New Orleans - Memphis - 9-Day Journey

This tour departs from your pre-voyage hotel. You may bring your carry-on luggage with you. We encourage you to dine prior to boarding the steamcoach as time is not allotted for lunch during the tour.

Join us for an adventure to see New Orleans from the eyes of the locals. A licensed local tour guide will escort the American Queen’s guests on an historic tour of New Orleans. Enjoy hearing the history of New Orleans including the first settlers, religion, culture, and of course, Mardi Gras. The day will include a driving tour and views of the French Quarter, Jackson Square, and the Garden District, with elegantly built mansions in Greek Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne Victorian styles. Then, visit St. Charles Avenue along the famous street car line boasting two of the most prestigious colleges in New Orleans: Tulane University and Loyola University.

The Steamcoach will pass by the Audubon Park, a 400-acre park located in uptown New Orleans between St. Charles Avenue and the Mississippi River, built on the site of the 1884 World’s Fair. City Park is another area you will enjoy; at 1,300 acres, it is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. The first parcel of land was acquired in 1854, making it one of the country’s oldest parks. City Park will be one of the rest stops to grab a coffee or bask in the beauty of the park.

The last stop will be an above-ground cemetery known as “The City of the Dead”. As the tour concludes, the steamcoach will then take you to the American Queen to embark on your voyage.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$59.00

Duration:

4 hours

Enjoy an intimate afternoon in the personal home of celebrated American Chef and cookbook author Regina Charboneau, the Culinary Director of the American Queen. Not only will you be entertained in grand Southern style with a personal tour of her 1830s home, Twin Oaks, you will enjoy Champagne Cocktails and a buffet of seasonal sweet and savory treats. Chef Regina will share her secrets on how to make some of her favorite seasonal dishes and tips on how to entertain effortlessly.

All shore excursions, prices, and information are subject to change without notice.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$69.00

Duration:

2 - 2 1/2 hours

Tour Capacity:

28 guests

Cross the river to Louisiana and visit historic Frogmore Plantation, named a “Can’t Miss” destination in the Rand McNally Southeast Getaway Guide. Tour the computerized high-tech cotton gin and compare it to the historic gin which the Smithsonian Institute states is the rarest of its kind in existence.

Take a seat on an original pew in a unique 1800s plantation church as the mistress of Frogmore narrates, and two excellent vocalists sing, the trials and triumphs of life on a plantation. Become the guest at a slave wedding and tour the authentic slave quarters as you observe the daily life of a slave. Return to Natchez as your guide explains the progression of southern music through ragtime, blues and jazz.

To conclude the tour, stop at Longwood, a historic antebellum octagonal mansion, the largest of its shape in America. Also known as “Nutt’s Folly”, this unique mansion remains unfinished and stands symbolically in representation of the last burst of southern opulence. It is a reminder of a time before war brought the cotton baron’s dominance to an end. After surviving decades of neglect and abandonment, Longwood stands strong today and is a can’t-miss stop when visiting this southern town.

All shore excursions, prices, and information are subject to change without notice.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$79.00

Duration:

4 hours

Tour Capacity:

55 guests

This Premium Choice tour is a two-hour guided exploration of the historic Vicksburg battlefield and downtown area, describing the city’s role in the Civil War. You will have the opportunity to board the deluxe Steamcoaches at the dock and then enjoy a narrated tour of the city of Vicksburg on your way to Vicksburg National Military Park with a licensed Battlefield guide.

The park commemorates the campaign, siege, and defense of Vicksburg in 1863 and includes more than 1,340 monuments and markers, a 16-mile tour road, the USS Cairo – a restored city-class Union gunboat, and a National Cemetery. Life-sized exhibits and authentic artifacts from the Siege of Vicksburg are also on display. The tour includes the Vicksburg Battlefield Visitors Center and its orientation video.

