American Queen launching another Mississippi ship next year

The American Queen Steamboat Co. will add a third vessel to its river fleet in 2017. The 340-foot American Duchess is slated to launch on the Mississippi River next June.

“We’re running full these days,” said American Queen President and COO Ted Sykes. “We’ve been scouring the country for more capacity.”

The company’s flagship vessel, the American Queen, is entering its sixth season cruising the Mississippi. The line expanded in 2014, adding the American Empress in the Pacific Northwest. Now in 2017, American Queen will grow again, converting a former gaming vessel purchased from parent company HMS Global Maritime in August into the all-suite Duchess. The river cruise line plans to gut the ship, rebuilding the interior hotel and adding a working paddlewheel.

The four-deck Duchess will carry 166 passengers in 83 suites, including three 550-square-foot owner’s suites and four 550-square-foot loft suites. Other cabin categories will include deluxe suites (450 square feet), outside veranda suites (240 to 330 square feet) and interior staterooms (180 to 200 square feet).

Compared with the American Queen, Sykes said the new ship will offer a more elevated experience.

Two onboard dining venues will be included in the cruise fare, along with beer and wine at dinner, onboard entertainment and shore excursions. The Grand Dining Room will have open seating and be capable of accommodating the entire ship’s capacity.

American Queen plans to operate the American Duchess year-round on the upper and lower Mississippi. Its voyages will include weeklong roundtrip sailings out Nashville and nine-day voyages between Memphis and New Orleans, and St. Louis and Ottawa, Ill. (about 83 miles from Chicago). The Duchess will also overnight in Nashville, a first for the company.

Prices for most sailings start at $2,999 and top out at $9,499 for one of the three owner’s suites. The Duchess will begin accepting bookings for the 2017 season on Oct. 1.

American Cruise Lines to give U.S. river cruising a new look

American Cruise Lines (ACL) has big plans for the future of U.S. river cruising that go far beyond the handful of paddlewheelers currently plying the Mississippi and Columbia rivers.

The Guilford, Conn.-based river cruise line has unveiled an ambitious strategy to begin building a fleet of modern vessels alongside its existing and forthcoming paddlewheelers. Starting in 2017, the company says, this new fleet will begin sailing inland waterways across the U.S. — many of which haven’t seen overnight passenger cruising in a very long time, if ever.

The list of waterways that ACL is eyeing for development include the Sacramento River, San Joaquin River, Missouri River, Des Moines River, Wabash River, Illinois River, Apalachicola River, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Mid-Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, Erie Canal, Hudson River, Oswego Canal, Potomac River and Alaska’s Inside Passage.

In terms of the company’s cruising options, ACL President Charles Robertson said, “There’s more than 15,000 miles of navigable waterways in the United States.”

In April, ACL will launch on the Mississippi its second paddlewheeler built from the ground up, the 150-passenger American Eagle. It will join the company’s 150-passenger paddlewheeler, the Queen of the Mississippi, which launched on the river in 2012, as well as the refurbished Columbia River paddlewheeler Queen of the West and four yacht-style coastal cruisers: the Independence, American Star, American Spirit and American Glory.

Following the launch of a new paddlewheeler on the Columbia and Snake rivers in 2016, Robertson said he expects the pace of construction of new vessels to start ramping up, starting with at least two new vessels in 2017.

Asked whether the modern-style river vessels will look more like the river ships in Europe, Robertson responded that in fact, they will not look like the European models, or like anything else for that matter.

“You won’t look at one of these and say, ‘Oh, that’s like a European boat,’ ” he said.

On the other hand, he added, “You won’t say, ‘Oh, it looks like a Mississippi Victorian riverboat,’ because it won’t look like that either. It will be a new look.”

In Europe, the dimension and size of the vessels is much more constrained by the height of bridges and the size of locks than it is in most of the U.S. So in designing its new fleet, ACL has much more freedom to play with the dimensions of each vessel.

Each will be built to accommodate the specific constraints presented by the waterway it will navigate. For example, he said, the locks and the bridges on the Erie Canal are much smaller and lower than they are on the Mississippi, and the constraints along the western portion of the Erie Canal are different from the eastern part of the Erie Canal.

Some of the vessels will be smaller than ACL’s current vessels, while others will be the same size or larger. As for the overall look and feel, generally speaking, these more modern vessels are being designed to feature more glass to let in more natural light and will feature more open layouts, he said.

