Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromPa P

  Date: 04/01/2023

  1 star
  In a letter to American Cruise Lines, the FDA also said, FDA inspectors also observed insanitary conditions related to the potable waters systems onboard the vessels."
  A total of three cases of Legionella were reported in 2021 that resulted in the onboard detection of the bacteria which causes the illness, American Cruise Lines said in a statement. "American Cruise Lines has taken extensive corrective action to eradicate the bacteria and has modified its water treatment and monitoring plans to prevent it in the future. All potentially affected guests were notified by American Cruise Lines promptly. American Cruise Lines appreciates the guidance of the FDA and will continue to work in concert with the agency and water quality contractors to maintain the water management plan aboard its ships.
  However, despite the cruise line's response and changes, in late January 2023 the FDA sent another letter advising of "continued concerns." The FDA then went on to detail ways in which the cruise line did not adequately address the problem.
  The letter concluded "We note that you have other vessels in your fleet. Although we are not aware of a case of Legionnaire's disease being associated with any of those vessels, based on your practices on the American Star and American Heritage, we have concerns about the potable water on your other vessels... It would not be appropriate to wait until there is a confirmed case of Legionnaires' disease to address the water practices onboard those other vessels... This letter notifies you of our concerns and provides you an opportunity to address them."

• Review fromIngrid S

  Date: 03/24/2023

  1 star
  Worst cruise ever. Food was awful, staff did their best but untrained, furnishings and boat in general was very shabby and in dire need of renovation. I took the ******* * ******** cruise in August 2021 and I was shocked at their current commercials on TV. They portray the boat as a luxury ship….NOT! Really, the only positive comment I have is the “guest speaker,” was excellent. Lastly, ridiculously overpriced. Worth maybe a third of what was charged. NEVER AGAIN.

• Review fromjoseph c

  Date: 12/05/2022

  1 star
  As per our conversation today with "Tammy".
  We tested positive for COVID, yesterday. We are vaccinated and had not to this point contracted COVID. Because of the well publicized low water levels on the *********** ****** we were forced take a 4.5 hour bus trip from ********* ** *********** was well aware that the ship could not make the cruise trip to *******. Your crew informed us that 2 weeks prior, ship "pulled over on the side of the river", build a road,bus guests to *******.At no point, prior to our arrival were we made aware that the Heritage would not be "cruising" the entire journey.
  Part of our cruise experience, was CRUISING not BUSSING.
  No credit for this failing/hiding was offered.
  ACL had failed to fulfill its mission on the cruise.
  ACL failed to inform us that the trip was being changed.
  ACL NEVER gave up the opportunity to RESCHEDULE for the full experience .what makes ACL think i would be willing to commit to another $11k outlay of cash on the spot??? Your 2 week adjustment period to a booked date on the cruise once we returned home, is laughable.
  On the bus ride to ******** we informed the bus driver that SEVERAL guests were cavalierly talking and COUGHING the entire journey. Bus driver brought it to Sara ACL attention. Sara attempted to correct this by offering masks to everyone after the bathroom break. My wife and i did take masks, however the damage was obviously done.
  We are not unreasonable people, quite to the contrary we had a nice trip. The crew was amazing and tried to everything they could to make it enjoyable.
  Manager Brandy was excellent and did her best to put our minds at ease, however halfway through the trip she started to wear a mask. Brandy was not wearing a mask the first few days. Why did she do this? did she know something?was something kept from us?
  It is my hope to cruise with ACL again, however this lack of transparency at the outset has greatly shaken our confidence in your commitment to customer service.

• Review fromMary R

  Date: 11/30/2022

  1 star
  We left the ship on day 3. Cabin was dirty, most chairs in the ship were stained, dinning room looked like a 1970's nursing home dining room, carpet was torn in our hallway (major trip hazard), our bathroom was filthy, no safe in room, even tho we were told there would be, a number of things in our room were missing and we had to ask for them, like the desk chair. (And they bring us a stained chair).
  The crew was friendly, but obviously lacked training and supervision. There was no resemblance to the "modern, elegant, luxurious comfort they talk about on their website and brochures.
  This cruise was not worth the cost by any stretch of the imagination. You pay for the ***** and get a ***** *. We’ve learned our lesson, at a great cost to our pocket book, that we will never go on another ACL cruise no matter how wonderful the they say it would be.

