American Queen still docked in NOLA

[willift]

We’re trying to make the best of it. They’ve shifted to all buffet meals which is quicker but not nearly as elegant and enjoyable as in the past.

 

The shows, boat, and shore activities are pretty much up to standards.

 

Its a manpower and training thing, maybe by November they will have it under control 

[midwestchick]

9 minutes ago, willift said:

We’re trying to make the best of it. They’ve shifted to all buffet meals which is quicker but not nearly as elegant and enjoyable as in the past.

 

The shows, boat, and shore activities are pretty much up to standards.

 

Its a manpower and training thing, maybe by November they will have it under control 

The wonderful food was a big selling point. We are accustomed to really good food on cruises. We didn’t pay their price to eat buffets the entire time. 
Is there any way to find out if they will be going back to sit down meals?  We will won’t be able to cancel but yet, they are not holding up to what was promised.

Edited October 2, 2021 by midwestchick

[Frncie]

6 hours ago, willift said:

We’re trying to make the best of it. They’ve shifted to all buffet meals which is quicker but not nearly as elegant and enjoyable as in the past.

 

The shows, boat, and shore activities are pretty much up to standards.

 

Its a manpower and training thing, maybe by November they will have it under control 

It seems as if our upstream trip got all the food, and your downstream trip got all the excursions. 🙄 Not necessarily an even trade, to be sure. I only got off the boat twice, in St.. Francisville and in Natchez.

Tell us about your shore excursions. 

[midwestchick]

9 minutes ago, Frncie said:

It seems as if our upstream trip got all the food, and your downstream trip got all the excursions. 🙄 Not necessarily an even trade, to be sure. I only got off the boat twice, in St.. Francisville and in Natchez.

Tell us about your shore excursions. 

Why did you only get off twice?  You could walk around on your own, correct? 
 

[Frncie]

4 minutes ago, midwestchick said:

Why did you only get off twice?  You could walk around on your own, correct? 
 

Because our stops in Nottoway, Vicksburg, and Greenville were all cancelled. We did have one more stop that was a late addition, Terrene Landing. Some people went to the Grammy Museum there, and they said it was good. I skipped that one.  So yes, only two times off the boat all week 

[midwestchick]

6 minutes ago, Frncie said:

Because our stops in Nottoway, Vicksburg, and Greenville were all cancelled. We did have one more stop that was a late addition, Terrene Landing. Some people went to the Grammy Museum there, and they said it was good. I skipped that one.  So yes, only two times off the boat all week 

Oh no! 😱 What reason did they give for canceling those stops?  I’m really becoming  more and more concerned with this cruise. I wish I’d just booked with Azamara and be done with it.  This is supposed to be our 55th anniversary trip. 

[midwestchick]

For those of you on the boat now, please come back with updates.  I have been following closely.

[Evesham]

We had to cancel the current cruise departing yesterday because of USA travel restrictions from the UK.  Gutted at the time, but seems like it may have saved us from a bad experience - both in a struggling city of New Orleans after the storm, and then aboard the American Queen. 😢.  Staffing & training problems are being experienced everywhere, as countries begin to open up & it is probably a little unrealistic to not expect some disruption, whether on land or water.  I do hope that things improve for everyone on board though.
We are now booked for 2023🙄

[midwestchick]

12 hours ago, Evesham said:

We had to cancel the current cruise departing yesterday because of USA travel restrictions from the UK.  Gutted at the time, but seems like it may have saved us from a bad experience - both in a struggling city of New Orleans after the storm, and then aboard the American Queen. 😢.  Staffing & training problems are being experienced everywhere, as countries begin to open up & it is probably a little unrealistic to not expect some disruption, whether on land or water.  I do hope that things improve for everyone on board though.
We are now booked for 2023🙄

Did they refund your money?  

[uktog]

13 hours ago, Evesham said:

We had to cancel the current cruise departing yesterday because of USA travel restrictions from the UK.  Gutted at the time, but seems like it may have saved us from a bad experience - both in a struggling city of New Orleans after the storm, and then aboard the American Queen. 😢.  Staffing & training problems are being experienced everywhere, as countries begin to open up & it is probably a little unrealistic to not expect some disruption, whether on land or water.  I do hope that things improve for everyone on board though.
We are now booked for 2023🙄

Oh sorry to hear. I think us Brits are fated on this constantly cancelling and moving forward. At least as we are cancelling for the reason we are, we are properly looked after by AQSC. 
Our 2020 went to now to 2022. Until the one way rules are lifted and we can enter the USA without quarantine it’s always going to be a challenge. (I know they said they were going to start to let us in but still no published dates, it’s ridiculous especially as UK let US guests in months ago) 

Edited October 5, 2021 by uktog

[midwestchick]

I spoke with AQSC yesterday. I was advised to write to guest relations @ AQ voyages which I have done. I sent them the link for this thread so they could read the complaints from the passengers and also how they handled the Covid outbreak. 
I requested a refund because this type of service, food and treatment is not what I was sold. 
 

