A 2-star experience with a 5.5 star price
American Splendor Cruise Review to River Cruises - United States
14 Night Grand Heartland (St. Paul To New Orleans)
Sail date: October 22, 2022
Ship: American Splendor
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
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.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Go on a Viking ship on the Mississippi instead of ACL
Ports of call
St. Paul, Minnesota
DAVENPORT, IOWA
Hannibal, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri