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American Duchess


Cruise Critic Chris
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We were on the AQ a few weeks ago and saw that boat in Bettendorf. The lady in the gift shop told us the company had just bought it, but the tour guide on the Hop-On Hop-Off bus said it was being sent somewhere to be scrapped. It looks like it needs some work, but we liked the size and the idea that it can travel smaller rivers.

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They probably bought it at scrap prices. Like steamboats says, they're probably taking off the existing casino superstructure and building a new on top of the hull.

 

This boat is interesting. given the length and beam, they could have easily gone 5 decks like the Queen and had 300+ passengers and a lot more features than you can fit into 3 decks.

 

But they didn't Instead, they built a boutique boat in the same market as ACL and FAL. The lower Air draft allows the vessel to visit ports that vessels built for Mississippi and Ohio can't go. They also built it for more affluent passengers.

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  • 9 months later...

I really doubt that the DUCHESS will have a calliope. I haven't heard that she will. If so it would probably be a compressed air one as having a steam boiler onboard the boat opens up a whole new regulatory can of worms. The AMERICAN EMPRESS does not have a calliope, and while aboard her during April I didn't hear any of my fellow passengers lamenting that there was no calliope to listen to.

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