American Cruise Lines

Our first cruise with ACL had a high level of dissatisfaction. A cracked Locke on the Columbia River showed a weakness of the officers onboard. The backup plan was to go to Google and find out where passengers could be sent. We too were doing this - with difficulty because the WiFi was not working. They bused us to Fort Vancouver without coordinating the guides that were present. This could have been more interesting. Busing us 45 min to the Vista was no more than a 10 min view. The officers had little knowledge of Oregon - Willamette Valley, Canon Beach - both within 1 to 2 hours. There was no backup or contingency plan. They genuinely tried and continued to go through the process - it was too late. They brought us back to Portland - where we had come into early. The boat was docked where we embarked - inconvenient to the city, next to a very busy and noisy bridge, and under the direct landing flight path of the Portland Airport. To make matters worse for those of us still on board, another sister boat docked right next to us on our last night - engines/generators on. What were they thinking?

Staff was awesome! The ship wasn’t as nice as I expected though. It badly needs a major overhaul! The room was a bit cramped, and the balcony needed to be at least 6” deeper to accommodate a person getting into and out of the chairs. Food was pretty good, but not anything spectacular. I was very impressed by the variety of choices for me that were gluten free. The excursions were nice, well organized, on time, good locations. The exception to that was our “ walking tour” of Port Townsend. The guide assigned to my group, the historian from the museum, wasn’t up to the task. We only walked about 100 yards total, mostly stood in the sun and tried to stay interested.

The food was marginal at best. Sent back two meals that were not eatable. Presentation of meals was poor.Service was amateurish. Entertainment at night was BINGO and Games??? Not very entertaining.Tours were just OK, Waiting for buses 45 minutes after you have toured the Museum etc. not good. Tour guide was at times confusing, he seemed to be all over the map sometimes very hard to follow. Attention to detail needs work, no plates or forks for appetizers at cocktail hour 3 nights in a row??? Sanitary wipes and towels in exercise room, time changes for events and tours without proper notification, blinking message light on room phone reported but never corrected, place pillow over phone because red light was reflecting on ceiling over bed?? Spending $10k for a cruise expected better quality of service all a round. All that being said were advised by friends that the Mississippi to Memphis cruise was significantly better we are rolling the dice to give American cruise one more shot.

Outstanding food in both quality and presentation. Happy hour: food runs out in five minutes with no replacements. Most shore excursions are very good and well organized. Some major mistakes - West Point: saw the sights but gave us no time to see movie or exhibits in the visitor's center -- major disappointment. Ship's representative accompanies about half of the shore excursions. Usually very good ADA service. Would sail with ACL again.

After cruising the complete Mississippi last year, a 5 star trip, this cruise was a surprising disappointment. There did not seem to be enough experienced staff in charge, excursions overbooked, no body from the staff accompanied any of our excursions leaving the bus driver or local guide "responsible" for groups, we actually gave up seats for very angry passengers

We went on the Maine cruise last year and enjoyed it a great deal, but not the Hudson River cruise. The food and dining staff were wonderful, the cruise director not so. She was a non presence. She never spoke to us or anyone else that I could. She gave misinformation about the disembarkment procedure. The cruise stops were not good. If one did not go on the excursions, one did nothing. I would not recommend the Hudson River cruise. We are giving American Cruise Line one more chance next year , but many on board said, “ Never again.”

The boat is old and made a lot of noise at sea. The food vas very good and the wait staff did a good job serving. Bringing guests aboard for dinner caused us a problem because the dinner ran out of seats. The on board expert was not very interesting as his presentations were his opinions based on his historical background. The nightly entertainment was so so. The tour director was very new and did an excellent job for her experience. You should train better.

Ship was clean. Room was clean however bathroom seemed to only be cleaned a couple of times. Food was good. Dining room service could use some improvements. Service usually three hour from start to finish. The dining hours could be extended for a more convenient dining experience. More experience wait staff would be good also. My husband has red wine and iced tea dumped on him twice. The shore excursions were very poor. A big waste of time. Two of the towns we were docked in had nothing to do.

Just called about an 11 night cruise from Baltimore to Williamsburg area. Have you ever been between Baltimore and Virginia in November for $13,000 ($500/person/day)? June? July? But November? There is absolutely nothing in St. Michael’s in November. And, it’s really not all inclusive. Celebrity, here I come.

In November American Cruise Lines were poorly staffed, poorly prepared except for the shore excursions, and had inventory problems of beef, sour dough bread and Swiss cheese to name three. They seemed to have a cost control program on food and wine. Served $6 bottles of wine as featured. I would rate them a C+.

This cruise had the most turbulance. I am having trouble walking. The last day was a nightmare. When the taxi driver asked for our luggage, Chris said we were all set. We got to the airport----no luggage.Sent driver back and they would not give him the luggage until all the buses were loaded. We barely made our flight. Please look into this.

We had the unfortunate experience of being on the Columbia River cruise when the Bonneville Dam lock broke and we had to spend the majority of the time docked at the Red Lion in Portland.