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American Jazz stuck on Sandbar

BaumD

By BaumD,
in American Cruise Lines

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Loveh2ofl

Loveh2ofl

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6 hours ago, BaumD said:

Just heard on news that the Jazz has been stuck since Wednesday on a sandbar in Kentucky. Looks like she was outside of the channel markers and is stuck in 4’ of water. 

In the cruise we had on Queen of the Mississippi at the end of May, we had no paddlewheel because on the prior cruise the captain at the time had backed it into an obstacle and damaged it.  On our last night in New Orleans we went to a boat yard (if you can't fix it feature it) and got to see the paddlewheel re-installed over night....

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twototravel "Live from...." Rare

twototravel

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The latest ---

The American Jazz river cruise ship got stuck on a sandbar in Kentucky's Lake Barkley on July 7, and operator American Cruise Lines said Friday that the effort to free the ship was taking longer than expected.

American Cruise Lines said it was working with the Coast Guard on Friday morning to disembark guests via tender and transport them to Nashville for regularly scheduled shore excursions.

The American Jazz was on an eight-day cruise from Memphis to Nashville. American Cruise Lines said the ship was not damaged and that the incident resulted in no pollution to Lake Barkley.

In a statement, American Cruise Lines said it has been operating in Lake Barkley for nearly 10 years.

"While we regret this incident, we look forward to continuing to visit and explore the wonderful ports and communities along the Cumberland River with our small riverboats," said the company.

American Cruise Lines took delivery of the 190-passenger American Jazz last year. The vessel is in the company's class of modern riverboats.

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vino100 Great Review Rare

vino100

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3 hours ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

Yikes! we're scheduled on American Jazz on July 23rd. Sure hope all goes well with her after they get her off the sandbar. 

 

Please report back how you enjoyed your cruise. We are on the Jazz in October. 
happy sailing. 

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Texasramblinreck

Texasramblinreck

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Yikes! we're scheduled on American Jazz on July 23rd. Sure hope all goes well with her after they get her off the sandbar. 
 

We were scheduled for July 11 and it was canceled!  I found out 3:30 this morning before going to airport. Tried to rebook for July 25, but our cabin class not available and I didn’t want to downgrade.  We rebooked for Aug 1 the reverse direction from Memphis to Nashville in the same cabin class, everything the same except staying in Graceland hotel instead of Opryland hotel.  It will cost me about $682 more in airfare to switch everything, I’m going to complain but it probably want do any good, we will see.  This is our first ACL and I know things happen, but I emailed customer service 4 times on Friday and no response, not a good way to start off.

 

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MSEm

MSEm

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Have family that live 1/2 mile from bridge where you could view the American Jazz.  They report that the sand bar is the bottom of the lake and the ship is NOT in the channel.  Lots of barges go through that same area.

So sorry people's cruise ended like this.

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suzyluvs2cruise

suzyluvs2cruise

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5 hours ago, Texasramblinreck said:

 

 

Yikes! we're scheduled on American Jazz on July 23rd. Sure hope all goes well with her after they get her off the sandbar. 
 

We were scheduled for July 11 and it was canceled!  I found out 3:30 this morning before going to airport. Tried to rebook for July 25, but our cabin class not available and I didn’t want to downgrade.  We rebooked for Aug 1 the reverse direction from Memphis to Nashville in the same cabin class, everything the same except staying in Graceland hotel instead of Opryland hotel.  It will cost me about $682 more in airfare to switch everything, I’m going to complain but it probably want do any good, we will see.  This is our first ACL and I know things happen, but I emailed customer service 4 times on Friday and no response, not a good way to start off.

 

 

Wow! I'm sorry to hear this. Did they also cancel the 7/18 cruise? or wasn't that an option for you. Hopefully ACL will have some compensation for the airfare change fees as it wasn't your fault the cruise was cancelled. We're also 1st time ACL cruisers. 

