Mississippi River Cruises

The new-build Queen of the Mississippi riverboat from American Cruise Lines left for its very first sail at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Sailsbury. The ship performed in a perfect manner as the enormous paddle-wheel churned the waterway and onlookers lined the shores to see the ship.

“The Queen of the Mississippi will set a rather new standard in river sailing and will raise the bar for Mississippi River traveling,” said Robertson, the president of the company. He also said that this new boat is a bit faster than originally expected and is now more than two months ahead of schedule.

The boat has been finished in May 2012, and has its first sail scheduled in August, having a departure scheduled from New Orleans to Memphis. At present time, the interior is well underway with carpeting being added throughout the entire boat as well as furniture starting to go aboard. All sliding glass doors that lead to private balconies are all in place and painting is almost over.

This riverboat is able to host almost one hundred and fifty passengers in large cabins, a lot of which will be twice the size of those of other Mississippi boats. Cabins will feature spacious private balconies that include sliding glass doors and most of the features today`s tourists expect, while also managing to maintain most of the elegance and comfort of classic 19th-century Mississippi boats. The cruise lines will run this genuine paddle-wheeler over the whole Mississippi River system, which will also include Cumberland and Ohio rivers.

The Queen of the Mississippi will travel at a higher speed than most other Mississippi boats, minimizing the nightly travel and managing to reach more routes and having longer port stays. Several unique river journeys are planned which will take guests as far north as St. Paul along the Mississippi and as far east as Pittsburgh along the Ohio.