• Review fromRonald S

  Date: 11/12/2022

  2 stars
  All was tolerable until they lost our luggage. Delivered to wrong location and refused to help find them. A luggage handler couldn’t find the owner at his hotel and called number to tag. American cruise lines refused to help get them to us. Had it not been for astute baggage handler at the wrong hotel we would never have seen them again. Unbelievable.

• Review fromTom P.

  Date: 10/12/2022

  1 star
  We are writing to complain about the unhealthy conditions and poor treatment we received from the American Cruise Line Director, Lance S. and Hotel General Manager, John M.. When we arrived at our cabin on Friday, September 16th, my wife and I noticed a bad musty smell inside the cabin. The room also was quite humid. My wife immediately found the Hotel Manager, John, who said he would look into it. That was the last we saw John M. I then found Lance S. who said he was aware of the problem. He told me that a pipe had burst on the previous voyage, and that it was now fixed. I told him that it was very humid in the cabin as well as having a sickening musty smell. He said that he would have the crew sprinkle baking soda on the carpet and vacuum it up followed by running fans for a couple of hours to try to dry the carpet. The crew tried their best to correct the problem, but the carpet was too wet. It would take several days of constant blowing to thoroughly dry the carpet. I asked about moving to a different cabin, but Lance said he did not have any empty rooms, nor did he offer any other suggestions or assistance. Later that night, I asked for some room deodorizers, but was told they did not have any, Lindsey (the 4th floor sky lounge attendant) heard me asking room service and found some spray deodorizer.
  I sprayed the air conditioning fan and ran our bathroom hair dryer pointed down in the closet where the carpet was the most wet. The next morning, I put the deodorizer spray in one of the desk drawers, because we needed to spray the room several times a day because of the strong musty smell. When we came back from breakfast, the spray bottle was missing. Apparently, someone went into our personal drawers and took the bottle back! We also asked if they had any Claritin for my wife, because the musty smell was affecting her allergies. They said they do not have any medical services on board. We had to find a pharmacy on our own and had to miss a couple of excursions.

• Review fromBeth W.

  Date: 09/04/2022

  1 star
  We cruised New England in August 2022 on the American Star. It was awful. The worst cruise I have ever taken. The ship is old and in need of much maintenance. We had sewage back up in our shower 3 times. We embarked the ship from a different port than advertised. Had we not been on the pre- cruise excursion we would have missed the ship, because we wre never informed of the embarking port change. We were supposed to embark in Providence Rhode Island but it was New Bedford that we embarked. The ship never made it to 3 of 7 ports advertised. We missed *********** ********* *** ***** ******* ******** ******** was cut short because we couldn't dock and had to ferry over from *** *******. The captain kept us in *** ******* 3 nights, because he said the wind gust were too high and the anchor wouldn't hold. However, we were suppose to dock not anchor. The ferries and other boats were sailing, but not the American Star. The excursions mostly consisted of trolley rides around the town. The ship had one weathered elliptical and one weathered stationary bike on the outside deck for its fitness program. The staff was friendly but they were understaffed, unorganized and untrained. Some staff walked off in the middle of the cruise and new ones came on. I called customer service. I was told to email. I emailed customer service and the president. I stated my dissatisfaction with the cruise. I asked for a statement of why the ship couldn't sail so I could file a claim with my travel insurance. I have ask for a statement a total of 5 times. Two while on the ship 3 in emails after the cruise. A month later, I have not received a statement. I also asked for a partial refund. The president sent a letter say they advertise the American Star as their oldest ship. He was glad I had positive interaction with the staff. He said, he wanted to restore my confidence by offering me 25% discount on another cruise. They had already offered 20% off to everyone,if they booked on the cruise.

• Review fromLarry B

  Date: 08/23/2022

  1 star
  Like all the rest of the reviews this is a terrible company. The staffing issues are beyond belief. Most of the employees on these vessels work for extremely short periods of time and totally inexperienced and not trained in any formal way. I imagine no one is because they realize employees are not going to stick with this job for any length of time.
  The quality and value of the entire trip, I would say is overpriced by something like at least 50%.
  Simply look elsewhere