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American Queen Review Detail (very long)
American Queen, November 2003
Boarding was the easiest I have ever experienced. There were no metal detectors or x-ray machines. Proof of citizenship was not needed. There were no lines. The gangplank was less than 100 feet from where the taxi dropped us off. We showed our ticket and picture ID to the one person checking documents, set our luggage in the area with the bags to be bought to the cabins, and walked aboard. We were instructed to go to the purser to check in, but were left on our own to find him. The person who greeted us as we approached the gangplank was a woman in 1860s period costume who must have been over 70 years old. That was an indication of the age group of the fellow passengers. It was the same clientele as HAL only more ambulatory. The welcome aboard buffet was a disappointment, which was a harbinger of things to come. It consisted mainly of a few low-end buffet style salads, plates of lunchmeat, commercially made bread, and supermarket bakery quality cookies. A staff member made a big deal about cookies on the Delta Queen Line. My single cabin reminded me of tourist class cabins on ocean going ships built in the 1950s. The walls were some sort of off white plastic. The color was probably a good thing. If it had patterned wallpaper like higher quality cabins, it would have closed in on me. The walls were so thin that when the woman in the next cabin talked in a normal conversational volume, I could hear her as easily as if she was standing next to me. I'm a skinny guy, and when I was in the shower, my shoulders almost touched the sides. This was the first cabin I have been in since the early 1990s that did not have a TV and where your door key was metal. The cabin lighting was good. My cabin phone was just an ordinary old slim line model. It appeared to be put together from pieces of several phones, a bezel was missing, and the top and bottom pieces were different colors. There were no special buttons for the different departments, no voice mail, and no system to dial in your own wake up call. You arranged a wake up call by writing your cabin number on the wake up call sheet at the purser's desk. When you get the call, there is a person on the other end. While that is a nice personal touch, it can be prone to inaccuracy. The rest of the ship was very well decorated. Delta Queen does an excellent job of making the boat look like something from the 19th century. There are antiques throughout. There was even an antique silver water cooler (a standard fixture on 19th century steamboats) in the foyer between the Ladies Parlor and Gentlemen's Card Room. The Mark Twain Gallery is furnished with lovely antiques and reproductions. It functions as the boat's library and is a good place to sit and read. Unfortunately, if you want to keep up with the latest news you'll need to buy your own newspapers in port. The AQ kept the same newspapers in the library for three days. On the top deck there was a small workout room that was OK considering the size of the boat. The swimming pool was not much bigger than a hot tub. I'm short and could swim the length in one stroke. Overall, the service in all parts of the boat was good considering the boat operates under American labor law. The staff is hard working and helpful. There was a decent selection on the dinning room menus. The food on the 11:00 PM buffets was limited since few passengers ate at them. That's probably because they didn't stay up that late. The wait staff tried hard and was attentive but was overworked. Service could be slow. The food quality in the dining rooms was good but not great. It was better than Princess (that's not hard). The food selection and quality was similar to a middle quality chain restaurant. It was better than Denny's but not as good as the Chart House. There is one word for the entertainment and activities onboard, DULL. HAL operates party ships compared to Delta Queen. There was no casino or discothèque aboard. The activities consisted of insipid things like kite flying off the fantail and sing alongs. The evening show was always before dinner for the second seating passengers. After dinner, most of the passengers went to bed. Fortunately, there were bars onboard. I don't drink much but on the AQ I felt the need for a bracer against the tedium. The after dinner entertainment consisted of two piano bars. One was in the Main Deck Lounge and included the sing alongs led by an aging pretty boy. The other piano player was a brassy voiced large woman performing in the Engine Room Bar. The main show each evening was filled with hokum and was scripted to appeal to provincial Middle American tastes and attitudes. I disliked most of them and I'm from the Midwest. The show performed the first evening had a patriotic American theme that was more suited for an Independence Day celebration than an entertainment venue. It started out asking the passengers to stand and pledge allegiance to the American flag. They followed by playing the hymns of all of the American armed forces asking those who belonged to the forces to stand when their respective hymns were played. I guess Delta Queen either does not get international passengers or does not care about their sensibilities. The other shows had trite themes like a salute to Broadway. That's not too bad on a line like Princess or Royal Caribbean with young energetic chorus lines. It does not work well on Delta Queen where there are just a six or eight performers who are in their late thirties and older. On their behalf, I will say that their voices were good and they did try hard to put on a good dance show. The jazz musicians were very good. I wish they had performed in one of the bars after dinner. The Riverlorian gave informative lectures and was eager to answer passenger questions. I learned a great deal about the Mississippi River from her. The port lecturer also provided informative details about the ports and was very honest in describing the shore (or is it bank) excursions. He did an excellent job of helping passengers select the proper excursions, if there were any, for their individual tastes. The Emporium (gift shop) had a limited selection. They did not stock the high fashion items and expensive jewelry offered on large cruise ships. But, the selection was tasteful and did not included synthetic loose gemstones, gold by the inch, and other flea market schlock found on mass-market lines. There were items offered for sale and optional extra cost services as there are on all lines. But, thankfully, Delta Queen uses the soft sell approach that was prevalent on cruise ships BC (before Carnival). For the first time in a long while I felt as if I was seen as someone who had paid in full for his vacation. On my last Princess cruise I felt as if the line saw me as someone who has purchased the loss leader and better buy something else. Disembarking was a breeze compared to the mega ships. There was no need to clear Customs or Immigration. We just gave our cruise cards to the person at the gangplank, walked off the boat, and picked up our luggage. The luggage was easy to find since there are only 222 cabins. We then bypassed the lines for the busses, walked the short distance to the taxis, and left for the airport. Overall, I did not care much for the cruise but the person I was traveling with, an elderly relative, enjoyed it a lot. A steamboat cruise was worth experiencing for three days but I would not do it again. -- Change "spamhater.com" to "lycos.com" for replies. I got so much SPAM , I stopped listing a correct address in my settings. |
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