The 75% All New Trip! - All done! Bonus Material finished, Link to new TR!

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

First I walked forward on our Deck (Deck 2) through the Mark Twain Room and past the Men’s and Women’s parlors and out the French doors. I was surprised to find only staircases, a grand one down and one on either side going up. So I decided to go up.



Deck 3 Forward is called the Front Porch. It was windy that day, but I can see the appeal of this area on a nice day.



I’m not sure if you can tell how windy it is from the flag here.



The QS Restaurant here is also called the Front Porch. They were cleaning up breakfast when I arrived, but that was OK, I wasn’t hungry.





And a Soft Serve Machine!



Ice cream cones and toppings!





This is where I found the dinner menus for the main restaurant and the Front Porch restaurant. I guess you can compare and see if there is anything you like on the menu for the evening and if not, you can opt out for the QS. Either that or if you don’t like eating at 8PM, this place wraps up service at 8PM. We prefer late dining, so we never ended up having dinner here.





This hallway goes down the center of the third floor to the elevators. One nice thing that I haven’t mentioned about the boat is that it was small enough that Fran only needed her scooter when we planned to leave the boat. She was able to walk to the dining room, the Grand Saloon, and the Front Porch Café.



I climbed to the fourth floor. The only thig up here besides staterooms is the Chart Room. But first I checked the front of the ship.












The Riverlorian talked about these green markers in the river signaling the flow of traffic and right of way. I was thrilled that I got this one in the picture.




Then went back inside the Chart Room.









And then I headed up to the 5th Deck. You can see the Calliope on the top of the deck.





I looked down on the Paddle Wheel.



Then I went up to the top deck where they have a pool, gym and sun deck.











[Continued in Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

While up on Deck 6 I noticed this little “park”, keep this in mind it is important later.





Here’s one of those barges that the Riverlorian mentioned in his talk.





I headed back down to Deck 4.

While I was on my tour of the ship I took many pictures of various things, the unloading of this barge seemed fascinating to me. A gentleman from the crew was standing near me and explained that they unloaded it from front to back and then when it was pretty much empty, they ran a little Bobcat around inside to get the rest of the material. He guessed that this barge had fertilizer of some sort.







All throughout the boat was artwork depicting Riverboats.



Here’s the Elevators, while I took the stairs on this day, traveling with Fran I used the elevators mostly.



On my way back to our room, I remembered that in the talk that morning, the guide told us that from the Engine Room Bar you could access the Engine room and he suggested that you go down there while the ship was in motion so that you could see things at work.







Here is the paddle wheel from the second floor.



And more barges



I really don’t anything about what was going on down here, other than the hydraulics that caused the wheel to spin. It’s mostly for show, the ship is powered by 20th century technology (it was built in 1995)













When I got back to the room we were approaching our landing point. But I thought I would show you our lived in room.




I’ll wrap up this chapter here and be back as soon as I can!

 

[jedijill]

Catching up!

So glad I got to meet up with your before your Riverboat trip! I've got to get my trip report started soon. I have several visitors at my house this week and a new resident so I've been busy!.

The boat really looks nice. I'm excited to hear more about the trip...a very unique adventure!

Jill in CO

 

[pkondz]

Let’s start off this day with some show and tell. Here is the layout of the boat.

I didn't realize there were that many decks.

Here is the map of where we’re going.

One word... want.

At every stop there was a Hop On/Hop Off Bus

Love those. We used them a lot in Paris.

So now that you have all the information that we had to plan our day, let’s get started!

Okay!

Throughout the cruise debris like this would float by the ship randomly.

Good thing, too. If you see debris moving purposefully, watch out.

After my sunrise photos, I got dressed (no funny ideas there, they let you use a complimentary bath robe while you’re staying),

There goes that train of thought.

Instead of a served breakfast, we opted for the buffet.

I would too.

Under these domes you could find, scrambled eggs, eggs that were scrambled with something extra (varied daily) bacon, sausage, potatoes, biscuits & gravy and oatmeal.

Yum...
Except for the biscuits and gravy.
We don't do that up here and... well... the "gravy" I've seen turned me right off.

At 8:30AM there was a talk by the Riverlorian in the Grand Saloon.

