Aboard AMERICA (October 8)

If you did not subscribe to my most recent trip blog - Ft. Lauderdale to San Diego via the Panama Canal - receiving a nearly six-month old post must strike you as odd.  Suffice it to say that there was a, shall we call it 'hiatus' in getting the posts for this trip done, so although it is dated six months ago, it was posted for the first time today.  Where I left off was actually (albeit unintentionally) a good place to pause since now the entire rivers portion of the trip will arrive at the rate of one post per day; likewise our time in New Orleans after disembarking AMERICA.

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Louisville was presumably picked by UPS (United Parcel Service) to be its hub in large part due to weather conditions that rarely prevented flight operations.  This morning was a "rarely" due to thick fog.

As the morning progressed, the fog gave way to sunshine and blue skies.

Our luggage was picked up from our room at 7:30.  Along with our fellow passengers, we assembled in the lobby about 10 AM.  

Our first encounter with an ACL crew member was a sullen Cruise Director.  Good-bye chance to make a positive first impression. Instead of being upbeat and welcoming, she seemed miffed that people were, in the absence of any clear instructions on how to proceed, improvising.  

The boarding of the buses progressed. It amused me that although the first four seats on each side were labeled "handicapped" and a number of our fellow riders certainly qualified, we rolled out with six of the eight seats empty.

The trip from the hotel to AMERICA took less than ten minutes.

We walked up the plank and once aboard, ascended to the fifth deck, and went aft to our cabin (#519) on the port side.  It was a nice-sized space, perfectly adequate for a two-week cruise.  

Our luggage soon caught up with us.

Disillusionment came early.  As we were preparing to depart, the fake smoke stacks were lowered.  

At about 1 PM, AMERICA slipped away from the bank.  More disillusionment, the paddlewheel was a fake too.  I resigned myself to the fact that there were probably no riverboat gamblers or cotton bales aboard.

Using her Z-drives and thrusters, AMERICA spun around to begin our cruise down the Ohio River.

The ramp slants upward to accommodate the rise and fall of the river.
The restaurant is on stilts to help protect it from flooding.

Almost immediately, we entered the channel leading to the McAlpine Locks.

 Once in them, we dropped over 30 feet.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon watching the shoreline on both sides of the boat, something we rarely experienced during our numerous passages aboard cruise ships.

After dinner, I went out on the 5th deck aft.  There was no lighting whatsoever.  While at first a bit disconcerting, once my eyesight adapted, the absence of significant light pollution aboard or ashore allowed and excellent view of the stars.