Cruising the Mighty Mississippi on American Song

To close out an eventful year of travel, Esther (the Boss) and I accepted an invitation to cruise on the American Song, called the first of the new modern riverboats.  Until recently, most river cruises on the Mississippi and other parts of the US were on replica paddle-wheelers.  American Cruise Lines launched the brand new American Song in 2018, and it is more similar to European river cruise ships in design.

Our itinerary was a round-trip sailing from New Orleans up the Mississippi River to Vicksburg, Mississippi and back, from December 1st to the 8th. This is an all-inclusive cruise, with gratuities, food, drinks and tours built in to the fare.  Make no mistake, this is not an inexpensive cruise - think on the order of $10,000 per stateroom.  We flew to New Orleans the night before departure and stayed at the InterContinental Hotel, which is also included in the cost.  Our luggage was collected at the hotel and delivered directly to our stateroom, which was nice.  A short coach ride took us to the port and we boarded the ship at about 11:00 AM.

Embarkation day in New Orleans.  The ship is brand new, only in service for about 6 months before our cruise.

Our stateroom was on Deck 3 of 4.  The Dining Salon was on Deck 1, along with crew quarters and ship offices.  Decks 2 and 3 were primarily staterooms, with a couple of small lounges or reading rooms.  Deck 4 had the few suites on the ship, as well as the two large lounges.  The Magnolia Lounge at the front of the ship was, the primary venue for entertainment and lectures on the ship.  The Sky Lounge is at the back of the ship, and just outside the Sky Lounge is the Crow's Nest Cafe, an outdoor casual dining area.  Deck 5 is the Sun Deck, which runs the length of the ship.

Our stateroom was fairly roomy, but closets and storage could have been better.

Pretty typical cruise ship bathroom, maybe slightly larger than some.

Our balcony was OK, just enough room for the small table and chairs.

A Dixieland band was playing in the Magnolia Lounge to welcome us aboard, with appetizers off to the side.

We were not impressed with the decor on the ship - when we first walked in, I felt like I was entering a retirement home.
But, the demographic on the ship, except for the travel agents was mostly 70 and older.

Considering the price tag on these cruises, we were surprised to see snacks laid out reminiscent of a Motel 6.

It didn't take us long to realize that this was not going to be a luxury experience, regardless of the cost.  For example, we had a coffee maker in the room, but no coffee mugs.  Instead we got styrofoam cups wrapped in plastic.  The food in the dining room was good and nicely presented, but the Dining Salon decor looked like a nursing home facility - not a single picture hanging anywhere in the room.  Furniture and furnishings were very plain.

At our first meal, when we asked about wine, the choices were either one red or one white, and the wines were Woodbridge, which we can buy at our local grocery store for about $6 a bottle.  We asked to upgrade to a premium wine selection, but that isn't an option.  We were also amazed to learn that, other than the ship officers, all of the staff are only on board for 4-month contracts, and can not re-apply except for officer positions.  This means you never have a waiter in the dining room that has more than 4 months experience, and as hard as they try, it shows.

This is the four-story glass-enclosed atrium with a large domed skylight, in the middle of the ship.

This is the outdoor casual dining area, the Crow's Nest Cafe, with the stairs leading up to the sun deck.

The Sun Deck is quite nice and a great place to hang out while cruising, as long as the weather is good.

As a group, the travel agents on board were generally younger than the rest of the passengers, and we recognized that the older demographic was perfectly satisfied with many of the things we found to be less upscale than the fare might otherwise dictate.  Many of the passengers we talked to have been cruising with American Cruise Lines for years and love it.

And there were a lot of good things about this cruise.  The itinerary was very interesting, especially since we had never been on the Mississippi River before, and it is an amazing waterway for so many reasons.  My entire body of knowledge of the Mississippi River prior to this cruise was that it was the longest river in the United States.  Not only did I learn that I was wrong about that - the Missouri River, a tributary of the Mississippi, is actually 100 miles longer - I learned much more about the river and its place in American history, as well as its importance to commerce for the whole country.

One of the highlights of the cruise was the River Historian on board, a gentleman named Bill Wiemuth.  Bill gave historical talks on most days, and he was an excellent speaker with fascinating topics.  On various days  he spoke about the Louisiana Purchase, the river's significance in the Civil War, the history of the steamboats on the river, Mark Twain, the flood of 1927, and more.  Not only did he really know his stuff, he made all of this very entertaining.

Bill was quite versatile, as well.  He and his wife Laura Sable provided the evening musical entertainment on a number of nights, and he did magic tricks!