On the other hand, ACL doesn’t plan to stop building paddlewheelers, which the company will continue constructing alongside the modern vessels, Robertson said.

“If you look at the Mississippi River, it just sort of screams for a Victorian riverboat with all of the history of the Mississippi River and Mark Twain and so on,” he said. “That’s less true on some other waterways. … The Victorian feel of it becomes less important, and that gives us more freedom to do stuff with glass and more contemporary designs.”

Even so, where the paddlewheeler style fits a particular river, ACL will go with it.

“We spent a lot of time talking to folks, particularly travel agents, about what their customers would like, and we think there’s another portion of the market that would be more attracted to something with a more contemporary feel,” — ACL President Charles Robertson.

Pricing for cruises on the more modern vessels will be in line with pricing for those on the paddlewheelers.

“We spent a lot of time talking to folks, particularly travel agents, about what their customers would like, and we think there’s another portion of the market that would be more attracted to something with a more contemporary feel,” Robertson said.

He added that along with a growing demand in the U.S. river cruise market in general, river passengers in the U.S. are increasingly expecting something more in line with the amenities and services they experience in the evolving, rapidly modernizing hotel and ocean cruise markets, whether than means private balconies, quick and efficient elevators or larger cabins.

Hardware aside, Robertson seems determined to introduce travelers to some of the country’s less well-known scenic waterways and the towns and cultural and historical heritage through which they wind. Many areas of the country, he said, are “gorgeous.”

He acknowledged that ACL is not the only player that senses opportunity along these untapped waterways.

“I don’t expect that we’re going to be the only ones in this business,” he said.

Indeed, in 2013 Viking Cruises teased plans to bring a version of its latest European river vessels, the Viking Longships, to the U.S. in 2015. But by the end of the year, Viking said it was exploring options on the Mississippi for the 2016 season.

As for the other major player on the U.S. rivers, American Queen Steamboat Co. (AQSC), its senior vice president of sales, Bill Diebenow, said that while AQSC has considered looking into other North American waterways, its current focus is “to maximize our two terrific assets on the rivers we currently cruise.”

AQSC owns and operates the 436-passenger American Queen on the Mississippi, and the 223-passenger American Empress on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest.

River cruising across continents -- the same, but different

By Michelle Baran

Whenever anyone would ask me about the similarities between river cruising in Europe and river cruising in other parts of the world, I used to answer one of two ways.

Half the time, I responded with something along the lines of, “No matter where you are in the world, river cruising is basically the same.” The other half, I said something like, “Aside from the fact that it’s a river cruise, that’s where the similarities end. Totally different experience depending on where you are.”

In truth, both are correct. (And I’ve started responding with a combination of the two, for the record. Apologies to those I misled prior to this new policy.)

As the river cruising industry shifts its focus from a busy launch season in Europe this spring, toward a slew of newbuilds coming out in Southeast Asia this fall, the change in destination backdrop begs for some comparisons between river cruising in Europe and elsewhere in the world.

Indeed, Europe has set the standard for river cruising in the world. It’s where the market is most developed, it’s the product that is marketed the heaviest, and it’s usually the destination where people often first learn about and experience river cruising.

It sets the bar, so to speak. And then, passengers get the river cruise line’s brochure and see that they might have a ship that sails the Mekong in Vietnam and Cambodia, or that they offer an itinerary on the Peruvian Amazon. That’s when things start getting interesting.

Maybe they find out from some friends they can even river cruise right here at home on the Mississippi or Columbia rivers. Who knew?

The question is, will they like these other river cruises if they liked river cruising in Europe? Well, first off, let’s address what will be the same or similar between European river cruising and its numerous cousins scattered about the globe.

For one, the floating-hotel notion is similar. During the river cruise portion of their itinerary, regardless of the destination, passengers will pack and unpack once and their river cruise ship/floating hotel will carry them from one destination to the next, often to small ports from which they can walk into the nearby town.

Additionally, floating on down the river offers a very similar sensation regardless of whether that river is the Mississippi, the Nile, the Irrawaddy or the Danube. Of course the scenery along the river will vary greatly, but that peaceful, gliding feeling is almost universal.

As for what’s different, the ships themselves, for one. There are vastly different types of river cruise vessels suitable for different rivers. European river cruisers might be surprised to find how large the river cruise ships in the U.S. and China are, or how small those in Southeast Asia and Peru are.

And of course, the destinations themselves are where many of the differences are. The bustling river life in Vietnam and Cambodia is nothing like the more reserved rivers of Europe. Floating past Egyptian desert landscapes is quite different from sailing past quaint American towns.

