THE ESSENCE OF NEW ORLEANS

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If you take the time to look at our brochures, especially our new 2014 Brochure, you’ll notice that we have a large number of sailings that are either roundtrip from New Orleans or utilize the city as the starting or ending point of a river cruise. There are a variety of reasons that we choose to feature New Orleans so prominently. Naturally, New Orleans becomes a hub for our riverboat activities in the heartland due to its weather advantage over, say, Cincinnati or Minneapolis/St. Paul in February. While all of us here at the American Queen Steamboat Company are die-hard river cruising fans and enjoy ourselves no matter what the weather outside, we do understand that for most folks seeing snow on the paddlewheel does not inspire such enthusiasm. As a result, we keep the American Queen in the Lower Mississippi as temperatures start to turn chilly in our more northern cruising grounds on the Upper Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee and Cumberland rivers.

However, even if it was warm and sunny throughout the Upper Midwest during the dead of winter, we would still feature a large number of sailings to and from New Orleans. The simple truth is that New Orleans is easily one of the most intriguing, unique and memorable cities in the United States. Few cities have such a sense of place, a respect for the many cultures that merged together to create them, understanding of their own history and unabashed optimism for the future. Indeed, New Orleans is something special. And while we offer complimentary pre-cruise one-night deluxe hotel stays in all our embarkation cities, we initially were inspired to do so by the spirit of the Big Easy. If you ever have the chance to spend a night in New Orleans, do it. You certainly won’t regret it.

While we could go on and on about the restaurants, jazz clubs and other attractions (and we have in past blogs), what makes New Orleans truly special is its essence. “Essence” is a rather vague word, but in this case we mean it in its most basic definition: “the individual, real, or ultimate nature of a thing.” If you want to truly get at the heart of New Orleans, just use your ears.

If you close your eyes in New Orleans, you will hear carriages on cobblestone streets, traffic in downtown, the laughter of patrons enjoying its many bars and pubs, the shriek of a riverboat whistle and the melodious sounds of jazz and blues. From these clues, you would know you are somewhere in the south and near a river. But that could be Memphis, Baton Rouge or St. Louis. However, listen carefully to the locals speaking and you will soon learn that combined with the other sounds of a Southern river city, you could be in no place other than New Orleans.

The beauty of America and the many places that the American Queen Steamboat Company operates, from the Pacific Northwest to the wilderness rivers of Tennessee, is that we can showcase not just the commonalities that make the United States so fascinating, but the geographic and cultural differences that make it so unique. In our Minnesota ports, you will notice the Scandinavian influence in the way that long-time residents pronounce various words. The same regionally-inspired accent, though entirely different than that in Minnesota, is true in the Deep South as well. Linguistic variations vary from region to region. But in New Orleans, it’s almost as if the city has a language of its own.

There is a hint of a traditional Southern accent among the people of New Orleans, but it’s decidedly not as Southern as one finds in places like Memphis or Nashville. It’s Cajun but not the same as one finds out in the bayous of Louisiana. Wikipedia even goes so far to say that “New Orleans has developed a distinctive local dialect of American English.”

New Orleans is a mix of many cultures, ranging from the French, English and Spanish to the fur traders from Canada. But it’s easy to forget that America was a difficult place to move about during the 18th and 19th centuries. New Orleans was isolated except for the traffic on the Mississippi River but, unlike most communities on the river, it was also a major port. As a result, a vast quilt of immigrants came to New Orleans so the initial “pure” influence of the native tribes, French fur traders and English and Spanish explorers quickly exploded with the cultural color and variety of Germans, Italians and Irish and a vibrant Jewish community. The result was a potpourri of influences and the perfect example of what makes America both a great country and also a profoundly unique creation of its people.

Yet there are still some unaltered reminders of New Orleans cultural past that survive amidst the influences provided by the city’s newcomers. As you close your eyes in New Orleans and listen carefully, you will still hear the languages of the original ethnic groups. There is Cajun, of course, and Creole which to non-speakers both sound fanciful and somewhat indistinguishable. There is even a special dialect of the Creoles known as Kreyol Lwiziyen which is a blend of French, Spanish, African and Native American languages. The Isleño’s mix of local and foreign language is decidedly Spanish while Cajun is a shining example of its French roots planted deep in the soil of African and Native American influences.

There is no doubt that New Orleans is a unique place and we’re proud to feature the Crescent City on more than two dozen voyages between now and next spring. To see a full list of departures that either begin or end in New Orleans, click here. Though they are filling quickly, we still have space on some of our December holiday sailings. Whether you spend a night in New Orleans as part of our complimentary pre-cruise one-night deluxe hotel stay or choose to explore the city after your voyage, you will discover a treasure that is unlike any other in America. All you have to do is close your eyes and listen.