American Cruise Lines’ brand new authentic paddlewheeler, the Queen of the Mississippi, reached a milestone in its construction as the massive 23-ton, 28 foot-wide paddlewheel built specially for the new riverboat was lifted into place and installed last week.“This marks an important step in the creation of this authentic riverboat,” said Timothy Beebe, VP of American Cruise Lines. “The paddlewheel is one of the most important elements of classic riverboats, and this one isn’t just cosmetic—it’s fully functioning.”
The Queen of the Mississippi will be completed in May, with its inaugural cruise scheduled for August 11, 2012 from New Orleans to Memphis. Currently, the interior is being fitted out, with carpeting being installed throughout the ship and furniture beginning to go on board. All sliding glass doors leading to the private balconies are in place and painting is just about complete. Wood work trim and antique-style accessories are bringing the period interior to life. Sea trials—or would that be river trials?—are scheduled to begin later this month.
The Queen of the Mississippi carries 150 guests in spacious staterooms, many of which are twice the size of those on any other Mississippi riverboat. Staterooms feature large private balconies with sliding glass doors and all of the amenities today’s travelers expect, while maintaining the elegance of classic late 1800s Mississippi riverboats. American Cruise Lines will operate the authentic paddlewheeler over the entire Mississippi River System, including the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers. The Queen of the Mississippi will also be able to travel at significantly higher speeds than all other Mississippi riverboats, minimizing night travel and making more itineraries possible with longer visits to the river towns. A number of unique riverboat journeys are planned that take passengers as far north as St. Paul, MN on the Mississippi River and as far east as Pittsburgh, PA on the Ohio River. To learn more, visit AmericanCruiseLines.com.
Here’s a video of the intricate paddlewheel installation:
Images and Video Courtesy of American Cruise Lines
I hope the paddlewheel does indeed power the Queen of the Mississippi.
ReplyDeleteDQSC's American Queen supplimented her propulsion with "Z" drives, forerunner of today's IPS and pods. They were so efficient the pilots used them exclusively for maneuvering.
Ruined the whole experience for me. Rather than using the huge wheel in the pilothouse, or the tillers on today's towboats, they drove her around using kids XBox joysticks. I could feel her indignity.
Cruise Diva: Your blog needs spellchecker.