I’ve been doing some research on different cruising options for those who are not comfortable travelling out of the country. I have found two cruise companies that are based here in the US that do river cruises within the country.
One is the is American cruise lines and the other is the American Queen steamboat company.
They both look really interesting with some very interesting itineraries.
Before we get started, please remember that river cruises are very different from the big ocean going cruise ships we see plastered all over TV and the internet. Here is a quick list of the major differences:
- River cruise ships are much smaller, averaging about 200 passengers.
- Most river cruises have one dining room where you eat all your meals.
- Most river cruises include an excursion in each port of call.
- River cruises are more expensive in general.
- The cabins on river cruises are usually smaller.
Here are my thoughts on the similarities and differences between them:
American Cruise Lines
American cruise lines is based out of Connecticut and they do both river cruises and coastal cruises.
They do cruises on the Mississippi, the Ohio the Columbia rivers, anywhere from five to 15 days. They also do cruises along the coast not just on the rivers. As an example, The Grand New England cruise is 11 days and 10 nights, you board the ship in Boston, MA and then hug the coast up to to Maine hitting nine ports and ending up back in Boston.
They’re very different cruise experiences from what most of us are used to like doing Alaskan cruises or Caribbean cruises on these big mega ships with 2,000 4,000 or 6,000 people. Their ships are less than 200 passengers per cruise.
Obviously they got to be fairly small if they’re going to fit on these rivers you know, I mean not that the Mississippi is small but compared to the Atlantic Ocean, now you get why they have to be pretty small. It’s a very different experience from everything I’ve read then than what we’re used to.
What’s included with the fare is also a little bit different. You get free Wi Fi, there’s snacks, there’s coffee, water, juice all that’s included ,they have cocktail receptions a couple of nights while they’re out which is included. The costs are very differently structured than then what we see from the other cruise lines. The costs of these cruises that they’re they look like they average somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000 a person so this is not for the the low budget traveler.
American Queen Voyages
The American Queen Voyages has four ships they run only river cruises on the Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee Columbia and Snake River. Their ships are a little bit larger than American cruise lines. They average about 250 people per cruise. This is this one’s definitely more enticing to me. Most of their packages come with one night in a hotel prior to embarking the ship so the night before which is pretty cool.
I mean, most people that I know of unless you happen to live right by the port. They tend to fly down the night before stay in hotel and then you know grab a van or or Uber or whatever to ship the next morning that way they if their flights delayed or whatever you know it’s better to incur the cost of a hotel than the you know to miss ships movement so having the cruise line include that cost as part of your fare I think is a great idea.
American Queen you also get hop on/hop off excursions included in each each of the ports, free Wi Fi and non premium beer and non premium wine included with your dinner. So for those of us who you know like to have a couple of drinks with dinner, there are some options.
The American Queen Voyages costs seem to hover in the $2,500 to $4,000 per person range so again just like the American cruise lines, very different cost structure than what you’re going to get on a Royal Caribbean or a an NCL cruise.
There are suites available and and lots of other options if you really want to part with that much money but the flip side these are US based companies and you know it’d be pretty cool to to take a cruise down the Mississippi River.
The advantage of these smaller vessels is they can get right up close and personal to the ports right to you know to New Orleans to Natchez Mississippi to Memphis you know they don’t have to dock miles away.
Alright, have a great night people. Bye
