DaveinCharlotte

It seems ironic that the initial itineraries for these new, highly-touted "go anywhere" catamaran ships have these limitations. On our our recent Constitution cruise, we had no problem docking at the Provincetown terminal area.

Wow. Are you saying that on port days the main dining room was closed -- dinner available only at the Bistro? This itinerary visits a port on most days, right? Or did you mean just the embarking/disembarking port days?

I'd say the truth is about halfway between what ACL says on their website and what your travel agent said. First, all alcohol is free. For mealtime, you can order beer and wine, with refills readily available. You can also order mixed drinks, but be advised at lunch this is a lengthy process -- the liquor is kept locked up in the main lounge; someone -- usually someone other than a server (e.g., restaurant manager) has to go up and get it. Happy hour officially starts at 5:30 PM, but usually staff tends to show up and start serving much earlier than that. Wine, beer, and a wide variety of liquor is available at happy hour. Those who want a mixed drink at dinner usually get another glass at happy hour and take it down. The bar closes during dinner, but reopens shortly before the evening lecture/entertainment starts. It remains open until after the evening activities have concluded. On top of this, the last year or so I have noticed that ACL tends to keep a selection of self-serve wine and beer available in the upper lounge between the end of lunch and the beginning of happy hour. I have no experience regarding room-service alcohol -- maybe somebody else knows.

Sent an e-mail to Customer Service this morning asking if our booking was still valid. Got a phone call an hour ago saying all Napa Valley cruises were cancelled, and unlikely that they would ever be reinstated. Asked the rep why. Not a clear answer; something to the effect of "California regulatory requirements that could not be met." He transferred our deposit to another booking. Guess that settles that. Too bad, seemed like a nice itinerary.

I'm going to wait a while before calling in. Last time, after all all the cruises went "sold out," first they all disappeared then then all reappeared as bookable a short time later. Still a long time in the future, so I don't have to get this straightened out just yet. Will post back when I do. Yes, "discouraging" is the right word. We've done (or have booked) almost all of the other ACL cruises, so was looking forward to this new one.

This is the second time I have been through this (see the "American Jazz in the Delta" thread for April)! Booked this trip when it was "San Francisco to San Francisco" -- got cancelled, then reconfigured to "Sacramento to Sacramento" and I got rebooked. That itinerary involved no docking at SF whatsoever, so ACL rep is flat wrong about that. Then...all THOSE cruises got cancelled. Same as now, suddenly all cruises "sold out." Called ACL, they rebooked me yet again, this time for...Nov 4, 2024. Strange, isn't it, that this is the only one not "sold out." Checked my ACL Account, and the cruise still shows up there. Have to call yet again, but I think I'm giving up on Jazz and California much as I wanted to do this.

My Cape Codder cruise on the Constitution ended in Boston June 12. CD said the ship would then begin its 11-day New England Explorer cruise. This is what was and still is shown on the ACL website. The website shows that 4 days into that cruise (not at the end) the ship arrives at Bucksport and passengers are bused to Bar Harbor for the day. This would be June 15. Odd that the cruise would be terminated in Bucksport and the passengers "bused to Bar Harbor," since they needed to be returned to Boston. What would they do in Bar Harbor. So maybe a disconnect here...did the cruise really terminate unexpectedly? But obviously something unplanned happened, why else would CEO be apologizing to council. On a previous Constitution cruise, we did indeed have to be tendered in over a mile. And that would be bad in foul weather. But the weather was fair when we left the ship in Boston June 12, and if I recall correctly was forecast to be good for the rest of that week.

I wonder...will they try coastal cruising again. Is anyone else in this market? American Cruise Lines does a lot of coastal cruising, much of it in the winter. I recently did a Chesapeake Bay cruise in late December. Other cold-season cruises include southeast US, Florida roundtrip from Jacksonville, Jacksonville around Florida to Key West & St Pete, and central California.

Yes, the Cape Codder I just got back from certainly did go to Newport (in fact, that's where we had our much-touted Lobsterbake). Our other ports besides Boston were (1) Gloucester, (2) Maritime Academy/Plymouth/Hyannis, (3) Martha's Vineyard, and (4) New Bedford. Did they substitute another port? Bristol, maybe? (On a different cruise, we had our Lobsterbake there.) Just remembered something: When we were in Newport, docked by Fort Adams, there was much activity erecting huge tents and other structures on the grounds. Maybe a major festival is imminent, and ACL couldn't dock there this time. Who knows. I can understand your disappointment.

I think I'm wrong on this part. Although often the actual configuration does not match what is shown in the deck plan, I think for these new small ships the diagram is likely to be correct. The unusual U-shaped dining room means that two sides are so narrow that tables for 6 won't fit.

Interesting observation and question. First, ACL does not make any effort to seat anyone. You come in whenever you want, pick whatever table you want, and sit down. Second, the first cruise on these new, smaller ships does not begin until mid August, so we won't know for a while what the actual table configuration will be. I'm booked on one of the Glory's first trip early January, so I'll find out then. But yes, from the deck plans it really does look like most (almost 80%!) of the tables are for 4. On all our other cruises, most tables were for 6, with only a handful for 4. When we encountered one of these with a couple already seated, we avoided sitting there, thinking they probably wanted to be alone, otherwise they wouldn't have sat there. So yes, I can see feeling awkward about sitting at a table for 4...but with so few larger tables, not much else you can do. My recommendation: Go down to dinner promptly(ish), find an empty table, and take a seat. Couples who really want to be alone will sit somewhere else. But most other couples won't hesitate to join you. And other singles too.

