Efforts under way to keep Delta Queen

VICKSBURG, Miss. -- Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker have joined in congressional efforts to keep the Delta Queen afloat.

The Mississippi Republicans have joined with lawmakers from seven other states to exempt the riverboat from safety regulations.

Because its superstructure is wood, the Delta Queen violates the 1966 Safety of Life at Seas Act. The owners have operated the passenger steamer under an exemption, which expires this year.

Proposed legislation would extend the exemption to November 1, 2018. Without the bill, the Delta Queen could not be allowed to board more than 50 passengers or operate overnight cruises.

The boat's November farewell tour, which Majestic is calling the 2008 Delta Queen Tribute Event, will see the riverboat stop at Greenville, Vicksburg and Natchez en route to New Orleans and retirement.

RiverBarge Excursion Lines Inc. will celebrate its 10th birthday

RiverBarge Excursion Lines Inc. will celebrate its 10th birthday on Sept. 24 in St. Louis. The River Explorer will dock in front of the Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis to toast 10 years with RiverBarge guests, crew and media. The celebration will take place from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer will be served. “Our RiverBarge family is what makes up the heart of our company,” said Eddie Conrad, founder of RiverBarge Excursions. “We are excited to celebrate our 10th birthday in St. Louis with new and returning guests and other friends we have made over the years.” RiverBarge’s birthday party will take place on America’s only floating hotel barge, the 730-foot River Explorer. The Sept. 18 to 25, 2008, excursion, which traveled from Nashville to St. Louis along the Cumberland, Ohio and Upper Mississippi rivers, will conclude with the birthday celebration. The birthday celebration is one of many events and programs RiverBarge is holding to celebrate “10 Years of Sharing America’s Stories.”

RiverBarge Excursions Schedules 2009 Program

RiverBarge Excursions, which this year is celebrating 10 years of "Sharing America's Stories," has announced its 2009 program America's inland waterways. Among the options is "The Route of Jean Lafitte" Feb. 12-19. The eight-day adventure includes an overnight stay in Galveston and explores the Inland Gulf Intracoastal Waterway with a passage through Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. The cruise will visit Corpus Christi and San Antonio as well as a first-time, two-night stay in Brownsville. Fares start at $2,849 for accommodations on Royal Deck and $3,029 on Platinum Deck.

A new addition to the schedule in 2008, the Barge and Bus trips were such a hit they are included again in 2009. Passengers can join the trip after the June 25-30 Cincinnati roundtrip cruise for three days at French Lick Resort in Indiana. The land tour includes the French Lick Winery, West Baden Springs Hotel and a train ride on the Indiana Railway. Accommodations are provided by the French Lick Springs Hotel. The Cincinnati cruise is priced from $2,179 while the French Lick add-on is $625 double occupancy. On the first Nashville-to-Chattanooga trip July 7-14, the River Explorer will barge the farthest on the Tennessee River it has ever gone with a first-time visit to Chattanooga, Tenn. The cruise begins in Nashville and travels on the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers to Savannah and Shiloh, Tenn. and Florence and Guntersville, Ala. before concluding with an overnight stay in Chattanooga. Fares start at $2,859.

The first "Explorer Reunion" trip barges from Chattanooga to St. Louis July 14-23. Each year, RiverBarge hosts a trip to bring guests back together for a one-of-a-kind excursion. The "Explorer Reunion" trip will begin with an overnight stay in Chattanooga and travel on the Tennessee, Cumberland, Ohio, Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers with host landings in Guntersville, Ala., Florence Ala., and Grafton, Ill. Fares start at $3,469. Prices are per person, based on double occupancy. Platinum Deck staterooms have a small balcony. For more information, call Riverdiscounts 800-640-4899

Take a windjammer cruise in Maine

Majestic America Line cancels cruises

Majestic America Line announced that it has cancelled cruises on the American Queen departing after November 8, 2008, and on Empress of the North for cruises departing after August 2, 2008 due to “soft advance bookings.”

Majestic America Line apolgizes for the inconvenience but says “soft advance bookings” are making the cancellations necessary. The line is offering their customers a full refund or rebooking with a 50% discount.

This bad news follows last month’s annoucement by Ambassadors International that it is selling Majestic America Line.

Stay tuned for more news…

Ambassadors to sell Majestic America Line

Ambassadors International plans to sell Majestic America Line, whose fleet includes American Queen, Mississippi Queen, Queen of the West, Empress of the North and Columbia Queen, with Delta Queen due to retire from service later this year. ‘Several credible parties’ have expressed interest in acquiring ‘some and/or all the assets of Majestic America Line,’ said Joe Ueberroth, chairman and ceo of Ambassadors International. Speculation about a potential sale of Majestic America Line or various ships has circulated in recent months. Ueberroth today said the decision to exit the river-cruise brand will enable Ambassadors to focus on its successful Windstar Cruises unit. ‘Our dedicated American crew remain committed to providing our customers with extraordinary cruises and key vendors and business partners are working with us to ensure a smooth transition,’ Ueberroth added. He said further information will be provided during the company’s May 6 conference call with analysts to discuss first quarter financial results. AMIE shares closed at $4.80, up 26 cents. The stock has traded as high as $41.16 during the past 52 weeks.

