The Mississippi - With Free Shore Excursions

Regular readers will know we featured a wonderful Mississippi River cruise earlier this year, sailing on the brand new Queen of the Mississippi of American Cruise Lines (it was featured in our Spring edition and extensively here on Time Spent At Sea in one of our signature day-by-day blogs).

Well, American Cruise Lines have just announced a great incentive to cruise the mighty Mississippi with them in 2014 - free shore excursions. Reserve a stateroom for ANY of their voyages on Ol' Man River next year by December 25, and cruisers will receive at least one free excursion for each port of call.

ACL's Mississippi cruises for 2014 include seven different itineraries, New Orleans to Memphis; St Louis to St Paul; Memphis to St Louis; Nashville to St Louis; St Louis to Cincinnati; Memphis to Nashville; and New Orleans round-trip.

The free excursions include some of the following:

Adubon Museum: Discover the life of John James Audubon during a guided tour of the Audubon Museum featuring his artwork and personal memorabilia framed within a timeline of world events.

Natchez City Tour: On a guided tour of Natchez, enjoy the influences and traditions of Native American, European, Southern, and African American cultures throughout the Natchez historic district.

Mark Twain Home Tour: Visit Mark Twain's boyhood home and museum, followed by a narrated trolley tour of Hannibal showcasing many of the locations that inspired his remarkable works. 

More info: call (in the US) 1800 460 4518 or visit www,americancruiselines.com.

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Avalon's New World Options

Following the success of its European river cruise programme in the UK market, Avalon Waterways has launched a range of worldwide river and ocean itineraries to include the Mississippi, the Nile and the Galapagos. Offering the same high standards of service, cuisine and luxurious onboard facilities as the European cruises, the new cruises will be bookable from the UK and packaged with return flights, a private home pick-up service and overseas airport transfers. 

The newly featured Mississippi cruises, the 13-day ‘Music City to the Big Easy’ (from £3,699pp) and 12-day ‘Mississippi in the Fall’ (from £3,429pp) are available on the American Queen, a classic style paddle-wheel steamboat capturing the essence of the 19^th century and offering a luxurious and stylish experience. With traditional plush décor, the ship offers spacious outside staterooms, modern facilities, a choice of dining options, regular showboat style entertainment in the Grand Saloon and inclusive shore excursions. The ‘Music City to the Big Easy’ itinerary includes 2 nights in Nashville and 1 night in Memphis with guided sightseeing before cruising the Mississippi with visits to Helena, Vicksburg, Natchez, St Francisville, Baton Rouge, Housmas House and New Orleans. 

Launching a range of three different itineraries on the Nile with departures available from January to December, Avalon now features the 5-star MS Mayfair, one of the newest vessels on the river. The ship offers a range of facilities including pool and jacuzzi, spa with steam & sauna, fitness centre, mezzanine lounge and nightclub. The itineraries include the 9-day ‘Highlights of Egypt’ (from £2,519pp); the 12-day ‘Pyramids, Lake Nasser & Nile Highlights’ featuring a four-night Lake Nasser cruise on MS Kasr Ibrim (from £3,529 pp) and 13-day ‘Egypt & the Nile in Depth’ with optional Lake Nasser cruise extension (from £3,053pp). All itineraries are combined with overnight stays in Cairo with guided city sightseeing. 

To meet demand for cruising in the Galapagos Islands, two new itineraries have been launched to sail aboard the Santa Cruz ship featured with first class facilities and 43 staterooms. The itineraries include the 11-day ‘Ecuador & the Galapagos’ (£3,965pp) with 2 nights in Quito, 2 nights on the Baltra Island as well as 4 nights cruising the Galapagos National Park before returning for an overnight stay in Quito. Also on sale is the 16-day ‘Discover the Galapagos & Peru’ (from £5,249pp), including visits to Lima, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Cusco, Quito, and 4 nights cruising Galapagos National Park. Both itineraries can be extended with a three-night Amazon stay.

