American Queen Question

Chris Meyers;12055 wrote: Hello everyone,

I am new to the boards but a huge steamboat enthusiast. I was just wondering why the American Queen rarely makes it to it's final destination on the upper Mississippi? It just seems that in recent years the steamboat fans here in the Twin Cities have gotten snubbed. I know a few weeks back she had the "z" drive issue. Looking at the lack of preperation by the city of St. Paul it looks to me like she will once again stop her northbound journey at Red Wing today.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks~

Not sure if this is the case right now, but when I worked onboard her. Redwing turnovers were caused by not enough water between RW and STP/ And while I always enjoyed Red Wing, missing St Paul means missing THE best diner on the Mississippi, Mickey's, in STP.

Paul (no saint)

Chris,

There are many reasons the boats (not just the AQ) don't always make it up there. With 27 locks and regular stops for tours. Many times the boats get behind schedule and can't make it up there.

Being a former Riverlorian of the boats of the Delta Queen steamboat Company and Majestic America Line I have seen this situation in motion many many times.

At the locks the boats have priority if they arrive first. The pecking order is Government vessels first, US Mail carrying vessels second, Passenger vessels third, commercial vessels fourth, and private water craft fifth.

Many times when we get to a lock another vessel has arrived first and we have to wait. Typically that can take anywhere from 30 mins to 4 hours. The reason this can take so long is the other vessel is usually a tow with up to 15 barges. Since the Upper Mississippi has mostly 600'ft long by 110'ft wide single locks at each of the 27 locations, this requires the tow lock thru in a manner called double lockage.

How this double lockage proceedure works is as follows...The first 9 barges go into the chamber and are seperated from the tow. The last 6 barges and the towboat pull away from the tow and wait on the outside of the lock on the arrival wall until the first part of the tow are removed by a winch to the other level arrival wall and the is lock cleared and raised or lowered to the level of the river the waiting towboat and remaining 6 barges are in. Then the last 6 barges and the towboat enter and are raised/lowered to meet the rest of the tow. After they are returned to each other the wire cables connecting them must be reconnected and tightened with rachets before the tow can leave the lock and free it up for the next waiting vessel.

I have seen one situation where 3 of these double lockages preceeded the MISSISSIPPI QUEEN on an upbound cruise on the Upper Mississippi. We lost 12 hours at one lock in one day! By the time we reached LaCrosse, WI we were already a day behind schedule and barely made it to Red Wing on the last day of the cruise.

I have seen many times where we follow a double lockage tow all the way up the river. with stops up to 4 hours each and 27 of these locks between the two Saints....many times Red Wing, MN is as far as we can make it north.

A few years ago there was a problem in St. Paul with getting the required Homeland Security clearance to land the vessels at St. Paul. I understand that is taken care of now.

Believe me, we would love nothing more than to arrive at St. Paul every time we are scheduled up there and make every attempt to make it happen each and every time. We know there are steamboat fans up there who get rare chances to see us each year. Even some of the local politicians would love to see us!

Unfortunately, sometimes we are not able to make it all the way there. Just know we are trying as hard as we can to make it!

This would be a good chance to mention the importance of maintenance of and updating of the lock and dam system on the Upper Mississippi. If enough attention were directed to the needs of cargo traffic on the Upper Mississippi through the right channels and politicians, I would think some day we could see the money appropriated for the Corps of Engineers to start the reconstruction and enlargement of the locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River. This would speed up traffic and slow down the waits for double lockages at the locks on the Upper Mississippi.

Perhaps after we save the DELTA QUEEN, we need to focus our newfound knowledge of the Governmental process to this idea?

~Travis~

Chris, check your Private Messages.

When I rode the DQ doing the St Louis to St Paul route 8 or so times between 1981 going into the early 1990's...the DQ always made it to St Paul.

Then in 1999 I was on the DQ for a rare 5 night St Paul roundtrip, only to be a St Paul to Red Wing trip instead. At that time there was a mysterious boiler issue, which was the statement given to passengers. As seeing as most of the passengers came via plane or rail, there were coaches going to MSP airport or the Amtrak station...but that was it. I inquired as to how we'd get our vehicle parked in a garage near Lambert Landing? I was told to take the shuttle bus to either the airport or train station, then to hail a cab!
Instead (and thankfully) we ended up renting a car from one of the car dealers in Red Wing and went to St Paul to get our vehicle parked two blocks from Lambert Landing...

I had written a letter to the DQSC asking for reimbursement for my $29 car rental to which I received no reply. That was the beginning of the end for my family and our money well spent. We lingered until 2005. It was a fun 16-20 years for us, especially in the beginning!

Fond steamboatin' memories!

