From the birthplace of the blues and rock ‘n’ roll in Memphis to the home of country music in Nashville, my 8-day cruise aboard the American Splendor was a musical delight. And it was even more wonderful to share the journey with my grandson Logan.

With a fulltime job and night classes at Purdue University, Logan’s life is quite busy. So it was a pleasure to get away together and experience the music from my childhood with a young man who was born decades after the deaths of musical icons like Elvis Presley, W.C. Handy, Roy Orbison, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Gram Parsons and many more.

“My favorite part of the Music Cities Cruise was learning about artists like Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, and experiencing a performance at the Grand Ole Opry, where they all once performed,” Logan said.

Our cruise started in Memphis with stops along the way in Paducah, Kentucky, and Dover and Clarksville, Tennessee. We also had one full day in Nashville where the Splendor docked at the bottom of famous Broadway Street, also known as Honky Tonk Highway because of the many bars that line the street.

For our journey, Logan and I began with a two-night stay at The Guest House at Graceland before we boarded the ship. All American Cruise Lines passengers receive a complimentary one-night stay before the cruise to make sure everyone is there when the ship departs.

The two-night pre-stay has an extra fee ($725 for a solo passenger or $525 each for two guests in one room) which includes two nights at The Guest House at Graceland, a cocktail party the first night followed by a behind-the-scenes shuttle to Graceland to view Elvis memorabilia that the general public doesn’t get to see.

For our behind-the-scenes, Logan and I got to see and hold (wearing cotton gloves) Elvis’ sparkly black cape that he wore in 1972 Las Vegas concerts. We also saw the sewing basket used by Elvis’ mother Gladys, six Kahlil Gibran books Elvis read and made notes in, Elvis’ monogrammed boots and other personal family items.

The pre-cruise package also included breakfast both mornings at Delta’s Kitchen at The Guest House, plus admission to Graceland and Elvis Presley’s Memphis (across the street from The Guest House,) a $20 lunch voucher at the huge Graceland facility and a three-hour bus tour around Memphis before boarding our ship.

                                           Splendid American Splendor

As for the American Splendor, the ship certainly lives up to her name. The Splendor is elegant and comfortable. Launched in 2016, the paddlewheeler has a 180-passenger capacity. Our cruise had 154 passengers and 49 crew members.

On the day of boarding the American Splendor riverboat, most of us were down bright and early in the lobby of The Guest House at Graceland. Our luggage had been picked up in our rooms and was being loaded on the waiting American Cruise Lines cruise coach while we enjoyed breakfast at Delta’s Kitchen at The Guest House.

Our cruise coach was easy to spot outside The Guest House. It had huge red, white and blue signs noting that the cruise coach belonged to American Cruise Lines. The coach followed us along the cruise so it would always be there on time when we needed a bus. Smart move by American Cruise Lines.

Soon we were stepping onto the coach for a morning tour around Memphis before embarking on the beautiful American Splendor just in time for lunch.

                                              Cruise coach tour of Memphis

First stop on our motorcoach tour around Memphis was Sun Studio where Elvis made the initial recording that launched his spectacular career. An 18-year-old truck driver for Crown Electric, Elvis plopped down $4 to record “My Happiness,” as a birthday gift for his mother, legend says.

We didn’t tour Sun Studio once owned by Sam Phillips. Just a photo stop.

Next was the Peabody Hotel to watch the morning parade of ducks from their penthouse atop the hotel to the lobby fountain. There the ducks would splash and entertain visitors until it was time to march to hotel elevators to return to their penthouse for the night.

Then came a visit to Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at age 39. The motel exterior looks like it has been stuck in time. Antique automobiles are parked beneath the second-floor balcony where MLK was standing when he was shot by James Earl Ray from a rooming house across the street. Inside is a museum which would have taken several hours to tour. Just a quick stop outside.

                                            Boarding American Splendor

Boarding the ship was easy. Walk on, show ID, head to stateroom to make sure luggage was there, pick up nametags which will be scanned every time we leave the ship and return. Then head to lunch.

Our stateroom 522 was on the fifth Deck, roomy and comfy with a beautiful balcony with two chairs and a table. The two large beds had quality white bed linens and duvets with nightstands next to both our beds. The room had a long dresser with plenty of drawers, a small closet and a desk, mirror, Keurig coffee maker, large flat screen TV, two chairs and plenty of storage space.