"Riverlorian"?
Interesting term.

This was a fascinating talk about the history of Steamships on the Mississippi.

I'd love to have heard that.

Like in the 1800s before the Civil War, there was so much silt build up in St. Louis that ships were not able to dock there any longer. An Engineer named Robert E Lee, came up with a plan of dumping rocks and dirt at a key location to create a berm which would the route the water in a particular direction. It ended up changing the current, washing away all the silt deposits in St. Louis and the port reopened. I thought of some engineers out there who might have enjoyed this part of the discussion.

I'm not an engineer, but I do find it interesting.

We also learned that we are on a boat, not a ship.

What??

If the boat can be placed on a larger vessel, the larger vessel is the ship and the smaller is a boat.

Wait... so what's the ship that the American Queen sits on?

He told us about right of way on the river. Boats going down stream have the right of way and when they pass barges or other vessels on the river

Didn't know that either.

Another thing that they also talked about was the river level. It varies all the time, Spring is heavier than Fall.

Makes sense. Winter melt.

Deck 3 Forward is called the Front Porch. It was windy that day, but I can see the appeal of this area on a nice day.

I’m not sure if you can tell how windy it is from the flag here.

Now that you pointed it out.
Also the waves.

Ice cream cones and toppings!

Yep!

One nice thing that I haven’t mentioned about the boat is that it was small enough that Fran only needed her scooter when we planned to leave the boat. She was able to walk to the dining room, the Grand Saloon, and the Front Porch Café.

She must've liked that.

Love the bell.

You can see the Calliope on the top of the deck.

I didn't picture it like that at all.

Small (of course). Did anyone ever use it?

While up on Deck 6 I noticed this little “park”, keep this in mind it is important later.

okey dokey.

Here’s one of those barges that the Riverlorian mentioned in his talk.

Bigger than I thought it would be.

they unloaded it from front to back and then when it was pretty much empty, they ran a little Bobcat around inside to get the rest of the material.

huh.

On my way back to our room, I remembered that in the talk that morning, the guide told us that from the Engine Room Bar you could access the Engine room and he suggested that you go down there while the ship was in motion so that you could see things at work.

No way! Cool!

"Why are you pointing that camera at me?"

I’ll wrap up this chapter here and be back as soon as I can!

Can't wait!

 

[franandaj]

Cool! But I suppose that makes sense.

There will be slightly more on that in a later chapter.

Actually, whenever I'm at a hotel and the stupid card stops working,
I usually say (out loud) "I miss keys."

At this point the only thing that I use keys for is to start the car and open the door to the cat food room. Everything else is keyless entry or remote. I was a little thrown off by the whole key thing.

Playing period appropriate music, I hope?

Well there was one night they had Dixieland Music playing in the Captain's Lounge (outside the main dining room). Other than that they played 30's-50's Jazz, and in the Engine Room Bar they guy was playing piano, and he was playing stuff like Copacabana, Fleetwood Mac from their album Rumours, and other songs from the mid 70s.

Oh? Because of contamination?

No something to do with the Safety at Sea act requiring all vessels to have a non wooden frame. I think for fire safety. For years Congress made a special dispensation for her to run but in 2008 that stopped. Something was pushed through Congress in 2013 and in 2015 she went into refurbishment. It has something to do with not allowing more than 50 passengers per night stay on board. Hopefully when she is refurbished they will grant another dispensation to run on the Mississippi.

Calories don't count on vacation.

Only if you walk enough to counteract them!

You actually did the math!

Well of course I did! I'm a math geek!

I really love your trip reports and this was no exception. Your pictures are always wonderful, give so much insight and your writing is honest and fun.

Thank you for letting us come along on the journey.

Thank you very much! There's plenty more to go on the bonus material!

Catching up!

So glad I got to meet up with your before your Riverboat trip! I've got to get my trip report started soon. I have several visitors at my house this week and a new resident so I've been busy!.

The boat really looks nice. I'm excited to hear more about the trip...a very unique adventure!

Jill in CO

We had a great time that day even though it rained! I can't wait to read your TR! Definitely more unique stuff coming up, not so adventuresome, but educational.

 

[pkondz]

At this point the only thing that I use keys for is to start the car

Not for much longer...