For bookings, follow this link to the Cruise Line Ltd, the UK's luxury river-cruising specialists.

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Mississippi Cruise - Epilogue

Concluding our recent - and hugely enjoyably - cruise along the Mississippi with American Cruise Lines on their new Queen of the Mississippi riverboat...

Now we're home again, it's good to look back on the 7-day trip and pick out some of our highlights from the journey, which is certainly an extremely different experience from anything else we've done cruise-wise.

Sailing down the sluggish river to the cheerful sound of the calliope is definitely one of those unique moments, while the sheer camaraderie and conviviality of the whole voyage really stands out.

The slow-paced nature of the journey was highlighted by a series of low-key, if quite charming, ports of call. Alton, Cape Girardeau and Paducah were all well worth a day's visit, but Columbus and New Madrid could easily have been combined, or missed out altogether, as they were barely a two-hour diversion.

On board, the new Queen of the Mississippi is absolutely charming, a modern reinterpretation on the classic river steamers of the past. Cabin space is excellent and the public rooms all a joy to spend time if, if lacking in the one large entertainment Saloon that boats of the past boasted.

The food was unfailingly excellent; a tad below five star but always appetising and well-presented and features like the soups and sandwiches were real stand-outs. The offering of half-portions at both lunch and dinner was also appreciated, as it's easy to over-eat in these slow, sedentary situations. The small on-deck exercise area did provide a bit of relief in this aspect, though!

The provision of free tea, coffee and snack stations in the public rooms was very notable and another highly pleasant feature. Certainly no-one went hungry and the ability to get a good-quality espresso or latte whenever required was much appreciated in these days of some cruise lines charging for small-scale incidentals (as was the free wi-fi throughout the vessel).

Service was unfailingly friendly and efficient, if lacking in a little polish with their lunch and dinner service. The young American staff are all bright and personable, but a little schooling on the proper way to serve formal meals (and not taking away unfinished plates!) would be a good idea.

The voyage was certainly a journey through small-time America, showcased at either end by the cities of St Louis and Memphis, and benefitting hugely from finishing in the Tennessee music setting. The shore excursions were all well thought out and well priced (from just $15-$65) and the provision of free shuttles at many points was definitely welcome.

And the presence of the onboard 'Riverlorian' was a master-stroke in terms of providing the necessary educational and informational content of the cruise, making the journey one of gentle learning and discovery in truly delightful surroundings.

Having never sailed with American Cruise Lines before, it was an absolute pleasure being in their company and, with so many other voyages around the country on offer - notably to Alaska and along the Snake and Columbia Rivers in the north-west - there is certainly much more to explore in future.

And I think we may well do that...

Simon Veness

 

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Along The Mississippi - Part 8

Concluding our magical journey along the Mississippi on the new Queen of America of American Cruise Lines. Final stop, Memphis...

It isn't quite our final morning on the river but we are due to sail into our final port of call at 11am today, Memphis, Tennessee, the end of our 414-mile journey from St Louis, which has been so captivating and different almost every mile of the way.

After the usual cheery breakfast in the Dining Salon, Riverlorian Jim provides an outline view of The River City and Memphis itself hoves into sight by 10am on a glorious autumn morning. Sadly, with the river level rather low, we have to moor upstream at Mud Island rather than in the heart of the city itself, so it's not quite walkable distance. But, ACL have laid on buses to take everyone into the downtown area, and we take advantage of the 15-minute ride to get our first view of the home of Elvis and BB King.

Happily, the bus drops everyone off at the main entrance to Beale St, the heart of Memphis' music district, and we are immediately wowed by the sense of history and sheer musical style of the place. Sadly, we don't have time to try any of the cafe's - and the Memphis ribs - but we do spend some time looking through the great music shops and the famous Schwab's general store, as well as a few other stores.

