- Joined
- May 7, 2015
- Messages
- 2,568
- Reaction score
- 2,015
- Location
- Texas
- Resorts Owned
- DVC Boardwalk Villas, Kona Coast II
We just returned yesterday from our ACL cruise on the American Serenade from Red Wing, MN, just south of St. Paul, to Alton, IL, just north of St. Louis, MO. We had a fabulous time! I chose this cruise because, having grown up in New Orleans, I was curious about the Upper Mississippi River - and I found out that it's a very different river up there than the river I know. One big surprise to me is that it's used for recreation - lots of fishing, pleasure boats, even water skiing, and camping and picnicking on the islands in the river. The only commercial vessels are the huge barges carrying corn, soybeans, and other products downstream.
River cruises share many advantages with timeshare vacations, particularly that you only need to unpack once. But they're different in that you aren't in control of the locations you visit or the amount of time you spend there. Nor do you cook your own meals, which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in the sense that you don't have to spend time choosing the menu or preparing the food or cleaning up afterwards, and a curse in the sense that at every meal you're presented with several delicious options, including desserts. And excursions are scheduled so that you don't miss a meal unless you want to. Let's just say that I'm proud to have limited my weight gain to only 4 pounds!
Our cabin was very comfortable. We had a balcony cabin on the 3rd deck, and it was pretty spacious. The king size bed was comfortable, with tables and lamps on both sides, although the bedside tabletop space was a little tight with our travel-size CPAPs and our phone and watch chargers. There was a large, well-lit desk/vanity with shelves and drawers and a chair, plus a separate reading chair. The balcony was furnished with a table and chairs as well. The closet was adequate for a week's worth of hanging clothes for both of us, and there were shelves and a safe in the closet. We also had a six-drawer chest (and used only 3 drawers).
We docked and were offered excursions in La Crosse, WI, Dubuque and Davenport, IA, Hannibal, MO, and Alton, IL. I'll admit that we were somewhat surprised by how much we enjoyed our time in each! As with all tours, we never felt we had enough time in any one place and would consider another visit to explore more.
The other major focus was the system of locks and dams, whose existence surprised me. There are 29 locks and dams from northern Minnesota to St. Louis, most built in the 1930s and designed to maintain a 9-foot deep navigation channel, and we crossed something like 23 or 24 of them. The ship provided a guest speaker who taught us a great deal about this system as well as about the geology and ecology of the Mississippi River itself and our ports of call. She also taught us quite a lot about the barges, which we found very interesting as well. We saw many eagles, pelicans (another surprise to me, to see them that far north), and other birds, but the river itself, with forested banks running right into the water (no levees such as I'm used to in NOLA), was the star of this cruise.
Let me know if you'd like to hear more details!
River cruises share many advantages with timeshare vacations, particularly that you only need to unpack once. But they're different in that you aren't in control of the locations you visit or the amount of time you spend there. Nor do you cook your own meals, which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in the sense that you don't have to spend time choosing the menu or preparing the food or cleaning up afterwards, and a curse in the sense that at every meal you're presented with several delicious options, including desserts. And excursions are scheduled so that you don't miss a meal unless you want to. Let's just say that I'm proud to have limited my weight gain to only 4 pounds!
Our cabin was very comfortable. We had a balcony cabin on the 3rd deck, and it was pretty spacious. The king size bed was comfortable, with tables and lamps on both sides, although the bedside tabletop space was a little tight with our travel-size CPAPs and our phone and watch chargers. There was a large, well-lit desk/vanity with shelves and drawers and a chair, plus a separate reading chair. The balcony was furnished with a table and chairs as well. The closet was adequate for a week's worth of hanging clothes for both of us, and there were shelves and a safe in the closet. We also had a six-drawer chest (and used only 3 drawers).
We docked and were offered excursions in La Crosse, WI, Dubuque and Davenport, IA, Hannibal, MO, and Alton, IL. I'll admit that we were somewhat surprised by how much we enjoyed our time in each! As with all tours, we never felt we had enough time in any one place and would consider another visit to explore more.
The other major focus was the system of locks and dams, whose existence surprised me. There are 29 locks and dams from northern Minnesota to St. Louis, most built in the 1930s and designed to maintain a 9-foot deep navigation channel, and we crossed something like 23 or 24 of them. The ship provided a guest speaker who taught us a great deal about this system as well as about the geology and ecology of the Mississippi River itself and our ports of call. She also taught us quite a lot about the barges, which we found very interesting as well. We saw many eagles, pelicans (another surprise to me, to see them that far north), and other birds, but the river itself, with forested banks running right into the water (no levees such as I'm used to in NOLA), was the star of this cruise.
Let me know if you'd like to hear more details!
