American Cruise Lines Buys American Queen
By Ted Scull.
If you are old enough to recall the nightly newscaster Gabriel Heatter, he began his nightly news broadcast with “Good evening everyone, there’s good news tonight.”
Indeed, there is great news for those cruisers who take to the inland waters of North America.
Recently, American Queen Voyages (AQV) and its fleet of riverboats ceased operations. The fleet included the largest paddlewheel steamboat ever built, the glorious American Queen, as well as the converted pair, American Duchess and American Countess.
Their cruising grounds were the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, while the fourth unit, American Empress, was based in the Pacific Northwest plying the Columbia and Snake rivers.
The American Queen on the Tennessee River. * Photo: Heidi Sarna
The American Empress in Richland. * Photo: AQV
The former AQV fleet is no longer owned by Hornblower Cruises, a company that is now now planning to concentrate on its daytime offerings while giving up the overnight cruise business.
American Cruise Lines (ACL) became the successful bidder for AQV’s river vessels according to Anne Kalosh’s report in Seatrade Cruise News. Additional details will be forthcoming after this segment of Hornblower Holdings’ bankruptcy process concludes.
Two additional ships, the coastal vessels Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator, will know their cruising future sometime after the recent April 1 auction.
UPDATE: 4/16/24 — Anne Kalosh reports in Seatrade Cruise News, “It’s official: Court OKs sale of AQV coastal ships to John Waggoner.”
The Ocean Navigator. * Photo: AQV
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While American Cruise Lines buys additional ships, perhaps to dominate the competition, the line continues to build in its affiliated yard, Chesapeake Shipbuilding, in Salisbury, Maryland.
As an example, over the past five years, ACL’s fleet has nearly tripled, to be able to boast that the firm has introduced new riverboats on the Mississippi every year since 2018. ACL recently ordered three more vessels, including riverboats, now totaling five under construction.
The company’s full fleet is deployed across the US of A, plus a few in Canada, with scores of ports receiving calls this year.
Thank you to Anne Kalosh, QuirkyCruise contributor and editor at Seatrade Cruise News, for providing much of the above.
In Anne’s April 2 story for Seatrade Cruise News, “American Cruise Lines Scoops up the Four AQV River Vessels,” she reports:
“‘American Cruise Lines is pleased to be the successful bidder for AQV’s river vessels,’ the company said in a statement to Seatrade Cruise News. ‘We look forward to announcing additional details after this portion of the Hornblower Holdings bankruptcy process concludes.’
The sale awaits final approval in a court hearing…”
READ Anne’s full Seatrade Cruise News story here.
RELATED: Karl Zimmermann reviews his recent cruise aboard the American Queen.
RELATED: Ted Scull tells us about his first time aboard the American Queen when it debuted in 1995.
A rainbow at the wheel of the American Queen. * Photo: Heidi Sarna
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HEIDI SARNA