We get several great recommendations for live music and make a promise to return here when we have a LOT more time to spare. Just the sounds coming from the Memphis Music store are enough to whet our musical appetites and this is clearly THE place to be in the evening.

For now, we have an afternoon city tour and trip to Graceland booked, so we need to catch the bus back to the Queen at mid-day. It is our final lunch on board, but a memorable one, with a main choice of Herb Marinated Chicken Caesar Salad or a Grilled Reuben Sandwich, both of which hit the spot for us. Then it's off to Elvisville...

We weren't quite sure what we'd make of the home of one of the world's most iconic musicians. Neither of us have ever been Elvis fans and, apart from knowing something of his story, we were relatively ignorant of his Memphis roots. Which is probably why Graceland (the mansion itself, rather than the rather tacky array of attractions and gift shops around it) was such a compelling visit.

We really did gain a useful perspective on the young musician's life and, while it completely glossed over his later years, it was a compelling, as well as quite haunting, perspective. We had around two hours of the three-hour tour here but we could have done with at least another half-hour to see a bit more. Needless to say, true Elvis fans will probably need all day!

Back aboard, it was time for one last Cocktail Hour with our favourite staff, Elizabeth and Theo, pouring the drinks, and then off to dinner with a table-full of our favourite companions from the week. Tonight's speciality was Surf & Turf, with beef tenderloin and lobster tail, and it again lived up to the fairly high standards we'd come to expect of the Galley (along with another great soup course).

Happily, The Mills Brothers (or the new version, at least) were back for another encore performance in the Magnolia Lounge, and this seemed to provide an extremely fitting conclusion to the week - a touch of nostalgia and touch in fairly gentle fashion.      

Tomorrow morning we just have time for breakfast, then it's off to the airport at 8.30am for the flight home, but we will be taking some great memories with us, and a real thirst to see more of this kind of river-cruising in future.

Next up - Mississippi epilogue. 

 

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Along the Mississippi - Pt 7

Continuing our blissful journey along Old Man River on the new Queen of the Mississippi of American Cruise Lines. Day 6, New Madrid, Missouri...

All was quiet this morning as we awoke to another day on the Mississippi. We should have been underway since 6am, en route to our next destination, but a quick look out of our balcony revealed thick fog on the river. This would delay our departure from our mooring in Columbus, so breakfast took on an even more leisurely air than usual (highlighted by the daily poached egg special, today's being Eggs Benedict), followed by the second part of the Journey Through Time lecture from Riverlorian, Jim.

After the obligatory fresh-baked cookies in the Sky Lounge, there was also a Galley Tour with Chef Eric, which offered a great look at where all our wonderful meals were concocted, and we marvelled at how Eric's team produced so much in such a relatively small space.

Happily, the fog did clear soon enough for us to head back down-river again and, before long, we were in sight of New Madrid, tucked up behind a high levee. Once again, this is not a big town (although its 1,500 population handily out-numbers the 160 back at Columbus!).

It does boast a charming riverfront walk and this afternoon's tour is strictly a walking one with a local guide, hence the small-scale nature of the place is fairly evident.

After another excellent lunch (highlights being a gorgeous Harvest Pumpkin Soup - the latest in a long line of spectacular soups served up by the galley - a Cobb Salad and a Warm Stuffed Apple for dessert) it was time to gather for our shore excursion. 

There was a small bus for those who really couldn't make the walk but the majority did opt for the (gentle) stroll along the levee and into town, taking in the handful of historic pointers along the way, which included the 19th century Hart-Stepp House (now an art gallery) and a Boardwalk overlook of the river that showed various flood levels over the years (happily, none higher than the levee).

A stop at the small Historical Museum provided the necessary history overview of the town, once again with some major Civil War connotations, while a visit to the Higgerson School (below) featured an enchanting talk from a descendant of the school's founders, a lady who had been both student and teacher in this building (which was built in the Higgerson community in 1930 and moved to New Madrid in 1998 after the community died out). A visit to the Visitor Center and gift shop, and some shopping at the art gallery concluded a laid-back visit in glorious sunshine.