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Texasramblinreck

Texasramblinreck

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On 7/10/2021 at 6:40 PM, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

Wow! I'm sorry to hear this. Did they also cancel the 7/18 cruise? or wasn't that an option for you. Hopefully ACL will have some compensation for the airfare change fees as it wasn't your fault the cruise was cancelled. We're also 1st time ACL cruisers. 

Just wanted to let you know, ACL was authorized to refund $250 each, but the customer service rep said she would try to get the whole $721 I was out for rebooking.  Just a heads up airlines are really jacking prices up, the one way flightI booked Saturday went up over $200 by Monday.  All my excursions were moved over to my August 1 cruise and Grand Ole Opry tickets were included at the end of cruise.  The damn Jazz is still stuck, but hoping everything works out, they need to get back to Memphis for the July 18th cruise.  One piece of luck in this ordeal, we might have dryer weather in August, Tennessee & Kentucky has had thunderstorms Sunday, Monday and Today and forecasted for tomorrow.

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suzyluvs2cruise

suzyluvs2cruise

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1 hour ago, Texasramblinreck said:

Just wanted to let you know, ACL was authorized to refund $250 each, but the customer service rep said she would try to get the whole $721 I was out for rebooking.  Just a heads up airlines are really jacking prices up, the one way flightI booked Saturday went up over $200 by Monday.  All my excursions were moved over to my August 1 cruise and Grand Ole Opry tickets were included at the end of cruise.  The damn Jazz is still stuck, but hoping everything works out, they need to get back to Memphis for the July 18th cruise.  One piece of luck in this ordeal, we might have dryer weather in August, Tennessee & Kentucky has had thunderstorms Sunday, Monday and Today and forecasted for tomorrow.

 

The July 18 cruise is also cancelled per ACL. Jazz is still stuck on the sandbar and will need to be evaluated for any damage after they get her off. Glad they're working with you (as they should) and hope you're made whole with compensation. 

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Texasramblinreck

Texasramblinreck

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3 hours ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

 

The July 18 cruise is also cancelled per ACL. Jazz is still stuck on the sandbar and will need to be evaluated for any damage after they get her off. Glad they're working with you (as they should) and hope you're made whole with compensation. 

I’m sorry to hear, but it gives me great concern, that leaves only the July 25 before ours.  I just a email back to my contact person and told her if the Jazz is not off tomorrow or Thursday at the latest, I would exercise one of my options to reschedule on another ship if I can get the cabin I want or just receive the full refund.  Thanks again, I didn’t know about 18th cancellation, I wonder if anything has been said to the 25th people, I think I remember someone on that cruise

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Texasramblinreck

Texasramblinreck

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4 hours ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

Yes.....we're booked for July 25. I've lost my enthusiasm, for now, with not knowing what may be happening. Hopefully we'll know more soon.

 

 American Jazz Update July 14 '21

I know what you mean, I have been dealing with this since Saturday and have tried to be positive,  finally I was feeling good until I heard about the 18th being canceled.  The option I thought I had to rebook on the Upper Mississippi, went away, so I’m down to just getting a full refund if something doesn’t happen soon.  Not sure how much longer I’m willing to give them before I just request a refund.  I’m not going through all the hassle again.  I told the customer service rep, if not resolved by tomorrow we need to look at refund.  I guess I could wait until Monday, this is all so stressful.  Like you don’t know why it’s taken over a week now and ACL does not keep people informed at all!

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suzyluvs2cruise

suzyluvs2cruise

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20 hours ago, Texasramblinreck said:

I know what you mean, I have been dealing with this since Saturday and have tried to be positive,  finally I was feeling good until I heard about the 18th being canceled.  The option I thought I had to rebook on the Upper Mississippi, went away, so I’m down to just getting a full refund if something doesn’t happen soon.  Not sure how much longer I’m willing to give them before I just request a refund.  I’m not going through all the hassle again.  I told the customer service rep, if not resolved by tomorrow we need to look at refund.  I guess I could wait until Monday, this is all so stressful.  Like you don’t know why it’s taken over a week now and ACL does not keep people informed at all!