Well there was one night they had Dixieland Music playing in the Captain's Lounge (outside the main dining room). Other than that they played 30's-50's Jazz,

I'm okay with all of that.

and in the Engine Room Bar they guy was playing piano, and he was playing stuff like Copacabana, Fleetwood Mac from their album Rumours, and other songs from the mid 70s.

And I'm not okay with that.
Talk about ruining the mood.

No something to do with the Safety at Sea act requiring all vessels to have a non wooden frame. I think for fire safety.

Ah.

Well of course I did! I'm a math geek!

I should never have doubted you'd do it.

 

[dizneeat]

Thanks for the tour of the ship and the map at the beginning. Looks different to the cruise ships we have been on. Living close to a big river here in Europe we are used to seeing ships and barges, but it never really came to mind so much than now when I was reading about it in your report.

Love all the photos (guess I said that before) and especially the one of your "lived in" room.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

The set up for the boat is really fun! Thank you for the tour. That's great Fran was able to get around without her scooter!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Great update. I love the idea of hop on hop off tours they work so well. Lots of useful talks on the navigator. The cocktail of the day is not a bad cost at $6.75 I felt.

Good shore excursions I noticed there was 'premium' ones. Are the standard included?

Greenville looks an interesting place. 3rd one named so in the county wow. The seats in your talk look very nice! I notice a lady can't resist playing with her phone.

Thank you for the info on downstream right of way and that you were mostly able to use the middle. Great photo of the green makers!

I like how wide the hallways are. One photo has a staff member with a cart and plenty of room to pass. On The Dream in my wheelchair or scooter if I see a cart forget it! No way I am passing. One time in my wheelchair the CM insisted I had room. I removed quite a chunk of skin from my knuckles.

Soft serve machine. Nice dinning options. Something for everyone. I made the mistake on NCL Pride of America calling it a boat to the Captain and he was really offended! It is a ship madam! Then gave me the distinction...

Look forward to hearing more. Interesting about the cargo that the barges transport. Similar to our old canal system. It is used for lesiure only now. But that is the kind of cargo they transported.

Oh my isn't the river long from your map! So many states also. Interesting to know the distance you cover. Also the speed the 'boat' makes. Although one never did understand knots!

 

[ljcrochet]

the river boat cruise looks amazing!

 

[rentayenta]

Catching up too.

LOVE the porch swing. How fun! The ship is really quite lovely.

Happy you got to experience a sunrise.

Really enjoyed the photo tour. As much as I adore Disney, I am enjoying reading about something new.

 

[afwdwfan]

Because of our placement on the boat, I didn’t think we were going to be seeing any sunrises, however, I didn’t take into account how the river meanders and the boat is turned in many which ways at any given time. So I lucked out with catching the sunrise, just as it crested over the trees.

Cool! I'm glad it worked out. You got some good pictures!

We headed down to breakfast around 7:30AM, and we were seated with a nice couple from Houston Texas. What was neat about this voyage was that they sat you with other folks at breakfast and lunch and you got to meet a bunch of different people on the trip.

That's a nice change of pace.

This was a fascinating talk about the history of Steamships on the Mississippi.

I think that would be really fascinating to hear.

What you will find is grain, coal, seed, gravel, things that require processing. And many of the plants that process the cargo can be found along the banks of the Mississippi.

Even 100 miles from the nearest tributary (the Ohio), we are affected by the river having too much water, not enough water, barge availability or lack thereof. Even today the Mississippi River is a hugely vital key to the ag economy.

We also learned that we are on a boat, not a ship. If the boat can be placed on a larger vessel, the larger vessel is the ship and the smaller is a boat.

Hmmm... interesting. So did they have any information on the larger vessel that this one can be placed on?

He told us about right of way on the river. Boats going down stream have the right of way and when they pass barges or other vessels on the river, the downstream boat will signal to the barge captain on which side he intends to pass. Because we didn’t encounter a whole lot of river traffic until we neared the end of our journey, the boat was mainly able to ride right down the middle of the river most of the time.

I thought it was he who has the biggest rudder has the right of way.

And a Soft Serve Machine!

That's all you need right there!

