Former AQV cruisers have some questions

[CruisinCadie]

DH and I are former AQV cruisers who are looking into ACL Mississippi River cruises. We are in our late 70's and both are mobility challenged.  (He has a decided limp and I use a cane.) I've gotten answers to most of my questions from the ACL website but am unclear about a couple things.

1.  Do they use a specific hotel in New Orleans?  Does it have a restaurant or are there restaurants nearby?  Is breakfast the morning of the cruise included?

2.  Do they provide any sort of city tour in NOLA, such as on the way to the ship?  It sounds like we're mostly on our own and I'm not sure how much walking we can take.

3.  General information--Coke or Pepsi products?  Can we get iced/flavored coffee, such as mocha lattes, in the afternoon?

 

I'm sure I'll have more questions later, but thanks for any info you can give me.

Kathy

[MOcruiserman]

My wife and I are both in our 70's and she's mobility challenged.  The ship (the Serenade) was very accommodating to her as they had wheelchairs and golf carts available:

1. The Intercontinental on St. Charles Street.  We didn't stay there because NO was the end of our cruise and we'd already booked the Wyndham, in the French Quarter, so I can't answer your questions about restaurants close to the hotel.  We ate in two excellent restaurants, Tujague and Antoine's, which were very close to our hotel and a short cab ride from the Intercontinental. Tujague had the best food I'd ever eaten.

2. We went on an excellent three hour city tour as an excursion from the ship. It ended at the Intercontinental so I assume it begins there as well.

3. Coke products.  I'm not sure about the coffee drinks available other than decaf, which I drank at every meal.

[CruisinCadie]

Thanks.  That's good to know, especially that they do offer tours.  I'm going to email our TA today and see what he knows.

 

Kathy

[fb0075]

We are doing Nashville-Chattanooga next week and signed up on short notice after AQ cancellation------we have done 8 AQ and as of now IM regretting spending the 10k on this cruise!

I was assured it was the same but from all I can find out its NOT!!

Entertainment is nothing like we are used to

 

Majority of tours are extra charge and those that are complimentary are mostly full

 

I was assured by rep that there is NEVER a charge for a drink but from message boards,its   impossible to find a bartender during the day

 

more but you get my drift----I even called a week after I paid and tried to cancel with a significant penalty but no-----Hopefully it will be great but after 159 cruises on many lines im afraid it wont be!

 

 

[MOcruiserman]

2 hours ago, fb0075 said:

I was assured by rep that there is NEVER a charge for a drink but from message boards,its   impossible to find a bartender during the day

There's a bar set up during happy hour (5-6:30) and during the evening's entertainment (starting around 8pm that I took advantage of every day and I noticed folks with drinks at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Edited May 27 by MOcruiserman
typo

[BaumD]

If you want a drink during off hours, just ask one of the managers and they will take care of you. They don't have dedicated bartenders.  Water, soda, juice, beer and wine are available self service in one of the lounges all day. If you want a bottle of your favorite liquor, just let them know precruise and they will get it for you to have in your room, then you can have a drink whenever you want it-no extra charge. .

Chances are once onboard you can sign up for the complimentary excursions. The regular excursions are very reasonably priced, not like the big cruise lines.

Don't know what kind of entertainment they had on AQV, but ACL entertainment is not big shows, usually singers, musicians, or a comedian. On my last cruise, the "resident" singer/guitar player came over from AQV after they went belly up.

ACL ships are smaller than AQV (100-190 passengers), so that impacts the entertainment. You will discover the cabins are new and large, public spaces are modern and the ships are much newer than AQV.

[fb0075]

Thanks ----------hope so

[denmor428]

We are previous American Queen cruisers but took our first American cruise over Christmas. The wifi is better on American and they also have free self service washers/dryers. American has complimentary excursions at each port.  We often chose these and were satisfied.  The specialty excursions were fairly priced and enjoyable. I was very happy with our large, bright room.  I suggest you learn what included excursion will be offered in the departing city.  We went into the departure city days early and ended up doing the included excursion on our own dime because we didn't know it would be included. As previously noted, American ships are smaller so the menus are smaller, the entertainment is smaller but they have nightly happy hour with beautiful appetizers and the staff tries hard to make sure everyone has a good cruise such as hosting a hot chocolate bar on the top deck on Christmas day.