I think AQV should have bussed you from Detroit to Chicago (it's not far!) and put you up in a hotel for the duration of the scheduled cruise.

Another possibility to consider is Pearl Seas. https://www.pearlseascruises.com/ Their Great Lakes itineraries, ship, and costs seem to be very comparable to what AQV is abandoning.

Just finished the Cape Codder. Upstairs in the Sky Lounge, an "Early Riser" breakfast was available -- coffee, pastries, yogurt, fruit, cereal, OJ, etc. Also, outside at the Back Porch Cafe, a limited selection of hot breakfast items was always available. After that, the crew kept the Sky Lounge stocked with snacks, canned soda and beer, white and red wine through the day until happy hour. This has been my experience on all ACL cruises. But on our previous cruises, a more limited selection of coffee, drinks, pastries, and snacks used to also be available in the main lounge. But it seems they've discontinued that...have to go up to Sky Lounge for everything. We were on the Constitution. If I remember correctly, the Cape Codder was going to change over to the Eagle in late August. If that's the case, not sure if my description above applies to these new smaller ships. But probably they'll try to be consistent. Have a good cruise!

Ditto for the Countess and the Duchess (as well as every ship in the ACL line). Can't imagine waiting for the whole room to finish before continuing -- unless it was a very small dining room.

Every ACL ship I've been on had a shower stall. Space being at a premium, hard to imagine where there would be room for a tub. (Although I have always been in medium-priced cabins -- maybe some top-level ones do have tubs.)

No, rep would not say why Jazz Sacramento cruise schedule curtailed in 2023 and early 2024. Am gambling no problem for late 2024; am booked on one of these cruises. Yes, as Joanandjoe notes, Jazz is currently in operation as scheduled. Minor oddity: Am planning on a National Parks trip in 2024, and for a long time I could choose between Jazz, Song, and Harmony. The website still lists these three at the top of the cruise description, but when you look at the details you can't book the Jazz. Originally Jazz was scheduled for 6/19/24, 7/17/24, 8/14/24, and 8/28/24. Now the first of these is unselectable and the others have disappeared altogether. Maybe this means nothing, who knows.

Agree with BaumD. These answers pretty much apply across all the ACL cruises (and AQV cruises too, for that matter). Regarding your one question (#5) unique to this particular cruise: Yes, there are hotels in the downtown Sacramento area, some within walking distance of the ship. First cruise was early April 2023. But after a couple of weeks all of the remaining cruises on Jazz were abruptly cancelled. But I tracked the ship before that happened and saw where it docked in Sacramento. Use Google Maps to find "Tower Bridge," just to the left of the Capital Mall. The ship docked just on the south side of the bridge, so you can measure from there to the various hotels in the area. After a few weeks, ACL rescheduled all of the Jazz cruises to 2024, and I signed up for one of those.

Good idea! The Grande Mariner and Grande Carribe must still be around somewhere in mothballs.

Unfortunately, hard to answer that until you know where your hotel is located. The Red Line stops at Pioneer Station, right in the heart of downtown. We stayed at downtown hotels twice - different cruise company - not AQV. Both times we were just a couple of blocks from the river and the ship - easy walk. No issue with luggage. We had just carry-on luggage, but the rail cars were roomy. On one of our trips, we went a day early, stayed at Best Western Pony Express (free shuttle from PDX, not as expensive as downtown hotels) then next day walked a short distance to the Red Line and caught a ride to our cruise hotel.

We take the MAX light rail service (Red Line). It's fast, cheap, and leaves right from the airport. http://trimet.org/max/index.htm

Both. At the sink they stock the usual trio of shower gel, shampoo, & conditioner. But there's also a bar of soap. It's not big, but is large enough to last the two of us a week.

Easy way to find out: 1. Under Cruises, select the Hudson River cruise. 2. Scroll down to "Ships" where each ship doing this cruise is listed. 3. As you click on each ship, a pop-up tells the year ship put into service. Note that a couple are ships are yet to start...e.g., the coastal cats. So depends on when you intend to sail. If in 2023, jklc123 is correct about Constitution. If in 2024 or later, would be Eagle or Liberty.

You're correct. We received an e-mail from Vantage late yesterday confirming that they had suffered a ransomware attack.

Haven't been on Serenade, just the Melody, St Louis to Minneapolis, so just partial answers. Laundry: we had access to free washer/dryers on the upper deck Tipping: no tipping. Safe: we did have a safe on the Melody Refrigerator: no refrigerator, but good chance the cabins on Deck 4 would Disembarkation: We got off the ship in Red Wing and were transferred by bus to the airport. The previous day we had a bus tour from Red Wing to Minneapolis and back. Not sure why ACL map shows dotted line from Red Wing to St. Paul. Maybe the day before departure you get a tour to St. Paul and back. The text seems to imply St. Paul is just something for you to do on your own. (The airport has an excellent light rail system that goes to both downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul.) Exact embarkation/disembarkation docks are not cast in stone, but 4-6 weeks before sailing date you should be able to log into your ACL account and see a listing of ports and times that can be trusted. Hopefully someone with actual Serenade experience can clarify this...