We’re not done growing

[HostDave]

Ted Sykes says 600,000 Americans are taking a river cruise this year and they shouldn’t have to go overseas to do it.

That’s why American Queen Steamboat Co. is expanding into the Pacific Northwest with its Empress of the North acquisition and weighing whether to add a second vessel on the Mississippi to complement American Queen, or branch out into the Great Lakes.

‘We’re not done growing,’ Sykes, AQSC president and coo, said.

He wants a bigger slice of that 600,000-passenger market and after spending most of his career in the foreign-flag cruise sector, Sykes likes the potential of a business where, as he put it, ‘Passengers graduate from large vessels to smaller ones as they get tired of cruising with 3,000 of their closest friends.’

River cruising has been clipping along at double the growth rate of ocean cruising and Sykes said Americans are interested in closer-to-home options that cut out the hassle of overseas air travel.

The fact that competitors are expanding, too—American Cruise Lines continues to build, Viking Cruises plans its first US-flag vessel for the Mississippi and Un-Cruise Adventures and Lindblad Expeditions are in the Pacific Northwest—is all good, in his view, because they draw more attention to the domestic waterways.

At the same time, Sykes thinks AQSC stands apart.

‘We’re much more about luxury, comfort, service and larger vessels,’ he said. American Queen is the largest paddlewheel steamboat ever built and Empress of the North—to be renamed American Empress—is the largest riverboat in the Pacific Northwest. It’s a paddlewheeler, too, though not steam-powered. Passenger capacity is 223, while American Queen carries 436.

‘These are grandes dames … iconic vessels,’ Sykes said. ‘Nobody is going to build another American Queen, and we should really own the American rivers space.’

AQSC on Wednesday posted its new, downloadable brochure detailing American Empress’s inaugural season from Portland, Ore. The ship will begin sailing April 6 on seven-night cruises to Clarkston and from Clarkston to Portland. Destinations include Sacajawea State Park, The Dalles, Stevenson and Astoria. The vessel will turn on Sundays and the program includes a pre-cruise hotel night for an eight-night package.

The product will mirror American Queen, Sykes said.

American Empress will be trailed on the Columbia and Snake rivers by luxury coaches that provide included excursions at each stop; premium excursions—for example, the Walla Walla Wine Trail and Hells Canyon Jet Boat—are available for purchase. The dining will emphasize regional specialties. Beer and wine with dinner are part of the price, while gratuities of $16.50 per day are charged to on-board accounts.

Sykes said the paddlewheeler—out of service since 2008—is in great shape thanks to the exceptional stewardship of the US Maritime Administration but AQSC wants to further bring up the standard so an extensive wet dock is planned.

American Queen, meanwhile, is operating smoothly since the January rebuilding of its paddlewheel and other technical work, enhancements to the two-story J.M. White Dining Room including a marble and granite foyer, a mahogany wine wall and upgraded buffet, an expansion of Front Porch Café dining and a new satellite ball to speed Wi-Fi service.

‘We put a lot of money into the vessel,’ Sykes said, adding that comment cards reflect the improvements. The vessel has been fully booked from mid-March through June.

Theme cruises strike a chord and new in 2014 are ‘Bourbon & Bluegrass’ sailings between Cincinnati and St. Louis.

As the downloadable brochure details, customers who book 2014 cruises of seven nights or longer and pay in full by Aug. 31, 2013, can save up to $800 per stateroom. The print brochures will be out in coming days.

Adding American Empress means jobs for 80 more American crew. AQSC employs 40 people in its Memphis headquarters and 178 aboard American Queen. Sykes said the company will likely beef up its sales force and add some Memphis call center positions as hours expand to serve the West Coast market. The Portland paddlewheeler has historically drawn most heavily from California, Oregon and Washington.

Sykes’ arrival in December, initially as a consultant, has allowed AQSC chairman and ceo John Waggoner to return to the full-time running of HMS Global Maritime, which operates more than 100 US-flag vessels. For his part, industry veteran Sykes remains ‘incredibly excited’ to do for the American rivers what he did for the foreign-flag cruise business.