DaveinCharlotte

My 4/12/24 cruise abruptly vanished from my ACL Account, confirming that these cruises have in fact been cancelled. Went to the website, and found that it has just been updated. All of the now-invalid Nov '23 through Apr '24 cruises are gone, along with the 2025 cruises. What appears now is a weekly cruise schedule starting 8/05/24 and continuing through 12/30/24. The first two are disabled, but all starting 8/19/24 onward are bookable. Cruises from 11/04/24 on are slightly cheaper. Called and got rebooked on one of these. Agent said "we would have notified you in a week or two, but you got to us first." If you have a reservation for this cruise, act soon to ensure you get a suitable new date.

True - You can pick the cruise specifics on the website, and then complete the booking over the phone. Unless things have changed, however, not sure you can complete the payment online.

Seems like this short inaugural season is over almost before it begins. Jazz is at a marine engineering dock in Richmond. Per the current catalog, Jazz is supposed to begin first Columbia & Snake River cruise April 10th, but this cruise and the next one have disappeared from the website. Next cruise per the website is now April 24th. What seems really odd is that ALL of the Nov 2023 through Apr 2024 Napa Valley cruises have abruptly been disabled on website. No bookings possible. Not sure what this means for those (like me) already booked on one of these cruises. Yet a complete set of sailing dates have been added for 2025, all of which are bookable.

I’ve been tracking Jazz throughout cruise #3, and am having trouble figuring out the itinerary. The cruise started as advertised, heading down the Sacramento River, then up the San Joaquin River to Stockton. After leaving Stockton, the ship headed back west, passed Vallejo, and anchored on the west side of the Napa River, just above the bridge on the north side of Vallejo. There it remained that night and all the next day (this was probably when passengers would have been motor-coached to San Francisco). But the next day Jazz retraced her route back east, stopping for the night at Isleton (pop 800), not too far from Sacramento. This was the day advertised as “Cruising Napa River” day. Next day she retraced her route back west, again passing Vallejo, and continuing a little farther north on the Napa River to Cuttings Wharf. Cuttings Wharf is a boat launching spot about 7 miles south of Napa. The ship remained there the next day (this was probably when passengers would have motor-coached to the Napa excursions). Now the ship is retracing her route back east yet again, for the final stop in Sacramento. So it seems the two “Cruising” days are really “Retrace our Same Route” days At no time did I see Jazz continuing farther west to San Francisco Bay, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, etc., as shown on the website map. Another oddity: The website map shows two motor-coach trips: A short one between Vallejo and San Francisco, and a long one between Vallejo and Sacramento. No idea when the long one would be for. I wonder if the bad weather California has been experiencing is affecting the itinerary.

Good for you. But for those like me who have no data plan, Starlink is much appreciated.

Posted in the American Cruise Lines forum, December 22, 2022: After extensive testing this year, American Cruise Lines is pleased to announce that Starlink satellite internet is being added across the fleet. All ships are equipped with satellite internet and will sail into 2023 with high-speed, consistent, and complimentary WiFi.

Have been checking Jazz position on Marinetraffic.com for many days; their transponder has always been off -- last time I checked was a couple of days ago. So suddenly now it's turned on -- I see it's docked at Tower Bridge near Capitol Mall. Radical change in itinerary it appears. No idea what's going on. Don't see how March 3 cruise could happen.

When in March? Has ACL indicated that your cruise is still on?

rms492rm -- do you know anything about this strike that appears to have canceled the first cruise?

Oh no. I see the ship is still down at Pier 2, where it has been the past several days. Could ACL not just contact pax, telling them to go to Pier 2 (or wherever)? Half will be at Four Seasons, with buses ready to take them to ship. What kind of strike? Checking local SF news on internet, found nothing yet...

That's the second negative comment on this thread about Stockton. Just curious, what is it about Stockton that should concern me?

Thanks for the Google link. That is a beautiful steel bridge. Zooming way in, there looks to be a pedestrian walkway that I'm thinking might be accessible from the Rio Vista fishing pier (or maybe the pier itself could be a good vantage point?).

I don't really know, but given Jazz's unfortunate (and expensive) encounter with a sand bar on its inaugural cruise, I bet they stick with the deeper water and accept the extra bussing.

For much of the Mississippi River, the east bank is definitely more interesting than the west (high bluffs vs lowland). Southbound, you'd want a cabin on the port side. (But you may not be spending as much time on your balcony as you think -- most viewing is best up top, where side doesn't matter.)

Just got off the Constitution. Yes, the internet was fully operational. Signal strong, all over the ship, and available all the time. They also had a passenger-accessible PC with internet. What a relief for those of us who have no smartphone/data plan!

You might also want to check out ACL's competitor, American Queen Voyages. The AQV experience is much the same, but they provide a theater and a troupe of professional entertainers for nightly shows, Meals are somewhat fancier, and they do a bit better on the excursions, in my opinion. Price point is even higher than ACL, but if you can live with an inside cabin (we do, and don't mind it all), it is less than ACL.