The Big Day

[HostDave]

April 10, 2012
By Jeff Krida, CEO

Today is the day that American river cruising becomes a reality once again. The grand American Queen, the most elegant steamboat ever built, returns to service after a lay-up of nearly five years with a six-night roundtrip cruise from New Orleans. Tomorrow she will be in Oak Alley, Sunday in St. Francisville, Monday in Natchez, Tuesday in Vicksburg and Wednesday she’ll be visiting Houmas House. If you live anywhere near these towns, I encourage you to come down and cheer our arrival. We would love to meet you.

I’ve spent much of my adult life meeting the folks in the river towns along the Mississippi River. Today is special for every member of the Great American Steamboat Company team and a reflection of a tremendous amount of hard work that has gone into making this first voyage a reality. But it’s also a powerful dose of déjà vu for me.

I was fortunate to have been at the helm of the Delta Queen Steamboat Company back in 1995 when we built the American Queen and she sailed her maiden voyage, also from New Orleans. Of course, it was a different time back then. There were already two steamboats sailing overnight voyages, the immortal Delta Queen and our 1970s baby, the Mississippi Queen. Demand was so great for river cruising that we knew we needed to build a new steamboat. We set out to make her the grandest and most beautiful boat the world had ever seen and I think we succeeded. That’s why, as she celebrates her 17th year, I’ve been such a stickler for details in making certain that she was restored to her original glory as she returns to service today. We even matched the exact paint colors applied in 1995.

Of course, back in 1995, no one had ever operated a riverboat as large as the American Queen and we had one rather well-publicized growing pain. I’ll never forget the days after her original christening. We had several special shakedown cruises planned with travel agents, journalists and the men and women who built her. One was a wee bit bumpy. On June 17, 1995 the American Queen nosed ashore on the Kentucky side of the river, just opposite Troy, Indiana. The plan was to remain moored for the night and then head out into the river at dawn. But the Newburgh Dam downstream had other plans. The dam gates were opened during the night and the water level of the river dipped a full seven feet, which was several feet less than what was needed to keep the American Queen floating comfortably. She was stuck fast. We tried everything to move her as media helicopters buzzed overhead. She stayed where she was for three full days before the water level rose, dredgers had carved a channel into the middle of the river and a passel of tugboats had worked their magic. Thanks to the American Queen’s many charms, her guests were thrilled to get an extended, albeit, stationary, vacation.

I have to admit, at first we were a bit chagrinned until we found out the side benefit of the American Queen’s stranding was that she was on the news every night and bookings soared! I look back on those times and can’t help but chuckle. It was a long, hard road to build her and put her into service in 1995. And I’d be lying if I told you it wasn’t a long, hard road to return her to the river in 2012.

The American Queen had been laid-up since 2007 after her last owners were unable to keep her in service. People told us that no one wanted to travel America’s rivers by steamboat any longer (the response we’ve received shows otherwise). They told us she was probably full of mold and mildew (she wasn’t), that expertise to restore her was lost (it wasn’t) and that the costs were huge (turns out, there was some truth to that last one!) The experts told us a lot of things. Fortunately, we didn’t listen.

I still know now what I knew back then: that a cruise on an authentic riverboat through American’s Heartland is every bit as rewarding in 2012 as it was in 1995. I’m overjoyed to be able to share that experience with all of you through the journeys of the American Queen and I can’t thank everyone enough for your support during the exciting process of bringing her back to life.

Please join me in wishing our grand lady many, many years of success as she regains her place as the one true queen of America’s rivers.