My Thoughts from an American Queen Voyage

[IamAlyce]

American queen River cruise, NOLA to Memphis. June -26-July 4, 2022

 

One night hotel and Transfer to boat included

We booked one extra night ourselves 

We had a Nola tour. On boarding day, Very good info. Three stops.

Then Transfer to ship after tour

Our buses and drivers stay with us the entire time, they drive the buses at night and then on our tours during the day

The shore excursion staff are also our tour helpers and we pick up a local for the day on each bus

The tour guides are all very knowledgeable and friendly. Lots of good info and stories

 

Boarding: Easy quick walk on, champagne welcome, music playing

Rooms ready quickly

Suite 509 which was deluxe suite. We loved the location, which was on deck 5. The only bad part is if it rains hard the deck gets flooded and slippery but they do try to come around and clean off the area as quickly as possible. We had fast access to the Front Porch for drinks and food and quick access to inside the ship.

Had more room and a few extra perks which included: early boarding, a bottle of wine, a box theater seat, Choice of dining times

 

Queen bed, sofa and two chairs

Dressing area with closet and drawers

Dresser in main area

Very antique and southern feel

Full tub with shower and commode and sink inside bathroom

Extra sink area outside of bath

 

Easy walk off and on at all ports. They offer golf carts to shuttle anyone who wants or needs it to the buses or the ship.

 

lobster offered every night

Danced to fun music

Shows are music and very good performers 

Our cruise director performs in the shows

A lot of the crew do multi jobs

 

Food: very good and flavorful, portions are on the smaller side which is fine by me

At breakfast and lunch there is a buffet and also order off the menu in MDR. Buffet upstairs is all three meals plus ice cream and snacks

Breakfast and lunch was usually 7-9/930am

Dinner was two seatings: 515 and 8pm

Buffet was also during these times

Coffee and tea, juices and lemonade, etc available self serve 24 hr

At least one bar is open at 11 and one stays open late

We were sad the River Grill was never opened but understand they are short staffed.

 

Tours: at all ports there’s a free included tour. Usually a HOHO bus. The buses follow the ship from port to port and are used by the cruise line to transport us while in port. We got to know the drivers well. 

 

Tours have been interesting and informative with people coming from the towns to be our guide.

 

You meet pretty much everyone on board.

 

We had French doors that led out on the deck with two chairs and a table. Plus to this was we had a nice view of the water and could chat easily with neighbors or people walking by.  This was also a downside some days.

 

No photographers but fellow passengers will happily take your picture

 

Drinks are included and they do have a premium package we didn’t find it necessary

 

No bar service except in dining room, it’s all walk up at all three bars

 

Walls are very thin, we could hear our neighbors tv very loudly. And their talking also.

If you have French doors you will have spaces that look outside. Also sometime water comes in!

The ship is still being worked on, it’s a beautiful vessel but still needs a lot of work. Crew can be seen cleaning all the time. Right now they are very short staffed.

 

I would recommend just doing HOHO in each port unless you need to see something specific. We had booked two preferred tours, one was mostly just a bus ride and the other we were five hours behind so they ran an abbreviated tour which felt rushed. Was disappointed they wouldn’t let us cancel the tour.

 

Would have liked a bigger pool, the one in this ship is more large hot tub size.

A covered area by the pool would work well.

The calliope is a very interesting, we loved getting a chance to play it!

 

 

Our fav crew:

Vaughn

David bartender

Guitar player who is also security guard 

Phil piano

Mike

 

I felt a few things would be nice:

Bar table service

Leaf blower

Ingredient lists for buffet

Coffee/tea cart in morning

Real coffee cups

 

We really enjoyed our time on our first river cruise. Looking forward to another one in the future!

[uktog]

Great review thanks. Isn’t Phil just great, we loved his talent every evening. We were on in May and our findings were very similar to yours, we were in 504. 

[IamAlyce]

20 hours ago, uktog said:

Great review thanks. Isn’t Phil just great, we loved his talent every evening. We were on in May and our findings were very similar to yours, we were in 504. 

Thank you, we loved the cruise and the crew!