OHIO RIVER CRUISE
23 August - 7 September 2024
I booked a cruise with American Cruise Lines on the Ohio River leaving home on Friday 23 August and returning on Saturday 7 September. This was my fifth cruise with ACL.
Daily Schedule:
6:30 - 10—Early Risers Continental Breakfast in Sky Lounge
7:30 - 10—Breakfast in Dining Room
11 - 2——-Buffet bar in Sky Lounge
12 - 2——Lunch in Dining Room
5:30 - 10:00 - Bar Open in River Lounge
5:30 - 7:30 - Dinner in Dining Room
8:10 - Overview of Next Port in River Lounge
8:20 - Overview of Port and Onboard Activities in River Lounge
8:30 - 9:30 - Entertainment
Friday 23 August - I flew to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to begin the cruise. I arrived at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in downtown Pittsburgh about 3:30.
The hotel is located on floors 15 to 25 of the historic Henry W. Oliver building, a former bank; check-in is on 25. There was a complimentary cocktail reception between 5:30 and 7.
Hotel Room
Old Vault in Hotel Lobby
Saturday 24 August - Breakfast in the hotel was more than ample with multiple hot and cold options. My boarding time is 11:15. The bus picked us up in front of the hotel and dropped us off a short walk from the riverboat. Steeler Stadium was just above the dock.
After lunch in the dining room, I went to stateroom 330, a single room, and unpacked.
There was a mandatory Egress Drill at 1:45. Afterwards there were introductions and shore excursion explanations. There were 116 passengers on board. At 4, Jim Schweikart’s lecture was “Discover the River,” and it was very informative about the Ohio. Jim had lectured and entertained on my "Lower Mississippi River Cruise," and I was elated that he was onboard. I sat on the balcony for a while and got to visit with a worker on shore as we passed through a lock. I think of this area as heavily populated, but we traveled miles with no signs of habitation other than a road and the occasional utility pole obscured by trees. The Grooms, a drummer and pianist/vocalist, provided the evening’s entertainment.
Sunday 25 August - Wheeling/Moundsville, West Virginia - Even though the boat was docked at Heritage Port in Wheeling, the tours were in Moundsville. Choosing not to visit the WV Penitentiary, I selected the Moundsville Local Loop which had 3 stops: Fostoria Glass Museum; Strand Theater; Grave Creek Mound. The two-hour tour departed at 9:45. After making our way through Wheeling and traveling through McMechen and Glendale (home of Brad Paisley), we arrived in Moundsville. My goal was the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complex, so I skipped the first two stops. There was an excellent museum detailing many aspects of West Virginia life, as well as giving a history of the Adena people and The Mound itself. Marx Toys, Fostoria Glass, Marble King, and Homer Laughlin China—all West Virginia manufacturers—were also featured with displays. Fifty-five uneven steps with no handrail make it possible to climb to the top of the Mound. (No, I did not.) By the time I had finished with the museum, there was only about a half hour left, so I just rode the circuit on the bus until we had picked up all the guests.
Fostoria Glass
Wednesday 28 August - Maysville, Kentucky - we docked at Limestone Landing in Maysville, founded in 1787. It was the home of Rosemary Clooney.
The morning tour, Old Washington Exploration, left at 8:30. After a short bus ride, we arrived at the town of Washington, which was founded in 1786 to be the capital of Kentucky. Simon Kenton, compatriot of Daniel Boone, founded the town on the higher ground because the land was better for farming.
The post office here held utmost importance for the entire area on both sides of the river. Our walking tour lasted about 2 hours. The first stop was the Paxton House, home of an attorney, and the adjacent Paxton Inn. From there we walked to Mefford’s Fort, moved to the town and restored; home to a gunsmith, its thick walls, which repelled attacks, are constructed from the lumber of the boat which brought the family from Pittsburgh.
What used to be the Methodist Episcopal Church - South has an interior balcony for slaves which can only be accessed from the exterior. A wagon was parked below the doors and slaves used a ladder set up in the wagon to enter and to leave the church.
We retraced our steps to the Courthouse Lawn. Harriet Beecher visited the town in 1833 and witnessed a slave auction which she later immortalized in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The house where she stayed is a museum to her and to the abolitionist movement.
Albert Sidney Johnston, Confederate General, was born and grew up in Washington, and that house is also a museum.
The afternoon tour visited the “Kentucky Gateway Museum Center,” which has space devoted to local history. Its claim to fame is the “Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection.” This is a universal collection of 1/12 scale miniatures in a 3300 square foot gallery. There are houses, furniture, room boxes, vignettes, dolls—you name it. After that visit I walked across the street and paid $5 to sample “Old Pogue Bourbon”—not to my taste.
Maysville
Jim Schweikart’s lecture on “Lewis & Clark” was an overview of their journey. Johnathan Len provided the evening’s entertainment with a tribute to music of the 50’s and 60’s. He performed an excellent one-man show with lots of sing-alongs.
