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Anyone back yet from the April cruises


LHT28

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We had a wonderful time on the cruise - throroughly enjoyed the ports and absolutely fell in love with New Orleans.

The American Queen itself is gorgeous - very opulent. The process of cruising slowly down the river is really relaxing. The beds were comfortable - we had plenty of room for all our stuff (although our friends had to beg for a dresser - a little strange for suite accommodations). One complaint - the sound-proofing between the rooms seemed a little thin - we could hear conversations in the next room. Luckily, we had quiet neighbors.

The cabin staff was unobtrusive and helpful - always pleasant.

In fact, almost every staff person we dealt with was helpful and very engaging - management clearly hires for attitude.

The food was delicious - although if you were looking for "real" food any times except mealtimes, your only option was room service. Although the cookies and ice cream were always availlable - usually fruit, too. And I liked being able to get specialty coffee drinks 24-7 as well.

As others have noted, the dining room service can be a little uneven. Sometimes it felt like the wait staff were being trained by the passengers - AQ might benefit from doing some training before they were actually on board. By the end of the cruise, though, we could see obvious improvement in the service. The problem may be that there is a lot of turnover - particularly in the dining room.

The only other issue we had was the internet service on the boat was slow or non-existent.

Let me know if you have any other questions - will comment on some of the tours later.

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Thanks for the update

Did they have food at the Front Porch cafe ..it mentions it is open 24hrs

 

What deck was you cabin on?

We have booked a D cabin with window so I am hoping it will be nice there

 

Anythings we should look out for ..good & bad ;)

 

thanks

 

Lyn

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We were on the promenade (5th) deck - seemed like a pretty good location.

The Front Porch had cookies, ice cream, coffee drinks, juices and fruit 24-7, however if you were looking for anything more substantial, room service would be your best bet.

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We were on the promenade (5th) deck - seemed like a pretty good location.

The Front Porch had cookies, ice cream, coffee drinks, juices and fruit 24-7, however if you were looking for anything more substantial, room service would be your best bet.

 

Thanks

It had listed the Front Porch Cafe for a lunch alternative to dining room but I do not think cookies & Ice cream qualify ;)

Well for my DH it might LOL

 

I am looking forward to trying the ship

 

Lyn

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Thanks

It had listed the Front Porch Cafe for a lunch alternative to dining room but I do not think cookies & Ice cream qualify ;)

Well for my DH it might LOL

 

I am looking forward to trying the ship

 

Lyn

 

To clarify - the Front Porch does offer hot meal service at breakfast, lunch and dinner times - and the food is good! However, if you are lookiing for real food in between meal times, there are really no options on the ship besides room service.

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To clarify - the Front Porch does offer hot meal service at breakfast, lunch and dinner times - and the food is good! However, if you are lookiing for real food in between meal times, there are really no options on the ship besides room service.

 

Thanks Was looking for alternative to the dining room incase we would like to eat later than 1st sitting

 

Thanks for the info

 

Lyn

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I would have considered them real food too - and sadly, there were no hot dogs, chips or popcorn available at the Front Porch. The outdoor bar had hot dogs, but if the weather was bad, that wasn't an option either.

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Just returned from a May cruising and unfortunately have to admit that the dining room has not improved. On my survey I had to say that the food and service was equivalent to a chain restaurant rather than a high end specialty one. I feel sorry for the staff as they seem to be trying hard but just can't get it together. Don't know that an "All American Staff" is an asset. You can't have people learning on the job when you are charging double the price of ocean cruses. I could give a ton of examples and will try to do a full review sometime soon. Even with the many missed steps my biggest pet peeve was the large trays of dirty dishes and food waste being carried through the dining room and over people's heads while people were eating. Atmosphere spoiled.

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Just returned from a May cruising and unfortunately have to admit that the dining room has not improved. On my survey I had to say that the food and service was equivalent to a chain restaurant rather than a high end specialty one. I feel sorry for the staff as they seem to be trying hard but just can't get it together. Don't know that an "All American Staff" is an asset. You can't have people learning on the job when you are charging double the price of ocean cruses. I could give a ton of examples and will try to do a full review sometime soon. Even with the many missed steps my biggest pet peeve was the large trays of dirty dishes and food waste being carried through the dining room and over people's heads while people were eating. Atmosphere spoiled.

Sorry to hear that

It is making a bit nervious about our upcoming cruise

 

How was the rest of the trip?

 

Lyn

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Our trip was May 5-12 and we also found the food good to very good most of the time but not up to the standard of the big cruise ships. Service still needs a little upgrading. The first day the servers were overly friendly and accommodating, but then it got worse as the week rolled on.

We did enjoy the buffets at breakfast and lunch and liked the idea that you always had a choice of buffet or ordering off the menu in the main dining room. We didn't go to the Front porch except for Popcorn and juice in the afternoon.

 

Our stateroom was at the back of deck 5 and the paddle wheel was throwing up water all the time so that the deck outside our door was always wet and got tracked into our stateroom with each entry (steward or us). The stateroom itself was nice and large, somewhat larger than the staterooms along the side of deck 5. Amenities were better than most cruise line amenities. Soap, Shampoo and Conditioner were of good quality. There was a very large makeup mirror on the counter that I could move around and also pick up to see the back of my hair. Hair dryer was NOT attached to the wall so I could use it in any area not just the bathroom. We did not watch the TV so I can't comment on that.

 

The ONE computer on-board was sooo slowwwww that the 15 minute suggested time limit was a joke. It took me 15 minutes to get on line and into my email site, which is totally un-acceptable. They need to upgrade and at least offer 2 computers for guests.

