I wanted to travel to upper Mississippi to 4 states I had not visited. The cruise was promoted as Fall Foliage on the Upper Mississippi. My group had been planning for this trip for over a year. The route was changed due to flooding, and we were officially notified AFTER the boat left St Louis port. Management knew the situation and could have notified us before we flew from NC to St Louis the day before departure.
The trip that was substituted was of lesser value/cost and the destination was of no interest to me, as I had already been several times to Nashville. The cruise lines has made no effort to compensate our group of 17 travelers. I was trapped on this boat to a destination that held no interest to me- not a very good taste to leave in a customer's grasp. The trip was the biggest disappointment in my travel history, and I have traveled quite a bit over the past 6-7 years.
I will neither use nor recommend this company. Their interest is not customer satisfaction. This was a group of 17 people, and I believe American Cruise Lines should step to the plate and offer some compensation to this group, at least a monetary amount equal to the difference of the price of the trip that we paid for and the trip we were given. Letters have been written to management and they have not even bothered to respond.
We were originally on the 2nd floor but our cabin was changed to 4th floor due to the horrible stench in the room. As we had to wait in the lounge for over an hour before being allowed to rooms, there must have been some problems with cleaning. The bathroom smelled so strongly of urine, that even the cruise director blanched when she came into the room. Cabin on 4th was what would be expected, but the boat had several sewage problems going on during the cruise that caused very unpleasant odors on all floors throughout the trip.