This is where I found the dinner menus for the main restaurant and the Front Porch restaurant. I guess you can compare and see if there is anything you like on the menu for the evening and if not, you can opt out for the QS. Either that or if you don’t like eating at 8PM, this place wraps up service at 8PM. We prefer late dining, so we never ended up having dinner here.

Ok, so for this river cruise, is food handled the same way as a Disney cruise would be? Is it part of the cost of the package no matter where you eat? All meals provided or just dinner and breakfast?

Not that a river cruise is on the immediate horizon for us, but it definitely looks like something I'd enjoy sometime and I'm kind of curious now.

While I was on my tour of the ship I took many pictures of various things, the unloading of this barge seemed fascinating to me. A gentleman from the crew was standing near me and explained that they unloaded it from front to back and then when it was pretty much empty, they ran a little Bobcat around inside to get the rest of the material. He guessed that this barge had fertilizer of some sort.

It is fascinating to watch. I've seen more of them loaded than unloaded though. I'm kind of surprised that they'd completely empty It from front to back though. I know of a corn barge that took on water recently because somebody screwed up and loaded it unevenly and they ended up with one end under water and the other end out of the water.

On my way back to our room, I remembered that in the talk that morning, the guide told us that from the Engine Room Bar you could access the Engine room and he suggested that you go down there while the ship was in motion so that you could see things at work.

Cool!

I really don’t anything about what was going on down here, other than the hydraulics that caused the wheel to spin. It’s mostly for show, the ship is powered by 20th century technology (it was built in 1995)

What? 1995? I assumed this was an older boat that was refurbished and repurposed. Either way, it is an interesting boat.

 

[Leshaface]

This is so cool and such a neat way to see different places (and States!) without having to drive!

And love that they give some history on the places you're stopping at.

I got dressed (no funny ideas there, they let you use a complimentary bath robe while you’re staying)

What was neat about this voyage was that they sat you with other folks at breakfast and lunch and you got to meet a bunch of different people on the trip. If you wanted to sit alone they did have tables for two on the side of the room.

This is something I would definitely like as well.

I am QUITE disappointed with your plates. Totally unlike you guys.

We also learned that we are on a boat, not a ship. If the boat can be placed on a larger vessel, the larger vessel is the ship and the smaller is a boat.

Ah that makes sense!

Oh man, i'd be here all day if I could with a book or my computer!

This hallway goes down the center of the third floor to the elevators. One nice thing that I haven’t mentioned about the boat is that it was small enough that Fran only needed her scooter when we planned to leave the boat. She was able to walk to the dining room, the Grand Saloon, and the Front Porch Café.

That is perfect!

Also, not sure if you mentioned this or not, but did you find this was more geared to mid age, older groups? Any kids?

 

[dhorner233]

Yay!!! finally caught up again!! Love your pictures, as usual! It's a beautiful boat. Steam boat? What's the difference between a ship and a boat? Did I miss that? Mark Twain would be impressed I'm sure!

How many passengers? Was it a full cruise? One fancy restaurant, one casual?

Thanks for taking us along!

 

[franandaj]

I didn't realize there were that many decks.

Yup! There were six all together. The American Empress only has four decks. That one goes out by @Steppesister's way.

One word... want.

They were even selling tickets for a trip all the way from Minneapolis/St. Paul all the way down to New Orleans. 23 nights.

Love those. We used them a lot in Paris.

What was even nicer about these was that they were scooter friendly too!

Good thing, too. If you see debris moving purposefully, watch out.

Good point.

There goes that train of thought.

See, I had to nip that one in the bud.

Yum...
Except for the biscuits and gravy.
We don't do that up here and... well... the "gravy" I've seen turned me right off.

Yeah, but you put gravy on french fries. It's kinda similar in a roundabout way.

"Riverlorian"?
Interesting term.

I think they made it up.

I'd love to have heard that.

It was great. I would have loved to hear his other talks, but we were always somewhere else off the boat.

I'm not an engineer, but I do find it interesting.

There was much more interesting stuff, but I just can't remember it all, however the next day, I get a little more into it.

Wait... so what's the ship that the American Queen sits on?

I'm going to cover that in the next update since so many people asked, but I think it was an aircraft carrier was the example they used.