With such a low-key afternoon, there was still time to enjoy afternoon tea in the Sky Lounge and a stroll on deck, listening to the enchanting sound of the ship's Calliope.

Once again, Cocktail Hour at 5.30pm led nicely to the evening's main meal, with Chicken Bordelaise, Potato Encrusted Striped Bass and Chicken & Shrimp Jambalaya all on the menu. The Bourbon Pecan Pie was every bit as good as it sounds and, not for the first time, to waddled off to the Magnolia Lounge for the evening entertainment.

There was a real sense of anticipation about the highlight here, too, as this was billed as the first of two successive appearances by The Mills Brothers. Now, this may seem a trifle odd for those old enough to remember the Brothers in their pomp (basically 1928-82) but this jazz/pop/vocal quartet from yesteryear have been revived by John Mills III (son of Donald Mills, one of the original quartet) and Elmer Hopper of The Platters.

With a three-piece backing band from Huntsville Alabama, led by pianist extraordinaire Peter Harrison, the 'new' Mills Brothers proceeded to thrill the audience with a series of classic hits from their full repertoire, including 'You're nobody til somebody loves you, 'Yellow Bird,' 'Paper Doll,' 'Lazy River' and a version of the Platters' 'Only You.'

It was fascinating to hear such genuine 'goldie oldie' classics given a modern revival and, with the benefit of the band doing their best Count Basie impression, it proved to be a thoroughly engaging evening. John Mills' own song, 'Still...There's You', was an absolute show-stopper and a fitting climax to another great day on the Mississippi. 

Proof positive that a trip along the 'Lazy River' with American Cruise Lines really can be both surprising and enchanting.

Next up - the big finale, Memphis

 

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Tauck Announces New Mississippi River Cruise

Luxury travel-tour operator Tauck and award-winning film-maker Ken Burns have crafted a new 11-day cultural exploration of the Mississippi River that will launch early next year as part of the company’s “Ken Burns American Journeys” collection. 

The new “Life on the Mississippi” itinerary begins with an overnight stay in Memphis, followed by a 7-night River cruise aboard the newly re-launched American Queen paddlewheel steamboat, and it concludes with a two-night stay in New Orleans. Along the way, guests will be treated to a number of unique cultural experiences and a diverse array of Tauck-exclusive shore excursions.

Tauck will offer both northbound and southbound versions of the itinerary, with the 7-night cruise book-ended by an overnight stay at the famed Peabody in Memphis and two nights at The Roosevelt in New Orleans. Both city stays will be highlighted by Tauck-guided sightseeing, and all of the shore excursions enjoyed by guests during the cruise will be exclusive to Tauck (and, like the city stays, included in the price).

While in Memphis and New Orleans, and during shore excursions throughout the cruise, guests will enjoy an array of unique experiences. In Memphis, they will enjoy a private lecture on the city’s history and culture from a local historian. In Helena, Arkansas, guests will be immersed in local music during a private performance by the Greater First Baptist Church Choir, and during a blues performance at a honky-tonk roadhouse. In Natchez, travellers will enjoy a fascinating progressive lunch at three unique homes, and they will also tour the city’s historic Zion Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church and its African American History Museum.

Tauck’s “Life on the Mississippi” is priced from $4,790 per person, double occupancy, plus flights. Included are all shore excursions and sightseeing, lectures by local experts, entertainment, complimentary wine and beer with onboard dinners, airport transfers, gratuities for ship and hotel staff, most meals, and much more. Tauck will operate departures of the new itinerary from February through June, and in November and December, with special Christmas and New Years departures as well.  

For bookings in the UK, be sure to check with the river-cruise specialists of The Cruise Line Ltd on this link or call on 0800 008 6677.

