Although the leaves had not turned yet, the cruise was very enjoyable. The crew was great, the food was quite good, the entertainment was very good (some were better than others) and the excursions were excellent. A tour of Albany, a chairlift ride up Hunter Mountain, a tour of West Point, a walk across the Hudson River on what used to be a railroad bridge, a tour of Hyde Park (Franklin Roosevelt's historic home), a tour of Lyndhurst Gothic Mansion (all decked out for Halloween!) and a bus tour of NYC, including a stop at the 9/11 Memorial, were the excursions I enjoyed. They are reasonably priced too.
I travelled by myself and meeting people on American Cruise Ships is really easy because they are smaller and more intimate. Since it's a smaller ship, you tend to see familiar faces in the dining room, during the cocktail hours every evening (which are included) and on excursions. I really like the "everything's included" feature so I don't have to figure out who to tip how much and I don't have to worry about how much I'm spending on drinks, alcoholic or otherwise. The crew is all American so there isn't a language barrier.
My single cabin was quite adequate sizewise and so was the storage space. The bathroom was larger than some on other cruise ships.
The cabin is a nice size with plenty of storage. It was too chilly to spend much time on the balcony, but it is a good size and has two chairs and a table on it.