Bill and Laura Wiemuth provided the evening entertainment.  

In addition to Bill and Laura, we had guest entertainers on a couple of evenings.

Every afternoon from 5:30 to 7:00 PM, cocktails were available in both of the fourth floor lounges.  We found it interesting that there isn't an actual bar on the ship - instead they simply place bottles on a counter and fix drinks to order.  Also, they put the cheap stuff on the counter, but we learned they had better spirits under the counter if you asked for them.  For example, Smirnoff vodka on the counter, Grey Goose under the counter.   Cocktails were also available after dinner during the onboard entertainment, and you could get beer and wine at lunch, too.

As I mentioned before, the food was actually quite good.  They had an interesting process where at breakfast, you would fill in a form to let the kitchen know if you planned to have lunch in the dining room and what your selection would be.  They did the same at lunch for dinner.  This helps prevent cooking too much food and cutting down on waste.  The food at the Crow's Nest Cafe was pizza, burgers and hot dogs, with a soup of the day.

Lunch on the first day on board - lovely presentation of a shrimp salad. The food is all locally sourced.

We left New Orleans at 1:30 PM and began our cruise up the river. The lower part of the river is not the most scenic, between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, as this is the portion of the river with a 45-foot deep shipping channel to allow ocean-going vessels access to ports along this length.  Many of the ports are large manufacturing facilities.  We saw lots and lots of bridges.

We pass under one of dozens of bridges we saw along our itinerary.

This is a very common sight on the river - the push boat steering a series of connected barges down the river. 

Theoretically, our cruise had five stops - you can't call all of them ports, because in a couple of places, the ship just pulled up to the bank of the river, opened up the front end, and laid out a gangplank to walk ashore. Our first stop was Oak Alley, Louisiana.  Oak Alley is a historic plantation located on the west bank of the river in St. James Parish.

This is one of the cool modern features of the American Song, you don't need a dock or pier to go ashore in some places.

We were bussed to Oak Alley plantation, which gets its name from the 1/4-mile canopy of oak trees that lead from the house toward the river.

You get a feeling for the size of the oaks by seeing the people walking on the path.  The 28 oak trees are over 300 years old. 

The plantation house, the first of many we would see on this trip.  No pictures were allowed inside the house.  The property was established in the 1830s to grow sugar cane, and the house was completed in 1839.

We returned to the ship for lunch, and departed for Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  We arrived at about 7:00 PM.   Esther's cousin Lori and her husband James, who live in Baton Rouge, met us at the pier and we went out for a tasty Cajun dinner.

The next day we opted for the "signature tour" of the Atchafalaya Basin.  A signature tour is one that costs extra money.   This was a boat ride through the swamp, followed by lunch at Pat's Fisherman's Wharf, a well-known establishment in the area. and a city tour.  The swamp tour was billed as being in alligator infested waters, but we didn't see any alligators.

The Baton Rouge waterfront where our ship docked.

We really enjoyed the guide - neat Cajun accent, very knowledgable, and funny.

The Boss and I were in the boat on the left.

The Atchafalaya Basin is larger than the Florida Everglades and is home to 65 species of reptiles and amphibians and 250 species of birds, including bald eagles.  Unfortunately, all we really saw were the cypress trees, and a few birds.

The cypress trees do provide a picturesque setting.

These parallel bridges over the basin are 18.2 miles long, the third longest bridge in the US.

The inside of Pat's Fisherman's Wharf.  We had grilled shrimp salads for lunch.

After lunch, the bus picked us up and we had a bus tour of the city.  Baton Rouge is an interesting city with a lot of history.  We drove through the campus of LSU, and past the state capitol, governor's residence, and other sights, before ending at the Louisiana State Museum.

The Old Louisiana State Capitol building, now a museum.

The current Louisiana State Capitol, at 34 stories, is the tallest state capitol in the US.
Governor Huey Long was assassinated in this building.

The Louisiana State Museum, opened in 2003.  We spent about an hour or so in here.

The Horace Wilkinson Bridge carries I-10 across the Mississippi from Baton Rouge to Port Allen.  Beautiful at sunset.

We spent another night docked in Baton Rouge, and the next morning took the tour to Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana.  This was followed by the obligatory stop at Grandmother's Buttons, a boutique gift shop in town.

Rosedown Plantation - one of the most intact antebellum plantation complexes in the South.
The "Great House" was built around 1835

The guides were dressed in period costumes.

The plantation is also known for its gardens, and it has an oak "allee" similar to the one at Oak Alley Plantation.

