12-Day Mississippi River Cruise Aboard American Melody
Summary: Contributor Jackie Sheckler Finch describes her experience on the 12-day “Mississippi Explorer Cruise” from Memphis to New Orleans aboard American Cruise Lines’ modern river ship, American Melody. The ship’s innovative design, featuring a unique bow that facilitates docking in remote areas, sets the stage for an immersive journey along America’s “first highway.”
Standing on shore, spectators looked as though they doubted whether the beautiful American Melody could dock in such a tiny place.
The Mississippi River was low. Rocks lined the water’s edge. No dock had been built here.
But the American Melody neatly maneuvered next to the shore, opened its unusual bow and lowered a platform for passengers to easily walk ashore.
Amazing! No wonder people often line up to watch the riverboat dock at many of its destinations along America’s waterways.
For my 12-day cruise aboard the American Melody, I traveled from Memphis to New Orleans with many interesting stops along the way. Named “The Mississippi Explorer Cruise,” this new journey is offered by American Cruise Lines.
Perhaps the cruise was added because many passengers want to take longer cruises than the usual seven- or eight-day ones, especially on this 250th birthday of America.
After all, the mighty Mississippi was the nation’s first highway. One of the longest rivers in the world, the Mississippi starts as a trickle out of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and flows 2,384 miles to surge into the Gulf of Mexico.
Pre-Cruise Hotel Stay in Memphis
American Cruise Lines has an excellent program where passengers arrive one day early for a cruise and stay at a local hotel. Given how airline flights can be delayed or canceled, it is a smart feature to ensure cruise line passengers have extra time to reach their cruise departure destinations.
When we boarded American Melody after our overnight at The Guest House at Graceland in Memphis, our staterooms were ready with our luggage already delivered to our staterooms and lunch being served in the ship dining room.
No long lines to board. No paperwork to do. No waiting for our luggage to arrive. Or not to arrive. No delay while our staterooms were being prepared. Stepping onto the ship, we were on our cruise home for almost two weeks.
An Insider’s Experience of American Melody
Launched in 2021, the five-deck American Melody has a guest capacity of 180 in 91 staterooms, all with private balconies with full-length sliding glass doors. The ship has several spacious lounges, a fitness center, a large dining room, a café for casual dining, a sun deck, a library, and an impressive four-story glass atrium at the center of the ship.
Although that fascinating ship’s bow is certainly an attention getter, it also has a very important function. Not only is the ship a sleek beauty, but she also has that bow that opens like some mythical creature’s jaws.
With its shallow draft and unique bow, the American Melody can dock in places other ships might have to pass by.
My Veranda Suite On American Melody
Located on Deck 4, my stateroom 423 had big comfy beds with quality bed linens and duvets, two pillows and a cushion on each bed, nightstands and lamps beside either bed, two cushy chairs pushed together to make a small sofa at the bottom of the beds, a mini fridge, large flat screen TV, long dresser with plenty of drawers, two chairs and a desk with a Keurig coffeemaker.
The stateroom had enough electric outlets for cellphones, computers and other electrical devices. The big bathroom had plenty of hot water and great water pressure. That isn’t always the case on cruise ships so I was quite happy.
The wide balcony had sliding glass doors leading to a table and two chairs. Full-length darkening curtains could be opened or closed. The balcony setup was going to be one of my favorite places to sit and read or watch the river flow.
Shipboard Dining
Alcoholic drinks and soft drinks are complimentary on the American Melody. The ship offers a nice selection of beer, wine, and custom-made cocktails. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served in the dining room. Every evening features cocktail time with hors d’oeuvres and drinks in the River Lounge before dinner.
Snacks, fresh fruit and other food and drinks are available around the clock on the ship. The Café on the outside deck serves breakfast and lunch with a lighter menu.
Every dining room menu has good options and the food is delicious with an emphasis on Southern cooking and fresh seafood. Everything I ordered was tasty and cooked the way I liked. The chef and crew did a great job.
