Has anyone ever done the St. Louis to Chicago cruise (or vice versa)?

[ontheweb]

We are considering this for next summer and would appreciate any comments from anyone who has sailed this itinerary.

[ericosmith]

I don't believe this itinerary has ever been offered before. 

[AQJazz]

I’ve done some variation of this itinerary four times. Twice on the Delta Queen, once on the American Queen and most recently on the Countess in September.

 

Obviously I love it. The appeal for me is it’s something different and with the smaller river you are up close to nature. So many eagles along the river. And in Alton there is a wonderful bird sanctuary.

 

The shore stops are not well known but I love the smaller towns. This year we were there for Peoria’s Farmers Market, which was great. It was very near where the boat was docked.

It’s a very different cruise - if it’s your first one, I might be hesitant to recommend. It all depends on what your interests are. 
 

On my 40+ cruises over 40 years of cruising I’ve done basically every itinerary and boat. Each one offers something different. While the American Queen is my favorite boat, I really enjoyed the Countess.

[DaveinCharlotte]

14 hours ago, ericosmith said:

I don't believe this itinerary has ever been offered before. 

I remember seeing their Illinois River trips a while back and got interested -- then they disappeared from their catalogs for quite some time.  But, as AQJazz notes, they're running again.

[bob brown]

I would love it if they would use a boat small enough to navigate all the way from Alton to Chicago, instead of ending at Ottawa.   And then connect with a Victory ship on to Montreal...

[ontheweb]

On 10/15/2021 at 8:28 AM, AQJazz said:

I’ve done some variation of this itinerary four times. Twice on the Delta Queen, once on the American Queen and most recently on the Countess in September.

 

Obviously I love it. The appeal for me is it’s something different and with the smaller river you are up close to nature. So many eagles along the river. And in Alton there is a wonderful bird sanctuary.

 

The shore stops are not well known but I love the smaller towns. This year we were there for Peoria’s Farmers Market, which was great. It was very near where the boat was docked.

It’s a very different cruise - if it’s your first one, I might be hesitant to recommend. It all depends on what your interests are. 
 

On my 40+ cruises over 40 years of cruising I’ve done basically every itinerary and boat. Each one offers something different. While the American Queen is my favorite boat, I really enjoyed the Countess.

 

We have actually been on 12 cruises, all ocean cruises, almost half in Europe. We did once have a river cruise in the Netherlands and Belgium booked. but it was chartered out from under us after we made our final payment.