 

Entertainment was great. Group of 4 singers did a bang-up job in their production shows. Band called Steamboat Syncopators were adequate for the entertainers. We especially enjoyed the Riverlorian giving talks about the river and the area history. The Riverboat Gambler, was a magician who was fun to watch and his wife was a singer that did a great salute to Patsy Cline.

 

We used all the included Hop-on, Hop-off tours and they provided us a wonderful opportunity to see the sites at each port. The drivers were "exceptional" My husband uses a scooter and needed special assistance plus he could only use the lifts on 2 of the 4 buses. The drivers were so courteous and helpful they even told us the first day that we should feel free to enjoy "each and every stop if we wanted". They were there to help make the experience a memorable one and it was not a problem to offer extra help in boarding and dis-embarking the bus. They seemed very comfortable with seniors, which most of the guests were.

 

Excursion crew were very helpful and patient with the many seniors questions and special requests. Each day we picked up a boarding pass for the day based on the time for our bus to start off. If you missed your time, it was never a problem to get on the next bus which left about every 15 minutes.

 

The BOAT is very nicely decorated and obviously meant for adults only. Sitting areas and lounges had many antique items right out in the open.

 

We would definitely like to do another cruise with Great American Steamboat.

 

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

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Our trip was May 5-12 and we also found the food good to very good most of the time but not up to the standard of the big cruise ships. Service still needs a little upgrading. The first day the servers were overly friendly and accommodating, but then it got worse as the week rolled on.

 

Thanks for the update

 

Does not sound like they improve with time ;)

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CruisewithH -

Thanks for jogging my memory - I do recall that there was popcorn available at the Front Porch.

And I want to ditto your comments on the riverboat magician - we particularly enjoyed his card tricks.

We did watch a little TV - it seemed to work pretty well, although as we went down the river, the stations were always changing - a little disconcerting.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi we just got off the June 9-16 cruise and agree the trip was wonderful and the crew was just great. We fond the dining room service was excellent and far superior to our last couple of trips on Holland American where we gave up on the dining room because it was so slow what with the large menu and waiting for multi courses to serve a table of six or eight. The entertainment was superb. Watch out for those stern rooms.

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Thanks for the quick review. We are looking forward to our trip in a few weeks. Curious about the warning on the stern rooms. Something we should watch out for ?

Maybe the spray from the paddle wheel

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We spent 18 days in 455, as close to the paddle wheel as it's possible to get. We'd sail in the cabin again in a heartbeat except as mentioned below. There was often some moisure on the deck fromn the paddlewheel, but nothing that affected our experience. My only beef about the cabin is that it's just about as far from the Front Porch as it can get.

 

Our next voyage is in 401, which shares an interior starcase directly to the Front Porch, making it a lot easier for me to get my late night snack :D. When we take a Fall Leaf cruise, I want one of the Bay Window cabins with a great view but no need to go outside. And, when we take a holiday cruise on the lower Mississippi, I'd like one of the private verandas to wtch the bonfires on the levees.

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We spent 18 days in 455, as close to the paddle wheel as it's possible to get. We'd sail in the cabin again in a heartbeat except as mentioned below. There was often some moisure on the deck fromn the paddlewheel, but nothing that affected our experience. My only beef about the cabin is that it's just about as far from the Front Porch as it can get.

 

Our next voyage is in 401, which shares an interior starcase directly to the Front Porch, making it a lot easier for me to get my late night snack :D. When we take a Fall Leaf cruise, I want one of the Bay Window cabins with a great view but no need to go outside. And, when we take a holiday cruise on the lower Mississippi, I'd like one of the private verandas to wtch the bonfires on the levees.

 

 

Can you tell me which cabin has a bay window? Is it considered an inside or an outside? What deck are they on?

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Can you tell me which cabin has a bay window? Is it considered an inside or an outside? What deck are they on?

Here is a LINK to the deck plans for American Queen. The " bay window" cabins are those in green on the cabin deck, one deck up from the main deck. Their closest equivalent on an ocean going ship would be "ocean view". There doors open from the interior, as opposed to most of the other cabins (other than interior) which open onto the various promenade decks. Two of them, 201 and 202, have an extra door on the forward side of the cabin which lead to a semi-private porches (the porches also have a door from the main passageway, but are rarely used by other guests). For 2014 all the bay window cabins except 201 and 202 have been reclassified as Category E, while those two remain Category D (find the newest deck plans by going to the American Queen web site and downloading the 2014 brochure).

 

These bay window cabins are also directly across the passageway which leads to the loge boxes on the second level of the theater, our favorite place to watch the entertainment. They are on the same deck as the engine Room Bar, the main gallery, the card room and parlor, and the boutique, reception and destination desks, one deck above the main dining room and one deck below the Front Porch. In other words, they are ideally located.

 

I would not choose one in warmer weather, however, as it's nicer to step out onto the promenade decks and enjoy both the scenery and the companionship of fellow guests passing by. By the way, those promenade decks are a big part of what gives the boat it's original river boat flavor -- people are always passing by and the boat is very sociable.

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Thanks for the discussion of cabin preferences, very enlightening. If your cabin opens to a promenade, is there any loss of cabin privacy...or of serenity?

 

Just looking at the deck plans I was not too interested in opening the cabin door to people passing by or sitting outside my door in the early hours

 

That is why I chose the ocean/river view cabin ...other people may like the fact they can step out on the the deck

It is a personal choice I guess

 

Lyn

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