the Black Sea in 2014, plus some family travel commitments.

 

Look forward to meeting you (if i haven't already) and thanks for the friend request! I accepted.

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Wonder if we've been on any cruises together....we also pretty much stick to Vantage and Celebrity! China will be my 7th Vantage trip and my last Celebrity was on the Infinity April, 2013 through the Panama Canal....it was fantastic!! (our first big ship, not our last)

 

Coudn't do China in 2014 since we're doing Budapest to the Black Sea in 2014, plus some family travel commitments.

 

Look forward to meeting you (if i haven't already) and thanks for the friend request! I accepted.

Hi

We have been on several of the trips that you have listed, but at different times. Our Panama Canal trip was on the Century, Jan.'13.

 

See below for my comments on Vantage Black Sea trip.

 

Liz and I took this cruise as our 1st Vantage trip in 04 and enjoyed it very much. Bucharest was a little depressing. The "Peoples Palace" tour is something that I would skip--unless you want to see a monstrosity monument to Ceausescu. Vantage has added stops in Slovakia and Croatia since 04, so I can't comment on those. I spent 2 months in Bulgaria in 93 as a SAM(Sanctions Assistance Monitor) and I enjoyed visiting places where I had previously worked. Veliko Turnovo is the ancient capital of Bulgaria and worth visiting. There was a side trip to Belogradchik--ancient fortress --and has rocks reminiscent of Garden of the Gods in Colorado.

Tom:)

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Thanks for the info Tom....I had planned on doing the ancient capitol and will look for the Belogradchik trip. Our son lives in Denver so I'm very familiar with Garden of the Gods and love it. did you do the Cossack horse show? I have mild interest in seeing it but because I'm involved in animal rights I'm not sure I want to go since several CC people have complained about mistreatment and abuse of the horses. I've been to Budapest before and am hoping to set up a tour of the Parliament while the others are on the city tour....hoping it's reopened since it had been undergoing renovations last year. Where in western NY are you living? We're on the south shore of Long Island about half-way to Montauk.

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Thanks for the info Tom....I had planned on doing the ancient capitol and will look for the Belogradchik trip. Our son lives in Denver so I'm very familiar with Garden of the Gods and love it. did you do the Cossack horse show? I have mild interest in seeing it but because I'm involved in animal rights I'm not sure I want to go since several CC people have complained about mistreatment and abuse of the horses. I've been to Budapest before and am hoping to set up a tour of the Parliament while the others are on the city tour....hoping it's reopened since it had been undergoing renovations last year. Where in western NY are you living? We're on the south shore of Long Island about half-way to Montauk.

Hi

We live in N. Tonawanda, 1/2 way between Bflo and N. Falls, and it is now the terminus of the Erie Canal. I spent 2 months on Long Island in 1970, while training as a US Customs Inspector for 1 month then TDY at JFK for another month. I stayed at the Lido Beach hotel in Hempstead for 1 month.

We did do the horse show, and I have read about whipping incident.

Liz and I did mostly road trips until 2004. Covered bridges, trains and national/state parks. If you want to read some of my travelogues, see

 

http://www.vermontbridges.com/newspage.htm find Keating trips.

 

Some of the earlier trips are in "Collected Articles."

 

Tom:)

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Recently returned from Columbia and Snake River cruise on the Queen of the West. Cruise and scenery were wonderful but I cannot in good conscience recommend American Cruise Lines and I will not sail with them again because:

 

1. restaurant manager combing his hair over clean water glasses

2. dairy products on breakfast buffet from 7 to 9 without refrigeration or ice

3. notwithstanding assurances that you can order anything you want on or off the menu, you might wait an hour or more for your food if you do....even a bowl of blueberries and cup of cottage cheese!

4. don't appear in the dining room at 9:05 a.m. for breakfast and expect to be served because the wait staff becomes the housekeeping staff at 9:00 a.m.

5. don't fall or have a heart attack on the ship because there are no band-aids or emergency first aid on board.

 

And if you write a letter to the company president advising him of the above, don't expect an answer from him. It's been a month since I wrote to him and I have yet to have a reply of any kind....except for a brochure asking me where I would like to go on my next American Cruise Line trip!!

 

It's really too bad. We're experienced river cruisers and frequent travelers and would love to do the Mississippi River cruise but I will be looking for another company to sail with.