But despite all the differences, I could totally see how someone could love river cruising across continents. Because really, it’s the same. But different.

American Queen repositions due to Mississippi River flooding

By Michelle Baran

The American Queen Steamboat Co. (AQSC) is moving its 436-passenger paddle wheeler American Queen to the Ohio River for the remainder of July due to high water levels on the Upper Mississippi River.

Torrential downpours in recent weeks in the Midwest have resulted in flooding along stretches of the Mississippi River.

Consequently, the American Queen is moving to the Ohio River for its next three sailings, which will impact the originally scheduled July 9 sailing between Cincinnati and St. Louis and the July 15 and 23 sailings between St. Louis and St. Paul, Minn.

"Sometimes river conditions are outside our control," AQSC President and COO Ted Sykes said in a statement. "We recognize the need to cruise on the Ohio River for our July 2014 itineraries and will then return to our regularly scheduled itineraries."

The new itineraries will sail between Cincinnati and Paducah, Ky., calling on Cave-In-Rock, Ill.; Henderson, Ky.; Louisville, Ky.; Madison, Ind.; and Augusta, Ky. Guests on the July 9 voyage will travel by motorcoach from Paducah to St. Louis at the conclusion of the sailing and resume their return home as scheduled. The July 15 pre-cruise hotel stay in St. Louis remains, and guests will be transferred to Paducah to join the American Queen.

The July 23 voyage will now depart Cincinnati, replacing St. Paul, and details on that itinerary will be available shortly.

Guests booked on the July 9 or 15 itineraries have the option to stay on their deviated voyage and receive a $100 onboard credit, per person, and a $500 future cruise credit per stateroom. Guests preferring to book an Upper Mississippi River voyage in late 2014 may roll forward their booking with a one stateroom category upgrade (subject to availability), noted AQSC.

The Mississippi River continued to gradually rise on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, but overnight rainfall wasn't as severe as predicted. 

The highs and lows of river water levels

By Michelle Baran

As river cruise lines glide into their busy sailing season, high water levels on the Mississippi and some lower levels on the Danube and Elbe rivers in Europe serve as a reminder that conditions on the rivers are as changeable as they are charming.

And while river cruise executives themselves often admit there isn’t anything they can do about the water levels (despite likely wishing they could!), the way river companies respond is indicative of the fact that the product is adaptable and water level issues are often somewhat solvable with a bit of innovation and operations juggling.

Recently, water levels on the Elbe River and a stretch of the Danube River between Regensburg and Passau in Germany were lower than normal, Viking Cruises informed passengers on its website. 

In response, Viking is having impacted guests begin their itineraries on a different sister ship than was originally scheduled located on the other side of the impassable lower water area. Can’t pass through? No problem. There’s an identical ship waiting on the other side.

Scenic Cruises did what many river cruise lines do in this situation: It had passengers who couldn’t continue their itinerary on one vessel swap ships with passengers on the other side of the lower water level area.

“It is not that unusual for the rivers of Europe to go through phases of low or high waters — remember last year’s historic high water levels?” noted Elliot Gillies, spokesman for Scenic Cruises and Emerald Waterways.

In order to reduce the amount of impact, Gillies noted that parent company Scenic Tours builds its Scenic Cruises and Emerald Waterways river cruise vessels with the lowest drafts possible to be able to pass through shallower waters.

But at the end of the day, the issue is in the hands of Mother Nature.

“Water levels are generally influenced by the snow pack in the mountains of Central Europe and the amount of rain during the season. As long as there is enough water in total running into the rivers, operations can be expected to run smoothly,” noted Patrick Clark, managing director of Avalon Waterways, which does not operate on the Elbe and only faced some minor itinerary adjustments due to the lower waters.

Indeed, the ebbing rivers in Europe are a small operational blip compared to last year’s flooding in Central Europe that wreaked havoc on the region and the river cruises running through it.

In the U.S., the Mississippi is once again showing its erratic side (there have been ups and downs on this river as well in the past couple of years that have caused delays and itinerary disruptions).

Heavy downpours in recent weeks in the Midwest have resulted in flooding along stretches of the Mississippi River, and forced the American Queen Steamboat Co. (AQSC) to move its American Queen paddlewheeler to the Ohio River for the remainder of July.

AQSC President and COO Ted Sykes observed that “sometimes river conditions are outside our control.”