Shipboard Entertainment
Musicians were brought aboard at different stops for evening entertainment: The Beale Street All Stars, Mississippi Marshall, Waylon & Carl’s Country Cajun, D’Angelo Davis, Judy Whitney-Davis and more.
Passenger Joe Poynter volunteers to play a Zydeco washboard for Cajun fiddler Waylon Thibodeaux (credit: Jackie Sheckler Finch)
During the day, passengers could play cards, enjoy the guest speaker, try trivia games and make crafts to take home. One day, pastry chef Marcus Capestani gave a cooking class on making Creole pralines. Then he shared the pralines we watched him make. Delicious.
Our Mississippi River Cruise Itinerary
The American Melody offers an excellent choice of shore excursions whenever the ship docks. Several shore excursions are free. Several others cost a bit.
Our itinerary included stops in Tunica, Cleveland, Vicksburg and Natchez in Mississippi, plus St. Francisville, Oak Alley and New Orleans in Louisiana.
A big plus on American Cruise Lines journeys is that a “cruise coach” follows along to make sure transportation is always there when and where it is needed. The American Cruise Lines cruise coaches are easy to spot with red, white and blue American Cruise Lines logos.
For most port stops, the cruise coach gives a complimentary tour around town with hop-on/hop-on service. The bus has a local guide to point out sights and share the destination’s history.
Our 12-day trip had so many wonderful shore excursions, but I don’t have room to write about them all, so I will just describe some highlights. Especially this year, as our nation celebrates its 250th birthday, it was great to visit so many historical sites.
USS Cairo Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi
The first armed vessel in the history of warfare to be sunk by a torpedo (today called a mine), the USS Cairo, went down in 12 minutes and not a soul aboard was lost.
Commissioned in January of 1862, Cairo was one of seven shallow-draft river ironclads to prowl the Mississippi River during the Civil War. The Yankee vessels were named after towns along the upper Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
However, Cairo’s career was short-lived. On the cold morning of Dec. 12, 1862, Cairo was in the hazardous confines of the Yazoo River tasked with destroying Confederate batteries. Seven miles north of Vicksburg, the ship was rocked by two explosions in quick succession.
The hole in the vessel’s bow proved catastrophic. Cairo’s skipper, Lieut. Commander Thomas O. Selfridge Jr. ordered the crew to abandon ship. Within 12 minutes, the Cairo slid into 36 feet of water. And there she remained for the next 102 years.
Recovering Cairo After a Century in the Mud
Armed with an inexpensive compass, historian Edwin Bearss, together with Civil War buffs Warren Grabau and Don Jacks, set out in a small boat one cold November morning to locate Cairo.
A heavy accumulation of mud piled on for more than a century made the finding seem impossible. But the three men did it. Surprisingly, the recovery of artifacts from the ship revealed a treasure trove of weapons, munitions, naval stores and personal property that help tell the story of the sailors who once called the ship home.
Seeing the artifacts in the USS Cairo Museum in Vicksburg, Mississippi, is fascinating. The leather shoes look almost ready to wear. Also recovered were a variety of condiment bottles to spice up meals, including a Lea & Perrins’ Worcestershire Sauce bottle. Amazingly, one bottle of pepper sauce proved to be edible after 100 years in the Yazoo River mud.
Gateway to the Blues Museum in Tunica, Mississippi
(credit: Jackie Sheckler Finch)
Over the years, I’ve visited two graves for bluesman Robert Johnson and three crossroads where he supposedly sold his soul to the devil to gain his legendary musical skills. That’s just a hint of the controversy surrounding this blues master.
The Gateway to the Blues Museum in Tunica, Mississippi, helps shed more light on the bluesman who died so young. Born May 8, 1911, in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, Robert Johnson is the biggest-selling blues artist of all time. However, during his lifetime, the “King of the Delta Blues” was largely unknown.
Although there are other stories, a tour guide at Dockery Plantation near Cleveland, Mississippi, shared some history several years ago when I visited. Maybe it’s true. Maybe not. It is well known that Robert Johnson did play music at Dockery Plantation.
