Getting Started
Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2012 3:26 pm
February 22, 2012
By Tim Rubacky, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development
It’s a tradition as old as boats and ships themselves. Unlike most other forms of transportation, riverboats have always had names that helped define a personality and to make them unique. Though composed of steel, wood, glass and brass, a riverboat is a living, breathing being with a life of its own. Or as I like to say: “Boats are people, too!”
We’d like to think that “American Queen” is the perfect name for our boat. She represents everything that is good about America. Her friendliness, her sense of adventure and her attention to detail all shine through. And as the largest and most luxurious riverboat ever built, she certainly is a queen as well.
And much the way a baby gets a name and, in some faiths, is baptized with water at a christening ceremony, the same is true of a boat. Here at the Great American Steamboat Company, we’re planning a big party for the American Queen that we want you to be a part of.
To mark her grand return to American river cruises, the American Queen will be named in Memphis in a gala ceremony by a yet-to-be-revealed godmother. Everyone booked on the seven-night voyage from Memphis to Cincinnati will receive two free nights in a luxury Memphis hotel prior to the cruise. As part of the celebration, the entire complement of guests will be treated to a barbeque dinner at Charles Vergo’s world-famous Rendezvous, attend the naming ceremony and during the voyage enjoy events hosted by senior executives of the Great American Steamboat Company as well as a Gala Inaugural Ball. The sounds of the Harry James Orchestra will be heard onboard and a keepsake gift to remember this special voyage will be provided. If you book and deposit by Friday, February 24 you even receive a $100 shipboard credit per stateroom (see our website for more details). The festivities begin April 27, 2012 and thanks to the inclusion of a complimentary two-night hotel stay in Memphis prior to the voyage itself, extend over a period of 10 days. There’s even a steamboat race between the American Queen and the Belle of Louisville as a highlight of the cruise.
But naming a boat has always been cause for celebration, although the Babylonians didn’t seem to provide a barbeque. They preferred a sacrifice of oxen. Roman, Greeks and Egyptians all invoked the gods to protect their vessels and appealed to their individual gods of the sea. Ships were blessed with water while participants drank wine. By the time Christianity became well-known, the water was replaced with wine and the blessing asked for saints to oversee the boats and their human cargo. But sacrifice hadn’t yet disappeared. Feasts, the sacrifice of sheep and prayers accompanied the launch of ships in the Ottoman Empire.
In England, wine was drunk from a special cup, the wine scattered across the decks and the cup made of precious metals tossed overboard. Whether it was the scarcity of special elements or the large number of vessels, shipbuilders decided to forgo the cup and instead began to break bottles of wine across the bow.
The French started with holy water but eventually champagne found favor. In India, coconuts did the trick. No matter what the culture, it was eventually considered inappropriate for a male to name a vessel and the job was reserved exclusively for women, hence the godmother moniker. It was considered bad luck for the master of the vessel to perform the christening so it was usually conducted by a member of a royal family, relative of the owner, or prominent local citizen.
In the US Navy, the duties are often done by the wife, mother or daughter of the person for whom the ship is being named or, in the case of submarines named after states, the wife of the governor or the governor herself.
When the American Queen was originally named back in 1995, Angel Harvey, wife of ABC radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, did the honors with a bottle of untraditional Tabasco sauce. While we don’t plan on disturbing a passel of fish with hot sauce which was the unintended but unfortunate result of the 1995 frivolity, we promise some wonderful surprises in 2012.
By Tim Rubacky, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development
It’s a tradition as old as boats and ships themselves. Unlike most other forms of transportation, riverboats have always had names that helped define a personality and to make them unique. Though composed of steel, wood, glass and brass, a riverboat is a living, breathing being with a life of its own. Or as I like to say: “Boats are people, too!”
We’d like to think that “American Queen” is the perfect name for our boat. She represents everything that is good about America. Her friendliness, her sense of adventure and her attention to detail all shine through. And as the largest and most luxurious riverboat ever built, she certainly is a queen as well.
And much the way a baby gets a name and, in some faiths, is baptized with water at a christening ceremony, the same is true of a boat. Here at the Great American Steamboat Company, we’re planning a big party for the American Queen that we want you to be a part of.
To mark her grand return to American river cruises, the American Queen will be named in Memphis in a gala ceremony by a yet-to-be-revealed godmother. Everyone booked on the seven-night voyage from Memphis to Cincinnati will receive two free nights in a luxury Memphis hotel prior to the cruise. As part of the celebration, the entire complement of guests will be treated to a barbeque dinner at Charles Vergo’s world-famous Rendezvous, attend the naming ceremony and during the voyage enjoy events hosted by senior executives of the Great American Steamboat Company as well as a Gala Inaugural Ball. The sounds of the Harry James Orchestra will be heard onboard and a keepsake gift to remember this special voyage will be provided. If you book and deposit by Friday, February 24 you even receive a $100 shipboard credit per stateroom (see our website for more details). The festivities begin April 27, 2012 and thanks to the inclusion of a complimentary two-night hotel stay in Memphis prior to the voyage itself, extend over a period of 10 days. There’s even a steamboat race between the American Queen and the Belle of Louisville as a highlight of the cruise.
But naming a boat has always been cause for celebration, although the Babylonians didn’t seem to provide a barbeque. They preferred a sacrifice of oxen. Roman, Greeks and Egyptians all invoked the gods to protect their vessels and appealed to their individual gods of the sea. Ships were blessed with water while participants drank wine. By the time Christianity became well-known, the water was replaced with wine and the blessing asked for saints to oversee the boats and their human cargo. But sacrifice hadn’t yet disappeared. Feasts, the sacrifice of sheep and prayers accompanied the launch of ships in the Ottoman Empire.
In England, wine was drunk from a special cup, the wine scattered across the decks and the cup made of precious metals tossed overboard. Whether it was the scarcity of special elements or the large number of vessels, shipbuilders decided to forgo the cup and instead began to break bottles of wine across the bow.
The French started with holy water but eventually champagne found favor. In India, coconuts did the trick. No matter what the culture, it was eventually considered inappropriate for a male to name a vessel and the job was reserved exclusively for women, hence the godmother moniker. It was considered bad luck for the master of the vessel to perform the christening so it was usually conducted by a member of a royal family, relative of the owner, or prominent local citizen.
In the US Navy, the duties are often done by the wife, mother or daughter of the person for whom the ship is being named or, in the case of submarines named after states, the wife of the governor or the governor herself.
When the American Queen was originally named back in 1995, Angel Harvey, wife of ABC radio broadcaster Paul Harvey, did the honors with a bottle of untraditional Tabasco sauce. While we don’t plan on disturbing a passel of fish with hot sauce which was the unintended but unfortunate result of the 1995 frivolity, we promise some wonderful surprises in 2012.