Thursday 29 August - Cincinnati, Ohio - We were tied up just before the Cincinnati Reds Ballpark by dawn.
My morning tour was to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. My experience was both enlightening and depressing. An authentic slave pen from Mason County, Kentucky is one of the main exhibits. This building was used to store slaves until they could be sold South. Artifacts, photos, quotations, and videos told the horror story of slavery in the United States. A temporary exhibition on The Green Book explained how Blacks coped with traveling before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A separate exhibition depicting modern forms of slavery: trafficking; child labor; economic; etc. was both heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time.
Views from second floor deck where "Flame of Freedom" burns.
My next adventure was an almost three-hour-long bus tour with an on-board local guide. The Roebling Bridge is the oldest suspension Bridge on the Ohio and a pedestrian bridge which natives once derisively called “The Hillbilly Highway” became workers from Kentucky used the lower level to cross the river to jobs in Cincinnati while returning workers used the upper level.
We passed through neighborhoods like “Over the Rhine” as well as downtown and saw many of the important sites as we wound our way through Cincinnati. We made three stops: the first was Eden Park;
the second was at Union Terminal;
(Back on the bus)
the third on the riverbank in Covington, Kentucky after crossing the river.
(Back in Cincinnati)
Johnathan Len entertained again—country music this time.
Friday 30 August - Madison, Indiana - Dense fog covered the river early but began to lift about daybreak. My walking tour of Madison’s Historic District began at the dock. Dan, our guide, was excellent. Madison’s Historic District comprises 122 blocks and is the largest continuous such district in the country. Of course, there are numerous restrictions as to the appearance of the properties as they all must meet certain guidelines. The city, founded by John Paul in 1810, is the county seat of Jefferson County, and its current population is about 12,000.
I played “Sitcom Trivia” before Jim lectured on “The Voyage of the New Orleans,” the first steamboat to travel from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi River. “The Juggaurnuts Band,” specializing in jug band music, entertained and provided an enjoyable evening.
Saturday 31 August - Louisville, Kentucky - My balcony view was “Joe’s Crab Shack.” Go figure!
“The Kentucky Derby Experience” tour departed the dock. We drove to Churchill Downs and received a guided tour of the facility which included seeing several trainers riding horses on the track. After reentering the building, we watched a movie on the history of the race before having free time to visit the museum.
A female jockey spoke to our group and showed us her equipment as we enjoyed a small slice of “Derby Pie” and a small “Mint Julep.”
She is holding her tiny saddle!
My afternoon tour was to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. In the museum, various displays highlighted some of the most famous baseball players and the bats they used. The guided factory tour covered the entire baseball bat making process from felling the trees to the finished product using videos as well as watching workers and some automated equipment complete various stages in the actual process. At the end of the tour, each participant received a mini-bat.
During dinner, it began raining hard and the wind blew strongly. After the storm passed, it was a beautiful evening. “Kentucky Blue,” a bluegrass music group entertained: mandolin; banjo; guitar; bass—all electronic instruments. They were excellent and the hour passed quickly. At the beginning, there was one heckler; finally, the guitar player looked at him and said, “You got more mouth than a pig’s got ass.” No more heckling.
Sunday 1 September - Underway Day - Jim lectured on “Murder and Mayhem on the Western Rivers” at 11. His talk covered Cave in Rock; the Harp Brothers; Samuel Ross “Wolfgang” Mason; The Legend of Billy Potts; J.B. Jones/Joseph Cocke, Jr. Several pleasure boats were on the river; not only was it Sunday, it was Labor Day Weekend. After “Sunset and Coronas” on deck 5, “The Grooms” entertained with “Love Letters,” a musical program highlighting wartime love letters. The riverboat operated on Eastern Time Zone all day today even though we entered Central Time Zone this afternoon.
Monday 2 September - Evansville, Indiana - Labor Day - Henderson, Kentucky is just across the river. My morning tour went to John James Audubon State Park. It was a very short coach ride through corn and soybean fields before crossing the river into Kentucky and stopping at the museum where the curator welcomed us and gave an overview. An employee gave a presentation about owls and brought out both a screech owl and a barn owl for us to see. After stopping to check out a bird feeder outside the Observation Room, I visited the museum which houses the largest displayed collection of John James Audubon art and artifacts in the world. His life is interpreted through exhibits and a collection of his paintings and memorabilia.
One interesting fact is that Kentucky owns the entire Ohio River. Due to a shift, there was a small slice of Kentucky on the Indiana side of the river on which a store sold cheaper gas and cigarettes.
The afternoon tour went to the Old Vanderburgh County Courthouse. The building was completed in 1890, and the exterior is elaborately decorated with carved limestone and bronze. A clock in the tower strikes the hours and half hours. The structure was designed to promote the area as a center for trade, agriculture, manufacturing, and education. The interior boasts a rotunda topped by a glass dome, intricate plaster work, and impressive marble and wooden details. Operated by a nonprofit, certain rooms can be used for weddings, banquets, dances, etc.
