American Queen Voyages (formerly American Queen Steamboat Company)

River Cruises

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Memphis

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North America River

U.S.A.

Excellent

Very Good

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Terrible

Poor

American Queen

American Empress

American Duchess

American Countess

Ocean Voyager

Ocean Navigator

Ocean Victory

Elegantly disappointing

Palermo (Sicily)

Cruised on the Mississippi River, started in New Orleans and ended in Memphis.  The cruise itself was great, no complaints and enjoyed cruising with predominately an older, more mature crowd.  Ship is not recommended for someone traveling with small children or teenagers.  Food was excellent and crew was very accommodating for my Celiac food allergy.  Menu in the fine dining was clearly marked for common allergies\restrictions such as wheat, dairy, seafood & vegan.  Cherry pie was a passenger favorite and that flew off the buffet in the Front Porch dining area, this was a frequent out of stock item.  We enjoyed the on-board entertainment and the enrichment sessions where we learned more the Mississippi river lore and history.  Ship included guest laundry and laundry detergent, two washers and two dryers.  This was a nice option for those who like to travel light.  The pool was small, but fine for cooling off.  The fitness room was small as well, but often both the pool and fitness center were empty of passengers.  

All of the on-shore excursions had excellent travel guides, they were extremely knowledgeable.  Ship also included golf carts to transport passengers over the levees, which could be steep at times.  

Opportunities for the cruise line to improve is the Customer Service provided before the cruise, correct the on-line and printed documentation and more coordination with the port locations.  When we were reviewing the cruise options, spoke\emailed with multiple American Queen Voyages (AQV) Customer Service representatives requesting a cruise catalog.  Catalog was never received and typically hold time averaged 20 minutes or more. Much of AQV on-line documentation and printed documentation had conflicting information, which prompted the many calls to Customer Service to clarify these conflicting points.  As an example, the website says the gratuities are included but the travel guide says $19.50 per day per guest will be charged.  Via the Customer Service call prior to the trip we learned if you booked after January 1st 2023, gratuities are included.  During the trip we learned the included gratuities covered the AQV crew members only, NOT the local on-shore local guides. Travel guide is also missing in the Amenities section that the ship includes hydration stations to refill water bottles and state room includes refillable water bottle, shampoo, conditioner, soap, bathrobe & slippers.  For the comment regarding more coordination with the port, we had purchased the post-cruise city stay (Memphis) which included tickets for the local trolley line.  During the dates we were there the trolley line was under construction and shut down.  This was not known until we were waiting at the trolley stop and discovered too late the trollies were not running.  Had we known earlier, we would have booked another night at the hotel and changed our flights to leave one day later.   For the Vicksburg port, there is a City Passport book that nearly all of the stops on the hop-on\hop-off included tour were part of this book.  Once you get 5 stamps in the book, you get a free Vicksburg T-shirt.  We noticed this book too late in our stops and didn't have time to circle back to get the stamps.  

Would recommend booking through a third party (eg:  AAA, AARP Travel Services, etc) versus booking directly with AQV.

Guest Relations @American Queen Voyages

Great Cruise for those seeking for slower pace

Just came back from our first river cruise aboard the "American Queen" on the Lower Mississippi.. 

Pros:

Fantastic staff and fellow cruisers.

Better quality food than say Carnival

All inclusive

Laid back and comfortable atmosphere.

All American speaking crew is a BIG plus as it limits communication issues.

Great Bang for the Buck!

Cons:

Boat could use better maintenance such as continued painting (many rusted metal areas) and proper maintenance of rooms (issues with bathrooms and amenities). Broken and/or paddles in need of repair 

Food served needs to be more consistent as far as not serving cold food (many times) and same dish tasting different on different days.

Included shore excursions need upgrading. 

Overall this cruise was better than expected so much so we will be booking on the AQ for 2024, just on the Upper Mississippi.

Overall the size and decor of the boat is very nice. Fantastic staff did a great job in addressing any issues. Guest were always greeted with a hello and treated like family.

Better than expected, going again

Actually from Minneapolis to St Louis July 23 to July 31. Beautifully elegant steamboat reminiscent of Mark Twain’s era with wonderful dedicated staff. The food and service were super. The entertainment was fun and the musicians were enjoyable. The tours were well planned and very interesting. Our suite was kept immaculate. This is not an inexpensive adventure!