 

PS: I did file a trip review but since this is where river cruisers go for info, I'm posting it here as well.

Thanks for the information. We always get mailings from American Cruise Line, and we always say how nice the trips sound. A number of years ago I read some pretty bad reviews of ACL, but I thought that things were much better now - WRONG! Sorry you had a bad experience with them, and thanks for letting us all know.
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That about sums it up! Most distressing was the treatment of an elderly passenger who fell and required stitches. We were docked at The Dalles which is a fair size town about 1/2 mile from the center of town. She asked for a first aid kit or band-aid and was told they don't have any on board. She asked for a taxi to take her to a walk-in clinic and was told the nearest one was 25 miles away and would take an hour to get to the ship. So she and her friend walked to a local drugstore where the pharmacist took one look at her arm and called a local clinic, arranged for her to come right away and then took her there himself! When she was finished getting 8 stitches, the clinic called the druggist and he picked her up, filled her Rx and returned her to the ship!....that got us to talking since most of the passengers are senior citizens....what if someone has a heart attack....they have NO emergency equipment on board and you would have to wait until they got to the next port or lock for an ambulance!! That alone would prevent me from sailing with them again.

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You could have saved a lot of money if you'd read (and believed) my review of our Queen of the West river trip in April 2012 which I posted on Cruise Critic.

 

My trip sounds like your trip. I'm going to check to see if my review is still up on Cruise Critic. Yes it is; here's a link http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=102298

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You could have saved a lot of money if you'd read (and believed) my review of our Queen of the West river trip in April 2012 which I posted on Cruise Critic.

 

My trip sounds like your trip. I'm going to check to see if my review is still up on Cruise Critic. Yes it is; here's a link http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=102298

 

You know I did read the reviews on CC, but most of them were over a year old and I gave them the benefit of the doubt by thinking they MUST have made improvements....I was wrong! But I did get a reply today.....nothing other than a vague statement that "we've already made changes" and an offer of 25% off our next ACL cruise....which I don't think I'll be using because the American Queen Steamship catalog came today and it looks much nicer and the reviews are much better!

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PennyAgain: I just looked up your review...it's still there and I DID read it. It was a good review but it was a year old and you did (like I did) point out positives as well. I think what we need is a REALLY negative review, which is what I tried to do on this page.

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Hydrokitty, I believe that you need to write a review on the Cruise Critics Review area of CC so that future folks will be able to read it and it will have a good chance of being found by search engines.

 

American Cruise Lines has some very good products as evidenced by the fact that Smithsonian Journeys and other very important travel providers book some ACL trips year after year. I assumed that Queen of the West would be in that league. My miss on that. I also assumed based on the cost of our Queen of the West trip, there would be a higher standard in the dining room.

 

I enjoyed the major parts of my Columbia River trip and have been hoping with all sincerely that the problems with Queen of the West are resolved.

 

By the way the situation with Queen of the West not having a first aid kit for the use of passengers, is, I believe, something put in place on the basis of legal advice. If you provide any form of medical care in our litigious age, you can be opened up to much blame for future problems.

 

With the towns along the Columbia River being so handy medical care is at hand quite often. Some passengers on my trip dealt with the complete loss of their luggage for the whole trip (airline issues) by going ashore here and here and shopping. One of the museums we visited even had an 'I forgot' area of drugs and handy items.

 

I have a continual hope that US owned cruise lines can make it in the cruise business. Some keep trying. It is a rough and tough business.

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Hydrokitty, I believe that you need to write a review on the Cruise Critics Review area of CC so that future folks will be able to read it and it will have a good chance of being found by search engines.

 

American Cruise Lines has some very good products as evidenced by the fact that Smithsonian Journeys and other very important travel providers book some ACL trips year after year. I assumed that Queen of the West would be in that league. My miss on that. I also assumed based on the cost of our Queen of the West trip, there would be a higher standard in the dining room.

 

I enjoyed the major parts of my Columbia River trip and have been hoping with all sincerely that the problems with Queen of the West are resolved.

 

By the way the situation with Queen of the West not having a first aid kit for the use of passengers, is, I believe, something put in place on the basis of legal advice. If you provide any form of medical care in our litigious age, you can be opened up to much blame for future problems.

 

With the towns along the Columbia River being so handy medical care is at hand quite often. Some passengers on my trip dealt with the complete loss of their luggage for the whole trip (airline issues) by going ashore here and here and shopping. One of the museums we visited even had an 'I forgot' area of drugs and handy items.

 

I have a continual hope that US owned cruise lines can make it in the cruise business. Some keep trying. It is a rough and tough business.

 

I agree with you 100% and I did post my review on the members review board. We loved the trip itself and the shore excursions, we felt, were wonderfully done with the same bus and tour guide for each port. Like you, I thought the price indicated a high end product. And like you that was my mistake! Only area I disagree with is the first aid kit. Of course, it seems like every time you turn around someone sues, but the fact that you DON'T do anything can also lead to civil liability. ACL sells it's product to senior citizens and seems to cater to us therefore imho, they are accepting a certain amount of liability where safety is concerned. I'm not suggesting that they have a Dr. on board or trained EMT's but they should certainly have a basic first aid kit and at least one person who knows how to recognize an emergency when it happens. The personnel on board did absolutely nothing to assist the passenger who fell and needed stitches. They could have called

the same walk-in clinic the pharmacist did and I do not believe the nearest taxi was 25 miles away since The Dalles was one of the biggest towns we stopped at and I would say second only to Astoria in size and population. I too would like to see more American owned companies in the travel business but I think we need to take some lessons from the European companies in running a high end trip if they want to appeal to high end travelers. I got the American Queen catalog and that looks VERY interesting and prices weren't off the chart like Pearl is.

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it is an interesting issue you raised re emergency medical care on a river cruise. we would travel with items for basic emergencies but for anything else we have travel insurance. this is expensive but essential.

 

a taxi to a medical centre would be 1 option or an ambulance for more serious cases? would not expect the cruise staff to provide actual care but would expect they could facilitate transfer to care if required.

 

probably something in the fine print about such cases on board. we understand medical care is expensive and always have medical insurance.

 

on ocean cruise ships the medical centres provide care at a cost but transfer cases that require more complex or prolonged management. of course ocean cruise ships have larger populations of staff and passengers.

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I don't disagree with anything you're saying and like most of us on CC, when I travel I carry a first aid kit as well as remedies for all the most common ailments. I also no longer leave the US without trip insurance because Medicare will not cover me outside of the US. I think what was so disturbing on the Queen of the West was that this woman fell on the ship and clearly needed stitches. We were in a fairly large city in Oregon and all she asked for was a taxi to take her to a walk-in and a band-aid to cover the cut till she got there! It took the kindness of a stranger after she walked into town to get her the help she needed. I was on a river cruise in Europe when a passenger fell and broke her nose....she was on shore and sight-seeing on her own. When she returned to the ship the TM called a taxi, took her to the hospital for treatment, stayed with her until she was allowed to return to the ship (same day) and then took her back to the hospital the next day for clearance to continue the trip. I can understand the cruise staff not wanting to render treatment, but the people on the Queen were totally disinterested in helping this lady in any way and that's not right.

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hydrokitty agree with your concern re staff apparent lack of concern for the injured passenger. sadly indifference to those in need generally sometimes seems to be on the rise. it has even been reported to be an attitude demonstrated by some health care professionals.

 

who knows the reason for the staff on the cruise. not trained to assist? told to not give assistance? who knows. certainly a warning to others to be aware and to be prepared to be responsible for their own care. if assistance is given thats a bonus but not a given.

 

we have also seen river cruise staff assist with transfer to hospital in europe but no actual medical care provided. even on flights staff will often ask for medical staff to step up in an emergency.

 

even qualified health care professionals can be reluctant to get involved.

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hydrokitty agree with your concern re staff apparent lack of concern for the injured passenger. sadly indifference to those in need generally sometimes seems to be on the rise. it has even been reported to be an attitude demonstrated by some health care professionals.

 

who knows the reason for the staff on the cruise. not trained to assist? told to not give assistance? who knows. certainly a warning to others to be aware and to be prepared to be responsible for their own care. if assistance is given thats a bonus but not a given.

 

we have also seen river cruise staff assist with transfer to hospital in europe but no actual medical care provided. even on flights staff will often ask for medical staff to step up in an emergency.

 

even qualified health care professionals can be reluctant to get involved.