The dining room with the punkah over the table.  The punkah is a fabric fan operated
by a slave pulling the attached rope up and down. 

An early indoor shower, quite an innovation at the time.

As in all the plantation homes we saw, the interiors are fully restored with period furniture.  A large percentage of original
pieces are still displayed at Rosedown.

This tapestry was stitched by Martha Washington (George's wife).

This is the Grandmother's Buttons store in the town of St. Francisville, a popular shopping stop for the tour buses.
They sell jewelry handcrafted from 100-year-old buttons, among other gift items.

After the plantation tour, we returned to the ship and departed Baton Rouge for Natchez, Mississippi.  Another of
many bridges along the way.

We did have some beautiful sunsets on the river during the cruise.  

The next destination was Natchez, Mississippi, a stop with special meaning for Esther.  Last June, we drove through Nashville, Tennessee to pick up some of her father's belongings that were stored there after his death.  Among the boxes, she found a letter written to her parents by a woman named Esther Allen. She was a fairly wealthy woman and had befriended Esther's parents before they moved overseas.  The letter was written shortly after Esther was born (and named after Mrs. Allen).  She says in the letter that a girl needs to be taken care of, and to that end, she is naming little Esther the "Supreme Mistress" of Trinity Plantation, a property she owned in Natchez, Mississippi.  Although she would never own the plantation, she was to receive income from it for the rest of her life.

Esther's parents had never mentioned this, and although her mother remembers Mrs. Allen well, she had no recollection of the letter.  We tried to research Trinity Plantation on the internet, with limited success.  Aside from the letter, all Esther had was a flyer that showed a picture of the house and advertised breakfast for $2.50.  When the opportunity to do this cruise came up, Esther had visions of returning triumphantly to "her plantation."  

Upon arriving in Natchez, we got off the ship and walked into town, first stopping at the Visitor's Center.  After a few questions, and a phone call or two, the staff directed us to the Natchez Historic Foundation to talk to Mimi, who was the town historian.  We walked another few blocks and told our story to Mimi and her staff.  They tried to be as helpful as possible, and were able to find the address and some aerial photos, but otherwise didn't have too much information except that the property had been owned by the Hicks family since the mid-1960s.  Finally, they pulled out a phone book, and there was a listing with the address and phone number.  

If you know the Boss, you know she isn't the shy type, so she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the number.  The phone was answered by Mrs. Hicks herself, and Esther explained her story and asked if it would be possible to stop by.  Mrs. Hicks had no objection, so the Historic Foundation people called us a cab and off we went.  Although the property was in disrepair (to put it nicely), we had a nice visit with Mrs. Hicks, who allowed us to walk all through the house, and told us her story of living there for over 50 years.  She and her husband bought the plantation from Esther Allen, and raised their family there. 

The entrance to Trinity Plantation.

The Supreme Mistress in front of her plantation home.  It looked bigger in the pictures.  Our best information is that the
house was originally build around 1832.

The Boss exchanges stories with Mrs. Hicks, 90 years old and a bit forgetful, but overall pretty sharp
with good memories of her 50+ years in the home

Mrs. Hicks spends most of her time in the basement level with her TV and multiple dogs and cats.  The basement still
has brick floors.

This is the view into the house from the main entrance at the top of the exterior stairs.

It may not be fair to call Mrs. Hicks a hoarder, but the house was certainly EXTREMELY cluttered. 

This is the staircase to the third floor, where Mrs. Hicks 60-year-old son lives.  She called
him the "gnome in the attic."  We were only a little creeped out.

Mrs. Hicks said the only change they made to the property was adding a swimming pool, but it, like the rest of the property,
looked like it had received no maintenance for years.

This is the exterior door to the basement level.  You pull out the dish towel to open the door,
then stuff it back in to keep the cold out.  

Although Trinity Plantation was not the grand mansion that Esther hoped she would find, you could see that it was probably beautiful in its heyday.  And the whole experience of tracking it down and talking to Mrs. Hicks was very cool and had special meaning to the Boss for lots of reasons.

Our cab driver returned to take us back to the ship for lunch, before we ventured out again for a tour of Longwood, a famous unfinished octagonal house, followed by a brief bus tour through Natchez.  Construction of Longwood began in 1860, but was halted in 1862 due to the Civil War.  The exterior was largely complete, but only the lowest floor interiors were finished.  The house was occupied for many years on the lowest floor.

The house was designed in an Oriental Revival style by a noted Philadelphia architect, Samuel Sloan, and was the largest and most elaborate of the octagon houses in the United States.  

