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AQSC April 3-11 American Countess Southern Sampler cruise


Floriduh
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18 hours ago, wandb said:

Oh, no!!  So sorry about the cancellation. 
The bright spot in this could be that if you reschedule for a summer or fall trip, the vaccination of all passengers and crew will be in place.

(That would surely make me feel better—-our cruise is in June and I wish their target date had been June 1 instead of July 1!)

 

5 hours ago, graveytrain said:

Wow, that is VERY short notice of cancellation!  I had no idea it was possible to cancel that close to departure. I’m sure you are very disappointed. 

Thanks for the support.  Our TA was out on Wednesday.  She let me know she would be, so we're going to communicate on Thursday.  I do like the idea of cruising after July 1 when the vaccination requirement would be in force.  Hopefully, since they will have been on the river a bit longer, the areas of the ship that Tim (Floriduh) mentioned as being not available (River Grill @ night & room service) would possibly be functional by then. 

 

Still feel a bit defeated by the cancellation.  We were so ready to do something fun!  It was brutal  taking everything out of the luggage.  We were completely packed with only our personal items needed.  😞  Just hung everything back on the hangers.  No dirty laundry to contend with! LOL 

 

I'm hoping the date we've chosen will be available. Fingers crossed. If it's a no go again, we may just punt and wait to see if the CDC will allow ocean cruises back in service from the US.  I'll let all know the outcome.

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On 4/12/2021 at 6:12 PM, Floriduh said:

The band is great. They play in the bar and for the shows.

 

The shows had 3 singers and they were all top notch. I am a bass player and really enjoyed watching these musicians at work.

 

The shows were full of great "sing along" songs. The Themes included 50's and 60's, a whole different show for the 70's, A one woman show called Broadway On The Brain, and a couple more I can't think of right now (because I didn't see them).

 

There are two shows. Early seated diners can see the show after eating while the late diners can catch the early show.

 

During the days there were games, trivia and a couple of bingo sessions.

Music is one of our favorite aspects when we've done ocean cruises.  This sounds absolutely like a ton of fun!

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3 hours ago, suze cruises with walt said:

Do you know how bar drinks work, I’ve seen conflicting info on whether it’s open bar for house type drinks, or if it’s complimentary wine / beer at dinner only

 

All well drinks are included all day long.

 

They actually make it very easy. If you see a red dot sticker on the bottle it is free. Any other color is an upcharge.

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Update:  We are now re-booked on the Countess in July.  Can hardly wait!  Do wonder if masks by this time will still be required since vaccinations.  We do appreciate the American Queen Steamboat Company upgrading us. 

 

Flights have been re-booked.  Need to book a hotel in Memphis prior to the one provided with our cruise.  It says we're booked into the Sheraton.  Unfortunately, the reviews are not very favorable, so unsure whether to book an extra night there or find a hotel with better reviews and then have to move.

Anyone have any thoughts.

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On 4/13/2021 at 10:59 PM, denamo said:

Well....we are extremely disappointed.  We were to have started our cruise on April 17 with a night's stay prior to the one the company provides in New Orleans.  Unfortunately, we've been informed today the boat was overbooked, and our reservation has been cancelled. We were a guarantee. ? So much for a guarantee.  They will honor our reservation at a later date and even up grade our cabin or fully refund our fare. 

 

Sadly this evening, I've been cancelling hotel arrangements and flights.  😞 We don't live in a very robust market with many flights, so it becomes necessary for us to typically go a day ahead and stay a day after the cruise ends. 

 

So, thanks Tim for letting us live vicariously.  We're not sure at this point if we'll reschedule or request a refund.

I'm so sorry you were disappointed! We were originally supposed to do this cruise in March 2020. Our cruise was originally the first week cruises were canceled and they did not notify us it was canceled. We found out when we checked their website the Wednesday before we were supposed to sail. We never did get any notification of the cancellation, but they may have not bothered since we called to ask about rescheduling the same day we saw it was canceled on their website. At this point I'm just terrifically excited it looks like we'll get to go after all the waiting. We had booked our original cruise in 2018 so it has been a 3 year wait for this cruise when we board April 25th.

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On 4/12/2021 at 4:29 PM, Floriduh said:

Well, I am finally home and ready to write some more. Long details are hard on the phone.

 

I will start out by saying we had a great time. The boat is beautiful, the food delicious, the entertainment fabulous and the staff very friendly.

 

But, I do need to point out some very major issues. 

 

Dining:

Due to a combination of staffing issues and Covid there are two major problems. One, the River Grille is NOT open for dinner and only has limited offerings for breakfast and lunch. This is NOT what was stated on web site and advertising materials. And, two, there is NO ROOM SERVICE. Room service is advertised as 24 hour.

What this means, in reality, is that unless you go to dinner and sit in your assigned seat at your assigned time, you are not getting dinner. I never knew what a blessing it was to have 24 hour pizza available on Carnival ships.

