Southern Grandeur: Mardi Gras Soirée

Begin your journey in New Orleans with an included two-night hotel stay and tours of the National WWII Museum and the “Big Easy” during Mardi Gras. During your stay in New Orleans, you may choose to try traditional southern cuisine in the city’s legendary French Quarter or experience the Spanish moss and knotted oaks of City Park. Board the American Queen and travel to visit the Nottoway Plantation House, the oldest remaining antebellum mansion in the South. Sail up to St. Francisville, a town that was built by the Butlers, the Forts, the Barrows, and the Turnbulls. In Natchez, a town of southern hospitality and charm, experience the antebellum architecture and see one of the oldest post-European settlements in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. Next, explore Vicksburg—the “Red-Carpet City of the South”—which has a rich history and was the site of a dramatic siege during the Civil War. Your voyage will conclude in Memphis, but first, stop in Greenville, a port of the Mississippi Delta region that is rich with artistic heritage.