Now that you pointed it out.
Also the waves.

Yeah, we had an interesting combination of weather.

She must've liked that.

The best part was not having to worry about where to park the scooter. Most of the walkways were so small it would have been a real pain to get around with it. On the Disney ships it's hard enough to navigate with one and they are huge in comparison!

Small (of course). Did anyone ever use it?

I doubt it, there was only one day it really warmed up to marginal pool weather.

"Why are you pointing that camera at me?"

Yeah, pretty much. But then often that's her normal look.

Not for much longer...

I know. I remember the first time we were given a rental car with keyless ignition we were stumped. The car was running when we got it and we stopped for dinner after leaving the airport. We had to call the rental car company to find out "where to put the key to start it?" When we got back in the car from dinner.

And I'm not okay with that.
Talk about ruining the mood.

What made it worse for me was that I knew we were on an Old Fogies cruise. Then he starts playing those songs. I would have been fine if they played Elvis, or Fats Domino songs, or stuff from the 50s, but when he is playing songs from my childhood and I realized that I had now reached the target demographic on an Old Fogie Cruise. Well that just made me sad.

Thanks for the tour of the ship and the map at the beginning. Looks different to the cruise ships we have been on.

Having been on many of the cruise ships that you have been on, I was a little concerned with what I was going think about this one. Luckily it was a lot of fun!

Living close to a big river here in Europe we are used to seeing ships and barges, but it never really came to mind so much than now when I was reading about it in your report.

I had never seen river barges before. I was glad that I at least went to that one talk and learned a few things, so I would know what I was seeing out there.

Love all the photos (guess I said that before) and especially the one of your "lived in" room.

Thanks! It really does look different from the nice untouched room photos! We know to move into a room!

 

[franandaj]

The set up for the boat is really fun! Thank you for the tour. That's great Fran was able to get around without her scooter!

It was really nice for her, although she still did spend a good amount of time napping.

Great update. I love the idea of hop on hop off tours they work so well. Lots of useful talks on the navigator. The cocktail of the day is not a bad cost at $6.75 I felt.

The cocktail of the day price was usually good, but I never really liked any of them, they were all too traditional cocktails for me.

Good shore excursions I noticed there was 'premium' ones. Are the standard included?

Everything on the Hop On/Hop Off bus was included. Every day there was at least one Premium Excursion, sometimes two and those were usually $59pp but there was one that was an all day long trip for $119.

Greenville looks an interesting place. 3rd one named so in the county wow. The seats in your talk look very nice! I notice a lady can't resist playing with her phone.

I wouldn't know about Greenville. As you will soon find out.

Thank you for the info on downstream right of way and that you were mostly able to use the middle. Great photo of the green makers!

I wish I remembered more of what he said, it was all very interesting. I didn't take notes and photos like at D23.

I like how wide the hallways are. One photo has a staff member with a cart and plenty of room to pass. On The Dream in my wheelchair or scooter if I see a cart forget it! No way I am passing. One time in my wheelchair the CM insisted I had room. I removed quite a chunk of skin from my knuckles.

Actually these hallways might have been a little smaller than DCL, but I think so were the carts. Sorry about your scraped hand.

Soft serve machine. Nice dinning options. Something for everyone. I made the mistake on NCL Pride of America calling it a boat to the Captain and he was really offended! It is a ship madam! Then gave me the distinction...

Ooops! You never want to offend the Captain!

Look forward to hearing more. Interesting about the cargo that the barges transport. Similar to our old canal system. It is used for lesiure only now. But that is the kind of cargo they transported.

Oh my isn't the river long from your map! So many states also. Interesting to know the distance you cover. Also the speed the 'boat' makes. Although one never did understand knots!

Interesting your cargo system is no longer in use. The river is much longer, we only traversed the lower third or quarter.

the river boat cruise looks amazing!

Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the tour!

Catching up too.

LOVE the porch swing. How fun! The ship is really quite lovely.

I can see the appeal of doing a late spring or early summer cruise now.

Happy you got to experience a sunrise.

Really enjoyed the photo tour. As much as I adore Disney, I am enjoying reading about something new.