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Queen of the Mississippi, Part One

We’re sailing the Mississippi aboard the brand new Queen of the Mississippi of American Cruise Lines. Follow along with us as we go from St Louis to Memphis…

It’s embarkation day on Queen of the Mississippi and it is immediately clear this is unlike any cruise we have done before. Our taxi drops us dockside along this recreated stern-wheel paddle-steamer and there is no photographer or welcoming committee. In fact, there is no embarkation fuss of any kind.

Assistant cruise director Theo walks up the short pathway to greet us and check us off on his clipboard, then we just follow him along the traditional bow gangplank and we’re all aboard. It’s that simple.

He shows us to our cabin on Deck 4 and, in no time at all, we’re settled into our balcony cabin with masses of room for a seven-day voyage. Unlike most river-cruise ships, where cabins tend to be stylish but functional, with only minimal room and a balcony that is usually a token effort, this sports genuine big-ship verandah style, with the cabin itself boasting 300sq ft of space, with a balcony to match.

There is ample closet and drawer space (although a closet door would be nice), a generous-sized bathroom with a huge shower (by most ship standards) and, while it wouldn’t live up to a genuine deluxe rating, there are some classy touches, like the individual Keurig coffee-maker, Judith Jackson Spa bathroom products and free wi-fi.

A quick tour of the ship (and, at just 295ft long over five decks, three of which are mainly accommodation, it IS a quick tour!), reveals some sumptuous public rooms and lounges, the one main dining room and a generous helping of coffee-making facilities, along with free fruit, snacks and soft drinks, throughout the vessel.

This immediately looks like a cosy and comfortable way to travel for at least a week (while we find some on board who have signed up for the full three-week journey from Minneapolis to New Orleans), and the friendliness of the crew is evident everywhere with smiling faces and inquries of “Can I help?”

No, we don’t need any help to start with. This is an extremely promising first impression, and we have seriously high hopes of a memorable seven days travelling in the 19^th century wake of Mark Twain, so you’ll have to excuse us while we unpack and get properly settled, especially as it will soon be time for lunch…! 

 

NB: For bookings in the UK, call 0808 101 2713; in the US, call 1800 460 4518.

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Follow Us On The Mississippi!

It's time for another 'live' cruise with World of Cruising this month as we head out for a unique voyage along the mighty Mississippi on the brand new Queen of the Mississippi of American Cruise Lines.

Our voyage goes from St Louis to Memphis for a look at the heart of America's greatest river, taking in parts of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee. This route is part of the great paddlesteamer era of the 19th century and offers a genuine view of some essential American heritage, from Native American history to the travels of Lewis and Clark and some of the essential Civil War battles.

Along the way, we will discover the likes of America's "most haunted city" (Alton, Illinois), a former French trading post (Cape Girardeau, Missouri), the Chicasaw village site of Paducah (Kentucky), the Civil War port of Columbus (Kentucky), the town that made history as the epicenter of the most powerful earthquake to hit the US (New Madrid, Missouri), the bustling historic town of Tunica (Missouri) and finally the City of Elvis, Memphis itself.

It promises to be a fascinating look at small-town America and the charms of a different age, when Mark Twain travelled the river and the world was a much slower, gentler place.

And we will also be travelling in some style. The Queen of the Mississippi was launched this August and is in her very first season of travels up and down the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. A classic-style stern-wheel paddlesteamer, she is built in retro style but with all mod cons and features, including larger-than-average staterooms, gorgeous lounges and public rooms, and a reputation for fine dining in the best traditions of American Cruise Lines.

It promises to be a fascinating and charming journey, so be sure to check in with us every day as we bring you a daily look at this genuine five-star travel experience.

It all starts on Saturday, November 3, and will last a full week (internet connection permitting!), and we hope to have some great photos to go with the daily blog. The full review, of course, will be in the Spring edition of World of Cruising.

And make sure you keep reading next month as we travel to wonderful Hawaii! 

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