I think it’s safe to say they’re always out of river cruise lines’ control, but their tides still flow in favor of the river cruise industry at large.

American Empress: Rugged scenery takes center stage

By Michelle Baran

STEVENSON, Wash. — For as long as I’ve been covering the river cruise market, I’ve heard quiet rumblings that the Columbia and Snake rivers offer a river cruise experience not to be missed.

The American Queen Steamboat Co.’s (AQSC) relaunch of the 223-passenger American Empress finally allowed me to see for myself whether the claims were true.

You don’t have to get too far outside of Portland, Ore., to understand why AQSC acquired the American Empress (formerly the Empress of the North), refurbished it and put the paddlewheeler back into business in the Pacific Northwest.

The Columbia River Gorge is breathtaking. The soaring Cascade Mountains that rise from riverbanks covered in pine trees and striped by endless waterfalls are a sight to behold.

Combine that with the rugged outdoorsy-ness of the region, and there seems to be less pressure on the paddlewheeler to be anything too fussy or even anything beyond a reasonable means of transport through this wondrous landscape.

But of course, the American Empress is much more than an adequate vessel.

Having learned from the relaunch of the 436-passenger American Queen in 2012, the executive team at AQSC has allowed that this project was far easier and the launch far smoother than that of the American Queen.
And while there were still some last-minute tweaks being made during the pre-christening cruise this week, the good condition of the vessel when AQSC acquired it from the U.S. Maritime Administration (Marad), combined with lessons learned from the American Queen, were evident.

Alternative dining venue the River Grill on the fourth deck received one of the ship’s most intensive makeovers. On this trip, it was still in the process of being transformed from a snack stand into a sophisticated dining experience, saddled up to a U-shaped bar. The quasi-construction area surrounding the venue promised to be finished in time for the christening ceremony.

It was at the River Grill that I had one of my favorite meals onboard: fresh, local, smoked salmon and steamed lobster tail.

The company has invested in technical and cosmetic touch-ups throughout the vessel, including changing the layout and color scheme of the main restaurant, the Astoria Dining Room.

Previously steeped in deep reds with banquettes lining the windows, the tables have been broken up into smaller, more convenient configurations, and the room has been detailed with fabrics in modern, metallic hues.

For art lovers, the American Empress is a treasure trove of interesting pieces evoking different themes throughout the vessel, including local steamboat scenes, Native American images and marine life. All the art was purchased with the vessel; it had been stored safely by Marad while the ship was laid up following the collapse of Majestic America Line in 2008.
There is, of course, great value in refurbishing an older vessel such as the American Empress, which originally launched in 2003. But there are some drawbacks, as well — for example, lackluster bathrooms, a throwback to a time when river cruising was not such a premium product.

But even the older elements of the vessel are unworn, clean and respectable. Many of its vintage attributes, like the Paddlewheeler Lounge at the aft of the vessel, with windows that look right onto the churning paddlewheel, are an important part of the vessel’s allure as a sort of floating museum.

And anyway, even the slightest inclination to get snobby about a dated amenity here or there is quickly muted by the nature and scenery through which the riverboat sails.

The American Empress is a notably smaller vessel than the American Queen, which means fewer public areas and a more intimate experience overall. The itinerary is steeped in history, natural beauty and no shortage of regional wines and cuisines.

The vessel will run seven-day, one-way itineraries between Portland and Spokane, Wash. 

American Cruise Lines confident demand will support slate of new builds

By Michelle Baran

Starting in 2015, American Cruise Lines will introduce four U.S. newbuilds over a period of less than four years, signaling that the company is confident the domestic small-ship cruising market is going to continue to grow for some time to come.

“I think there’s a greater awareness of it, and the market is growing,” said American Cruise Lines President Charles Robertson. “We have more demand than capacity.”

In order to meet that demand, American Cruise Lines plans on introducing a second paddlewheeler in early 2015. (Although the company hasn’t officially announced where the vessel will sail, Robertson said the Mississippi “would be a good guess.”)

The vessel, which will be a slightly larger sister ship to the 150-passenger Queen of the Mississippi the company launched last year, will accommodate about 154 passengers and will have certain distinctive features, such as higher ceilings than the Queen of the Mississippi. Like the Queen of the Mississippi, it is being built at the Chesapeake Shipbuilding yard in Salisbury, Md.

When the Queen of the Mississippi set sail in August 2012, it was the first paddlewheeler built in the U.S. since the American Queen (the 436-passenger paddlewheeler now owned by the company’s competitor American Queen Steamboat Co.) launched in 1995. But clearly, the steamboat style of cruise vessel is not an outdated mode for cruising.

