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The Kentucky Derby Cruise
May. 21st, 2023 08:32 pmThe back story on my vacation goes to 2019, when I was browsing through the Road Scholar catalogue and saw a Spring 2020 program involving the Kentucky Derby The itinerary included visits to horse farms and other behind the scenes things before the race, followed by the Derby itself. I signed up for it - and, well, you all know about 2020. Anyway, they decided not to do it later on, so I used the credit from the cancelled program to go to Costa Rica late last year. But I had gotten the idea of going to the Kentucky Derby into my head.
I tend to browse travel-related websites a lot and I had been curious about Mississippi River paddlewheel boat cruises for a while. When I was looking at the website for American Queen Voyages, I saw that they had a Kentucky Derby cruise on the American Countess, which is a former gambling boat converted to a fairly luxurious steamboat for river cruises. I called up and the 2022 cruise was already sold out. But by booking early I got a slightly less outrageous price on the 2023 cruise. I should note that the Derby package is actually an add-on to the cruise, so the whole thing is absurdly expensive. But, hey, big event and an excuse to wear an outrageous hat - well, why not?
( Monday 1 May - pre boarding )
( Tuesday 2 May - Keeneland Excursion and Boarding )
( Wednesday 3 May - Louisville Sightseeing, Great Steamboat Race )
( Thursday 4 May - Madison, Indiana )
( Friday 5 May - Brandenburg, Kentucky )
( Saturday May 6 - Derby Day! I Got the Horse Right Here )
( Sunday May 7 - River Cruising )
( Monday May 8 - Augusta, Kentucky )
( Tuesday May 9 - Cincinnati )
To summarize, the American Countess was comfortable enough and the trip was mostly relaxing. The food wasn’t particularly exciting, but there was a decent variety (e.g. there were always vegetarian options for each course). Alcohol was included, but the bartender was terrible and the couple of times I tried the special drink of the day I was disappointed with excessive doses of simple syrup, so I mostly stuck to a glass of wine with dinner. The included excursions (e.g. the hop-on / hop-off bus tours) were good, with enough time to explore a few cute little towns. The premium excursions, however, were not good value. And, in particular, both the Keeneland tour and (especially) the Derby package were fiascos.
There’s a part of me that would still like to do a paddlewheeler down the Mississippi, but I would probably look into doing so on American Cruse Lines (which is the other company that does similar cruises) instead.
I tend to browse travel-related websites a lot and I had been curious about Mississippi River paddlewheel boat cruises for a while. When I was looking at the website for American Queen Voyages, I saw that they had a Kentucky Derby cruise on the American Countess, which is a former gambling boat converted to a fairly luxurious steamboat for river cruises. I called up and the 2022 cruise was already sold out. But by booking early I got a slightly less outrageous price on the 2023 cruise. I should note that the Derby package is actually an add-on to the cruise, so the whole thing is absurdly expensive. But, hey, big event and an excuse to wear an outrageous hat - well, why not?
( Monday 1 May - pre boarding )
( Tuesday 2 May - Keeneland Excursion and Boarding )
( Wednesday 3 May - Louisville Sightseeing, Great Steamboat Race )
( Thursday 4 May - Madison, Indiana )
( Friday 5 May - Brandenburg, Kentucky )
( Saturday May 6 - Derby Day! I Got the Horse Right Here )
( Sunday May 7 - River Cruising )
( Monday May 8 - Augusta, Kentucky )
( Tuesday May 9 - Cincinnati )
To summarize, the American Countess was comfortable enough and the trip was mostly relaxing. The food wasn’t particularly exciting, but there was a decent variety (e.g. there were always vegetarian options for each course). Alcohol was included, but the bartender was terrible and the couple of times I tried the special drink of the day I was disappointed with excessive doses of simple syrup, so I mostly stuck to a glass of wine with dinner. The included excursions (e.g. the hop-on / hop-off bus tours) were good, with enough time to explore a few cute little towns. The premium excursions, however, were not good value. And, in particular, both the Keeneland tour and (especially) the Derby package were fiascos.
There’s a part of me that would still like to do a paddlewheeler down the Mississippi, but I would probably look into doing so on American Cruse Lines (which is the other company that does similar cruises) instead.
