American Queen Review

4.5 / 5.0
230 reviews

Problems on the river

Review for the USA Cruise on American Queen
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ABQTraveler
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Apr 2014

Having just returned from a 7 day cruise on the American Queen, plus a pre-night Hilton hotel stay, my wife and I certainly agree that the boat (it’s hard not to call it a ship, with its 400+ passenger capacity) is a lovely, nostalgia-inducing vessel with Victorian era furnishings and charming public rooms. We liked what we saw on their website video and booked one of the two flagship cabins to fully enjoy the boat (The Mark Twain Suite, #501), which was lovely and had a huge private balcony.

But after boarding the boat in New Orleans and settling into our cabin, things started to go awry. We joined our fellow passengers for the 8:00 PM second seating for dinner at the waiting room outside the restaurant … and waited … and waited. Some of us were now hearing grumbling from the first seating passengers that menu items were unavailable, or delivered cold. After we were finally seated we were served a poor and disorganized meal by frustrated staff who were clearly doing their best to please us. One of them apologized for the confusion and told us that many of the crew had walked off the boat without notice the night before and they were very short-staffed.

This staffing issue impacted the entire trip. The food quality never remotely approached the enthusiastic reviews I had read before booking the trip and many cabins were not serviced until dinnertime. Two of the "bartenders" mixed every drink by looking them up in a book (for a gin & tonic?!) But I have to give credit to the Engine Room Bar bartender, who was as experienced and professional as I have found anywhere. The on-board entertainment ensemble was also excellent.

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