Currently on the AQ - New Orleans to Memphis

[Kathy53]

On our first riverboat cruise and our trip to date has been amazing. We stayed 3 days in New Orleans before our cruise departed on Monday. We stayed at the AQSC hotel, The Hyatt Regency for 2 nights which we booked ourselves and then Sunday night was arranged through the AQSC. The hotel did NOT have us change rooms.

 

Breakfast on the day of the cruise was excellent. It was a full fare breakfast; many selections and very good. The check-in for the cruise was well organized and quick and the transfer to the AQ was easy. Our luggage was in our stateroom, together with keys and a copy of the River Times when we boarded.

 

We are in a private veranda stateroom on Deck 3 (Texas Deck). Albeit small, we quite enjoy the privacy of our veranda. There is plenty of luggage storage under the bed, lots of hangers and the bathroom is complete with tub/shower combination. The bath linens are excellent quality and Clarins soap, body wash, shampoo & conditioner.

 

The bed is very comfortable and again, the linens, are perfect.

 

The room does NOT have an alarm clock so if that is important to you, bring a travel clock. Our 'wake up' call request failed so luckily we are early risers.

 

The food in the dining room is first class. We've enjoyed the snacks in the Front Porch - ice cream and popcorn, to name a few. Deon, the Maitre 'D in the J.M. White Dining Room does whatever he can to accommodate his guests. We are in 2nd seating and requested a 2-top table and he made it happen for us although we were originally assigned to a table for 4.

 

The Entertainment staff is fantastic! We had the pleasure of being entertained by the 2 Co-Cruise Directors from the American Empress last night who did a presentation of "You Oughta Be In Pictures" rendition of broadway musicals. The AQ Entertainment team is amazing. They are very pleasant and very amusing.

 

The demographic is definitely older. We are 63 and 67 years and while there are folks in their late 60s, there is a significant number of guests mid 70s and older. All, such a great group of people and great to engage in wonderful stories.

 

The Hop On Hop Off bus is the best! The AQSC truly go to a lot of work to organize tours with the system. We are in Nachez today and visited Stanton Hall, Rosalie Mansion, King's Tavern, Charbonneau Distillery, to name a few, all part of the Hop On Hop Off bus system. Unfortunately, the Angola Penetentiary tour in St. Francisville had to be cancelled as the road is flooded due to the recent floods in Baton Rouge. The only thing I am going to say about this if it happens to you....RELAX. The AQSC has no control over these types of things and they did everything they possibly could have done to get more buses to take us around St. Francisville. We witnessed some guests, actually, many guests being very rude and completely unreasonable, which is very unfair.

 

The scenery along the river and the commerce ie. barges and tugs and on and on, is breathtaking. This was a cruise on our bucket list and we are not disappointed. The American Queen is pristine and absolutely beautiful. The staff is second to none.

 

I've just tried to include some things that maybe first-time riverboat cruisers would like to know about or those anticipating a cruise. We are very glad we took this cruise and still have 3 more days on this beautiful boat. We are lovin' it!

 

If anyone has any questions, I can't promise when I will have the time to get back on but I will try and answer to the best of my knowledge. We are now off to the Pilot House Tour :)

 

Cheers,

K&B

[LDVinNC]

Thanks for the mini-review. We too love the AQ!

[themerle]

Enjoying your review. Hope you can share some photos!

[dasi11]

Thank you for the review. Sounds wonderful.

We are going this summer with my in-laws. I read the beds are high. Will someone almost 5' tall have a difficult time getting on and off the bed in the middle of the night? I know it sounds like a silly question. Any feedback would be helpful.