First Modern-Style Riverboat for Mississippi River
By Anne Kalosh.
American Cruise Lines‘ American Song, the first modern-looking riverboat in the United States, has just begun its inaugural season from the Port of New Orleans. Until now, the U.S. rivers have been plied by Victorian-style paddle wheelers.
This 184-passenger vessel has contemporary interiors and no paddle wheel. It’s long and sleek, closer in profile to a European-style riverboat. The bow articulates up, allowing a gangway to be hydraulically deployed.
American Song, with its European-style profile, entered service in 2018. * Photo: American Cruise Lines
Inside American Song, a four-story, glass-enclosed atrium is topped with a large domed skylight, and lounges with triple the glass of other domestic riverboats afford great views. The accommodations come with bigger and wider private balconies and hotel-sized bathrooms. Some rooms are for solo travelers.
“It is only fitting to see the first modern riverboat in U.S. history debut on the Mississippi, the nation’s most storied and iconic river,” American Cruise Lines CEO Charles Robertson said.
A schedule of eight-day Lower Mississippi cruises will operate throughout the remainder of 2018 before American Song repositions to the Columbia and Snake rivers of the Pacific Northwest in 2019. Next year a sister ship, American Harmony, is scheduled for Mississippi service. It will join two of American Cruise Lines’ traditional-style paddle wheelers, Queen of the Mississippi and America.
Three more of the modern riverboats are planned by American Cruise Lines in the years ahead.
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