My husband and I and 2 traveling companions planned the 8-day Mississippi river cruise trip with #AmericanCruiseLines out of New Orleans in early April for sail in August. We chose American Melody boat because there were very few passengers (approximately 100), their strict covid19 operations, and it was a little closer to home than traveling abroad (we’re from the west coast). The trip cost us $6,000 each.

After boarding the boat a day early we set sail on Friday, Aug 27, and was then informed by the boat's captain about the potential Hurricane Ida approaching. He said we would be trying to outrun the hurricane and would not be stopping at the scheduled ports of call. We were never advised of the approaching storm even though it was reported that it was announced in the New Orleans area about a week before.

We sailed down the dirtiest part of the Mississippi waters and saw nothing but trees, trees, trees. The only 3 stops made (scheduled for 8 ports) were at dilapidated shores with dangerous embarkation setup, near towns that were closed up awaiting the hurricane. There were no excursions except a bus ride around the vacant city streets. We were kept unaware of what the plan was for the completion of the trip once Ida did hit and we could not return back to our scheduled destination in New Orleans. Read more