2026 American Melody Ohio River Cruise This cruise between Louisville and Pittsburgh surprised me in several (good) ways

In July of 2026, I sailed up the Ohio River with American Cruise Lines...  starting in Louisville, Kentucky...  and ending in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.  It was my 13th cruise with American Cruise Lines since 2021.  I really enjoy exploring the rivers and coastlines of the USA from small cruise ships carrying less than 200 passengers.  It's a very comfortable way to travel, and these small ships lack many of the stressful elements of cruising on big cruise ships.

I'm a west coast guy, so I really didn't know much about the Ohio River valley.  I knew one of the cities we would visit was Pittsburg, and that conjured up images of abandoned steel mills and horrendous pollution.  But in reality, Pittsburgh wasn't anything like I imagined...  and all the places we visited were really quite lovely.

One of the cities that the ship visited was Cincinnati, Ohio.  The ship docked right next to the ballpark where the Cincinnati Reds play their home games!

While the ship was docked in Cincinnati, I was among a small group of passengers that got to tour the ballpark, including being able to go down to field level, and even in to the dugout.

A lot of my best photos are shot from a drone.  The drone shoots photos with a much more interesting perspective than a regular camera at ground level can.

I'm a licensed commercial drone pilot and professional photographer.  American Cruise Lines has been sending me all around the country to shoot photos and videos of their ships and itineraries.  It's been the best retirement gig for me that I could imagine!  They reimburse me for my airfare to get back and forth...  but other than that, no money changes hands.  So, it's a great deal for both sides:  I get a free cruise and a fun, creative assignment...  they get high-quality photos they can use in their brochures, and video they can use for TV ads or other video projects.  Also, I generate great publicity for them by making very high-quality YouTube travel videos about their cruises...  and by posting photos, videos, and stories of my cruise to an American Cruise Lines Facebook group.

One of the best photos I shot during this cruise was when the ship was docked in the small city of Belpre, Ohio.  I sent the drone up to try to get a good photo of the ship at sunset, and I was very pleased with the results!  I especially like that there was a barge coming up the river right at that exact moment.

I hope ACL likes the photo enough that they use it on the cover of one of their brochures sometime.  That's the ultimate compliment to a photographer.  So far, three different photos I've shot on previous cruises have made it on to the covers of ACL brochures.

Of course, not all photos are shot with the goal of making it on to the cover of a brochure.  This next shot was simply to help me remember a great waitress in the ship's restaurant that really treated me well.  Years from now, if I stumble on to this photo, I'm sure I'll smile when I remember how wonderfully Melanie took care of me as I dined in the restaurant.

This next shot looks like a drone shot, but it wasn't.  A fan of my YouTube videos lives in Wheeling, West Virginia, and knew that the ship I was on would be coming there.  He snapped this photo of our ship with his iPhone as we sailed through Wheeling.

Photo by Trey Dunlevy

Video Highlights

Still photos are great, but videos are so much better!  I recommend that you watch this video full-screen, to best enjoy the big scenic views.  And if you have a high-speed Internet connection, you might also want to double-check that the video player is set to show them to you in 4K resolution.

This 20-minute video shows you all the best moments from my Ohio River Cruise:

To start the video playing, click the triangle in the middle of the video screen
To make the video fill the screen (recommended) click the little symbol in the lower right corner of the video player

 

Need A Travel Agent?

Booking a cruise can be confusing, especially if you haven't been on many cruises before.  There are lots of first-time cruiser mistakes that a travel agent can keep you from making.

If you're interested in booking a cruise with any cruise line...  please feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher.  She's extremely pleasant to deal with, easy to talk to since she lives in the United States and speaks without any kind of an accent, and quite experienced and knowledgeable about different types of cruising.  Caitlin is the owner of Ambren Travel.  Visit her web site, check out the Ambren Travel Facebook page, or contact her using the information below.

The Cruise Ships We've Been On

If you've enjoyed this page, you would probably also enjoy reading the stories about some of the other cruise ships I've traveled on.  Click here to see the complete chronology of all the cruises we've ever taken, and to read the full story of any that look interesting to you.

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