I found this article online today. I'm a bit concerned that IF the 7/25 cruise sails it could be less than great with new crew and/or unhappy crew. From reading some reviews of ACL I know they were having some start-up issues before this. 

 

Conditions on American Jazz

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Texasramblinreck

Texasramblinreck

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1 hour ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

I found this article online today. I'm a bit concerned that IF the 7/25 cruise sails it could be less than great with new crew and/or unhappy crew. From reading some reviews of ACL I know they were having some start-up issues before this. 

 

Conditions on American Jazz

I saw the same review.  I really wish ACL would be more transparent about all this!  I have looked at alternate cruises like the Upper and Lower Mississippi but they are either full or almost there.  I noticed your cruise is full, that means you will have the 190 passengers instead of the 120 they have been running,  so the conditions will get worst unless they get more help!  The Jazz had 54 crew members, which I think they are supposed to have around 70.  One article yesterday that said they hired a savage company to inject high pressure water and get the ship off.  Can’t find anything as of today.  I guess I’ll wait it out and hope for the best, and just cancel if things don’t happen soon.  I know you guys are pulling your hair out, when was last time you talked to customer service?  If you call, just give you phone number for return call, they are pretty good about that.

im trying to be positive and roll with it, but it’s getting difficult.

 

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chengkp75

chengkp75

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4 hours ago, suzyluvs2cruise said:

I found this article online today. I'm a bit concerned that IF the 7/25 cruise sails it could be less than great with new crew and/or unhappy crew. From reading some reviews of ACL I know they were having some start-up issues before this. 

 

Conditions on American Jazz

I'm sorry to say, but this sounds like typical US cruise ship crew complaints.  Not sure how the crew are "overworked" when there are no passengers onboard.  The crew have signed a contract, called articles of shipping, with the Captain, for a specified time period.  While they are free to quit at any time, being US crew in a US port, on a US ship, their contract that they signed at the time of employment was very clear as to whether they were due transportation home if they quit.  Typically, either these shipping articles, or the crew's union contract will specify whether or not a ship being aground is cause for the crew to be allowed to leave the ship and get transportation home.  Not sure why the ship not docking in a port for a week is a "hardship", since fresh water and supplies were brought to the ship.  Maybe, because the crew have not been allowed off the ship in a week, which is a "true hardship" for a merchant mariner (which this crew is, per USCG).  As noted in ACL's statement, there are a minimum required manning for the ship, per the USCG, and so therefore some crew may not be able to leave when they feel like it (or if they do, as is their right as US citizens, they can be prosecuted by the USCG for violations of their merchant mariner documents.

 

Whole lot of whining and moaning here.

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suzyluvs2cruise

suzyluvs2cruise

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1 minute ago, chengkp75 said:

I'm sorry to say, but this sounds like typical US cruise ship crew complaints.  Not sure how the crew are "overworked" when there are no passengers onboard.  The crew have signed a contract, called articles of shipping, with the Captain, for a specified time period.  While they are free to quit at any time, being US crew in a US port, on a US ship, their contract that they signed at the time of employment was very clear as to whether they were due transportation home if they quit.  Typically, either these shipping articles, or the crew's union contract will specify whether or not a ship being aground is cause for the crew to be allowed to leave the ship and get transportation home.  Not sure why the ship not docking in a port for a week is a "hardship", since fresh water and supplies were brought to the ship.  Maybe, because the crew have not been allowed off the ship in a week, which is a "true hardship" for a merchant mariner (which this crew is, per USCG).  As noted in ACL's statement, there are a minimum required manning for the ship, per the USCG, and so therefore some crew may not be able to leave when they feel like it (or if they do, as is their right as US citizens, they can be prosecuted by the USCG for violations of their merchant mariner documents.

 

Whole lot of whining and moaning here.

Thanks for weighing in. I agree....but was sharing it due to concerns about my upcoming cruise on 7/25. I'm trying to follow any information/updates and hope they get the boat safely off the Sandbar. 

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