Nicknamed “Quilt City,” Paducah is home to The National Quilt Museum, the world’s largest of its kind. A designation it has held since 2013, Paducah stands alongside other artsy cities like Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Austin, Texas, as well as international destinations like Sydney, Australia, and Rome, Italy. With a population of only 28,000, Paducah is one of only nine UNESCO Creative Cities in the U.S. In Paducah, Kentucky, for example, tour guide Fowler Black pointed out that “the river is the original highway. The motorcoach usually comes around again in about a half hour. Then I start the ride over again and get off for the places I want to visit. A local guide aboard the bus points out sights and shares history of the town. I like to take the hop-on hop-off motorcoach ride to all the stops in a new destination. The coaches are very large and comfortable. The shore excursion list has handy notes about when each tour will depart from the ship and how long the tour will last.Īmerican Cruise Lines has motorcoaches with red, white and blue American Cruise Lines logos that follow along on the cruise to make sure that transportation is always there when and where it is needed. Hop-on Hop-off Motorcoaches for Shore Excursions On my cruise, there were 12 comped tours and six that cost extra with prices between $20 to $45. Off the ship, gratuities are suggested for local guides and motorcoach drivers. – All meals (no specialty restaurants or added costs) – All onboard alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages On American Serenade, these are the costs included in the fare: I’ve already mentioned that I paid almost $5 (with shore tax and gratuity) for a can of Coke on an ocean cruise. And it was not as expensive as regular staterooms.Īmerican Cruise Lines doesn’t nickel and dime a passenger as some other ships do. For my fully booked cruise, I stayed in a comfy single cabin – the ship has four – which included a big bathroom, a full-size balcony and a picture window overlooking the bow of the ship.Īlthough my solo stateroom was smaller than regular cabins, it was roomy enough for me. Inaugurated on April 23 in Vidalia, Louisiana, American Serenade offers 91 cabins with a guest capacity of 180 passengers. Or she could start her cruise in Memphis and end up in her hometown of Nashville. When the cruise ended in Memphis, she could rent a car and drive home. Carolyn could book the cruise to leave from Nashville, cruise for a week to Memphis with stops and shore excursions in between. Yes, I definitely would recommend the exact same cruise I had just completed. But she wanted to ask a person taking the cruise for an opinion.

She had seen the ship docked there for two days and had even checked out American Cruise Lines on its website. Her first name was Carolyn and she lived in Nashville.

Stepping off the American Serenade and walking up the Nashville riverfront hill to the waiting American Cruise Lines motorcoach, a woman asked me if I would recommend cruising.Īn older single lady, she saw me walking alone and wondered if I had taken the cruise by myself.

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