My wife and I have traveled several times aboard The American Queen and previously enjoyed it.

On this trip the Dress Code was absolutely ignored. The boat was only about half full, so there was only one seating. On five of the nights we sat at a table next to one that had a passenger who wore soiled t-shirts and soiled and ragged jeans. When I asked the  maitre d about enforcing the dress code he told me that upper management told him to ignore the dress code. This passenger was one of many similarly dressed.  This is not acceptable and in the future we will look into competing river cruise lines where a certain dignity is maintained. We will miss this glamorous experience.

American Queen Voyages are always fun and these 74 and 73 year olds traveled from Memphis to New Orleans. We traveled on the Countess on two occasions last year and that ship is nice. The American Queen, however, is a step above. The ship is larger and has more to enjoy than the smaller AQ vessels. We always choose the inside cabin on AQV because it is far less expensive and close to the Front Porch Cafe and area. Basic beverages and alcohol, gratuities, and port fees are included in the price. Sounds good but AQV raised the price of their voyages from 2022 to 2023 to cover for the "freebies". Four bars are available on the ship... The Front Porch bar is open most of the day (until 8:00 pm), the River Grille (no food or grill) opens at 4:00 and closes at 7:00, the Captain's Bar is small and is available at dinner, and the Engine Room Bar is open at 5:00 pm until late. Be certain and watch the many You Tube videos of the American Queen, particularly those by John. This ship has a capacity of approximately 430 passengers and our trip had 200. Most passengers are upper 60's to in their 80's and many have mobility issues which may mean "life in the slow lane", particularly on the bus or getting on and off the ship. Always get off the ship 15-minutes before the buses are scheduled to depart on the excursions. Elevators are present but we never used them. Two complimentary refillable water cooler bottles are provided in each stateroom. Water-filling stations are located throughout the ship. We ate only at the Front Porch and the food if much better than the Countess. Meals are much the same each day with prime rib offered every evening. The soups are delicious. I made this suggestion in 2022 and again in 2023, I wish AQV had hamburgers, pizza, and nachos as options at the Front Porch. We attended no entertainment performances so no suggestions. Everyday there is a hop on-hop off included excursion which is fun. In Vicksburg, Natchez, Houmas, and Nottoway we chose to walk the ho-ho route rather than be on the bus. 

Day 1, Memphis: The Peabody Hotel is very nice but expect a view of the roof-top air-conditioners. Check-in is at 4:00 but we were able to get in at 2:00. Auto Zone Park is across the street and we watched the Memphis Redbirds/Durham Bulls baseball game for free by walking around the park to centerfield. Beale Street is two blocks away and expensive. We always go to Coyote Ugly on the east end which has $3 beer. Other places are $8.  

Day 2, Memphis and Boarding: Breakfast on the rooftop was excellent. Be sure and walk outside and view Memphis from the 12th floor. Checkout is 11:00 and one cannot go to the ship before 3:00. This means you have four hours to kill plus lunch. We pack sandwiches at breakfast for lunch. Even if you are capable of doing so, you are not allowed to walk to the ship. After a 10-minute drive boarding the AQ is easy. There is a mandatory and waste-of-time "Mustard Drill" at 4:00. Hellooo, all the major cruise lines do this via onboard television. Sailing at 5:00.

Day 3, Terrene Landing and Cleveland, MS: The bus will transport passengers to Cleveland and the fascinating Grammy Museum. There is also a stop at the Railroad Museum, and the Chinese Heritage Museum.

Day 4, Vicksburg: A fun place on the river. Be certain and visit the Old Courthouse Museum. The Coca-Cola Museum is OK but not nearly as good as the one in Corinth, MS. The included Civil War Museum is interesting but the owner requests a tip. The River Museum and another Railroad Museum are interesting. 

Day 5, Natchez: Another fun place. We walked from Under the Bluff (docking site) into this old Southern city. The Stanton House tour is the best. 