The sunrise was an added bonus! I know, I love my Disney trips, but there is something exciting to going out and experiencing history and other neat stuff.

Cool! I'm glad it worked out. You got some good pictures!

At least I got one Sunrise in!

That's a nice change of pace.

It was fun meeting people from all over the country, at least for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was Britain and colonies!

I think that would be really fascinating to hear.

It was, I would have liked to attended more of them if we had been on the boat.

Even 100 miles from the nearest tributary (the Ohio), we are affected by the river having too much water, not enough water, barge availability or lack thereof. Even today the Mississippi River is a hugely vital key to the ag economy.

That's really interesting to note. I always enjoyed your "farming lessons" in your TR. Interesting how far the reach of the river goes.

Hmmm... interesting. So did they have any information on the larger vessel that this one can be placed on?

I think it was an aircraft carrier, but more on that in the next chapter.

I thought it was he who has the biggest rudder has the right of way.

Good one!

That's all you need right there!

Well, unless you're somewhat lactose intolerant.

Ok, so for this river cruise, is food handled the same way as a Disney cruise would be? Is it part of the cost of the package no matter where you eat? All meals provided or just dinner and breakfast?

Not that a river cruise is on the immediate horizon for us, but it definitely looks like something I'd enjoy sometime and I'm kind of curious now.

All meals are included. And what I didn't realize (until the last night when our tablemates told us) was that they also had room service. I should have known because we've ordered before on Disney ships. There were a few meals we had in the QS place where I would have gladly taken room service instead.

It is fascinating to watch. I've seen more of them loaded than unloaded though. I'm kind of surprised that they'd completely empty It from front to back though. I know of a corn barge that took on water recently because somebody screwed up and loaded it unevenly and they ended up with one end under water and the other end out of the water.

Interesting. It sure looked like that's how they were unloading this one. In fact the front end was high out of the water since it was empty. I wonder how that works so that the back doesn't submerge.

What? 1995? I assumed this was an older boat that was refurbished and repurposed. Either way, it is an interesting boat.

The boat it was based on is an older boat that is being refurbished and hopefully can go back into service, but this one was built specifically for the leisure cruise market.

This is so cool and such a neat way to see different places (and States!) without having to drive!

It was. Some of the places we stopped were really depressed little towns, but others had some really rich history to explore if you were into that.

And love that they give some history on the places you're stopping at.

Especially since some of them were a little obscure.

This is something I would definitely like as well.

We met quite a few different people throughout the week. I'm glad I wrote it down while it was fresh in my mind because I would never remember otherwise.

I am QUITE disappointed with your plates. Totally unlike you guys.

Don't worry, we will more than make up for it!

Ah that makes sense!

A few more facts on this in the next update.

Oh man, i'd be here all day if I could with a book or my computer!

Except it was really cold and windy that day.

That is perfect!

Also, not sure if you mentioned this or not, but did you find this was more geared to mid age, older groups? Any kids?

It is definitely an Old Fogie type cruise. There is absolutely nothing for kids to do on the ship and there wasn't one on our voyage. Also the pricing is aimed at a mature, established clientele, unless you can get in on a 2 for 1 fare prices are pretty high. It puts Disney pricing in a whole new light.

Yay!!! finally caught up again!! Love your pictures, as usual! It's a beautiful boat. Steam boat? What's the difference between a ship and a boat? Did I miss that? Mark Twain would be impressed I'm sure!

I gave a brief description in the last update, but in the next one I covered it more in detail since so many people asked.

How many passengers? Was it a full cruise? One fancy restaurant, one casual?

Thanks for taking us along!

I also covered the passenger information, it was not a full cruise, maybe about 75-80% full. Not bad at all.

There was the Main Dining Room (somewhat fancy, but not formal) and the Front Porch Cafe (totally casual, self service).

 

[franandaj]

I don’t mean to be updating too fast for people to keep up, but if you’ve noticed my ticker, three weeks from today I’m going to be on a plane to Orlando. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I will not have completed this report, but I’m hoping that at least I have a good portion of it finished, so bear with me!

