Sometimes, the best way to gauge a company's commitment to customer service is to experience mishaps and witness how the crew and company react.
We were on the December 2 sailing from Memphis to Nashville on the American Duchess. The first issue occurred when one of the propellers malfunctioned. We were immediately given this information and were also informed that we were going to have to skip our next port. The next morning, we found ourselves docked in a town that was not a scheduled stop on our itinerary (sorry, I forget which town it was). We were then given the news that.... the paddlewheel had fallen off!
Somehow, they were able to get a team to arrive and fix the propeller and meanwhile arranged for us to go on a premium trip to a nearby museum while they worked on the repair. I'm not sure how they made those arrangements so quickly, but the museum was an excellent experience. (There was no way to replace the paddlewheel, but the boat was able to continue on our journey to Nashville.)