Neither is cruising in the U.S. in general. According to Robertson, following the launch of the still-unnamed second paddlewheeler, the company will build three additional vessels that will be delivered about once every 11 months starting at the end of 2015. One will sail somewhere on the West Coast, one on the East Coast, and the location of the third is still undecided. Robertson said the new vessels will sail both coastal and inland waterways.

The Guilford, Conn.-based American Cruise Lines has experienced 25% passenger growth each year for the past three years, according to the company. It attributes that growth to strong consumer demand for the river cruising experience, its hundreds of travel agent partners, and the fact that the company is achieving some of its highest repeat booking rates in its history.

“The demand for riverboat vacations is higher than it has ever been,” Robertson stated in a release about the company’s planned growth.

American Cruise Lines operates more than 35 itineraries on rivers and waterways in 28 states.

High waters force American Queen to alter itineraries

By Michelle Baran

The 436-passenger American Queen will alter its July 5 and 13 itineraries, previously scheduled to operate between St. Louis and St. Paul, Minn., due to high water levels on the Upper Mississippi River, the American Queen Steamboat Co. said on Wednesday.

Severe downpours struck across the Midwest on Wednesday, according to news reports.

Because of the resulting high water levels, the two affected itineraries will now sail between St. Louis and Cincinnati, calling on Chester, Ill.; Cape Girardeau, Mo.; Paducah, Henderson and Louisville, Ky.; and Madison, Ind.

The July 4 precruise hotel stay in St. Louis remains as scheduled at the Hilton St. Louis. The Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza will now serve as the precruise hotel on July 12.

“Delivering a safe, predictable cruise itinerary for our guests is a priority, and sometimes river conditions are outside our control,” American Queen Steamboat Co. President and COO Ted Sykes said in a statement. “We recognize the need to cruise on the Ohio River for our first two July 2013 itineraries and will then return to our regularly scheduled itineraries.”

Guests booked on the July 5 or 13 sailings have the option to rebook a 2013 cruise with no additional fee or stay on their altered itinerary and receive a $500 future cruise credit per stateroom.

By Jerry Limone

American Queen buys riverboat for Pacific Northwest cruises

Partnering in preservation

American Queen Steamboat Co. has formed a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a privately funded nonprofit based in Washington.

Beginning June 30, the American Queen Steamboat Co. will donate $5 to the National Trust for every booking, in support of the campaign to protect National Treasure sites along the Mississippi River and in the Pacific Northwest.

Through the partnership, American Queen Steamboat Co. and the National Trust for Historic Preservation aim to “help tell the stories about important historical places along the travels of the ship,” said Terry Richey, chief marketing officer for the National Trust.

Passengers will have the opportunity to visit three National Treasures sites on their cruise: the Mississippi Delta Heritage area, Willamette Falls in Oregon and the Manhattan Project in Hanford, Wash.

The American Queen Steamboat Co. has purchased the Empress of the North, a riverboat that last sailed for the defunct Majestic America Line in 2008, from the U.S. Maritime Administration for an undisclosed price.

The 223-passenger paddlewheeler will be renovated and renamed the American Empress. The crew will comprise 80 hotel staff and 17 deck staff, all locally hired in the Pacific Northwest region.

As it did when the riverboat was last in service, the American Empress will sail Pacific Northwest cruises, plying the Columbia and Snake rivers, starting next April.

“We are looking at the region [the American Empress] draws from,” said Ted Sykes, president and COO of American Queen Steamboat Co. “We’ve had a lot of people on the American Queen say, ‘Give us some more geography.’ The repeat customer knows of the luxury on the American Queen, and now they want that luxury somewhere else.”

Cruises will sail between Portland, Ore., and Clarkston, Wash. Ports of call include Astoria, Wash.; Stevenson, Wash.; The Dalles, Ore.; Umatilla, Ore.; and Richland, Wash.

The American Queen Steamboat Co. revived Mississippi River cruising last year with the American Queen, another former Majestic America Line riverboat.

“The American Queen has ushered in a rebirth of U.S. river cruising, welcoming thousands to discover the heartland of the United States and its iconic port cities,” stated Sykes. “Now the American Empress will continue that tradition as an ambassador to the Pacific Northwest, a region equally rich in American and natural history.”

Sykes said the American Empress will be ready to take online bookings by the end of the week.