The US might not be most people’s preferred destination right now, but river-cruise fans, history buffs and music lovers will enjoy a warm welcome on Viking’s cruise on the Lower Mississippi.
Over the course of a recent eight-day cruise from New Orleans to Memphis, through the Southern states of Louisiana and Mississippi, I was struck by the warmth and hospitality of everyone we met in every small town we visited.
It’s hardly a secret that America is going through an extraordinarily turbulent time. But I cannot count the number of times local guides and gracious hosts thanked us profusely for visiting grand plantation mansions, a rousing country-rock concert, a church where we were moved to tears by a gospel singer – “especially when you’ve all come all the way from Australia!”
Viking offers a variety of shore excursions, including one complimentary tour, at every port. The onboard lecturers provide a wealth of background and historical detail that add extra insights to onshore explorations and a superb overview about the role that the mighty Mississippi plays in contemporary America.
Historic homes
Houmas House in Darrow is the first of three 19th-century Southern mansions I visit. Liveoak trees draped in Spanish moss form an atmospheric walkway from the riverfront to the colonnaded mansion and Oak Alley, as it’s known, is said to have inspired Tennessee Williams to write A Streetcar Named Desire.
The impressive house and grounds were the location for the 1964 Bette Davis psycho-horror film Hush …Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Photos of the Hollywood star are displayed in one of the bedrooms, and the spiral staircase is the setting for one of the movie’s most disturbing scenes (no spoilers: you can watch it on Disney Plus).
Oakley Plantation in Saint Francisville is best known for hosting the artist John James Audubon for a short but productive period in 1821. Audubon’s book Birds of America is a classic and his story is fascinating, as we discover during a tour of the house and beautifully landscaped grounds.
The tour includes a hands-on printing lesson, a blacksmithing demonstration, open-hearth cooking in the kitchen and a chilling walk-through of two typical slave cabins.
We hear a lot more about enslavement on a ‘privileged access’ tour that takes in a traditional Southern-style lunch at Dunleith Historic Inn in Natchez, a small city with a long history – and more beautifully preserved antebellum properties than anywhere else in America.
A stop at Forks of the Road, a former slave auction site, is moving beyond words and an apt prelude to the amazing gospel music we hear sung acapella by one passionate performer at the nearby Zion Church.
Civil War history
Many volumes of learned books have been written about the Civil War that was fought between America’s Northern Union states and Southern Confederate states from 1861 to 1865.
Having only the sketchiest knowledge of the bloody conflict that forever changed the country, I learn a lot from Viking’s tour of Vicksburg National Military Park – the site of one of the most significant battles during the Civil War.
Our guide on the bus tour of the Military Park is a Civil War expert, and as we are driven around the 735-hectare site, he explains in minute detail what happened at some of the forts, trenches and memorials we see.
It is sobering to discover that more than 17,000 graves fill the Vicksburg National Cemetery and that more than 625,000 people died during the Civil War – however, the victory of the Unionists marked the official abolition of slavery. It’s confronting stuff, but as Abraham Lincoln famously observed: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong”.
Musical journey
Our second privileged access tour on the cruise – these are private culture-focused tours, organised exclusively for Viking guests – is a full day’s musical extravaganza.
From Greenville, the largest port on the Mississippi, most of the ship’s 380 guests are whisked off on Viking’s fleet of coaches to the town’s Jake and Freda Stein Hall to see Steve Azar’s Mississippi show.
Everyone is warmly welcomed by groups of ladies bearing drinks and seated at long communal tables. Our host, Steve Azar – a Greenville local who is a renowned country singer-songwriter, music producer and speaker, among many other things – bounces onto the stage and so begins a rousing introduction to life on the Mississippi Delta.
Between songs performed by his tight professional band, Azar regales us with anecdotes and video clips about growing up in the Deep South, his enduring friendship with Morgan Freeman and his role as Mississippi’s Music and Culture Ambassador.
He introduces talented storyteller Wes Smith, who delivers a highly entertaining talk about the Mississippi Delta and its best-known local characters – among them BB King and the Muppets’ creator Jim Henson – while we tuck into hearty helpings of fried catfish, spicy tamales, pulled pork, cornbread and banana trifle.
Our next stop is the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, the small town that the legendary bluesman called home from his teen years until he died aged 89 in 2015. What an incredible life he led!
Visiting the museum is fascinating – it’s packed with well-displayed memorabilia, photographs, and video and audio presentations that cover his life story, the social and musical history of the Mississippi Delta, the growth of the Civil Rights movement and much more.
Although my itinerary ends in Memphis, Tennessee, I am thrilled to join a trip to Graceland before I fly back to Sydney.
Extreme weather on the night of our arrival in Memphis makes docking an interesting exercise, and even though there is some reprieve from hurricane-strength winds as we disembark in the morning, torrential rain pours as we tour Elvis’s home, gardens and various exhibition sites.
Not that it matters one bit. The introduction to the tour, presented by a long-time Elvis fan and quintessential Southern belle of a certain age, sets the scene perfectly.
“That Australian actor who played Elvis, Austin Butler, was here while they were filming Elvis,” she purred. “The eye candy was so sweet it could tip you over into serious diabetes.”
Guests can extend Viking’s Lower Mississippi cruises with two-night pre- and post-cruise stays in New Orleans, Memphis and Nashville.
For more information, visit Viking.