No pictures were allowed on the finished lowest floor, but on the unfinished second floor, the guide explains
what the rooms would have been on this level.

A view through the upper floors to the dome at the top of the house.

The grounds around the house were very pretty.  The property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.

Natchez sits on a high bluff along the banks of the Mississippi.

This is Rosalie, built in 1823 and another National Historic Landmark.  Natchez is knows for all of its plantations and mansions built in the 1800s, when cotton and sugarcane were the cash crops grown using slave labor.  Many of the
mansions survive today.

Another beautiful sunset behind the twin bridges connecting Natchez, Mississippi to Vidalia, Louisiana.

We left Natchez and sailed overnight up to Vicksburg, Mississippi, our northernmost destination on this cruise.  Vicksburg is only 234 miles from New Orleans, so we could have driven here in a few hours.  The Siege of Vicksburg, a Civil War battle won by the North, was a big turning point in the war, and the battlefield is a major tourist site.

The Boss and I got off the ship to walk around the downtown area before our scheduled tour of the battlefield in the afternoon.  The old part of town looks like not much has changed there in the last 100 years or so.

This store is also a Coca Cola museum, because Joseph Biedenharn was the first to bottle Coca Cola  in 1894 for sale
instead of selling it at soda fountains.

We didn't actually go into the museum, but the store itself had quite a display of Coke.

Downtown Vicksburg looks like a lot of the other small towns we passed through.

The flood wall next to where our ship docked shows river levels during the most historic
floods on the Mississippi, including the highest one during the 1927 flood. The 1927 flood
was the most destructive river flood in US history, with 27,000 square miles inundated up
to a depth of 30 feet.  This flood prompted the construction of the world's longest system of
levees and floodways.

Along the Vicksburg flood wall, there are some very cool murals painted, depicting history along the river.

The afternoon tour was to the Vicksburg battlefield.  After a brief stop in the visitor center,
the rest of the tour was on a bus that drove through the battlefield, and we never got off.

Most of the park consists of signs and markers that we couldn't read.  Even though the guide was informative, I would
have preferred to be walking around the battlefield.

The Park has over 1,300 monuments, tablets and markers, earning the title of Largest Outdoor Art Gallery in the world.
This is one of the State Monuments - most states that sent troops to fight here have erected monuments in their honor.
We must have driven by 40 of them (some states have more than one).

Near the battlefield is the USS Cairo Museum.  The USS Cairo was an ironclad gunboat that was the first ship  in history
to be sunk by underwater mines, during the Civil War.  The boat was raised from 36 feet of water in 1965.

The Vicksburg National Cemetery holds the remains of 17,000 Union soldiers killed during the battles.

We departed Vicksburg that evening and turned around and headed back down the river towards New Orleans.  Our last stop was the next morning, for a tour of Houmas House.   Houmas House dates back to about 1775, and started as a sugarcane plantation.  In 1829, transformation of the original cottage into a Classical Revival mansion began, and by 1840 became what stands today.  Of all the antebellum (this means pre-war) mansions we saw, this was probably the most impressive.

As we made shore near the Houmas House, one of American Cruise Lines' other boats, a paddle wheel replica
named the America, passed by.  We wondered if the onboard experience was different than ours.

Houmas House is also known as Louisiana's Sugar Palace due to its magnitude and the source of the wealth, sugar.

The gates to the plantation used to be right at the river, until the levees were built to control flooding.  You can see the
top of the American Song above the crest of the levee.

The house and the grounds were the most impressive of all the mansions and plantations we saw on this trip.

We also had an excellent guide - funny and a little sassy.

The house was completely decked out for Christmas.

Look at the photos behind the billiard table - those were the current owner's dogs, Sam and Grace, for whom he had a lavish wedding ceremony in 2003, with 1,800 invited guests!

The guide had good stories for every room of the house, including the fact that Bette Davis
lived in the house while filming Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte.

Back on the ship that evening, Bill and Laura led the passengers in a Christmas carol sing-along after dinner, as we sailed back to New Orleans.  We arrived about 11:00 PM and disembarked the next morning.  Bus transfers to the airport were provided.

If you are interested in the history and culture associated with America's greatest river, in particular the time frame from the Louisiana Purchase up through the Civil War, you might really enjoy this cruise.  Especially if you are lucky enough to have Bill Wiemuth on board as your River Historian. In our opinion, for the price, American Cruise Lines should step up the amenities, the wine, and the service, but the older demographic on board seemed to be perfectly satisfied.


Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments!