Cruising Returns to Philadelphia

[Philly Steve]

American Cruise Lines is filling Philadelphia's cruise travel void left by the departure of RCI in 2007 and NCL in 2009.

 

The luxury line, offering smaller ships with big cabins (about 100 passengers) will cruise river routes during the summer.

 

There are three dates this year and three in 2011 aboard "American Spirit."

 

http://www.americancruiselines.com/

[madelinerose]

American Cruise Lines is filling Philadelphia's cruise travel void left by the departure of RCI in 2007 and NCL in 2009.

 

The luxury line, offering smaller ships with big cabins (about 100 passengers) will cruise river routes during the summer.

 

There are three dates this year and three in 2011 aboard "American Spirit."

 

http://www.americancruiselines.com/

 

Thanks, Steve and I see the ships are built right here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. ;)

[Philly Steve]

Actually made in the USA. Thanks Madeline! :cool:

[Chesterpeake]

A friend asked me just this past Saturday what I knew about American Cruise Lines' cruises of Chesapeake Bay. I must say that they are one of the hardest lines to get independent information on. I knew their pricing would be more upscale, especially having to use American crews. It took a number of searches before I found a starting price: just over $2,000 but that was in 2004!

 

If you go to their own site, they won't give you the information there, but will want to contact you. I don't want my information on their list.

 

What are the Philadelphia itineraries, Steve?

 

Speaking of Philadelphia (my home 1963-1972), I am attaching a sad photo from Philadelphia related to the glory days of transatlantic travel in the past. How the mighty have fallen. I pray that NCL, current owners, can come up with a workable solution to restore and keep her afloat. I was aboard her in June, 1962 in NYC, the days when you could visit ships in port before they sailed.

 

[Madelinerose, thanks for the "friend" request. I responded in the affirmative, but don't know much about this CruiseCritic feature. I will have to educate myself.]

[Chesterpeake]

Found the itinerary thanks to the posted url link. Thanks, Steve.

 

I actually like it as it includes: C&D Canal, Wintherur, Chestertown and St. Mary's.

[Philly Steve]

I received a brochure in the mail today and single fares range from $3,495 to

$4,385. The line offers a $400.00 discount for booking at least 3 months in advance. The crew to passenger ratio must be something else. There is a port stop every day for 7-day cruises.

[Philly Steve]

Speaking of Philadelphia (my home 1963-1972), I am attaching a sad photo from Philadelphia related to the glory days of transatlantic travel in the past. How the mighty have fallen. I pray that NCL, current owners, can come up with a workable solution to restore and keep her afloat.

 

I check the Internet almost every day for news on the "Big U." In late spring, it appeared the ship was headed for the breakers, but still, nothing yet.

 

Another Philadelphia ship is in danger. The cruiser Olympia could actually be taken to Cape May and sunk as an artificial reef. The Seaport Museum can no longer afford her. :(

[rjm1cc]

Glade to see a ship coming back to Phila but this one is not for me.

Unfortunately my experience at the Phila port was very poor. I guess that is why the ships left. Since this ship is a lot smaller, I would not expect any problems at the port as long as you had a cell phone to make calls on. No publick phones when I was there.

[Philly Steve]

Glade to see a ship coming back to Phila but this one is not for me.

Unfortunately my experience at the Phila port was very poor. I guess that is why the ships left. Since this ship is a lot smaller, I would not expect any problems at the port as long as you had a cell phone to make calls on. No publick phones when I was there.

 

Sorry to hear you had a less than perfect experience at Pier One. Cruise line reasons for pulling out of Philadelphia included big ship bridge clearance issues and the time needed to cruise the Delaware River into open water. Funny, but it takes a little longer to reach open water from Baltimore than Philly.

 

We took four cruises out of Philly before RCI and NCL departed and they were all good embarkations for us. I especially enjoyed the Mummers band and helpful terminal staff. I also enjoyed the "welcome home" greetings upon arrival after 7-days.

 

We were so upset about the lack of cruises out of Philly that we decided to give cruising a rest this year.

[Dave0311]

Sorry to hear you had a less than perfect experience at Pier One. Cruise line reasons for pulling out of Philadelphia included big ship bridge clearance issues and the time needed to cruise the Delaware River into open water. Funny, but it takes a little longer to reach open water from Baltimore than Philly.

I mentioned that in another thread (about the time to reach open water vs. Baltimore), but I wasn't sure. Thanks for clearing that up. :)

 

We took four cruises out of Philly before RCI and NCL departed and they were all good embarkations for us. I especially enjoyed the Mummers band and helpful terminal staff. I also enjoyed the "welcome home" greetings upon arrival after 7-days.

 

We were so upset about the lack of cruises out of Philly that we decided to give cruising a rest this year.

I agree. Our cruise out of Philly in 2004 was a great experience. This is in regards to the embarkation staff and the process as a whole. The fact that it took us only a half hour to get to the pier was just icing on the cake. :p

 

It's nice to hear that American Cruise Lines is coming to Philly though. I wouldn't cruise with them, but hopefully some of the mass market lines (Carnival, RCI, etc.) will see that there's still interest here. But with Baltimore becoming a hot spot for cruising and NYC not too far away, I'm not keeping my hopes up too much. :o

[madelinerose]

oops

[Alrana Eris]

A friend asked me just this past Saturday what I knew about American Cruise Lines' cruises of Chesapeake Bay. I must say that they are one of the hardest lines to get independent information on. I knew their pricing would be more upscale, especially having to use American crews. It took a number of searches before I found a starting price: just over $2,000 but that was in 2004!

 

If you go to their own site, they won't give you the information there, but will want to contact you. I don't want my information on their list.

 

What are the Philadelphia itineraries, Steve?

 

Speaking of Philadelphia (my home 1963-1972), I am attaching a sad photo from Philadelphia related to the glory days of transatlantic travel in the past. How the mighty have fallen. I pray that NCL, current owners, can come up with a workable solution to restore and keep her afloat. I was aboard her in June, 1962 in NYC, the days when you could visit ships in port before they sailed.

 

[Madelinerose, thanks for the "friend" request. I responded in the affirmative, but don't know much about this CruiseCritic feature. I will have to educate myself.]

 

 

The S.S. United States what a sad state its in..

 

Alrana

[iheartbda]

Sorry to hear you had a less than perfect experience at Pier One. Cruise line reasons for pulling out of Philadelphia included big ship bridge clearance issues and the time needed to cruise the Delaware River into open water. Funny, but it takes a little longer to reach open water from Baltimore than Philly.

 

We took four cruises out of Philly before RCI and NCL departed and they were all good embarkations for us. I especially enjoyed the Mummers band and helpful terminal staff. I also enjoyed the "welcome home" greetings upon arrival after 7-days.

We had nothing but good experiences as well all of our four times.:)

 

We were so upset about the lack of cruises out of Philly that we decided to give cruising a rest this year.

That's about our feeling as well. You need to take a road trip west and I have a B&B that I can HIGHLy recommend....maybe you've even stayed there before.;)

 

We would love to do a New England or Chesapeake cruise on American Cruise Line but the pricing is :eek:.

[Philly Steve]

You need to take a road trip west and I have a B&B that I can HIGHLy recommend....maybe you've even stayed there before.;)

We would love to do a New England or Chesapeake cruise on American Cruise Line but the pricing is :eek:.

 

Yes, road trips for us too. As for the pricing on ACL, at least we wouldn't have to worry about losing money in the ship's casino! A similar fare on a major line would get you a nice suite and plenty of blue water. Still, it's good to have ACL in Philadelphia. :)

[Rysyonok]

Another Philadelphia ship is in danger. The cruiser Olympia could actually be taken to Cape May and sunk as an artificial reef. The Seaport Museum can no longer afford her. :(

 

This is so sad. After all, it's one of the oldest ships still afloat...