Like many folks we had cabin fever after being cooped up to avoid the COVID virus. When it appeared that things were opening up, we booked a nine day cruise on American Queen Steamboat Company's (AQSC) "American Queen" from Louisville, KY to Memphis, TN. We were impressed with the health and safety precautions and felt that it would be safe to cruise in the good old U.S.A.

We arrived in Louisville and went directly to the pre-cruise hotel. The "Brown" was the selected hotel. This stately old hotel was quite nice and the food in the dinning room was excellent. There were many architectural details that made the hotel a grand experience.

Our first encounter with American Queen Steamboat Company was the check-in process at the hotel. Please note that this cruise was mostly filled by elderly people even older than us (I'm 74 and my wife is 65). At least one third of the passengers needed assistance to walk or stand and this made the check-in process quite painful for many as we had to stand in line for nearly an hour to check in. This was followed by another line for COVID testing even though we had been required to make a specific time appointment. No chairs were available for either process and there were no signs to direct you to the proper locations in the hotel. Read more