Across the street is the old Sheriff’s House and Jail built in the style of a European castle.
Numerous pleasure boats plied the river as people enjoyed the holiday. The evening’s entertainment was “Dueling Pianos;” Walter Mellon & Tommy Smith took requests and played a rollicking show with audience participation.
Tuesday 3 September - Underway Day - I went to the bow in time to see “Cave in Rock.”
“Rock N Roll Bingo” was at 3. Jim’s talk was about the steamboat Sultana, the worst non-wartime maritime disaster in US History. About 4:45, we docked in Paducah at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River. There was an “Eagle Society Reception“ on the deck after dinner. “The Wheelhouse Rousters,” a bluegrass group, provided the evening’s entertainment with songs focusing on the roustabout music of the Ohio River Valley.
Wednesday 4 September - Paducah, Kentucky - To get to street level from the riverboat required a steep climb; luckily, I rode a golf cart. The “Paducah City Experience” tour began at 10. Our guide, Fowler Black, was the director of the Paducah Tourist Center. He emphasized Paducah’s location at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, just downriver from the Ohio’s confluence with the Cumberland River and just upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River. Our tour began with an explanation of the flood wall, erected after the disastrous 1937 flood, and how the murals decorating these walls depict Paducah’s history. He spoke of the Battle of Paducah in 1864 when Nathan Bedford Forrest attacked the city in a futile attempt to capture supplies. From there we received a guided tour through town, especially “Lowertown,” which Grant ordered burned in 1864 because the Confederate’s were using the area as a base to fire on Union forces. Only one house, built in 1850, survived. The area was revitalized when the city bought a number of the dilapidated houses and sold them for one dollar to artists who agreed to move in and to renovate the property. He pointed out the home of Alben Barkley, a Vice-president of the United States. Downtown desperately needed revitalization, and that seemed to hinge on the renovation of the Columbia Theater. At the end of the tour, he sang “The Paducah Song” a cappella.
Our one stop was at the National Quilt Museum founded in 1991 and dedicated to today’s quilters. Its permanent collection of almost 700 quilts is rotated through the display area. These are not Granny's quits; in reality, it’s a fiber art museum.
(Made from the artist's wedding dress and lace.)
I walked back to the riverboat from the museum.
Jim entertained. He played the guitar and sang a potpourri of songs about travel. During his performance we entered “Olmsted Lock and Dam,” the last lock of the trip. I sat on the bow of the second deck until we left the Beautiful Ohio and entered the Mighty Mississippi about 11:15pm.
It’s amazing how bright the stars twinkle with little or no light pollution.
Thursday 5 September - Underway Day - We made our way up the Mississippi toward Saint Louis. We passed Cape Giradeau, Missouri. As we’re traveling upstream, we no longer have the right of way. At one point we waited for 2 large tows to pass on both sides. Jim lectured on “The Mighty Mississippi” before lunch, and we passed Tower Rock shortly after noon. Before Happy Hour, Jim spoke on some of the curious aspects of river life in a session called “What the Heck!” About 4:45, we pulled over near Oakville, Missouri for an emergency medical disembarkation.
After dinner, I went topside for ‘Sunset, Coronas, and Margaritas.” Donna Groom entertained at 8:30
Friday 6 September - Saint Louis, Missouri - We docked just below the Arch in Saint Louis. My “Discover Saint Louis” tour at 9 was not as advertised. The highlight was to be the Cathedral Basilica, but it was closed for a funeral. Judi, our guide, was not wonderful, and the narration made the tour seem tedious. (I kept expecting to see Gilligan.) . After leaving the dock, we drove through the Soulard and Lafayette Park neighborhoods as well as other areas of the city. Our only stop was at the Cathedral of Saint Louis. A drive through Forest Park, site of the 1904 World’s Fair, showed the Art Museum and the Zoo.
My afternoon tour was “Saint Louis Gateway Arch Experience." My joy at having Judi as a tour guide again was boundless. It was a short bus ride from the riverboat to The Gateway Arch. Completed in 1965 to commemorate Saint Louis as “the gateway to the West,” its 630 feet height make it the tallest manmade monument in United States. Once there, I received a timed ticket for the tram ride to the top. Who knew we could have gone up earlier than the time on the ticket? Our tour guide,,of course, but she didn’t tell us for 20 minutes or so. Five of us crammed into the capsule and made the 4 minute ride to the top where we had almost 10 minutes to make photos through the window slits before reentering the capsule for the 3 minute ride down.
Then it was time to hear the disembarkation instructions and to be entertained by Dave Cottrell, a magician and comedian. Dave’s show was both entertaining and funny. He’s also a banjo picker and ended with some music.
Saturday 7 September - Our instructions were to vacate the stateroom by 7:30 and to prepare to disembark by 8:30. My transfer to the airport was complimentary. I flew back to DFW from Saint Louis.
