Worst ever for me! Been on 40+ and this was horrible for me! Sorry I went on "No-Pride"!
by Mehl
I need to make clear that this is based on my personal experience from sailing on the American Pride, American Cruise Lines, July 2022, cabin/suite 401. Your experience might be different than mine.
I wish I was able to find another honest review such as this, prior to wasting my money and time on this cruise. Again, this is just my own, honest opinion based of my experience on board this ship.
I rented your most expensive cabin on the boat. The PENTHOUSE. I paid $17,350 to American Cruise Lines for this. What I received was a cabin slightly larger than the standard cabin with a mini-refrigerator, which I had to re-stock myself! I paid a luxury price for nothing more than a Days Inn accommodation! My opinion it that I was taken advantage of in everything that I received!
You should know that I’m am extremely experienced cruiser with haven taken over fifty cruises in my lifetime. What I have experienced with American Cruise Lines is beyond anything I have ever experienced with any cruise line in my fifty plus years of cruising on any line.
I’ll attempt to relate just some of my experiences with you as I know it’s important for you to hear what
I paid for and I had to deal with.
My cabin was the infested with insects. The cabin bed, bathroom and order areas of my SUITE. These bugs bit and we received many bites daily. I have several photos and videos of these insects in my bed and bathroom.
There is no amount of money you could charge me to sleep with disgusting bugs! I paid full price for a
River Cruise. What I received was a daily NIGHTMARE!
The key to my cabin did not work for several days and had to be replaced by the crew not fewer than six times over three days! I’m told this is because I carry a cell phone. Really? Finally the Engineer provided me with a conventional key and this resolved the issue but until this happened, I had to locate a member of the crew to provide me with access to the Suite (#401) that I paid $17,350 for!
Included with the Suite is a mini refrigerator. I had to restock it myself with bottled water and juice daily. Your crew did not do this, even after I asked! Should I even have to ask?
There is a button on the phone in the suite that says, “Room Service”. If you press that button, you get a message that says, “You have reached the ships office. Please leave a message. Then the announcement states, “The mail box is full” No service at $17,350!
On my preference sheet, I indicated that this cruise was a special occasion, 40th anniversary. The least that your staff could have done was send a basket of fruit or fresh flower to our Suite. Nothing at all was done! Really? Is this what you would expect? I paid $17,350 for this? Was this too much to expect?
Did you know that there was no fresh fruit, of any kind, on board this boat? No fresh flowers anywhere to be found. In fact, the dining room tables have tacky plastic orchards on them. Really? I paid American Cruise Lines $17,350 and this is what I received!
One evening, another couple at our dining table asked for a bottle of champagne to celebrate their special occasion. The waitress brought a bottle, and delivered only five champagne flutes and stated that she did not have enough flutes for the entire table and asked permission to serve the remaining guests with different wine glasses. Really? I paid $17,350 for this?
I asked for sparkling water with dinner. I was told that there was none available.
At lunch, I ordered the featured beer of the day. I was told that there was none. None was ever ordered by the person in charge of supply.
I ordered fresh fruit. I was told there was none on board but they will try to get some for me at the next port. Did they? They did not!
The first day on board, I ordered a Greyhound cocktail. It is made with vodka and grapefruit juice.
When I tried to order a second cocktail, the dining room manager, politely told me that there was no grapefruit juice on board and she used the only grapefruit that she had to make the drink for me.
She apologized and told me she will make sure that juice will be replenished at the next port.
From the first day of the cruise, to the last, there was no grapefruit juice or no grapefruits. I paid $17,350!
There was no fresh juice of any kind. There was no espresso, latte, cappuccino. I paid $17,350!
At times there was no milk in the morning for coffee or cereal! Really!
At the “Grab and Go” buffet, there were no paper napkins so the paper towels from the bathroom was substituted. I paid $17,350!
On two separate occasions I was told that there was no vodka or gin!
There was never any mustard or ketchup or salsa available. There was only one pepper-mill on board and my waitress had to spend ten minutes a night searching for it. I finally felt bad for her and asked her to stop her searching.
The kitchen ran out of Dr Pepper, root beer, 7-Up, capers, onions, tomatoes and list goes on and on!
I was told if I wanted a hamburger, I had to order it a day in advance! Wow!
On two separate occasions, the bar ran out of both vodka and gin! I paid $17,350!
The Chef was seen literally running to the supermarket in every port to hand carry supplies back to the ship. Do you think any other cruise line operates this way and remains in business?
The bartender at the happy hour, did not know how to make any drinks, other than beer, wine or rum and coke! A Margarita was made with tequila and orange juice! Really? I paid $17,350 for this!
The hot hors d’oeuvers served at nightly cocktail hour partly frozen when served, was inedible, frozen, cheapest quality food available. So bad, that most guests did not eat it. I paid $17,350! I could have done better eating frozen food from any supermarket.
Upon disembarkation, I wanted to catch a 9 AM flight. I was told that all passengers will be able to disembark at 7:45 AM. The reality is, the boat docks at the final port the night before passengers disembark and I easily could have left the boat prior to 7:45 AM in order to catch a 9 AM flight.
Communication and service at every level is non-existent!
The dining room staff are anxious to please the guests but they don’t have the tools or supplies or training to do so. Early on, I did speak with the Hotel Manager. While he was apologetic, my conversation did not provide any results. He seemed overwhelmed and lost in his lack of ability and authority to make any improvements.
I won’t mention the “entertainment” and I’m sure you already know it’s worst than sub-par.
You get what you pay for but me! Really! I paid $17,350! I should have been back on Regent at this price!
I prepaid for airfare and then decided to purchase it myself as your office informed me that there is absolutely no advantage of having them book it on my behalf. I canceled the airfare with American Cruise Lines and requested a refund at that time; approximately four weeks prior to the cruise.
It is now five weeks later and your office informed me that I have to wait an additional four to six weeks for my refund. They claim they never refund any money before the completion of the cruise in case there are any additional charges that they wish to process. Since I prepaid everything and there was absolutely no additional money due, I fail to realize why it should take any additional time for a refund of airfare that was prepaid and canceled. As it happens, I saved over $500 by booking it independently. I requested a refund of this prepaid airfare four weeks prior to the cruise.
I called your office after the cruise and I was told that they will basically hold my airfare money hostage for an additional four to six weeks. Becky, the customer service manager told me that there is nothing she can do about that! Wow!
My experience with American Cruise Lines has been horrific! My experience was so bad, it can almost be made into a movie. I’m told that the cheapest Cruise, which I never personally experienced, is much better than this fiasco.
If anyone asks me for advise based on my experience, I’d have simply say that if I was offered a FREE CRUISE on American Cruise Lines, I would not sail with them again under any circumstances!