So I’m going to cover this here in the update since a couple people have asked. The idea that we are on a boat and not a ship, some people have wondered what sort of ship could carry the boat? Well they example that they used in the talk with the Riverlorian was an aircraft carrier. However, I did some more research on the Internet (so it must be true) and other factors determining a ship vs boat is that boats normally travel on inland and protected waters while ships are usually out at sea. Something else that our stateroom host mentioned also was that they had 13-15 cabin stewards on the whole boat. She said she worked on a cruise line once and there would be 13-15 cabin stewards just for one floor.

The boat had a capacity of about 420 passengers, but one of our bus drivers told us on one of the excursions that there were probably 350 or so on our voyage. And to answer the question about the average age demographic. I counted approximately 10 people on our voyage who were either our age or younger. There were no kids (well kids under 18), there were obviously families traveling together the but the kids were closer to our age or older. I’m not a great judge of age, but most of the folks we sat with talked about their grandchildren, and some even proudly told us that they were approaching 80 years old. Fran was the only one with her own scooter, but there was at least one woman in a wheelchair, and she was a pushy old broad!

We learned at the talk this morning that with a river boat you have the option of docking, but if there is no dock, then the boat just pretty much grounds itself and puts down a gangway. I learned something about the process of this ship. They offer a hop on/hop off bus which follows the ship from town to town (by land of course). To board the bus, you need to get a ticket printed from a monitor outside the purses office. For the first busses of the day there are a limited number for each departure time, obviously as many as the bus can hold. When those tickets have been dispensed, that's it for that time slot. Pick another time slot. By the time I learned about this, 2PM was the earliest available bus departure. Around 11:00 it was apparent that we were going to arrive early. As we approached we thought this was the casino off to the side.



Here is where we are going to land.



Here we are grounding our boat at the landing.





I watched these guys do tie up the boat here so it didn't float away.







I thought this whirlpool created by the engines was pretty cool.





All tied up.



Our plan was to go to the casino. It looked pretty walkable/scootable to me, so really no bus ticket needed.



We let the first crowd get off the boat and board the bus and we headed out. They scanned your KTTW (or whatever they called it) and had tubs of cold water bottles ripe for the taking. Most people went across Deck 2 and down the stairs to exit the boat, but with the scooter we needed to use the elevator, so we got to traverse the main deck obstacles.



Fran headed off over the pavement which was grooved and very bumpy, plus it was at a slant.



I stayed back and took some pictures of the boat. They had this golf cart to shuttle people to the bus, if they couldn’t walk that far.



There was a guy from the Casino there offering free shuttles, and he approached me, but he had a car like a Ford Edge which I didn’t want to deal with taking the scooter apart. He asked if we were going to the casino, and I said, “Yes, but I don’t think we can fit in your car.”

He said, “Well at least I’d like to give you these cards for $10 in Free Play.”

Well that was cool!

Here is a close up of our room and balcony



And one more of the boat.



On our way to the casino, we noticed more evidence of the high river level. Notice the parking garage is completely flooded on at least one level.



Here is a better look.



We got our player’s club cards and looked at the Black Jack table. Full. OK, we’ll go play our $10 free (only good on slots anyways). Of course we eventually blew through the $10 quickly and put some of our own money in the machine. Their slots were really poor and I tried 4-5 different machines and kept just losing and losing. I took my ticket and decided if I couldn’t play black jack I would keep my money. So I went over and stood near the black jack table, after about 5 minutes, it was obvious that all the folks playing were regulars and all knew each other. The pit boss asked me if I wanted to play, and I told her, “Yeah, but it’s all full. Do you have another table opening up?” They told me one would open at 2PM. It was 1:09. I told this information to Fran and we decided if they didn’t want to take our money, we would take it back to the boat with us. I cashed out my ticket and we rolled back over to the boat.

We arrived back just at the time when lunch was closing down and the Front Porch Café was on snack mode. I do have to say for snacks, they do a pretty good job. A fruit plate



(Not shown Cauliflower Salad), Rice Pilaf and Rotisserie Chicken.



Various Chocolate cakes, plus they had whole fruit and chips.



I had some Chicken, Rice and cake as well as some fruit.





Fran had some of the same



We finished our meal with some soft serve sundaes, with toppings.







