American Cruise Lines

My wife & I booked this Mississippi Cruise as part of our trip to the USA from Australia, it turned out to be the highlight of our entire five & a half week trip, everything from the staff, the food, on board entertainment to the onshore excursions were first class. We boarded in New Orleans the afternoon prior to our day of departure, this included an excursion the next morning to the New Orleans WW2 Museum (Fantastic) Our room on board the ship was absolutely first class. We finished our cruise in Memphis, with a Graceland tour (the best) We will definitely be sailing with American Cruise Lines again, we cannot recommend them highly enough.

Great cruises on Columbia and Mississippi rivers. Great new boats and caring crew. Great gourmet food. Love the eclipse Cafe for casual eats. We booked our third cruise for this November.

I am a dedicated hard working single father of two young daughters and worked for American cruise lines from February-August of 2023 first starting out as an engineer and eventually was asked and promoted to IT dept in May. Was offered a $3000 sign on bonus which i would use to move my daughters and myself from Tampa, Fl to Portland, OR. The company and supervisors knew IT would be a new role and there would be a learning curve for me but given some time i would easily grasp the position but regrettably i caught covid in July and was terminated two weeks later on July 28th after being incredibly ill with covid, but was told i was let go for (loss confidence). I returned to Tampa, FL and when i received my final two-week paycheck and without notice received.35 cents. I was told my sign on bonus was deducted which was 100% wrong the only stipulation for my sign-on bonus was i had to work for at least 30 days which i did. I was using those funds to move my daughters and myself the 3000+ from Tampa to Portland. This has been an incredibly costly and frustrating as one could imagine for a single father. American Cruise Lines is a very large and profitable corporation for them to do this to an employee i think is despicable.

This was a great way to start our cruise experience. Great service and interesting ports. Met a number of interesting people. The food was well prepared and very good.
We will be doing this again.

The scenery on the snake and Columbia River was amazing and the food was delicious.l would recommend taking the jet boat cruise on the snake river.It was just amazing

This cruise line doesn't even deserve one star. I have been cursing for 15 years and this cruise had to be the worst I have ever taken. I chose this cruise to see if there really was a difference between the luxury cruise lines and the Celebrities, Princess, etc. cruise lines and the substantial higher price. I spent three times the amount I would have spent on one of the other cruise lines to see if there actually was a difference. I am not the only one on this cruise who was thoroughly dissatisfied. It started when I first got onto the ship. I was very under-whelmed by the decor. It was very drab and plain. I got into my stateroom and the coffee maker didn't work, the safe didn't work, there was nowhere posted in the room to let you know where the ice machine was, there was no refrigerator in the room and no makeup mirror in the bathroom. On all other cruise lines you had a cabin steward. We had none.

As for the Exquisite Cuisine some meals were inedible. You only had a choice of two entrees. THE FOOD WAS TERRIBLE!

Between meal offerings was a selection of 3-4 canned soft drinks and 2 kinds of bottled juice. And the snacks. Small bags of pretzels, granola bars, 2 kinds of chips, fig newtons and half baked cookies in the afternoon. They put out a dozen cookies for a ship that carried nearly 200 people. At cocktail time, most of the hors d'oeuvres were gone in 15 minutes and never refilled. You think of yourself as luxury? Most of the staff were new and inexperienced.

Great for a single woman fun safe way to travel and be with interesting folks. Love history so the speaker are always a hit for me.

We selected the San Juan Islands Tulip Festavil Cruise to visit Skagit Valley for the annual tulip festival held every April. It rivals visiting the fields of Holland without the oversea's travel. We spent time in Tulip Towne and were given a private escorted tour of the farm operations. It was very informative and educational. Anyone with an interest in gardening would love it.

The cruise also spent a day in Victoria BC with an opportunity to visit the world famous Butchart Gardens. They have 6 separate gardens including Japenese, Italian, Rose and the famous sunken garden. People travel here from all over the world and it truly is a spectacular place.

The criuse also includes traveling the San Juan Islands and stopping in numerous scenic ports like Friday Harbor, Port Angeles and Fort Townsend. There are numerous day trios to chose from in each port so there is always something for everyone.

The food was exceptional on this boat. With a smaller ship the service is personal and first class.

Could not cancel during covid! Serious rip off. Belong in jail most of them.

There are far better options out there vs. these red necks.

Nice relaxing cruise down the scenic Columbia River
Only 200 on board
Friendly staff
Interesting speaker about Lewis and Clark and Sacagawea
Wonderful piano player and singer

Worry free, tip free, no hidden fees. What's not to like? Great entertainment, especially "Mark Twain".

The food was like eating at Denny's. The staff are wonderful, but it was an expensive 2 star vacation.

Great boat and love the views and the team on the boat Wendy was great and made it fun. Can not miss out on the views and entertainment

Excellent service. Crew was very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. Ship was well maintained, clean and very presentable.

We loved the entire trip! The staff was so incredibly nice & helpful! The food was top notch and the entire trip was truly wonderful!

Incredible destinations, new boat, and pleasant staff made our journey on the Mississippi unforgettable.

I had a problem with a bed frame that collapsed and the ACL folks were quickly responsive in replacing the frame.

We had been told by friends that American Cruise Lines was best. ABSOLUTELY! Now: Maine's "Coastal Cats!"

Two of us got Covid-19 on this cruise. We have no idea how many other people did. I am updating this now because 6 of us GOT COVID-19. The "cocktail hour" has NO social distancing and no masks and almost no hors d'oeuvres. Most guest then go to dinner without wearing a mask.

Who we are:
We are seasoned cruisers and have been on both river and ocean cruises in Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.