Day 6, St. Francisville, LA: A very fascinating tour of The Myrtles. You will love the ghost story of Chloe

Day 7, Houmas House: This day was scheduled to be in Baton Rouge but the Captain said the Mississippi River was too low to dock. Few of the passengers bought this story. Crew member said the real reason was that several crew members got off the ship several weeks ago in Baton Rouge and got drunk and engaged in a fight. As a result, the Captain will not dock there to keep the crew on board. It's a shame that 200 passengers were "punished" to keep the crew on board. Instead, we docked at the nearby Houmas House. We enjoyed the tour of the house and the interesting adjacent museum. Houmas is only 25-miles away from Baton Rouge so we could have been bused on the AQ coaches into the capital and enjoy the city. Work-arounds were possible but not considered.

Day 8, Nottoway Plantation: Another interesting Southern antebellum plantation. Much of your day is at leisure.

Day 9, New Orleans: Whew, a dirty, smelly and dangerous town, particularly on Bourbon Street. The AQ arrived in NOLA sometime during the night. We had to arrange for our own early transportation (6:00am) to the airport since AQ will only give one a list of taxi telephone numbers. The AQ payed transport is at 7:30 am. 

A very pleasant trip and we are going on the AQ Empress in October. Our only significant complaint was the unnecessary missing out on Baton Rouge.

The Big Muddy on the American Queen

The American Queen was unorganised, some of the staff did not know what to do, shortage of staff in dining room, so bad we used the buffet like lots of other guests . The ldea looks good but it's not up to standard, we fought hard for a full refund receiving £1000 only. I can't think of anything good to say. The most expensive mistake we have ever made as we have traveled the world with several lines. If it helps think twice about this cruise.The ship was reasonably presented, the stops along the river interesting, Baton Rouge dissapointing as no tours just city orientation at 30% to hot to walk

We finished in New Orleans, so glad to leave the River boat behind then back to the Intercontinental and great restaurants which we have on real cruise lines. Can't wait to go cruising on the ocean once again a hard lesson l, tread carefully.

Dissapointed

From the beginning a Disaster

Boarding through a dirty port gangway

Very weak welcome aboard

Dirty Boat

Sparse crew 

Boat broke did not go for two days

Food awful and cold

Bars terrible

Only 3 not open most of the time

Only two bartenders

Dirty glasses  everywhere

food, dirt on decks

Cigarettes' buts on floor

Housekeeper sporadic

Ports cancelled

Excursions awful

I have many photos of filth

Not fun on board

They told us 6 days into the trip there were several passengers and crew put off the boat because of Covid days prior without telling us

I got covid 2 days after the trip ended

I wrote the CEO of the company, he never responded

The captain was non existent

The entertainment was good

The cruise director was fair at best

DO NOT TAKE THIS CRUISE

It seems this boat ran around decades ago when on their first cruise and it has not changed since

Disaster

This was a bucket list holiday for my husband and I travelling from Minneapolis, Minnesota to New Orleans. We paid over £6000 each for a 14 day holiday - a majority of Americans paid $20,000 per cabin.

We travelled from Redwing Minneapolis to New Orleans in an inside cabin. This was the cheapest cabin available. Our holiday started on 12th September and ended 26th September 2022.

The weather throughout our holiday was sunny and warm.

Our holiday started with an included city tour of Red Wing before arriving at the American Queen at 4.00pm. This was ridiculously late as the boat was due to depart at 4.30pm. The welcome drink of a glass of a champagne was a shambles and none was available as the coach trips came aboard,

We, along with others, hurriedly made our way to our rooms for the compulsory safety drill.

Our room had not been vacuumed, there was rubbish on the floor, only one towel between us and no toiletries.

After the safety drill we unpacked and went to dinner as we were on a 5.15pm sitting.

We requested another towel every day for 4 days (only one was ever left). We were resorting to taking towels from outside housekeeping trollies as we rarely saw any staff.  

Breakfast was a disaster if ordered from the menu either not arriving, not matching the menu description or fridge cold!!

IE ordered eggs benedict this came without ham, no  garnish and obviously straight from the fridge.

Took 2 complaints to get right. Another example was Croque Monsieur which turned up as a toasted scrambled egg sandwich! Ordered corned beef hash and were  given hash browns twice and when I got up to ask if the correct breakfast was coming as I then waited 30 minutes the waiter said sit down its coming! Which it never did!!

