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| 07/10/2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tom went to Chesapeake Shipyards for a tour of Hull 130, American Song, conducted by Shipyard President and ACL Vice-President Steve McGee.
We boarded portside aft on deck 1 and went below to the engine spaces.
Steve shared a lot of technical stuff that passengers would never know.
Suffice it to say this is a safe ship with the latest technology.
We came back to Deck 1 in the main dining room, which, as with other ACL ships, will seat the entire compliment of passengers, 183 on the Song, at one sitting.
The galley is the biggest in the fleet with all the latest stuff.
We moved forward to the central staircase which goes up 4 decks with a skylight at the top.
Forward, we inspected the bow that opens to reveal a telescoping ramp that can be maneuvered to place the gangplank on the shore.
There’s a golf cart that lives in what Steve calls the “Bat Cave” to ferry passengers down the ramp/gangplank and ashore.
Deck 2 is all cabins, with balconies bigger than other boats in the fleet.
There’s a small lounge aft, with a stairway down to the launch, a problem for older passengers.
Deck 3, forward has the pilot house, with punch-out wings on each side to facilitate an unobstructed view for docking.
Deck 4 has the main lounge forward and another, only slightly smaller lounge, aft.
While the forward lounge is likely to have easy chairs, sofas, end tables and coffee tables, I’m hopeful the aft lounge will be equipped with card tables useful for my laptop computer.
The aft lounge also has a skylight in the center of the lounge.
Deck 5 is totally open with awninged areas, shuffleboard and a putting green.
Aboard her sister ship, American Harmony, on deck 5, there will be 8 spacious cabins. Steve tells me American Song is scheduled to leave in 5 weeks, with her first cruise out of New Orleans on October 6. This was my 3rd tour at Chesapeake Shipyards, previously visiting, under construction, the first Queen of the Mississippi and American Constellation. In one week, we sail on the second Queen of the Mississippi out of Pittsburgh for St. Louis, our 8th cruise with American Cruise Lines. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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