Why we chose ACL:
Like many other travelers we were ready to cruise but wanted to stay in the USA. Wanted to see Washington and Oregon and this sounded great.

Pre Cruise:
We are sorry to say that we could not get answers to questions. If they have been using the Maritime rules for months we thought the answers would be simple. Written information was in our original paperwork in May. We didn't get any questions about COVID vaccination until we called the office.
"if we are arriving in Seattle on October 6th what date for the PCR test is acceptable?" We never got the same answer twice from the home office.
Get the test when you get to Seattle (and recommended a lab with a $425 cost)
Get tested at home (different dates)
"Is the whole crew vaccinated?" Mostly a yes answer
" Are all of the passengers vaccinated?" Kind of waving on this question It sounds like a Yes/No answer.

At The Historical Davenport Hotel:
Beautiful place!
While checking in with the cruise line representatives the morning of departure some people did not have PCR tests or had the wrong dates. This should have been done the night before! This held up leaving the hotel for everyone. Also, two representatives treating the problem 2 different ways.

Dining:
Lunch day 1: What do you have for draught beers? Our Waiter did not know what that meant.
The staff was very nice and helpful. Most had just weeks of experience on the ship and 3 days of training. Many had no restaurant experience at all. The managers had more training and some had come from larger cruise lines.
Our biggest complaint is lack of training
We were often later coming to dinner and our dinners would be warm not hot.
Limited wine selection.
Most staff are wearing many hats and doing the best they can.

On Board:
The historical presentations for this Lewis and Clark cruise were really great. Informative and really well done.

Tours:
Some are good. We had a wine tour that never entered the winery. We had a tour that was reversed because another ACL ship was there before us. Therefore, no guide.
We had a guide on the bus for the fort and cape and this was really good

No other guides on the buses.

We cruised New England in August 2022 on the American Star. It was awful. The worst cruise I have ever taken. The ship is old and in need of much maintenance. We had sewage back up in our shower 3 times. We embarked the ship from a different port than advertised. Had we not been on the pre- cruise exercuion we would have missed the ship, because we wre never informed of the embarking port change. We were supposed to embark in Providence Rhode Island but it was New Bedford that we embarked. The ship never made it to 3 of 7 ports advertised. We missed Providence, Nantucket and Block Island. Martha's Vineyard was cut short because we couldn't dock and had to ferry over from New Bedford. The captain kept us in New Bedford 3 nights, because he said the wind gust were too high and the anchor wouldn't hold. However, we were suppose to dock not anchor. The ferries and other boats were sailing, but not the American Star. The excursions mostly consisted of trolley rides around the town. The ship had one weathered elliptical and one weathered stationary bike on the ouside deck for its fitness program. Thevstaff was friendly but they were understaffed, unorganized and untrained. Some staff walked off in the middle of the cruise and new ones came on. I called customer service. I was told to email. I emailed customer service and the president. I stated my dissatisfaction with the cruise. I asked for a statement of why the ship couldn't sail so I could file a claim with my travel insurance. I have ask for a statement a total of 5 times. Two while on the ship 3 in emails after the cruise. A month later, I have not received a statement. I also asked for a partial refund. The president sent a letter say they advertise the American Star as their oldest ship. He was glad I had positive interaction with the staff. He said, he wanted to restore my confidence by offering me 25% discount on another cruise. They had already offered 20% off to everyone, if they booked on the cruise. Their customer service is non- existent. I will not sail with them ever again. I do not recommend thier cruises.

The following is a letter I wrote to American Cruise Lines.

July 17,2021
American Cruise Lines
741 Boston Rd., Suite 200
Gilford, CT *******-2743
Mr. Charles Robertson, CEO
My wife and I have been on many cruises, none in the United States. We went on our first United States cruise with American Cruise Lines, Grand New England cruise 11 day, 10 nights cruise. We wanted to let you know of our experiences on that cruise that took place from June 24 to July 4. We already submitted our comments in the Guest Experience Questionnaire. But, knew they would be filtered before you saw them, if ever.
After boarding, we went to our cabin, number 415 and found the carpet wet and a layer of liquid on the floor of the bathroom. We assumed that this was caused by the cleaning people.
After two days, the carpet was still wet, but more like a sponge and the bathroom was wet. At this time we noticed the stench, it was not water but sewage. We called the Hotel Manager. He said, he would look into a solution. The following day we were moved from cabin 415 to 220.
The following describes our dining experience:
Food was in short supply: Dinner appetizers, Breakfast orange juice, Breakfast out of adult cereal, Dinner out of Chardonnay wine, Breakfast out of fruit, yogurt and bagels, Dinner desert pie portions were large but, after a while they became smaller and smaller, ours were very small, Breakfast only one slice of toast per serving.
Food offerings for lunch and dinner was not what you would find on a European cruise that cost the same as our cruise with American Cruise Lines
The following describes our experiences on the ship:
The ship was completely under staffed. The Hotel Manager was not on the ship when it sailed but, arrived the next day. Being over worked, some of the staff left the ship. As you would expect, somethings didn't function on the ship, such as, the WiFi didn't work most of the time, the telephone was out for two days. We needed a refrigerator for medical supplies. A small one was found but, did not work.
We met two staff people that went beyond their responsibilities to their jobs. The first was the Hotel Manager who we got to know well because of the sewage in our cabin and his efforts to find a place for us. The second was a cabin attendant named Brandy who made up our cabin even though it was not her responsibility.
Since our first cabin 415 was a category AAM and cabin 220 is category AAL there is a difference of over $1000 per person for the cruise. ACL should refund $2,000 plus $500 for the inconvenience of being in a cabin with sewage.
Paul