BJR52001

This was a combination of Hornblower's poor management and changing tastes.  The introduction of European style vessels has been really popular.  These are dated and need extensive interior upgrades.  AQ herself probably needs to finally ditch the steam engine and AD/AC are too large for their passenger count and should have the 2 double height decks converted to 4 single height decks for added capacity.

But honestly, they should have done modern new builds instead of AD and AC.

She's official.  Same length as the European boats.  Twice and wide and twice as high.  Larger than the American Queen.  Kind of splits the difference between the river and Ocean expiriences.  
 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5234/

And this is just barely scratching the surface of the Mississippi, Ohio, major navigable tributaries, and GICW connected navigable rivers.  There's capacity from the traditional European-style river vessels to the Yangtze-style near ocean vessels and everywhere in between.

On 1/3/2020 at 7:23 AM, LDVinNC said:

That is too bad, but the Duchess is not a "real" paddlewheeler.  If it was, they could not remove it and keep sailing.  I believe the American Queen is the only authentic paddlewheeler left.  Now, that is a sight to behold!

Actually the only authentic paddlehwheeler is the Delta Queen.  Everything else has them for ambiance, the American Queen included.  The Z-drives are safer, more reliable, and more efficient.

ACL will be making some pretty big changes for 2021 according to their cruise schedule.

American Harmony will move to the Columbia by March of 2021.  Her finally Mississippi cruise will be in November.

American Jazz will come in late 2020 and will be exclusive to the LMR and Cumberland routes.

American Melody will come mid to late 2021 and will be primarily for the UMR.  It seems to be a little bit smaller, closer to the American Song

Queen of the Mississippi will, ironically for its name, shift primarily to the Ohio

America will be the boat that reinforces the other three.  

There' s no news on modern riverboat 5.  

With the Modern Riverboat series in general, ACL promised maybe an expansion of the routes, but instead you're seeing them add capacity to the existing routes.  There's no Red, Arkansas, Tennessee, Illinois, or Missouri routes to be seen.  

15 hours ago, bcorre2 said:

ACL has three new ships. Jazz, Song & Harmony with 190 guests.

Can't wait to see Vikings 400 guest ship with itinerary.

Move over ACL.

My glass remains half full for Viking on the Mississippi.

 

 

 

As of Next year American Song and American Harmony will both be on the Columbia.  American Jazz and American Melody along with America and Queen of the Mississippi (which is ironically being shifted to basically the Ohio).  By the time Viking comes in 2022, the 5th member of the series will be in service but we don't know where it will be going.  Interesting enough, they have prioritized service levels on the Columbia above the Mississippi.  They also have a slightly different demographic.  Playing exclusively in the sub-200 passenger range.  

Viking sounds like they might be a bit different option. It seems rather than just imitating Viking River on the Mississippi, they're using the much, much larger maximum vessel size and incorporating some of what you'd expect from Viking Expeditions and Ocean.  

Nothing has been officially announced.  No shipyard is going to confirm something a client has not.  Plus, they're a silent partner.

The only unsafe vessel is the Delta Queen and it just got a waver.  To be honest, modern designs are going to be be far safer than old riverboat replicas 

Des Moines is 3 hours from the Mississippi.  You wouldn't have time.

First, do not expect an ocean cruise out of a river cruise.  Options will be far more limited and the crew more generalist since space is at a premium.   Think of it as more a road trip where the hotel moves with you.  

Between AAM and AAC, AAM are on the 5th deck and slightly larger than the AAC on deck 4.  You'd also get a better view since you're higher than the flood walls.

On 11/19/2018 at 11:38 AM, philw1776 said:

Couldn't these new river ships proposed (look like mini-Viking Ocean ships) just go to the Caribbean for the winter?

I'd consider a ship configured like that for Vancouver BC and Alaska cruises.  Better than the larger VO ships.  Inlets.

The small ocean vessels pictured, the absolutely could.  That's exactly what Pearl Seas and Victory do.

Truth be told, Great Lakes cruising is in a grey area between costal and ocean nobody has quite figured out yet.  AQSC's and Pearl Seas boats are under 200 passengers and Yacht style., on the other hand the 25.000 ton 900 pax MS Braemar from Fred Olsen Cruises is the largest vessel afloat that can transit the entire Seaway/ Lakes system.  Viking's concept seems to be splitting the difference here.

But bright side, i think then announcing did accelerate plans by ACL and ASQC to move beyond the Victorian Paddlewheeler and think more European.

What's stunning to me is the seemingly complete lack of research Viking did before attempting this. It's like they had no idea the laws and costs of the US Market before announcing. A deal should have been done before they announced anything.

That would be the big one. With Ocean cruises they pay whatever the wages are of the country of registry. With European river cruises, they use loopholes in EU laws where they basically subcontract various parts of the ships out to Eastern European firms. With U.S. river cruises, they have to build them in America, crew them with Americans, follow all labor laws of whatever state they're based out of, and follow all U.S. Coast Guard regulations for passenger vessels. Plus, people are willing to pay the prices and they can't keep up with demand.

We had the Kanesville queen in Dubuque for a while when she was bought by Newt Marine. Overall, should be a lot like the Duchess, though slightly smaller

Yeah, Upper Mississippi or Upper Ohio. If nothing more, its a lot better to look at when cruising because of the terrain.

This isn't any higher or longer than what they sail now, just wider to take advantage of the wider locks. Basically, its American width, European height.

Take a vessel that's been in mothballs for close to a decade and only give it a month refurb and this is what happens.

Thanks, BJR52001, found it. Neither this nor the propulsion system has been mentioned in ACL?s own press release. Nor did the three pictures indicate anything.

 

steamboats

The release was pretty basic. As for the renders, they're pretty basic concepts. They're missing things that the actual vessels would need like the anchors. Plus, if the bow ramp is like the ones on the Blount boats, its pretty hard to see when up.

According to Seatrade Cruise News, they're supposed to have an integrated folding bow ramp similar to those on Blount's

Grande Carine and Grand Mariner

The design is pretty much what I was expecting. While people are saying its like Europe, the design takes a lot of influence from Russia, Egypt, and China. It also has some influence from its coastal sisters the Pearl Mist and American constellation. Most interesting is that these are 4 decks. The ACL Paddlewheelers are 5 and the Mississippi/ Ohio can take 6 up to St Paul and Pittsburg. This suggests a move into new markets like the Illinois and Red which FAL and AQSC just moved into and perhaps the Missouri. Overall, its a good move getting ahead of the market. I think the modern Mississippi-Ohio and Columbia-Snake systems are about to explode.

North America is going to be pricey wherever you go. Mostly because you have to pay America and Canadian wages.

Interesting they put that up there. Unless its been there for a while, it might mean there's been some headway with the Maritime Administration.

All they have to do is pass that safety exemption because the DQ has a wood superstructure.

You're not going to see boats like the Louisiana Star be able to over cruises in Europe. They can't get much further upriver than the deep draft ships because of low European bridge heights on the interior waterways.