The prototype, exiled to another river
The American Song entered service in 2018. She is the first contemporary
riverboat ever built in the United States, and it still shows. Eighty-two
metres long but wider than her juniors, 94 cabins instead of ninety-one, and a
larger crew than the hulls that followed.
Her cabin grid is unique too: the flagship suite is a corner suite with a
wraparound balcony, whereas from the very next hull the line adopted a grand
suite of another design. The prototype keeps its peculiarities; nobody has
reproduced them.
And she will not see the Mississippi again
Here is the most surprising fact on this page. The ship that invented the
modern American riverboat, on the Mississippi, no longer sails the Mississippi
at all. Her 2026 and 2027 calendar is entirely on the Columbia and the Snake,
between Portland and Clarkston, calling at Richland, Kalama and Astoria.
Two hundred and twenty-eight dates with us, all on that basin. It is a
different voyage: gorges instead of a plain, dams instead of levees, and a
season running spring to autumn rather than winter to autumn.
Neighbouring ships
The American Pioneer is a 2025 coastal monohull. The American Spirit is the small Puget Sound ship. The
American Harmony shares the Columbia with her. The American Melody holds the Mississippi.
The flag, the yard, and what it changes
Eighteen hulls, eighteen owned. None chartered. Seventeen come from the same
Maryland shipyard, held by the same family as the cruise line. Design, build,
operate and sell: four steps under one roof, which explains how fast this fleet
grows.
Now the law. You often read that this line "cannot" leave American waters.
That is wrong. The 1886 passenger law targets foreign ships, requiring them to
insert a foreign call between two American ports. An American ship is not
required to.
What the line does with that freedom is stay home. It makes a selling point
of it: no customs, no formality between calls, and a river network almost
nobody else can work. For a Canadian traveller the distinction matters at the
documents stage, and we come back to it below.
The fare, item by item
Included: the cabin, full board, crew gratuities, the pre-cruise hotel
night, transfers between hotel, ship and airport, at least one excursion per
call, port taxes and satellite internet.
Not included: air travel, travel insurance, so-called premium or signature
excursions, and drinks outside the scheduled service. Beer and wine are served
with meals and a cocktail hour is offered in the late afternoon, but there is
no bar open all day on several ships.
On excursions, the most constant criticism in the reviews deserves repeating
as it stands: the most interesting outings are often the paid ones, and the
quay is not always in the heart of town. The included outing is then a coach
ride. Ask for the detail before choosing a date.
Aboard, and for whom
Small ships, one dining room, a panorama lounge, a sun deck. Evenings are
talks rather than shows, and they end early. That is not a shortfall, it is the
format; but a traveller looking for a big ship's bustle will be happier
elsewhere.
The clientele is markedly older than the line announces: a professional
review speaks of seventy-five and over for most passengers, almost all
American. No facility for children exists aboard. A couple of fifty will be the
youngest on board by twenty years.
Accessibility calls for particular care. In January 2024 the line reached a
settlement with the United States Department of Justice on the accessibility of
its seventeen ships of the time, and the follow-up to its remediation plan is
not public. It advertises accessible cabins without publishing an inventory.
Any booking of this kind is confirmed in writing.
Leaving from Quebec
A valid Canadian passport is required. The line promises its clients they
can leave it at home, but that holds for an American, not for you: reaching an
American port means entering the United States. Two itineraries need the
passport aboard as well, Alaska which transits Canadian waters and the Great
Lakes which use a canal in Canadian territory.
The flight is booked separately. The pre-cruise hotel night, the transfer to
the ship and the return transfer to the airport are included in the fare, which
simplifies the arrival day considerably.
The contract of passage provides for American maritime law and the courts of
Connecticut, with short claim deadlines. Your Quebec protection therefore does
not come from the line: it comes from the licensed agency you buy through.
Voyages AquaTerra deposits your payments in a trust account and your file falls
under the Compensation Fund for Customers of Travel Agents.
