Suite Upgrade: Comparing 3 Different Cabin Types on American Eagle - American Cruise Lines

[@thomascomeau9271]

You sailed on American Eagle of American Cruise Lines again for a seven day cruise this year! This is your 66th cruise this year since 1996!

[@JimZim]

Hey, Thomas! Where have you been? Haven't had a comment from you in a long time.

[@thomascomeau9271]

@JimZim Well, to tell you the truth, my phone has too many files and my father has taken to T-Mobile to have all the files cleaned out and now my phone is working again! Don't worry, I will still send you comments and replies to you every now and then. So anyway, how is life going for you?

[@laurigoff]

Thanks for the Eagle videos of Yankee Seaports! It was a pleasure meeting and talking to you, Jim!

[@bobdodd1178]

Excellent video. We are looking to book our second cruise in our retirement, cruise one was with Holland America to Alaska (it was excellent) but now looking for something smaller, and your video was super helpful. Thank you!

[@brendabooker1098]

Thanks for the video! We have our 3rd cruise booked on The American Glory in the Sky Suite, and this is so much better than looking at pictures on the website! We were in the "Owner's Suite " on the American Song in June/July on the Columbia/Snake River cruise, and are now totally spoiled!

[@JimZim]

Yeah, ACL really doesn't do a very good job on their web site of showing people what you get if you book a suite. That was part of motivation for making the video. I'm glad you found it!

[@atmakali9599]

One day I’ll do a ACL. I’m convinced ❤️ No adds all the way through this video.

[@elinorosterhoudt7932]

Thanks for a great description of the various cabins. Another advantage of those on Deck 2 vs. Deck 3 is that you are closer to the dining room on Deck 1, and very close to the many activities that take place in the main lounge!

[@JimZim]

You are absolutely right about that. I suspect that if ACL charged more for deck 2 cabins and less for deck 3 cabins, the deck 2 cabins would still sell out first. As it is now... with the deck 2 cabins being less expensive than the deck 3 cabins, they easily sell out first.

[@chriswilliams6568]

Cabins on deck 3 though would have a slightly better view, being higher up.

[@rjkee5157]

I love American Cruise Lines. Been to Maine and on the Lower Mississippi.

[@JimZim]

Try the Columbia River sometime, too. That's one of the best ACL cruises.

[@michaelpruitt7610]

Excellent video.

[@JimZim]

Thank you very much!

[@bostonnews1776]

Awsome video thanks

[@maryoconnor9771]

Great info

[@laurigoff]

Hey Jim - next time would you please mention the Solo rooms with balcony? ACL is the only riverboat cruise line to offer the solo traveler a cabin at way less than paying double. There is about a 25% supplement, instead of 100% with every other line.

[@RamblerTravelAgency]

Avalon has solos

[@wilshade]

Jim. Thanks for your insights on the river and coastal cruises. My question for you is regarding historical programs aboard the ships and/or land expeditions. Do they have those and do they bring historians or historical fiction writers onboard to offer entertaining and informative discussion?

[@JimZim]

Yes they do usually have a historian on the cruises, and daily talks on the history of where the ship will be the next day.

[@monkeyb1820]

Great videos. It looks like you've never done a Canada/NE cruise? That's the route that is most similar to an ACL route. We did a CA/NE and really enjoyed it. I saw your future cruise on your website. That Atlantic coast route will be great. Jacksonville is not really that exciting, but Fernandina Beach is a great town for walking around. Consider spending an extra night there before the cruise. Savannah has the famous Forrest Gump bench. Betty Bombers is a neat burger/sandwich place in Savannah (note that I was last there around 2018--so I really don't know if they've had a post pandemic decline like many places). Charleston is a nice, historic city, could be worth staying an extra night after the cruise to explore more. Do you do the provided ACL excursions in these cities? In some of these cities you can do 'free tours by foot' where you just meet up with the guide, do a 2 hour walking tour, tip them afterward (if you wanted to do additional 'guide lead' exploring). Regarding HAL, we used to have the same trepidation based on age stereotypes, until we saw them having some pretty good prices on cruises out of FLL over Christmas/New Years, sometimes even having 'kids sail free' type promotions. We tried them and we are really glad we did. We are around 50 with teens, and have never thought, 'oh dear, we're really out of place'. Over holidays/breaks it has a mix of families, people of all ages. Dive-In is a really good burger place (probably our favorite after Guy's). The Rolling Stone Rock room (only on their pinnacle class ships) plays a good mix of 1960s-80s rock (maybe even some early 90s stuff too), aimed at maybe the 55-65 crowd. There are no waterslides, no attempt to be like Royal Caribbean, but we've done 3 and been happy with it. We did one Princess and did not find them drastically different. We are not big drinkers and Hal seems to be the only line we've done that often has a half-price happy hour, and the bartenders were not skimping on their pours at all...