I decided to get my computer and go work in the Mark Twain room since there wasn’t really a comfortable desk in the room, plus there was no outlet near my side of the bed and I wanted the computer to charge. I could see the dining room below from my seat.





I uploaded three pictures in about 40-45 minutes and was able to post the first update. I think it was really slow because most everyone was back on the ship and trying to access the internet. It was much easier the next morning at 5AM when no one was up yet.

[Continued Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

I went back to the room at 4:15 to get changed for the Captain’s Champagne reception. Fran said that she would rather sleep, so I went by myself.



It was pretty much just a musical show. I got there late and stood in the back rather than take a seat somewhere. Some guy sang some hit from Josh Groban, and then the band (a piano and sax player) closed it out with I Get a Kick Out of You. If you don’t get it the first lyric is, “I don’t get a Kick from Champagne”

Right about this time, we were leaving Greenville, MS. I could hear the sounds of the Calliope ringing out from my balcony as we left the town.



I decided that this was as good as any a time to head over to the Engine Room Bar for a real drink.







After that I came back to the room to enjoy some of the wine I still had from the night before. As I watched the scenery go by I could have sworn that we were backtracking.







Remember that park I told you to notice?







The river looked very turbulent tonight.



I took some more shots of the moon.



It was time to get ready for dinner. I think Fran wanted to get a shower in before we left. Then we got dressed and headed off to dinner. On this evening our entire table was present. Not only was the couple from South Africa present again, but we were also joined by a couple from the UK. They were equally delightful and we had a nice time at dinner. Margaret & Colin. Well the husband was at least. We came to notice over the course of the next couple days that there something not right with the woman. We never figured it out, but she ignored us completely at every occasion and never made eye contact during dinner. Whatever. Her problem, not mine.

The menu was a little different than I had seen earlier at the Cafe.



I went with the Beef Carpaccio, it was delicious but a small portion.



Fran had the shrimp. She gave me one and it was crispy and moist.



We decided to split the soup and salad. I started with the soup, white bean and andoille sausage.



She started the salad. I thought it was almost like a Caprese salad with goat cheese instead of mozzarella.



The Captain came by and I asked if he would pose for a picture with us. While I was enjoying the trip, I did miss the photo opportunities they have on the Disney ships.



Fran went with the Cobia Oscar. She liked it, but not nearly as much as the halibut the night before.



I had the prime rib of pork and that was quite tasty. I thought it was very moist.



For dessert nothing really sounded good to me so I had mint chocolate chip ice cream.



Fran had Pecan Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream.



The conversation continued on, but out of respect for Fran, I excused us from the table, saying we needed to get to sleep. I even left a half glass of red wine and a full glass of white that Fran had gifted me. We went back to the room and went to bed. As far as I know I slept soundly through the night. But before going to bed we took a few minutes to peruse these that were left on our bed.

 

[Steppesister]

Yup! There were six all together. The American Empress only has four decks. That one goes out by @Steppesister's way.

I had NO idea this even existed. Now, I think I may have to research this a bit and see what's what. An Alaskan jobbie might be kinda fun! Haven't done that since I was 4.

Funny story on that:

My parents had taken my twin sisters and me on an Alaskan cruise and one day, one of them sorta disappeared. My parents frantically searched in vain for the then (very precocious) 2 year old. In a panic they told the stewards who called out an all-ship search. Fearing the worst, they were SURE that she'd fallen overboard. About an hour later, she was found.... safe and sound eating cookies and milk on the Bridge with the Captain.

 

[franandaj]

I had NO idea this even existed. Now, I think I may have to research this a bit and see what's what. An Alaskan jobbie might be kinda fun! Haven't done that since I was 4.

Actually it's not an Alaskan Cruise, it goes from Portland OR (Vancouver, WA) to Clarkston WA.

Funny story on that:

My parents had taken my twin sisters and me on an Alaskan cruise and one day, one of them sorta disappeared. My parents frantically searched in vain for the then (very precocious) 2 year old. In a panic they told the stewards who called out an all-ship search. Fearing the worst, they were SURE that she'd fallen overboard. About an hour later, she was found.... safe and sound eating cookies and milk on the Bridge eating cookies and milk with the Captain.

That's pretty funny! I bet she was one of the Captain's favorite visitors of the day.