Stress-free Steamboating

[HostDave]

By Timothy Rubacky, Senior Vice President

I don’t know about you, but I hate to feel pressured or stressed when I travel. For me, a vacation should start as soon as I leave my house, not when I get to my destination or board a riverboat, ship or train. I realized the source of that stress and pressure tends to be the airlines. Flying can be stressful and with full planes, connecting flights and the lines to get through security checkpoints, it seems like there are more ways than there used to be where a delay can be introduced into our travel plans.

I only feel that stress if I’m boarding a train or boat at the end of my flight. Whether or not my plane arrives at the gate on time, that train or boat is going to leave the station or dock on time, too. I’m not much of a gambler (except for the nickel slots in Las Vegas) so I never like leaving the power over my arrival in the hands of others. I finally figured out a number of years ago the best way to avoid the anxiety and stress was to plan to arrive a day ahead of time. That way, a delayed flight or lost luggage issue could be solved before, for example, the American Queen heads out on her voyage.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to learn this lesson through experience but, rather, from anecdotal stories from others. A good friend of mine would tell a story of his grandparents’ first cruse back in 1976. They were sailing on a ship out of Miami but flying there from Kansas City with a connection in Dallas at what was then the new and shiny DFW airport. Excited and loaded with luggage, they boarded the plane and arrived in Dallas. When they got to the gate for their connecting flight, they saw it was delayed. After waiting around for three hours, they watched as the status board changed to “cancelled.” The airline didn’t seem concerned that they had a ship to catch that afternoon and dutifully booked them on a flight on another airline the next day. They were going to miss their ship’s departure. At this point it’s worth noting that the airline in question has long since gone out of business due, in part, to customer service issues such as this.

My friend’s grandparents contacted the cruise line who pointed out there was nothing they could do. There were 900 other people who were going to be arriving on time. However, they suggested that instead of flying to Miami, they could fly to San Juan and catch the ship two days into its seven-night cruise. The grandparents did exactly that and spent two nights in a San Juan hotel at their own expense before finally getting five nights of their seven-night cruise. All after having paid for a full week, of course!

The same friend tells his own story of woe when he was flying to Barcelona for a cruise. He worked for a cruise line and was headed over to host a group on one of the early cruises of a brand new ship. Things were swell until his luggage never appeared on the carousel at the end of the flight. The connection in Atlanta had been very tight and the flight’s arrival in Georgia’s capital city had been delayed by weather so he made his connecting flight to Barcelona only by running through the airport. His luggage was not as speedy. As he stood at the now-empty carousel in Barcelona, a representative from the airline explained that he had good news and bad news. “The good news,” the airline rep said with a smile, “is that we haven’t lost your luggage; we know exactly where it is.” That certainly did seem like good news, my friend thought. “The bad news,” the rep continued, “is that it’s not here in Barcelona and it won’t arrive until tomorrow on our only daily flight.” The predictable result is that my friend spent the first few days wearing the same clothes on the cruise until his luggage met up with the ship in a port of call in France partway through the voyage. It was a memorable trip but not for any of the right reasons.

I don’t like that kind of inconvenience and I’m decidedly not a fan of the anxiety that goes with arriving for a voyage on the same day the ship – or steamboat – sails. And I know that all of our guests feel the same way. That’s why at the American Queen Steamboat Company we decided to offer a complimentary one-night pre-cruise stay in every embarkation port before your Steamboating adventure begins. A vacation should be fun and stress-free and we realized there was an easy way to ensure that it was exactly that. We offer tours of the highlights in each city so your extra night and full day before boarding the American Queen are more than just a safety net; they’re a rewarding extension of your vacation itself.

When we created the American Queen Steamboat Company, we decided to focus on two missions. One was to offer an authentic, unique Southern vacation experience in every way. The other was to provide the greatest value in travel today. That’s why we not only came up with the idea of the free pre-cruise hotel stay, but also complimentary shore excursions in every port of call; complimentary wine and beer with dinner; and free sodas, bottled water and specialty coffees throughout your trip with us. And with value comes peace of mind that you’ve made the right vacation choice.

Traveling with us, you can be secure in the knowledge that at the moment you are pulling the comforter up around you in a fine hotel the night before you depart, somewhere in America there is at least one couple running in a frenzy through an airport after missing their flight and are now trying desperately to make arrangements to get to their ship partway through its cruise, knowing they’ve already missed the sailing.

We always said that Steamboating is not a cruise. It’s an experience and a journey to another era. And in that era, people looked out for one another and went out of their way to give their customers the best value possible. That’s why I like to tell people when they travel with us to let their cares disappear. No stress. No anxiety. No running through airports. Relax, we’re the American Queen Steamboat Company and we’ve got you covered.