Mississippi River cruises are back: Aboard the American Duchess
PADUCAH, Ky. – Immediately after staying tethered for the better portion of a calendar year due to COVID-19, the cruise industry is bit by bit beginning to dip its toes again into the h2o – particularly smaller sized boats running on American rivers.
Along with 109 other travellers and 80 crew associates, I not long ago cruised the reduce Mississippi and Ohio rivers from Memphis to Louisville on American Queen Steamboat Company’s American Duchess to get a sense of what cruising is like now – and what it could possibly morph into – as the region attempts to sail out of the pandemic.
American Queen, one particular of the premier cruise traces operating on American waterways, quietly commenced supplying cruises – at reduced ability and with improved COVID-19 security protocols – on two of its boats sailing the Mississippi, Ohio and Cumberland rivers in mid-March.
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‘We’re viewing extremely large demand’
So significantly, in accordance to Shawn Bierdz, president of the Indiana-centered business, it’s been comparatively sleek sailing. There have not been any of the outbreaks that plagued some cruise ships at the beginning of the pandemic in spring 2020.
“We’ve operated confidently and with out any issues since March 15,” Bierdz mentioned. “When you get on a single of our vessels, you are in a self-contained bubble.”
Our 7 days-lengthy 687-mile journey in early June passed six states in America’s heartland. There weren’t some of the common staples of cruising like self-services buffets, dance courses or meet-and-greets with the captain. But a handful of inconveniences and minimized expert services necessitated by federal guidelines have not seemed to dampen bookings.
Bierdz reported American Queen Steamboat Company’s June-Oct sailings are 90 percent booked. After a calendar year of currently being trapped in a COVID-19 cocoon, cruise lovers want to get out of the dwelling and back again on the drinking water.
“We’re observing pretty high demand,” Bierdz reported. “Our get in touch with heart has been overwhelmed at moments.”
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COVID-19 exams have been needed
In advance of embarking on the American Duchess in Memphis, all passengers were being required to go a COVID-19 exam administered at the hotel the night time ahead of departure. It took just just one hour for the take a look at success to be emailed to me, indicating I was great to go the upcoming morning for a pre-cruise tour of Graceland – Elvis Presley’s previous dwelling – right before being taken specifically to the boat in the late afternoon.
When getting absolutely vaccinated wasn’t required on American Queen Steamboat Company’s March-June sailings, passengers on the American Duchess and American Countess will need to show proof of vaccination starting in July (June 14 when the American Empress resumes cruising in the Pacific Northwest).
Each and every time we received on or off the boat, our temperature was checked. A full-time nurse was on board and some cabins have been set apart as quarantine areas. The good thing is, they weren’t needed.
When out of our cabins, we were being asked to use masks during the ship, until having or consuming. Bierdz stated the mask requirement will most likely be phased out in the coming months as the Facilities for Disease Regulate and Prevention relaxes its tips.
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To be certain social distancing, the open up seating for meal was scrapped. Instead, there had been two seatings so there was loads of place among guests. We were being assigned to the identical desk every single evening – greater for get in touch with tracing.
There also were two demonstrates in the evenings to preserve the size of the crowds down. At the conclude of just about every performance in the display lounge, we ended up requested to immediately depart so that the theater could be fogged with an antiviral mist ahead of the subsequent effectiveness.
There was no self-provider, regardless of whether it be at breakfast or lunch buffets or the Duchess’ well known Perks room, where by there is espresso, juice, ice product, popcorn and fresh new-baked cookies. There have been a great deal of strategies to indulge one’s sweet tooth – you just experienced to wait around for someone to serve you.
As much as shore excursions, American Queen Steamboat Corporation has temporarily halted its hop-on, hop-off buses that allowed passengers to discover port cities on their personal. As a substitution, we have been taken on far more typical bus excursions with a guide so that our teams could be a lot more insulated.
Bierdz said COVID-19 protocols are regularly switching on the company’s boats, so it is greatest to check out with the cruise line prior to departure to see what regulations are at present in area when you sail.
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‘I come to feel safe staying on the water’
Building it by way of the buffet took more time than ordinary and the temperature checks slowed matters down when a big group returned from a sightseeing tour. But I heard little grousing.
People today seemed more than joyful to set up with some minimal inconveniences to return to cruising and all the things it involves – delicious and plentiful foodstuff, to start with-price enjoyment, enriching lectures and waking up in a unique port of simply call each individual early morning without the need of acquiring to pack and unpack.
And the open up bar on the American Duchess did not hurt, both.
A person of my fellow cruisers, Eric Palace, 50, of Celebration, Florida, has presently sailed on 3 American Queen Steamboat Corporation cruises considering the fact that the line resumed functions in March. He instructed me he would be “scared to get on a ship with 3,000 persons right now,” but feels snug cruising on a a lot smaller sized riverboat.
“With every person receiving pre-tested (for COVID-19), I come to feel safe and sound staying out on the water,” he mentioned.
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Checking out Mississippi, Ohio river cities
Aptly named “The Art of Discovery,” our itinerary concentrated on the museums and new music in a slice of America not exactly flooded with travellers. Stops bundled mostly unheralded – but wonderfully reliable – ports in these Kentucky towns as Paducah, Henderson, Owensboro and Brandenburg.
The initially 200 miles of the journey have been expended cruising upstream on the decreased Mississippi River. Near Cairo, Illinois, the Mississippi converged with the Ohio River we veered to the northeast on the Ohio River toward Louisville and rapidly recognized the water in the Ohio is much bluer and less muddy than the Mississippi.
The American Duchess was developed as a casino riverboat in 1995, then elegantly refurbished in 2017 to accommodate 166 passengers. Its red paddlewheels in the rear are additional than attractive they give about 20 percent of the boat’s propulsion. The captain was not aiming to established any speed documents, though. The Duchess averaged a leisurely 7 mph in the course of the vacation.
In Paducah, named by the United Nations Academic, Scientific and Cultural Organization as just one of nine “Creative Cities” in the state for its “important function in the connectivity of cultures by way of creativity,” we frequented the National Quilt Museum and the River Discovery Centre, a tiny museum developed to showcase the area’s wealthy maritime record.
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Bluegrass music and Lincoln’s birthplace
1 of the hallmarks of Kentucky is bluegrass songs and we have been handled to two performances. A neighborhood band was brought onboard in Paducah to complete in the Duchess’ theater. Two times afterwards, we frequented the Bluegrass Audio Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, where by we saw yet another stay functionality and figured out about a genre of tunes recognised for its acoustic stringed devices.
At our last stop in Brandenburg, we have been taken to the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln in close by Hodgenville. Lincoln was born in a log cabin at the website and lived in Kentucky until eventually he was 7 when his spouse and children moved to Indiana. I primarily appreciated a visit to the Lincoln Museum in Hodgenville, the place an impersonator recited portions of the Gettysburg Tackle.
The Ohio River does not offer you some of the glitziest ports of contact, but Bierdz claimed American Queen Steamboat Company is planning to broaden sailings on the river in 2022, reflecting increased need from cruisers seeking to continue to be nearer to property.
“We have seen big need from attendees searching for new itineraries that are even now obtainable and close to household, normally after they encounter a river cruise for the initially time on the reduced and higher Mississippi River,” Bierdz said.
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Dan Fellner of Scottsdale is a freelance travel writer. Make contact with him at [email protected] or check out his site at https://world-travel-details.com.
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