Review American Duchess "Mighty Mississippi" - Red Wing, MN to New Orleans, LA - August 2 -August 16, 2021

[TinCan782]

We had a great time - two weeks on the river!

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=682087&et_cid=3449005&et_rid=102710024&et_referrer=Boards

 

I hope some of this information is useful. I'll try to answer questions you may have.

NOTE: Our cabin attendant's name is Kirsan, not Krysana as I typed in the review. 

 

Edited August 25, 2021 by TinCan782
added bold type

[Oldone79]

Thank you for the review- great information.

 

I do have several questions:

1) With all the locks you passesd through at night was this noisy ?

 

2) Did you see any wild life between Red Wing and Alton, IL?

 

3) We are considering booking  both the Tours Into the Mississippi on the Winona Tour Boat and Grant in Galena - Exploring the Home of Ulysses S. Grant on our upcoming Upper Mississippi cruise 2022.  Were you happy with these tours? Do you book  and pay for these before cruising?

 

4) What type of entrees were served for dinner? I've seen many comments about "Southern Cusine" on Lower Mississippi cruises but nothing mentioned for Upper river cruises.

 

Thank you for the information.

[TinCan782]

4 hours ago, Oldone79 said:

Thank you for the review- great information.

 

I do have several questions:

1) With all the locks you passesd through at night was this noisy ?

 

2) Did you see any wild life between Red Wing and Alton, IL?

 

3) We are considering booking  both the Tours Into the Mississippi on the Winona Tour Boat and Grant in Galena - Exploring the Home of Ulysses S. Grant on our upcoming Upper Mississippi cruise 2022.  Were you happy with these tours? Do you book  and pay for these before cruising?

 

4) What type of entrees were served for dinner? I've seen many comments about "Southern Cusine" on Lower Mississippi cruises but nothing mentioned for Upper river cruises.

 

Thank you for the information.

Hi there!

A nice two weeks. No real complaints.

1) Between Red Wing and St Louis you will pass through 24 locks. Transiting them occurs any time, day or night. This is not a noisy process so it is unlikely you will notice unless you take a look outside. You may feel a "bump" now and then as the boat is up against one of the lock chamber walls during the process.

 

2) We saw a fair amount of wild life, especially birds. A lot of bald eagles (and nests), pelicans, egrets, etc. A lot of smaller water fowl as well. Didn't see much in the way of mammals. Pelicans would gather at the outflow of dams and float around in the churning water catching critters to eat!

 

3) As for tours, we "purchased" all (except one) of them online before the cruise. They are paid for via you onboard room account at the end of the cruise. The Winona Tour Boat turned out to be real informative as we toured the river near Winona. The guide was very knowledgeable about river wild life, how things work on the river and information about the houses along the banks. On that we saw bald eagles, pelicans and other miscellaneous birds. Turtles were out of the water on logs sunning themselves until we approached and scared them back into the water. This tour turned out to be a good introduction to the river and the information was useful for the rest of our cruise.

The Grant in Galena tour was purchase on board the day before. We had a bunch of onboard credit available (even after the other tours) so we booked the tour to make use of that. We enjoyed the tour to both the Galena and Grant Museum and  the visit to Grant's home. After that, we spent some time on "main street" in Galena. We found a shop called "Root Beer Revelry and Soda Store" that featured a selection of old time, not so common root beers and sodas. We sat on the sidewalk and each had a root beer float.

 

4) Dinner. I don't recall a lot of specifics but, the menu typically had at least five entrees to choose from in addition to appetizers and soups/salads. Some were "Southern" inspired but I don't recall a difference between the upper and lower river. There was always half a dozen "regular" items available if the daily entrees didn't suit you - lobster, steak, hamburger, etc.

 

Hope this helps. Enjoy your upcoming cruise. We did!

John

[Oldone79]

Thank you so very much!

Just what we were hoping for.

 

Barbara