The bathroom had a big shower with a glass door, long sink counter with drawers and storage space underneath. Toiletries are provided unless you want to bring your own.

Our stateroom was cleaned every day with a turndown each night and a copy of the daily “Ship to Shore” newsletter. The double-sided newsletter contained a wealth of information, including a listing of the day’s activities, when the ship docked and when it left, cell phone numbers for ship officials and much more.

                                                         Dining

The dining room on the Main Deck aft was spacious with plenty of room and window views. No reservations needed. No seats assigned. Just walk in, sit down and be prepared to be pampered. Menu choices were plentiful.

“The food on our ship was excellent, with options ranging from sweet potato pancakes for breakfast to crab-stuffed lobster tail for dinner,” Logan said. “Every dish was as delicious as the one before it.”

For those who might get hungry later, the Sky Lounge and River Lounge always had snacks available and refrigerators filled with soft drinks and fruit drinks. A big plus on the American Splendor is that all drinks – wine, beer, cocktails, bottled water, soft drinks, fruit drinks, tea, coffee – are included in the cruise price. No signing a drink tab. Just order a drink at almost any time of day or night and have one served to you.

 

                                                    Paducah floodwall

I took my first Mississippi River cruise in 1976 on the inaugural cruise of the Mississippi Queen. Since then I’ve returned to the mighty Mississippi and its fellow waterways many times but I always learn something new on any voyage.

Take the bus tour around Paducah. I’ve been to the Kentucky city quite often but never knew about the fun message right in front of my eyes.

 

A UNESCO Creative City, Paducah is well-known for its National Quilt Museum and its lovely floodwall. On the hop-on, hop-off cruise coach tour around Paducah (no extra cost), tour guide Kim Blaisdell pointed out places of interest and shared fascinating history.

After the Great Flood of 1937 decimated Paducah, a towering floodwall was built and covered in more than 60 beautiful murals by artist Robert Dafford.  Stretching three blocks with a wide sidewalk for easy walking along the floodwall, each 14-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide mural depicts a moment in Paducah’s history.

                                      ‘Hidden’ tidbits on floodwall

I’ve walked the floodwall many times but tour guide Kim shared two “hidden” tidbits on the concrete barrier. In a mural about the old-fashioned Paducah telephone switchboard used before the device was replaced by an electronic computer switching system in 1979, the scene features women working the switchboard.

Look closely at one woman with long brown hair wearing a light blue dress. “It’s Lily Tomlin,” Kim says. “Remember Ernestine the telephone operator in 1969’s Rowman & Martin’s Laugh-In comedy show? That was Lily Tomlin.”

Lily grew up in Detroit but her parents were from Paducah and each summer Lily and her brother would take a bus down to Paducah to visit family. Then I had to Google a video clip to show Logan who in the world this Lily Tomlin person was and why she is honored on the floodwall.

The other tidbit was easily apparent to Logan after tour guide Kim stopped at the mural showcasing Paducah’s history as the “Strawberry Capital of the World” in the early 1940s. That’s when Kim mentioned the song “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Sure enough, sitting in the middle of the strawberry field is an unmistakable guy wearing round wire-rimmed glasses. John Lennon.

                                                 Shipboard music

Since this was a music cruise, the Splendor had plenty of live musical entertainment each evening. Onboard pianist Jay Chalmers must have a repertoire of thousands of musical selections. When passengers requested a certain song, Jay obliged. One evening he came out as Elton John to kick off his show.

In Paducah, Terry Mike Jeffrey came aboard for some country and rock songs. Known to specialize in Elvis Presley music, Terry says he started singing for money when he was three years old.

 “I’d stand in front of the jukebox and sing along with it and people would give me a nickel or a dime,” he says. “That’s when it occurred to me that you can make money singing songs. I’ve been doing it ever since.”

In Dover, the Banjocats came aboard for an evening of bluegrass and classical music. The husband and wife team of Jennifer and Michael McLain showed their versatility on other musical instruments as well.

The last musical group, the Laura White Trio, was cancelled because the Splendor arrived several hours later than expected in Clarksville. A shame because I’ve heard the Laura White Trio before and they are great.

                                           Shipboard activities

The Splendor seemed to have something going on from early morning to late at night. Games, crafts, exercises, mojito tastings, margarita tastings, pilot house tours, culinary demonstration, karaoke, line dancing lessons, trivia, bingo and much more.