 

 

Sad but true....and I think it's a serious problem in our country today fro government on down.....and I'm a political agnostic so i have no side... but it seems to be the way things are now....first thought in every situation seems to be "what's in it for me" followed by "if this doesn't benefit me, why should I bother"...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Years ago, when I worked on the Steamer DELTA QUEEN, and when onboard later as a paying passenger, seriously ill or injured passengers would be taken off the boat as soon as possible. I've seen ambulances pull up to river landings in cornfields, locks and dams, and towns. If a passenger needed advanced medical care, a purser would be sent along with them to the hospital. That was service. A well stocked first aide kit was also onboard. When the Steamer AMERICAN QUEEN was only months old, and I was a newly minted RN, and onboard as a paying passenger, I heard the sickening thud of someone falling down the grand staircase. I was the first to offer assistance until the boat's first mate arrived to take over. The boat's master, Capt. Lawrence Keaton, the next day thanked me for helping out.

 

I'm not sure how medical assistance is provided for now on the Steamer AMERICAN QUEEN, but I did notice last summer, as a passenger, there was a "Medical Officer" onboard. I have no idea what their qualifications are.

 

I just had friends return this past week from a trip on the AMERICAN QUEEN, and their reports were glowing. Why anyone would want to go on a fake paddlewheel diesel powered boat when you can go on a real steam powered paddlewheeler is beyond me anyway.

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Years ago, when I worked on the Steamer DELTA QUEEN, and when onboard later as a paying passenger, seriously ill or injured passengers would be taken off the boat as soon as possible. I've seen ambulances pull up to river landings in cornfields, locks and dams, and towns. If a passenger needed advanced medical care, a purser would be sent along with them to the hospital. That was service. A well stocked first aide kit was also onboard. When the Steamer AMERICAN QUEEN was only months old, and I was a newly minted RN, and onboard as a paying passenger, I heard the sickening thud of someone falling down the grand staircase. I was the first to offer assistance until the boat's first mate arrived to take over. The boat's master, Capt. Lawrence Keaton, the next day thanked me for helping out.

 

I'm not sure how medical assistance is provided for now on the Steamer AMERICAN QUEEN, but I did notice last summer, as a passenger, there was a "Medical Officer" onboard. I have no idea what their qualifications are.

 

I just had friends return this past week from a trip on the AMERICAN QUEEN, and their reports were glowing. Why anyone would want to go on a fake paddlewheel diesel powered boat when you can go on a real steam powered paddlewheeler is beyond me anyway.

 

Calliope: Is the American queen and Delta queen you are referring to part of the American Cruise Line or some other line? Because we're still interested in doing the Mississippi River and have gotten brochures from Pearl cruises (only if I win the Power Ball) and from American Steamship Lines, which looks very nice. ship we were on was called Queen of the West and while it was a stern wheeler, it was not using the wheel as it's primary source of propulsion. Our captain was a woman but she was never introduced to us at the welcoming meeting when the rest of the crew was and we never saw her, which I guess is a good thing!

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When the AMERICAN QUEEN came out new in 1995 she was owned by The Delta Queen Steamboat Co. of New Orleans. The two other paddlewheel steamboats of the line were the DELTA QUEEN (built 1927) and the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN (built 1976). All three steamboats operated until 2006. The operating company at the time Majestic America Line of Seattle laid up the MQ after that season never to operate again. The DQ and AQ operated until 2008 when due to grossly incompetent management MAL ceased operation. Last year the AQ returned to service and is operated by The American Queen Steamboat Co. of Memphis. The DQ is a floating hotel in Chattanooga, and there are plans to return her to service shortly if the U.S. Congress passes legislation to allow a boat with wooden superstructure, her hull is steel, to operate overnight. The MQ was scrapped two years ago, and no longer exists.

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Calliope: Is the American queen and Delta queen you are referring to part of the American Cruise Line or some other line?

I posted in another thread but the American Queen trip we did in August the food was fantastic they are owned by AQSC nothing to do with ACL

http://www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com/

 

Most reviews are very favourable ..we hope to go again next yr

 

Lyn

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I posted in another thread but the American Queen trip we did in August the food was fantastic they are owned by AQSC nothing to do with ACL

http://www.americanqueensteamboatcompany.com/

 

Most reviews are very favourable ..we hope to go again next yr

 

Lyn

 

Hi Lyn: I have gotten a brochure from AQSC and am interested in their Mississippi trip....that's why I questioned one poster to make sure she knew there was more than one company and they have similar names. the ACL is the one to be avoided, and it's really too bad because the scenery and the excursions were fantastic.

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