Death of Bluesman Robert Johnson
The tour guide told me that Robert Johnson was dallying with a married woman and was poisoned with a bottle of booze by her jealous husband. Robert Johnson suffered mightily for three days until he died on Aug. 16, 1938, in Greenwood, Mississippi. He was 27 years old.
The tour guide also said that the great bluesman was probably buried in a pauper’s grave very close to where he died and that location may have been lost over the years.
The Gateway to the Blues museum is home to one of the most important collections of blues artifacts and memorabilia in America. Over 700 items help to illuminate the story about the origin and development of blues music in the Mississippi Delta. You could spend hours there listening to the music and watching videos of performers.
The Towers Pre-Civil War Mansion in Natchez, Mississippi
The first time I visited the beautiful antebellum home in 2016, I wondered why it was named “The Towers.” It didn’t have any. Towers, that is.
Sharing a champagne julep, homeowner Ginger Hyland explained the history of her unusual abode in Natchez, Mississippi. The Italianate house was built in three phases—1798, 1826 and 1858.
The house included two third-story rooms—one on either side of the front—the towers for which the home was famous.
“One of the landmark towers that gave my historic home its name was destroyed in a 1927 fire,” Ginger says. “The other tower was taken down that same year.”
But Ginger and her husband James were determined to do something about that lack of towers.
When I returned for a visit two months ago, I saw that Ginger and James had done it. The two towers were back.
Showing me around her home, Ginger explained how she discovered the historic home and why she moved to Natchez.
Making Her Home at The Towers
Ginger is the daughter of Lawrence A. “Pat” Hyland, former president of Hughes Aircraft Company and one of the men credited with the invention of radar. An aviation pioneer, he guided Hughes from a modest-sized business into a major company.
After 30 years with Hughes Aircraft, Pat retired in 1984. He died of a heart attack on Nov. 24, 1989, at age 92.
“When I was growing up in California, my parents had friends in Natchez so we would come to visit when I was a little girl,” Ginger says. “I thought these houses were wonderful.”
About 20 years ago, Ginger decided that she would feel quite at home in one of these historic Natchez mansions. So she began looking for one to buy. She fell in love with The Towers and bought it in September 2006.
Since then, Ginger and James have turned the neglected gem into a real treasure. Ginger has landscaped the almost eight acres and installed two dozen life-size bronze sculptures of wildlife, including grizzly bears and elk.
Recognizing The Towers Owner
When I first met Ginger at her Natchez home, I thought I knew her and her name from somewhere. It wasn’t until almost the end of my first visit that I figured out where and how.
I had never met Ginger. But years ago, I visited and wrote about the interesting American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum in Amarillo, Texas. Ginger’s accomplishments as a horse trainer and breeder are featured in the museum.
Ginger made history in 1997 when she became the first woman president for the American Quarter Horse Association, a position she earned as a result of years serving as a leader in the horse industry. She modestly shared little of those accomplishments when I visited her home.
Disembarkation in New Orleans
Disembarking from American Melody was as easy as embarking. Except that passengers didn’t want to leave. American Melody and its crew have a way of making people feel so welcome that it is difficult to pack up and walk off.
In fact, Cruise Director Hannah Bushey had a big smile on her face the last night of our cruise when she told us that a couple on our cruise had decided to book the next cruise aboard American Melody.
The passengers would travel back from New Orleans to Memphis on the American Melody. Another 12-day cruise.
For any cruise line, having passengers book another cruise—particularly one they had just taken—is the ultimate compliment. Well-deserved for American Cruise Lines.
For More Information
Also on More Time To Travel
- Solo Cruising the Mississippi River on American Cruise Lines
- Mississippi River Cruise on American Serenade
- American Melody Mississippi River Cruise: Music, Cuisine and History
Disclosure: The author was a guest of American Cruise Lines, but any opinions expressed in this post are her own.
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