by Sarah Kuta
Last updated: 11:55 AM ET, Wed February 21, 2024
American Cruise Lines welcomed its first guests to New Orleans this week, marking the official start of its 2024 Mississippi River cruise season.
Within the next several weeks, the cruise line’s five Mississippi riverboats will all be sailing the Lower Mississippi. This year, American Cruise Lines is offering 16 unique itineraries on the Mississippi and its tributaries, the Tennessee, Ohio and Cumberland rivers.
Travelers can enjoy several new experiences on the Mississippi with American Cruise Lines in 2024. In May, the company will debut its first cruises to Great Smoky Mountains National Park with a new 12-day itinerary from Knoxville to Nashville, Tennessee. That same month, the company will also launch its first new 35-day “Civil War Battlefields” cruise, which includes stops at more than 20 battlefields.
Later this summer, in August, the company will make history when it debuts its 61-day “Great United States” itinerary, which is the longest river cruise in the country’s history. Travelers will sail the entire Mississippi River, visit 20 states, explore three national parks, sail on four different rivers and explore the East Coast and the Hudson River.
More broadly, the company’s fleet of 19 total small ships and riverboats will soon begin setting sail across the country. All told, the vessels will visit more than 140 different U.S. ports this year, including destinations along the East Coast and on U.S. rivers.
American Cruise Lines has nearly tripled the size of its fleet over the last five years—and it has big expansion plans for the future. Five more ships are under construction at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Maryland. And, in particular, the line hopes to continue expanding its presence on the Mississippi.
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