American Song river cruise ship travels down the Snake River. (Credit: American Cruise Lines)
American river cruising continues to take off with new ships approaching line for service alongside inland and intracoastal rivers all through the nation. One main line, Guildford, Conn.-based American Cruise Lines has three new ships, 10 new itineraries and 21 new U.S. ports being visiting by its cruise ships in 2023 alone.
The sixth ship within the sister sequence, the American Serenade, will start cruising on the Mississippi River this April.
American Cruise Lines additionally has two small new ships (coastal cats) popping out this yr. The American Eagle will debut in August and the American Glory in October. These ships are the primary in a 12-ship sequence of coastal cats for American Cruise Lines generally known as Project Blue.
“2023 is poised to be the most exciting cruise season ever for American Cruise Lines,” mentioned Charles Robertson, president and CEO of American Cruise Lines. “More small ships exploring in more states than ever before is the best way that I can think of to celebrate 50 years cruising American’s waterways.”
In whole, American Cruise Lines has 17 small ships (all accommodating simply 90-180 passengers) cruising/exploring in 35 states this yr (each U.S. coasts and all of the rivers in between).
In late January, American Cruise Lines reported that its fashionable riverboat American Jazz was repositioning from the Mississippi River to the West Coast for brand new California river cruises which can be the primary of their type for the reason that Nineteen Forties.
Taking it via the Panama Canal, American Jazz’s repositioning voyage adopted the same path to that taken by the historic U.S. mail ships of the Gold Rush period that carried passengers, mail, and gold between the East and West coasts.
The knowledgeable nautical group aboard the ship was supported every day of the voyage by the corporate’s shoreside operations group. Throughout the journey, American’s crew and the shoreside group carefully monitored vessel programs, climate forecasts, and voyage progress.
American Jazz’s arrival to San Francisco Bay heralds a historic growth in U.S. river cruising, as it’s the first U.S. constructed riverboat to supply in a single day cruises all through the Bay and California Delta in over 80 years.
American Jazz embarked alongside the road’s first eight-day San Francisco Bay cruise on February 24. The new river cruises will sail San Francisco Bay and Wine Country: cruising the Napa River, Sacramento River, and San Joaquin River.
“Exploring San Francisco Bay and the California Delta by U.S. riverboat is a momentous occasion for domestic river cruising and another first for American Cruise Lines,” mentioned Robertson. “We are proud to provide this new opportunity for our guests to experience the joys of cruising close to home, as they discover yet another beautiful area of the country by riverboat. American continues to expand the possibilities for exceptional domestic small ship cruises by introducing brand new U.S. flagged riverboats and small cruise ships each year.”
American Cruise Lines supplied the eight-day San Francisco Bay itinerary, roundtrip from San Francisco, in February and once more this month, after which once more in November and December.
Last March, Chesapeake Shipbuilding’s Salisbury, Md., shipyard launched American Symphony, the fifth vessel in American Cruise Lines fashionable riverboat class.
American Symphony started cruising the Mississippi River in August 2022.
The ship options the identical refined elegant design and state-of-the-art options showcased aboard 2021 sister ship American Melody. These embody the sequence’ hallmark opening bow and retractable gangway.
Accommodating 175-passengers in 100% balcony staterooms, American Symphony has 5 decks and facilities that embody a four-story glass atrium, indoor and out of doors eating venues, giant health facilities, a number of spacious lounges, and a spectacular prime deck showcasing a Skywalk and an ellipse cutout cantilevered over the ship’s fourth deck café under.
Immediately after the launch, the brand new riverboat was positioned in Chesapeake Shipbuilding’s East Outfitting Basin the place it obtained its higher decks and outfitting.
Chesapeake Shipbuilding can be designing and constructing the Project Blue catamaran cruise ships—the biggest order for U.S.-built cruise ships in a long time—for American Cruise Lines.
Viking Mississippi makes its debut
This previous fall, Viking River Cruises’ much-anticipated Jones Act compliant river cruise ship Viking Mississippi made its inaugural cruise and attracting a lot native media consideration alongside the way in which.
Floated out from Edison Chouest Offshore’s LaShip shipyard in Houma, La., final March, the 450 foot lengthy, 75-foot beam vessel hosts 386 friends in 193 all outdoors staterooms and gives a number of passenger facilities. The five-deck river cruise ship is impressed by Viking’s award-winning river and ocean ships and includes a Scandinavian design, in addition to public areas that will probably be acquainted to Viking friends however reimagined for Mississippi River voyages.
The Viking Mississippi is provided with a wide range of measures to maximise power effectivity and emissions—together with a diesel-electric propulsion system comprised of eight CAT C32 EPA Tier 4 diesel engines, every powering a 940 eKw water cooled generator; every engine/generator unit is individually mounted on a specifically designed double raft isolation system that produces a remarkably quiet and clean trip.
Propulsion energy is offered by Voith 6-bladed propulsion thrusters pushed by everlasting magnet electrical motors as are the pump jet bow thrusters.
Viking is hoping that the vessel will tempt friends from its worldwide buyer base, accustomed to its European Longship river cruises, to see how the Mississippi River stacks up in opposition to rivers such because the Rhine.