Finally complained to Hotel Director who agreed level of service was unacceptable and gave us a free bottle of champagne.

Service at dinner didn't improve.

We did get 2 towels and room was vacuumed but housekeeping were knocking on our door at 7.05am for access next day!

Dinner often took 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 mins each night to ge5t main course.

The Hotel Director confessed that they were very short of staff, they were poorly trained and often didn't return after their compulsory on shore leave despite being paid American wages.

The worst case of attitude I experienced was when an African American nurse (member of staff) came into the guest laundry which consisted of two washing machines and two dryers and started verbally abusing two elderly guests one of whom was disabled because they had taken her washing out of the two machines. They had removed it because the machines had been stopped for some time and wanted to do their washing. They had placed it in the two dryers in readiness for being dried. 

She stated she had OCD and found it very disrespectctful that they had touched her washing.

I told her it was a guest laundery and with 400 passengers and 2 machines guests were waiting all the time for them to become free.

She was totally unrepentant.

I reported this incident to the Hotel Director who was appalled! He stated staff had been told not to use guest laundry.

On the top deck the majority of chairs were broken and unusable with pieces of metal hanging off.

Also, soot from the two chimneys left chairs and sun longer covered with an oily residue which got all over our clothes. Staff never wiped down chairs or warned us.

The final blow to our holiday was the cancellation of the last two stops at  Natchez and Nottaway, (St Louis) was cancelled a few days before we sailed.

The two ports were cancelled due to barges breaking free the night before which meant a 10 hour delay in our sailing.

Therefore, we missed the antebellum mansions which was one of the chief reasons for our trip!!

No compensation has been offered for inclusive trips that didn't take place because of this cancellation despite staff telling guests compensation would be offered!!!

As experienced river cruisers I can honestly say that this is the worst experience we have ever had.

The worst and most expensive cruise we have ever done

To start with, I tried to find Minneapolis or Red Wing as the embarkation port but was unable to find it in the drop down and it wouldn't let me enter either cities.

1.	We only got travel documents after our travel agent called them days before the cruise. I guess this should have been an omen.

2.	The cabin had a large patio but was mostly usuable due to their being no shade from noon to sunset.

3.	The food was on par with a Denny’s…definitely not gourmet. 

4.	Service in the dining room was poor. Our waiter had a table of 8, a table of 6 and 2 tables of 2. Most dinners we ordered only a salad and an entrée. The waiter would bring out the appetizers, then the soups and then the salads for all his tables. This meant that although our order was taken promptly, it was usually 30 minutes from ordering before we got our salads.

5.	On the website, it said we would be stopping in St Louis. We sailed by St Louis.

6.	Due to an unforeseen accident on the river, we also missed Natchez and Nottoway. There were rumors that the ship was running on only 2 out of the 3 engines. This could possibly explain why we couldn't at least 1 of the 2 stops.

7.	The internet was nonexistent in our stateroom. If you wanted internet, you had to stand in the hallway outside the cabin to use it.

8.	The appearance of the ship is poor, the wood along the first deck on the outside is rotting. 

9.	I asked the purser one day if there was any covid on the ship so I could appropriately protect myself and he told me he couldn’t reveal that information. I wasn’t asking to have him pinpoint a certain individual just let me know if I should be concerned. As a side note we have tested positive upon our return home.

10. We are experienced cruisers and are used to having the room cleaned promptly (usually around breakfast time). Our cabin was usually cleaned in the afternoon. I did notice one day that the steward simply rinsed out a dirty wine glass in the bathroom sink, rather that replacing it with an unused one.

11. If you didn't keep the AC on 69 or lower, the room temperature would be 85 or more.

Not so mighty Mississippi

We had originally booked this cruise pre Covid (2019) with our American friends. Although we are Australians this was to be our sixth boat cruise which was deferred until Australian's travel restrictions were lifted. As can be assumed we had very high expectations that we would enjoy the cruise, as we had previously done on the American Queen. Sadly, this was not to be. I've purposely left writing this review until I could objectively compare it against other travels. Since this cruise we have done two others, one with HAL and a second with Carnival. Both seem to have, what I would call post Covid problems, the same as what we experienced not only on the AQ but in our months long vacation in the States. The problems seem to stem from the lack of trained/experienced hospitality staff, whether it be on boats or restaurants with the obvious cutting back on service. These are general observations; specific ones are as follows:

The medical screening was very poorly handled at the pre cruise Maddison Blue Hotel. No thought was given about having any form of distancing between the milling passengers.

