It's time for another Dad/Daughter adventure and this time we stepped a little out of the box and sailed on a ship called Independence owned and operated by American Cruise Lines. American Cruise Lines is a little different than what we're used to with a smaller ship and a max passenger limit of 100. You really get to know your fellow passengers on this type of ship. Not only because you see the same people over and over but because there's not much to do except chat with each other. And yes, at 40 I was the youngest passenger onboard the first week. The second week, a young married couple came onboard with their grandparents or I would have been the youngest the second week as well. To many my age and younger, that would sound like a travesty but I've always been more into hanging out with the adults rather than going off and playing with kids my age ever since I was young.
As always, I preface these travel stories by pointing out that what follows is my personal opinion and experiences. You may have been on this same trip and/or done 20 cruises on this line and found every second wonderful. It's okay for us to have had different perspectives and experiences. Neither yours nor mine is any more important than the other. I am simply here to inform and hopefully at some points entertain. My goal is not to try and convince you to sail or not to sail on American Cruise Lines, only to share my experiences. There was very little online for me pre-cruise to find out about this sailing so I want to pay it forward to the next person looking for information. I encourage you to do as much research as possible for any vacation plans before dipping into that hard earned bank account. Yes, I was fortunate to be on a vacation at all, and yes cruising everywhere and on every line and size of ship is for me. I've heard every retort in the book after daring to share any moments I found less than acceptable on trips. Every line has their so called "cheerleaders." We talked with different people at separate times who went on the same tours and one would tell you it was horrible while the next would say it was all rainbows and puppy dogs. I had a feeling that if one person would complain that the bus broke down and they were made to walk 5 miles back to the ship, the next person would have said "yeah but it gave us a great chance to work off these extra calories." Judging by the line out the door and down the hall when the "included" cocktail hour started, I'm sure a lot of my fellow cruisers shouting praises were looking through rose or rosé colored glasses. I'm happy to listen to your impressions and agree that a subsequent trip could be the best I've ever had but until then, I can only share how things were on this first cruise.
One of the things I've missed sailing on all these ocean cruises is being able to sail to smaller ports like the towns along our southeastern U.S. border. So when Dad spotted this itinerary that traveled the inland waterway, we were both definitely interested. Dad had previously sailed once before with my brother on American Cruise Lines doing a round trip itinerary from Baltimore that combined their Chesapeake Bay stops and their American Revolution themed stops. We went into booking this cruise with the mindset of it being a new experience and a means to reach the ports. We didn't expect the busy day to day happenings that the bigger ships offer and knew first hand the reports from people who say that an American staffed ship isn't as eager to please in service for tips as the bigger cruise lines whose crew is reliant on any income to support families back home in their native countries.
This isn't to say that our experiences on this ship were all bad, it's more a matter of too many little things not going right. Join me, fellow travel enthusiasts, as I share what I felt it was like sailing, unknowingly beforehand, my first and second ACL cruise.
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