All shore excursions, prices, and information are subject to change without notice.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$59.00

Duration:

4 hours

Tour Capacity:

110 guests

When you arrive in Helena, just as Mark Twain did, you will immediately encounter the passion and paradox that characterizes life in the most fertile place on earth. You will stop at Greater First Baptist Church where you will enjoy a stirring performance of traditional Black Gospel Music that will give you an authentic glimpse into the culture from which it emerged. After a drive through historic Helena, site of the Civil War’s Battle of Helena, you will arrive at the Helena Museum, home to an eclectic collection of artifacts. Afterwards, explore Helena’s historic downtown including the Malco Theatre, several boutiques and gift shops, as well as the Delta Cultural Center, which houses exhibits that chronicle the sights, sounds and history of the Delta, including King Biscuit Time, the longest running daily radio program in the country.

Next, you will visit Granny Dee’s, where Granny herself will be preparing a welcoming soul food and cornbread lunch that will make you feel like kin. Your adventures conclude with a live performance from local blues legend, Super Chicken, who creates his own guitars from gas cans, skillets and whatever else he can find. You will return home having savored the full flavor of a region that influenced more of 20th-century American culture than any other, taking with you insight into the rise, fall, and hopeful revitalization of small-town America.

All shore excursions, prices, and information are subject to change without notice.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$85.00

Duration:

4 - 4 1/2 hours

Tour Capacity:

55 guests

Explore Buck Island on this nature tour. Enjoy the wilds of the Lower Mississippi River in the beauty and elegance of a hand-crafted Voyageur-Style canoe. No previous paddling experience necessary: the 30-foot-long Louisiana bald cypress strip Voyageur canoes are paddled for you so that you have time to take in every portion of this wildlife-friendly reserve.

Enjoy exceptional birding, animal viewing, tracking, fossil hunting and beach combing along the giant sandbars and back channels of Buck Island, a 1,500-acre island one mile upstream of the Helena Harbor.

Common bird sightings are the White Pelican, Least Tern, Pleated Woodpecker, and Kingfisher. Sixty percent of migrating songbirds use the Mississippi Flyway including the Prothonotary Warbler and Indigo Bunting and can be spotted in April and May. Beavers and river otter abound, but you may not see more of the coyote than his tracks.

The rich bottomland hardwood forests boast the richest habitat for white-tailed deer in North America. Fragrant willows in the lowlands give way to cottonwoods and sycamores higher up, finally yielding to oaks, sweet gums, locusts, elms and cypresses in which fruits and flowers like persimmon, paw-paws and wild grapes are commonly found. The Mississippi River supports more than 200 species of fish and 50 species of amphibians like the Mississippi Map Turtle.

This excursion is available rain or shine. This nature tour is also available with canoes that you can paddle.

All shore excursions, prices, and information are subject to change without notice.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$249.00

Duration:

4 - 4 1/2 hours

Tour Capacity:

18 guests

What would Memphis be without following the footsteps of the famous Elvis Presley? After a driving tour around Elvis’ Memphis, you depart for Graceland. At Graceland, you will be treated to the deluxe Platinum Tour that includes self-guided tours of the Graceland mansion, Elvis’s two custom airplanes, his Automobile Museum and special exhibits:

“Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking, Newsmaking Story”, “Elvis Lives: The King and Pop Culture Exhibit”, “Elvis Presley: Fashion King” and the “’68 Special.”

This tour is fully guided by a local Memphis guide and includes many special interests not available to the general public.

All shore excursions, prices, and information are subject to change without notice.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$ 79.00

Duration:

4 hours

This tour departs from the American Queen. You may bring your carry-on luggage with you.

The day begins with a driving tour of the Bluff City, passing by such famous sites as the National Civil Rights Museum, formerly the Lorraine Motel; the Rock ’n’ Soul Museum; Gibson Guitar factory; the Peabody Hotel; Sun Studio; and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Then, put on your blue suede shoes as you head to Graceland, Elvis’ beloved Mansion. Your self-guided Platinum tour includes Elvis’ two custom airplanes; Elvis’ Automobile Museum; “Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking, Newsmaking Story”; Elvis Lives: The King and Pop Culture Exhibit; Elvis Presley, Fashion King Exhibit; and the ’68 Special Exhibit.

The Steamcoach will then transfer you to either the Memphis International Airport or your post-voyage hotel. This tour ends at the Memphis International Airport at 12:30 pm. Please book your departing flight after 2:00 pm.

All shore excursions, prices, and information are subject to change without notice.

Transportation:

Included

Price:

$79.00

Duration:

4 hours