 

Wheelchair access:

Once on the ship there are no issues with my wife's scooter. Getting on and off the ship for boarding, excursions and debarkation was nearly impossible. The staff was always there and willing to help, but it was bigger than that. Four inch thick water hoses in front of the debarkation ramp meant my wife's scooter had to be lifted over the hose. And they are not light. 

The ramps often had angles that were hard to get over without getting "beached".

Once off the boat, most of the docks were covered with gravel. And, in one case, about 8 inch high railroad tracks. Most of the elderly crowd had to be helped over the tracks. Walkers, wheelchairs and scooters didn't stand a chance.

 

Internet:

Guess what? There is no phone/Internet coverage while floating down the Mississippi. The ship has free wifi, but it is slow and unreliable.

 

Booking Excursions:

The new app doesn't work. We made our reservations and the next day they were gone. I added them back, printed my tickets and they were gone again. But I then had my tickets in hand and they worked with us to get our tours.

 

Again, I don't want to "bad mouth" the company or the cruise. We had a blast. The dining issues will be fixed with staffing and the app will be fixed soon, I'm sure. But, the wheelchair access was something that may be a deal breaker for some.

 

Hope you enjoyed my updates. I did what I could with the limited internet. It was great meeting Cindi and everyone else.

 

So good to be cruising again.

Thank you for the information about the WiFi. Wondering do you know what is the earliest time we could be off the ship at the end of the cruise? I saw something that implied it is now 9AM but back when we were originally supposed to cruise with American Queen Steamboat Company it was 8 AM if you walked your luggage off yourself.

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7 hours ago, denamo said:

Update:  We are now re-booked on the Countess in July.  Can hardly wait!  Do wonder if masks by this time will still be required since vaccinations.  We do appreciate the American Queen Steamboat Company upgrading us. 

 

Flights have been re-booked.  Need to book a hotel in Memphis prior to the one provided with our cruise.  It says we're booked into the Sheraton.  Unfortunately, the reviews are not very favorable, so unsure whether to book an extra night there or find a hotel with better reviews and then have to move.

Anyone have any thoughts.

Congratulations on the re-booking!  We will all be watching out for any reports and updates you will be able to send. Unfortunately, yes I do believe that masks will still be required, but hopefully to a lesser degree than now. 

 

About 3-4 years ago we stayed at the Sheraton before our American Queen cruise. We were very satisfied. The hotel, together with AQ, did all things right. Checking in and out was simple; rooms were spacious, clean and very nice;  breakfast was plentiful and delicious; the AQ check-in area was large and well organized. The hotel had a room to store your luggage if you arrived early, and also between check-out and boarding. 

 

The only negative I can think of is it’s distance from the more “tourist” area of town, the restaurants, museums and places you probably want to visit. It was not a problem, because the trolley stops right in front of the hotel. We simply jumped onto the trolley and got off wherever we wanted. Trolley drivers were very helpful about directions and recommendations. You must try the Blues City Cafe!!  It is an experience!  A delicious one!

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7 hours ago, TravelinGert said:

Thank you for the information about the WiFi. Wondering do you know what is the earliest time we could be off the ship at the end of the cruise? I saw something that implied it is now 9AM but back when we were originally supposed to cruise with American Queen Steamboat Company it was 8 AM if you walked your luggage off yourself.

 

I think that 9:00 is the time they want everyone OFF the boat so they can get all the extra cleaning done before the next cruisers board that afternoon. I think you can leave anytime after the boat docks. 

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1 hour ago, wandb said:

 

I think that 9:00 is the time they want everyone OFF the boat so they can get all the extra cleaning done before the next cruisers board that afternoon. I think you can leave anytime after the boat docks. 

This

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9 hours ago, wandb said:

Congratulations on the re-booking!  We will all be watching out for any reports and updates you will be able to send. Unfortunately, yes I do believe that masks will still be required, but hopefully to a lesser degree than now. 

 

About 3-4 years ago we stayed at the Sheraton before our American Queen cruise. We were very satisfied. The hotel, together with AQ, did all things right. Checking in and out was simple; rooms were spacious, clean and very nice;  breakfast was plentiful and delicious; the AQ check-in area was large and well organized. The hotel had a room to store your luggage if you arrived early, and also between check-out and boarding. 

 

The only negative I can think of is it’s distance from the more “tourist” area of town, the restaurants, museums and places you probably want to visit. It was not a problem, because the trolley stops right in front of the hotel. We simply jumped onto the trolley and got off wherever we wanted. Trolley drivers were very helpful about directions and recommendations. You must try the Blues City Cafe!!  It is an experience!  A delicious one!

Thank you for all of the recommendations.  The cafe sounds fun!