[midwestchick]

On 10/2/2021 at 10:13 PM, Frncie said:

Because our stops in Nottoway, Vicksburg, and Greenville were all cancelled. We did have one more stop that was a late addition, Terrene Landing. Some people went to the Grammy Museum there, and they said it was good. I skipped that one.  So yes, only two times off the boat all week 

You need to write to guestrelations@aqvoyages.com amd voice the complaints and your bad experiences. I have written to them as well. I no longer wish to take this cruise but I doubt they’ll comply with my request. 

[Evesham]

Midwest chick - we just moved our booking over to a new date. Price protected.

uktog - we decided to take a year off the “will we won’t we” scenario, and have delayed our booking until 2023 when hopefully everything will have calmed down.  Too much stress, booking hotels and then cancelling.  Covid ain’t going to go away, but systems may be easier and tried & tested by then🙄 🤞.

[uktog]

12 hours ago, Evesham said:

Midwest chick - we just moved our booking over to a new date. Price protected.

uktog - we decided to take a year off the “will we won’t we” scenario, and have delayed our booking until 2023 when hopefully everything will have calmed down.  Too much stress, booking hotels and then cancelling.  Covid ain’t going to go away, but systems may be easier and tried & tested by then🙄 🤞.

Don’t blame you!  If 2022 doesn’t happen I’m kicking the can right down the road!

 

Midwestchick I am not sure if US bookings have the lift and shift option. Evesham and I booked under UK terms and our reasons for moving are not “buyer remorse” as the insurers would call it but a more fundamental issue the USA won’t let us in! 

[kpgibbs]

After reading this entire thread, I want to make some comments.

 

The entire USA is refusing to work.  Where I live, all restaurants are understaffed.  Some have even had to close.  Cruise lines are not exempt from this.  So to be fair, the staffing issue isn't really the cruise lines fault.  I'm sure they are doing the best they can.

 

Equipment issues happen on every cruise.  Some may be bothersome and other you may not even know about.   It does suck that they have closed some of the areas and I do hate to hear that.  But, again, I'm sure they are doing the best they can.

 

Some one said they were not notified until 4 days later about a Covid outbreak.  My question is, if they had notified you they day of, what would you have done differently?  Would you have left the boat?

 

The point is, we are in a pandemic.  We all knew that when we booked our cruises.  If anyone expected a perfect cruise during a pandemic, then I'm sorry you thought that.  We all knew you could still get Covid even though you are vaccinated.  I understand these cruises are expensive.  And yes, they probably should have lowered the prices.  But they didn't.  

 

I will be sailing soon.  I for one, am going to make the best of it.  Because guess what?  I am away from home and on vacation.  I will get to enjoy my family as we cruise the Mississippi.  As long as my belly is full of and I am away from home, I'm good.

 

Please remember, so many of the things that people are complaining about, are not the fault of the cruise line.  

[Frncie]

On 10/5/2021 at 10:26 AM, midwestchick said:

You need to write to guestrelations@aqvoyages.com amd voice the complaints and your bad experiences. I have written to them as well. I no longer wish to take this cruise but I doubt they’ll comply with my request. 

Actually, we have communicated with them by email and in a lengthy telephone call. Their representative said they have received complaints from many of our fellow passengers. They’re building a lengthy file on our particular cruise, and it has gone up to the highest levels of the company. So they are taking these problems seriously, and I commend them for that. 

[DaveinCharlotte]

2 minutes ago, kpgibbs said:

I'm not sure where you live, but the entire USA is having a hard time getting service employees to work.

If things around here are any indication, you are absolutely correct!  Countless businesses in my area (Carolinas) have signs posted & websites posted with notices such as "we apologize, due to staffing shortages we have to..." shorten hours, or close Mondays, or take longer to answer the phone, etc.  This has been going on for several months now and shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

[uktog]

It’s a global issue. Here in the UK we are unable to get fuel at many garages because of a shortage of drivers. Even with incentives and visa relaxations it’s not easing. There are food shortages emerging in some sectors as animals can’t be processed. Christmas may well mean empty shelves - today it’s Quality Street sweets warning of supply issues, yesterday it was “pigs in blankets” (sausages wrapped in bacon) tomorrow who knows. Stores can’t even get recruits to act as socially distanced Father Christmases  - now that IS a disaster 😀 
Hopefully it will ease out and correct itself soon. 
I just hope I’m lucky enough to come onboard next Spring as part of a much wanted twice postponed big holiday on land and the river in the USA. 
I will trust the captain will know better than me on all aspects of onboard life. Having cruised in Europe with three different lines this year it’s scared me when the armchair landlubbers have pitched in their theories about cruising in Europe. None of these “experts” lived through the pandemic in Europe especially the absolutely brutal 5 month lockdown including Christmas we had. 
 

[midwestchick]

18 hours ago, Frncie said:

Actually, we have communicated with them by email and in a lengthy telephone call. Their representative said they have received complaints from many of our fellow passengers. They’re building a lengthy file on our particular cruise, and it has gone up to the highest levels of the company. So they are taking these problems seriously, and I commend them for that. 

I wonder if people will be able to cancel for a refund.