American Splendor Cruise Reviews

We are very experienced travelers and have been on over 30 ocean cruises including voyages on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess, Holland America, Norwegian, Celebrity, Azamara, and others. We were very disappointed with our experience on American Cruise Lines. This was the most expensive cruise per day onboard that we have ever paid and it was the poorest ship experience. I would say that we paid a 5.5-star price and ACL provided a 2-star experience. The facility was in poor condition with stains on many rugs, many light bulbs burned out, unprofessional painting, empty Defibrillator station, etc. (see attached photos). Security on the boat was non-existent, with no reliable way to check who is leaving or entering the boat. There was no system in the dining room. Some of the waiters were terrible and others were fairly good, but not well trained. The kitchen was unreliable. Some days we waited 30 plus minutes for eggs in the morning and we got no fruit or anything while waiting. Some food came totally cold like waffles and French fries. Some meals had long delays such as 2 hour dinners. The trip was advertised to include stops at 12 cities/ towns along the river plus New Orleans when we paid more than $26,000 for the 2 of us. We only stopped in 7 of these 12 and 2 of the 7 stops were far outside of town. The trip, the management and the boat were a total disaster.

The quality of the meals provided ruined what should have been a great experience.

I really enjoyed my relaxing cruise. Staff really catered to all of our needs. Cruise price included daily excursions which were fascinating. I had the chance to visit museums and very interesting plantations and found the tour guides to be excellent. The civil war guide was really a wealth of information. Back on the ship we had relevant lectures and the opportunity to take a fun art class. In the evening we had local entertainers who were very enjoyable. We even had a piano player who gladly played our requests. It was impossible to go hungry on the ship as in addition to three meals there was a daily cocktail hour and snacks available 24/7 in the lounge. In fact in the afternoon we even had homemade cookies. Since the ship was small we got to know other passengers and crew which really made for a special experience. Thank you American Cruise Line for providing such a nice experience.