 

Seems the reviews were more favorable in the past.  I think many places are hurting to get workers due the pandemic, so things kind of slide.  I also read the Sheraton group was purchased by Marriott last July.  Maybe they are in the evaluating mode.

 

Thanks again for your input.

 

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On 4/15/2021 at 11:16 PM, denamo said:

Update:  We are now re-booked on the Countess in July.  Can hardly wait!  Do wonder if masks by this time will still be required since vaccinations.  We do appreciate the American Queen Steamboat Company upgrading us. 

 

Flights have been re-booked.  Need to book a hotel in Memphis prior to the one provided with our cruise.  It says we're booked into the Sheraton.  Unfortunately, the reviews are not very favorable, so unsure whether to book an extra night there or find a hotel with better reviews and then have to move.

Anyone have any thoughts.

 

Congrats on rebooking! 

 

As far as hotels go, the Garden Hilton Inn Downtown is nice. I was there for work a few weeks ago and had a great stay. Looks like the reviews are pretty positive, too. Not as good access to the trolley, though. Hotel Indego Downtown is another good choice with some fun design. Better access to the trolley and the rooms have always been clean and comfortable when I've stayed there. I haven't been there since December 2020 but I see it is still well rated.

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On 4/16/2021 at 12:16 AM, denamo said:

Update:  We are now re-booked on the Countess in July.  Can hardly wait!  Do wonder if masks by this time will still be required since vaccinations.  We do appreciate the American Queen Steamboat Company upgrading us. 

 


I’m glad you could rebook!

 

I’m curious, though. You said you had a guarantee. Do you mean you booked a guaranteed cabin but didn’t get an assigned cabin number? We’re booked for a cruise next month and are concerned since we’re leaving home a week before embarkation. We have a cabin number assigned. 
 

Thanks in advance!

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On 4/19/2021 at 5:39 PM, CruiserFromMaine said:


I’m glad you could rebook!

 

I’m curious, though. You said you had a guarantee. Do you mean you booked a guaranteed cabin but didn’t get an assigned cabin number? We’re booked for a cruise next month and are concerned since we’re leaving home a week before embarkation. We have a cabin number assigned. 
 

Thanks in advance!

We did not have a cabin number assigned.  We booked (April 3) three weeks prior to the cruise and was told we would be a guarantee.  They were to have assigned us a cabin.  The next I heard on Tuesday (April 13), prior to us flying out on Friday, was that we had been cancelled.

 

We were given the choice to re-book with an upgrade or receive a full refund. We went back and forth on what we wanted to do. We did decide to re-book, and immediately were given a cabin number.  We were going to take an inside originally, and now will have a balcony. We would have gladly cruised with an inside cabin just to be able to have cruised.  Not meant to be for April.  It's ok.  May be a bit hotter in July when we go, but we're from deep south TX, so we're used to heat and humidity. 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...
On 4/10/2021 at 6:42 PM, wandb said:

 

When we did the Thanksgiving River Cruise on the American Queen, there was absolutely NO dressing up for dinner.  Men wore sport shirts and slacks, women wore mostly pants and nice blouses with sandals or flats.  One lady wore a dressy outfit each night, but this was not the norm. She seemed very comfortable in her dressy clothes (good for her!) and I’d say “Wear whatever is comfortable for you”. 

It was nice not to have to pack dressy shoes, clothes, etc. 

 

Remember that they do ask that you not wear jeans in the dining room in the evening

 

My apologies for reviving an old thread, but I couldn't find much information about dress code.  My husband and I are taking his parents on American Queen next year for their 50th anniversary and my father-in-law wondered about wearing jeans.  This is what the AQSC brochure says:

DINING Country Club Casual Attire Country club casual or elegant resort wear is appropriate dress for all evenings; shorts are not appropriate for dinner in our main dining rooms. (emphasis mine)

 

I'm curious where you found that jeans are not allowed.  He will be fine either way, but I think he might be trying to limit packing.

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I hope I did not mislead anyone!  You are correct about AQ's dress code on line now. Our cruise was 4 or 5 years ago, and I may be remembering codes from that time. I'm sure jeans would be fine; everyone was dressed for comfort. 

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34 minutes ago, wandb said:

I hope I did not mislead anyone!  You are correct about AQ's dress code on line now. Our cruise was 4 or 5 years ago, and I may be remembering codes from that time. I'm sure jeans would be fine; everyone was dressed for comfort. 

We were on the Duchess in early August and I don't recall either way if jeans were allowed or not in the dining room. I do know shorts were not allowed. Overall, pretty casual which I enjoyed.

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We are on the Queen right now. The “official” policy is Country Club Casual for dinner. This is more honored in the breach. Lots of people dress up, and just as many don’t. Even at the “Captain’s Reception” yesterday, a few guys showed up in shorts and polo shirts. Most men wore long sleeve shirts, no jackets. Ladies in general looked good. I would say, do what feels right to you. You will not be turned away. 

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