This trip was all that we expected and we enjoyed it very much. The America is a beautiful river boat. We found the boats tours very good--they gave us a good overview of life in the South along the River in the in the 1800's and now. We stayed at the Roosevelt in New Orleans for a couple of nights pre-cruise and The Peabody in Memphis post-cruise which also added a lot to our trip. Don't miss the World War II museum in New Orleans and Graceland in Memphis. Some have written about the quality of service in the dining room--these are mostly college age young people and what they lack in experience they make up for with enthusiasm. We found the food very good and to American tastes. We are experienced ocean cruisers and found river cruising very enjoyable. If you reserve another cruise while on board they give you a 15% discount. We enjoyed this enough that we signed up for a 14 day East coast inland waterway cruise this Spring.