Ultimate Mississippi River Cruise Aboard the American Queen

“Life becomes very simple on the river,” said Lee Hendrix, a former river boat captain who had spent more than two thirds of his life on the Mississippi River. Hendrix started work as a deckhand, literally swabbing the deck, before working his way up to captain. By the time I sailed with him he was content to leave the navigation to Capt. Rob De Luca while he shared stories about the river with guests on board the American Queen, many of which he had documented in his book Peep Light.

“I’ve been on the river for 51 years. It’s my home,” he said, gazing over the coffee coloured water sliding past the bow. As the onboard Riverlorian – the word is a derivative of three others: river, lore and historian – Hendrix’s affection for the river, the American Queen and all the intertwining stories was infectious.

The American Queen was a grand old gal which looked like a paddle wheeler right out of Mark Twain’s book Life on the Mississippi. She was in fact a replica, built in 1995 with Priscilla Presley presiding as Godmother.

What happened to the American Queen?

American Queen Voyages ceased all operations in February 2024, nine months after I stepped ashore in New Orleans, having cruised down the Mississippi from Memphis.

Hornblower Group, the parent company, sold the ship to American Cruise Lines, which took the whole fleet for US$6.3 million. American Countess and American Duchess went to a scrapyard, and the American Queen was judged too expensive to return to service. She was stripped back and offered to municipalities along the river as a floating hotel, casino or venue.

So the largest steamboat ever built is currently a bare hull waiting for someone to return her to her glory.

A grand old gal with charm aplenty

The American Queen was my home for nine days as we cruised from Memphis to New Orleans. The 127m long steam driven paddle wheeler had capacity for 436 guests over six decks. With two wrap around promenade decks, upper level staterooms had French doors opening onto external decks, creating a friendly conviviality amongst passengers seated outside their staterooms and others strolling the decks. The JM White Dining Room offered fine dining, plus a buffet for breakfast and lunch, while more casual buffet dining with indoor and outdoor seating was available at the Front Porch.

This became my favourite spot to take in all the sights, sounds and smells of the river while watching the tow boats slip by upstream and down.

From the city of blues to the city of jazz

American Queen cruised in either direction between Memphis and New Orleans, with the downstream southbound cruise offering an extra stop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s state capital.

After visiting Elvis’s home and final resting place at Graceland, we departed Memphis, the city of blues, bound for New Orleans, the city of jazz. In between was a foot tapping, lip-smacking honky-tonk mishmash of music, culture and cuisine that can only be found in America’s south.

Steam pipe organ music, known as calliope, has been a part of steam boating since the mid 1860s and was originally used as a method of communication to let riverside dwellers know that a showboat was arriving or departing. These days it’s more of a novelty, and the carousel-like tunes tinkled from organ pipes above the River Grill Bar as we departed port late each afternoon.

Cruising through the heartland of the American Blues

The melodies continued as we stopped at Cleveland where one of only two GRAMMY Museums outside of Los Angeles pays homage to global superstars, many of whom hail from the Mississippi Delta. The region’s roots in R&B, soul, jazz and country music has long influenced American music. More GRAMMY award winners hail from Mississippi than any other state, with approx. 8% of Hall of Fame songs recorded by Mississippians.

As blues legend B.B. King once said, “You might say it all started right here.”

Onboard the ‘Queen’ the tunes played long into the night, from intimate acoustic soloists in the Engine Room and Captain’s Bar to tightly choreographed theatrical performances in the Grand Saloon. One night the classics from New York’s Broadway reverberated around the upper balconies of the Grand Saloon. On another, classic tunes of the 70s had passengers dancing in the aisles. As we neared New Orleans, special guest singer Michaelyn Oby, a regular on the Memphis jazz scene, paid tribute to musical icon Diana Ross in a sparkling performance backed by a brass band.

Each day revealed a new riverside port

Stopping at a different port each day, we dived into the history, the culture and the stories of river towns and cities. Complimentary hop on hop off buses connected the main attractions, while premium-priced Shore Excursions offered a more intimate tour experience.

At Vicksburg, well known as the site of the 47 day siege during the American Civil War, I visited the Old Court House Museum, a treasure trove of historical artefacts, along with Anchuca Mansion, a grand home built in 1830 and used as a hospital during the siege.

It’s these elaborate riverside mansions, many of which shelter behind protective levees, which really captured my attention. Swathed in history and of grand proportions, many have been faithfully restored and are open to visitors.

The grandest house on the river

Magnolia Hall, Natchez

Greek Revival brick constructed Magnolia Hall in Natchez is dominated by its vast four-columned portico. Built by a wealthy banker and cotton broker in 1858, the mansion passed into the hands of the Natchez Garden Club about 50 years ago.

Rosalie Mansion, Natchez

Rosalie Mansion sits high on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and is notable for its antique gilded furnishings.

Nottoway, White Castle, Louisiana

The grandest mansion we visited was Nottoway, our last stop before New Orleans. The largest remaining antebellum mansion in the South was once owned by Australian Paul Ramsay, founder of Ramsay Health Care. The grand home with its 22 exterior columns took six years of planning and four years to build, utilising enslaved peoples labour for construction. A museum of sorts shared stories of the plantations’ unsettling history built on the slave trade. Positioned as a low key resort by the time I visited, the irony was surely not lost on carefree guests wandering the grounds where once the residents had no such liberties.

Nottoway burned down on 15 May 2025. An electrical fire took hold quickly in the afternoon, and by the following morning the columns and the facade were rubble. The outbuildings survived and the owner has since begun a phased rebuild, intending an exact replica of the once imposing building

Two years after I stood on the river bank, the grandest house on the river was gone, and so was the ship that took me there.

I’m sure none of this was my fault. Was it?

Why the American Queen mattered

Mark Twain noted in Life on the Mississippi that he had never felt so uplifted and became a new being once he became a traveller, “a word which had never tasted so good in my mouth before.”

Cruising down the Mississippi is one of those rare travel experiences that will remain with me forever. I can completely understand why Riverlorian Lee Hendrix never left the river.

Sadly, the American Queen no longer takes travellers down the river, and I’m grateful I had the opportunity while she still did.