Guest speaker Mark Wisner gave interesting talks on subjects such as Mississippi River Hydrology, Mark Twain’s World of Wisdom, The Louisiana Purchase, The Civil War and American Art, Country Music’s Big Bang of 1927 and more.

For a surprise activity, cruise director Julia Settlemire bought a stuffed toy pig when the Splendor docked in Dover for a shore excursion to the Homeplace 1850s Working Farm & Living History Museum. Cuddling the toy, Julia asked passengers to suggest a name for her new critter.

Dozens of names were submitted. Julia unveiled the creative pig names in the River Lounge with passengers choosing the most popular. Quite appropriate for our Music Cities Cruise, the name Piggy Sue was picked – a salute to the 1957 “Peggy Sue” song by Buddy Holly.

                                                Grand Ole Opry

In Nashville, the American Splendor had the perfect docking space – right at the bottom of Broadway where we could walk to many main attractions or ride the cruise coach. Arriving the night before, we had a whole day in Nashville, capped off by a night at the Grand Ole Opry before our cruise ended.

After breakfast on that big Nashville day, Logan and I walked to the County Music Hall of Fame, the Johnny Cash Museum and the Patsy Cline Museum. Plus we looked into many of the bars where live music was blaring – Blake Shelton’s Ole Red, Miranda Lambert’s Casa Rosa, Jason Aldean’s Kitchen & Rooftop Bar, Kid Rock’s Big A$$ Honky Tonk, John Rich’s Redneck Riviera Bar, Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, Alan Jackson’s Good Time Bar and many more.

“I was pleasantly surprised by how many great places there were to see in Nashville, all within walking distance from where we docked,” Logan said.

After a buffet dinner onboard the ship, we boarded cruise coaches for the Grand Ole Opry that was part of the cruise package. No extra charge. Settled into our ticketed seats we saw Rhonda Vincent, Maggie Rose, Kruger Brothers, Gavin Adcock, Mandy Barnett, Dusty Slay, Flatland Cavalry and Don Schlitz take the stage.

“When we entered the concert hall of the Grand Ole Opry, I was surprised at how close and intimate the stage felt with the audience,” Logan said. “The choice of pew-style seating gave the venue a unique appearance that perfectly suited the country music atmosphere.”

                                                Special circle at Opry House

In the center stage of the Grand Ole Opry is a special piece of wood. It is from the old Ryman Auditorium. Can you imagine what it has seen? If it could talk, think about all the legends it could tell about.

Over the years, thousands of performers have stood on this circle – Hank Williams, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Little Jimmy Dickens.

Even a skinny truck driver from Memphis named Elvis Presley. Singing a rocked-up version of Bill Monroe’s bluegrass “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” Elvis did not receive a warm welcome for his first and only Opry performance on Oct. 2, 1954. Instead, he was told to go back to driving a truck.

                                        Piece of the old Ryman Auditorium

When the Grand Ole Opry moved to its present 4,400-seat home at the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974, the circular section of the old Ryman stage was taken along as a reminder of the place the Opry had called home for more than three decades.

From its simple beginnings on Nov. 28, 1925, the Grand Ole Opry has never missed a Saturday night broadcast. Its audience, at first only a few hundred with primitive radios and crystal sets, has grown to include millions around the world.

It used to be that the Opry was pure country, but that isn’t so anymore. When I attended a show back in 2006, one of the performers was a 16-year-old girl making her debut on the Grand Ole Opry.

Her first disc wouldn’t hit the shelves until a month later but, judging from the enthusiastic audience, newcomer Taylor Swift was already beginning her rapid ascent to stardom.

The show has a little bit of everything. And, as Porter Wagoner used to say, if you don’t like one singer, you can just wait a few minutes and the show will have out someone you do like. You never know what you’ll see or hear in that unbroken performance circle at the Grand Ole Opry.

The next morning, we departed the American Splendor and boarded an American Cruise Lines cruise coach once again for the airport and our flight back to Indy. Logan and I are still talking about what we saw and heard on our Music Cities Cruise. Many magical music memories.

Photos by Jackie Sheckler Finch

 

On American Splendor, these are the costs included in the fare:

• All onboard alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
• WiFi
• All meals. No specialty restaurants or added costs.
• All ship gratuities for ship staff.
• Pre-cruise hotel stay
• Most shore excursions

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