[@JimZim]

I've done a cruise with ACL's sister line, Pearl Mist Cruises, that began in Toronto and visited quite a few places in Canada. As far as New England, I did a 7-day cruise along the Maine coast... and more recently, a cruise that included Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. It's good to hear that Fernandina Beach is a great town for walking around. I am planning to spend at least one day there before my Georgia & South Carolina cruise. I typically do one of ACL's excursions each day, and also do some exploring on my own, in each of the places we visit. Thanks for the info about Holland America. I do think that I'll give that a try sometime in the next few years. I just have a hard time getting excited about a cruise line I don't already know. Since I've been on 66 cruises, I've long ago identified the cruise ships that are nearly perfect for me. (The Havana area on Carnival's Vista-class ships, and The Haven on Norwegian Cruise Line.) So, when I'm not cruising with American Cruise Lines, the easiest/safest choice for me to make sure a cruise will be a winner is to just book one of those. We've done 8 cruises in The Haven, and 4 in the Havana area on Carnival... and there will definitely be more. So, I don't know when I'll get to HAL, but I suspect it probably will be sometime in the next few years.

[@monkeyb1820]

@@JimZim yeah, I hear you. It's the same reason I don't do msc--there are 'known products' that I know about and I just haven't been interested in trying the uncertainty of msc. Hal has something called 'neptune suites'--but I'm not sure what exactly it includes, and it's not the same as haven/havana. It's not an exclusive ship area. ACL is taking you to a lot of interesting little coastal cities, so you're definitely getting good variety by alternating haven/havana cruises with the ACL sailings. Looking forward to your vid on the Golden Isles cruise in a few more months.

[@johna5428]

Hi Jim, going on a celebrity cruise in November out of Fort Lauderdale. Do you have any post cruise hotel recommendations that are near the airport and restaurants that maybe you stayed at before thank you.

[@JimZim]

My favorite hotel in Ft Lauderdale, on the beach, is the "Courtyard Ft Lauderdale Beach". The location is fantastic, as there is not only the beach itself but restaurants and bars within easy walking distance. Also, another option, but a little further away, is Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville resort in the nearby city of Hollywood. The Margaritaville resort not only has several of its own restaurants, but it is located on a promenade that is full of lots of others, too. If you like the whole Jimmy Buffet lifestyle, it's a fun place to stay when cruising out of Ft Lauderdale.

[@johna5428]

@@JimZim thank you

[@mpgreg]

Do either of the suites come with any perks other than snacks in the room?

[@JimZim]

I'm not sure on that. Let's see if anyone else replies with a better answer. But I should add that if there was something special you wanted or needed, within reason, I bet they'd do everything possible to get it to you if you asked. They really aim to please, but they will only know what you want if you say something. As an example, I asked the restaurant manager if they happened to have any Pepsi Zero or Diet Pepsi onboard. (Normally they have Coca Cola products available abundantly.) At the next port, they went to a local grocery store for some things they needed for the restaurant, and brought back a 12-pack of Pepsi Zero and delivered it to my cabin.

[@Parkhopper1985]

Comment #1. Hi Jim

[@bobburke8727]

Hey Jim, I just bought a DJI Mini 4K and plan to take it on our ACL Cruise of the New England Islands. Any restrictions on bringing a drone onboard for civilians like me?

[@JimZim]

You can bring it aboard, but you just can't launch it from the ship. So, go ashore and launch it from there.

[@bobburke8727]

Thanks

[@chriswilliams6568]

Shame that the coffee maker was not a Nespresso machine which makes real espresso instead of just drip coffee. Typically American.