Last Delta Queen rescue sunk

WASHINGTON _ Supporters of the famed Delta Queen steamboat failed in a last-ditch effort this afternoon to keep the ship cruising the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers on overnight voyages.

The Delta Queen has operated on a Congressional exemption from federal safety standards since 1968, but the exemption expires Nov. 1. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio used a procedural maneuver on the House floor in an attempt to force the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to add the exemption to the Coast Guard reauthorization bill. The effort failed 195-208.

On Tuesday, the House Rules Committee refused to forward the exemption to a full House vote.

“I don’t understand why continuing the Delta Queen’s current exemption for an additional ten years has generated such opposition,” Chabot said.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the powerful chair the transportation panel, has blocked efforts by Chabot, Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and others to continue the Delta Queen exemption.

Oberstar argues that the Delta Queen is unsafe for overnight passengers because it is made primarily of wood.

“We should stop this risk to safety here,” Oberstar said, “Fire at night is terrifying. Oppose the amendment.”

In good humor, Oberstar thanked Chabot for a sheetcake emblazoned with an image of the Delta Queen that was sent to his hospital room as he recovered from surgery earlier this year. He said the hospital staff had never heard of the Delta Queen but enjoyed the cake nonetheless.

After Oberstar’s speech, someone in the chamber shouted, “God save the Queen!”

Oberstar chuckled and responded, “God save its passengers.”

Bid to renew exemption for Delta Queen fails

WASHINGTON — The future of the storied Delta Queen steamboat appeared in peril Tuesday after a key House committee rejected a vote on legislation to renew a fire-safety exemption for the vessel.



The exemption has allowed the Delta Queen to run overnight trips.



The House Rules Committee on Tuesday rebuffed Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, who wanted to amend a Coast Guard reauthorization bill to exempt the Delta Queen from federal fire safety standards.

But the Rules Committee said Tuesday that Chabot could not offer his Delta Queen proposal as an amendment when the bill is scheduled for debate.

For more than 80 years, the Delta Queen has cruised the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, operating on an exemption from Coast Guard rules that bar overnight trips on vessels made primarily of wood. The exemption has been renewed nine times since 1968, but it will expire Nov. 1 unless it is reauthorized.



Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, who cosponsored the exemption, told the Rules Committee that to deny a debate and vote "flies in the face of reason and will only contribute to the declining respect that Americans hold for this institution."



Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, opposes the exemption.



"The Coast Guard thinks it's a fire hazard," said Mary Kerr, a spokeswoman for Oberstar's committee.



Delta Queen supporters say the Coast Guard rules are intended for ocean vessels, and that the Delta Queen is safe for use on rivers, where the shore is never more than a few hundred feet away.



An Ohio-based group of Delta Queen fans delivered last week to House Democratic leaders a petition with 5,000 signatures from people supporting the exemption. People from around the world are networking online for grassroots lobbying.



Proponents said Chabot's measure could still be brought up for a House vote as a stand-alone bill, but prospects for that seemed dim.

Steamboat fans pressure Congress to save Delta Queen

The Save the Delta Queen Campaign is targeting the leaders of Congress this week in a last-ditch effort to keep the nation's most famous paddlewheeler afloat.

The grass-roots organization is bombarding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip James Clyburn with phone calls, emails and faxes in the hopes of gaining their support for legislation that would continue the historic vessel's long-standing exemption from fire safety rules. The exemption expires in November, and without it, the boat will have to stop sailing.

On Friday, the group delivered petitions in favor of the exemption to Congress signed by more than 5,000 supporters.

Congress has granted the Delta Queen an exemption from the 42-year-old safety rules nine times in the past, nearly always by close-to-unanimous margins. But the chairman of the House Committee on Transportation, Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., has been blocking a further exemption, calling the boat a fire hazard.

Congressman Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, has introduced a bill, co-sponsored by more than two dozen representatives of both parties, that would extend the Delta Queen's exemption from the safety rules until 2018. But the legislation remains stuck in Oberstar's committee.

Several media outlets have reported that Oberstar has opposed the exemption to appease a labor union that has been a donor to his campaigns. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review quoted a Congressional aide as saying "it was and remains a union dispute," noting that the boat's new owners did not accept the collective bargaining contract of the Seafarers International Union when it bought the Delta Queen.

The Save the Delta Queen Campaign, meanwhile, argues that the 1966 fire safety law that is in question was intended to cover ocean-going ships, not riverboats that operate within yards of the shore.

Delta Queen’s future unclear

The Delta Queen will make 18 stops in Henderson, Ky., this year, but whether this is the final goodbye for the 82-year-old vessel remains unclear.

A bill granting the Delta Queen yet another exemption from fire safety laws is before a U.S. House of Representatives rules committee. Meanwhile, supporters continue their "Save the Delta Queen" campaign of letters and e-mails.

Built in 1926, the 176-passenger craft has a steel hull but a wooden superstructure. Since 1966, the paddle-wheeler has been granted exemptions six times.

Vanessa Bloy, a spokesman for Majestic American Line, a West Coast company that owns the Delta Queen as well as the newer Mississippi Queen and American Queen, said if an exemption isn't granted, the Delta Queen will be retired Nov. 1.