Personal Critique

Opinions: Since we missed all but one of our scheduled stops, we were not impressed with this cruise. The food and service was pretty good. The complementary soda, beer, and wine was a nice plus. For the most part the entertainment was fair. It was mostly groups that played their own songs unknown to us. The one night a group played American Favorites was better than any other night. Our Riverlorian speaker was adequate, though he repeated many things. The biggest disappoint was not going to our ports of call, with very little explanation about the changes. Our first stop was New Madrid, which we enjoyed very much. We were furnished with a map, with comprehensive information to enjoy your time there. We did not make our second stop - We were taken on a 30-45 minute bus ride to get to and from, with very little time left to see anything. Our next stop was Dover, which we missed altogether. That was supposed to be an interesting visit with Civil War history at Fort Donaldson, the Surrender House, and much more. Our two days in Clarksville (Nashville) ended up being our disembarkation morning so we only got to do the extra excursion we paid for to take us to the airport. Of course, we did not have any included excursions for either of our last two ports. They did take us to the Discovery Park of America one of the days, which would be a nice stop for families with children.

I also wanted to say something about our cabin. It was the smallest cabin we have ever been in. However, that part did not bother us. The beds were comfortable and the shower was spacious by cruising standards. I was happy we did not pay the extra for a balcony. The balcony lay-out is such that you have people walking through your balcony as it is part of the promenade around each deck. There are a few private balconies attached to the most expensive cabins, which of course cost a small fortune. I might add, there was complementary Wi-Fi that worked pretty well about 90% of the time. For the reasons stated, we would think long and hard before booking another US River Cruise. I really didn't do any research because my step-brother and sister-in-law chose the itinerary and we wanted to go with them. Perhaps it was because it was a "Music On The River" themed cruise - they have other themed cruises. I felt bad for them because they had been planning this trip for years. They commented that the other trip they took RT New Orleans was so much better. I really think we would have had a totally different experience if we had been able to see our stops along the way. While there is obviously a disclosure that there are no guarantees about much of anything, most cruises do something for the passengers when half or more of your trip has been rearranged or canceled. This is an expensive trip compared to ocean voyages. We still want to try a European River cruise, we would definitely want a French Balcony for that!