Tennessee River Cruise

[knittinggirl]

Are the shore excursions they listed on the find cruises the only ones offered?    DH isn't impressed, and threatening to cancel.

Edited August 28 by knittinggirl

[BaumD]

They may have more or less depending on the actual cruise. Keep in mind two things:

• Only 100-150 people on the cruise, how many excursions do you expect them to offer?
• This isn't the Caribbean where the islands total economy is based on tourism, so they have lots of excursions. These are mostly small midwest/southern towns that don't have lots of tourism options. That's one of the plusses of ACL, you get to see America as it really is and not what the tour operators want it to be to sell tickets.

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

We did find that the Huntsville space museum was NOT listed until we got onboard.   It was what we were looking to do.   
otherwise, there should be about 3 listed for each stop (not sure what you are seeing).   Believe it or not, every one we did was worthwhile.   We did mostly the included trips but picked up two very reasonable options.   One thing we weren’t aware of until we got onboard is that the Local Loop options actually include admission to the museums/homes at the stops.  Did not expect that, and were able to do several museums unexpectedly.  One thing: DO NOT miss the quilt museum in Paducah (even a non-quilt lover should be awed by the artistry).   There is an optional tour that does the murals and the museum, or the local loop stops there and should allow for at least a quick visit.

[JanetMarie]

We are leaving next week on the Tennessee River cruise.  This will be our third with ACL.  The "loop" is a wonderful way to see the area where the ship docks.  You board one of their buses (which, BTW, follow the ship, typically 3 of them) and they circle around the city to the points of interest.  You get on/off throughout a time period of a few hours.  This may be an option for you.  

 

[bob brown]

I am sbout to choose this cruise on board…

Looking for help in deciding whether to choose the more traditional style American Splendor, or the more modern American Symphony.

 

Any input would be appreciated!🙂

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

We did this on Symphony in June.  Loved the ship.  Have not been on Splendor.  Symphony was light and bright… and most everything still felt “new”.  Itinerary was vey quiet and laid back, but we were interested in the music focus in the region,   In my opinion, either ship would be fine, the itinerary was the best part

[bob brown]

I had a tentative reservation booked on board, when I took a closer look at the itinerary map, and decided to cancel.  What changed my mind, was I noticed a dotted line between Grand Rivers, KY, and Paducah. This means you travel that segment on a shore excursion bus.  The boat turns between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers at Grand Rivers.

So you do not get to cruise the portion of the Tennessee between its confluence with the Cumberland, and with its confluence with the Ohio. Apparently, they don’t want to have to backtrack over that distance, which might add a lot of time to the voyage.

 

It is probably not a big deal to most people, but it would bother me personally, in my quest to cover all the rivers.  I guess I’ll have to do them on separate cruise to or from St. Louis or Memphis…🤷‍♂️

 

 

[DaveinCharlotte]

This is a change since I booked this cruise a few weeks ago -- thanks for pointing this out.  The ship was to dock at Paducah, then continue on the Tennessee.  There are many Paducah excursions, but only 2 at Grand River.  On my last cruise on AQV, the ship had no trouble navigating these few miles, but maybe ACL has recently encountered low-water problems here? Looking at the aerial photos, hard to see where the ship could dock in Grand River.

 

Bob, I'm sorry you'll miss out on the one-mile stretch between Paducah and the mouth of the Tennessee.

[JanetMarie]

We sailed The Melody a couple of weeks ago, disembarking on 10/5 in Chatanooga.  We did not take a bus through the portion you are describing.  Just an FYI.