The buffet breakfast offered at the hotel was simply terrible, a blatant example of cost cutting.

We did a pre cruise Minneapolis/ St Paul tour before embarkation at Red Wing. This seemed disorganized for some reason as though the bus was not expected.

The Mississippi River certainly showed the effects of the drought, with very low water levels. Not the mighty Mississippi of our previous boat trips.

Up to the first week, the cruise was enjoyable, the AQ of old. It then became obvious that many of the onboard guests were displaying possible Covid symptoms, but were not being tested (I believe by their own choice). I myself tested positive and must give a highly rated thanks to the medical professional standard displayed by the Paramedic, T. Williams.

In summary, yes we were disappointed in our cruise, but I think it was a reflection of the disruption caused by Covid.

In closing it would be a great disappointment if the AQ does not return to its former boating excellence.

Post Covid cruise from Minneapolis/Red Wing to New Orleans

I have always wanted to cruise on the US rivers, and I also wanted to experience the largest riverboat, as well as steam-powered, so the American Queen was my obvious choice.   Eventually, I hope to cover all the US rivers that offer overnight cruises.

We flew in to St. Louis, and were lodged at the Hilton at the Ballpark, where we checked in, and completed a Covid test.

We toured St. Louis on our own, and the next morning we were treated to a buffet breakfast, and then boarded our bus for a 3:30 PM (the last one) shuttle to Alton, IL for embarkation.  We sailed at 5:00 PM, and passed by St. Louis, down the Mississippi, to Cairo, IL, where we then began our long sail up the full length of the Ohio River to Pittsburgh.  The cruise ended at Louisville, KY, but we were booked back to back to the next cruise.  Since we did not stay at a hotel in Louisville, during the turnaround of passengers, we were offered a complimentary deluxe tour of Churchill Downs.  Excellent!

The only other large city we called at was Cincinnati.   The rest of the daily stops were all at small, charming river towns, that really appreciated our visit, some even giving us small gifts.  The hop-on, hop-off tours operated at each of these towns were totally adequate for our interests.  The buses followed us the whole way, as they are chartered by American Queen Voyages from Easton Coach Co., and have American Queen 'wraps' around them.  Local guides stepped on for commentary on each bus during the first few hours of each day.  The stops were at various local attractions, historic sites, museums, homes, churches, etc. with time to also explore 'downtown' on our own.  Most admission or donation charges were paid by AQV. 

The boat was in pretty good shape considering its 27 year old age.   The period decor, including great artwork, furnishings, and genuine antiques was wonderful.  The 'J M White dining room', offered a different menu with several choices each evening.  I found the food about average in quality and taste.  The staff was very friendly, and having American server's was quite different then what I am used to on ocean cruise ships, but they were not quite as experienced in fine service.  'The Front Porch', offering indoor and outdoor, but covered seating, was the alternative buffet restaurant.  The 'River Grill' was not in operation since Covid hit, other than as a bar.   There was 24 hour coffee and tea, cookies, and soft serve ice cream available.  There was also the Captain's Bar, and the Paddlewheel Bar, both of which offered piano (former) or piano and guitar (latter) entertainment in the evening.   The Grand Saloon had a live seven piece orchestra with superb musician's.  The four 'production show' singer's gave very nice performances.

There was a fitness center, a small pool, and a gym. There were also lectures by the 'Riverlorian' describing river history, and navigation.   There were tours on request to the pilot house, and even to the engine room.   There were beautiful period lounges, game and card rooms, a library,  several large scale boat models, and the observation 'chart room'.

The cruise director staff, conducted some trivia games, as well as guess the song, scavenger hunts, and cash bingo.

There was also a small movie theater.  One of the highlights was the playing of the steam calliope when sailing away from various ports.

Going thru the locks and dams was also very interesting, as well as the constant parade of scenery passing by on both sides of the boat, including numerous tugs and barges, as well as pleasure craft, and people waving from their homes or shores.  And watching the stacks and even the pilot house lowered to clear some of the low bridges enroute.

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