MAY 10, 2012
By Timothy Rubacky, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development

When we’ve talked about the American Queen and the popularity of American river cruising, we’ve spent a lot of time telling you our thoughts. One thing conspicuously missing was, of course, the thoughts of our guests. Now that the American Queen is in service, we’ve finally had the chance to receive feedback and I wanted to share some of our guests’ reactions with you.

May 10, 2012
By Timothy Rubacky, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development

When we set out to reintroduce the American Queen to American river cruising, we knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. There was the financing, training, refurbishing and hard work by every member of the team, of course. But we also knew we had to make good on our promises to our future guests as well as those who were preparing to sail with us and had sailed aboard the American Queen in the past.

MAY 8, 2012
By Timothy Rubacky, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Product Development

People sometimes ask me about the history of American river cruising and, specifically, about our company’s ties to this grand tradition. I know that some of our guests were surprised to see a replica of the American Queen’s mighty paddlewheel sitting in a riverfront park in Cincinnati when our grand lady made her maiden call under our banner last week.

May 3, 2012
By Christopher Kyte, President

I got up early this morning to watch the sunrise over the river on this, the last full day of our voyage in the long road of our return to American river cruising. We were on our way to Madison before docking tomorrow in Cincinnati to mark the end of our cruise from Memphis. I showered, dressed and then stepped onto the deck, but the rose-colored glow of pre-dawn light had not yet appeared. Instead, I found a cool blue surrounding us as the sun was still far below the horizon. It wasn’t dawn but it wasn’t night and it was definitely earlier than I thought. My first inclination was to go back to bed but, instead, I forced myself to head down one deck to the Front Porch of America for some coffee and pastries. I’m immensely glad that I did.

May 2, 2012
By Christopher Kyte, President

If you haven’t yet guessed by now, I’m a big fan of tradition. I love steamboats, train travel and anything from the past that keeps our history alive. Indeed, tradition is the one constant that flows through both the present and the future to remind us of where we’ve come. Every family has its traditions, whether it’s the recipe for stuffing on Thanksgiving or that special spot to watch fireworks on the 4th of July. American river cruising has its traditions as well, and those traditions are rooted far back in history.