It's unfortunate that the boats don't make it to the Cities much anymore. When I'm back at school in September, I've been down with friends to the riverfront a few times and only once spotted the American Queen when I knew she was supposed to be there at Lambert's Landing. I've often told people, "You want to see a real live steamboat?" only to discover that the city can't live up to that promise!

The folks in Red Wing think it’s great that the AQ will spend so much time there!

I am afraid that since AI is leaving the cruise business shortly, they have little incentive to "go the extra mile".

The Queen is pleased | The Republican Eagle | Red Wing, Minnesota

In fairness to the current owners who are putting the RedWing turnover out to the public- as Pete pointed out, this has been going on for many years surreptitiously, done by many owners. You name it: low water, boiler problems(the favorite), bowthruster, locks, tsetse flies, whatever - the Queens have ended up in RedWing as much as possible for at least a decade under several companies. At least someone is being somewhat honest now. And for anyone considering a UMR trip who might be concerned about not making the scheduled stops due to lock problems as enumerated in a previous posting, don't be concerned. It happens very rarely. Yes, there are double lockages, but the Queens have priority so unless a double is already at/in the lock, she goes ahead. There are delays, but none that would cause a deviation such as RedWing instead of St. Paul. (She does avoid Locks 3 and 2 by stopping in RedWing rather than St. Paul), but on every one of my 20 some UMR trips, we always made it into St. Paul on time - but that was 1973-83 and corporate thinking has changed, not the river traffic and lock system.

Hmm, There must be good money in shore tours, considering how the schedules are arranged around them. But then, I'm not their main market, I'd rather we tie up at night and cruise all day!! But then I'd miss watching them navigate at night--so, how about tie up at 11pm and start cruising around 7 am?
Yeah, it'll never happen that way, but gee, a guy can dream? Think of all the entertainment we'd get from the deck gang looikng for a good "stump" each night!
With my kinda luck, I'd get recruited to do it because it's my idea. . . I hates snakes!! And poision ivy- sumac-oak. Well, King snakes are good, but they look so much like those other kind. . .
S'
David D.

David Dewey;12087 wrote: Hmm, There must be good money in shore tours, considering how the schedules are arranged around them. But then, I'm not their main market
S'
David D.

Nor was I David...

I was fortunate on the 1999 trip that I mentioned to have rented a car in Prairie duChein & LaCrosse to create our own "fun" seeing things the tour department wouldn't even think of doing, all for less cash even with gas prices today, it would be worth it...all without being carted like cattle on & off a tour bus...one thing my parents & I abhor anyways.

Several passengers made it a point to tell my parents & I that doing that was NOT "steamboating" by any means...

Maybe that's why I feel the way I do today? ;+)

During subsequent years until we stopped going, my folks & I would try to rent a car where available for the day...Enterprise worked well in larger cities...the local Big 3 car dealers in smaller towns...

Well, I'm guiltier than you for not being a steamboater then, because in my 41 DQ trips I took 0/zero/ null/ cero / zippo boat sponsored shore excursions!

Judy Patsch;12107 wrote: in my 41 DQ trips I took 0/zero/ null/ cero / zippo boat sponsored shore excursions!

I only have one trip (AQ) and the only shore excursion other than by foot was in Marietta, where we contacted the Convention & Visitors Bureau. They arranged for a van on the day of our Sunday landing.

It was a good thing to as the rental company's van was still in Cleveland that day. The CVB pulled strings and there was a van waiting for us when the boat landed.

I will tell you that some of Deb's and my many gazillion fond memories on the DQ were due to the few shore tours we took, I'm thinking about 8 of them over 9 cruise seasons...Shiloe, Land between the Lakes, San Francisco and Laura...the infamous The Myrtles...

How can anybody do the Lower Mississippi and not do Oak Alley? Mint Julips that will alter you at 10:00 in the morning. Yummy.

Ahhh, tourists...But I will admit to renting a car in Natchez from Enterprise...an incredible day...And it has been years since we took a shore tour, either it's a tour we've already done or they seem uninteresting...

Size & Speed

Greetings From New Orleans ,
The " short " version of why the Str. American Queen seldom makes its iteniary on the Upper Mississippi River is really pretty simple ; size and speed . The Upper Mississippi is for one narrower , has a swifter current , more locks and its destination ports are futher apart . Food for thought !
Smoothe Sailing !
Ted Davisson

Chris Meyers;12055 wrote: Hello everyone,

I am new to the boards but a huge steamboat enthusiast. I was just wondering why the American Queen rarely makes it to it's final destination on the upper Mississippi? It just seems that in recent years the steamboat fans here in the Twin Cities have gotten snubbed. I know a few weeks back she had the "z" drive issue. Looking at the lack of preperation by the city of St. Paul it looks to me like she will once again stop her northbound journey at Red Wing today.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks~

The AQ is on the webcam at the St. James Hotel in Red Wing right now: KSTP.com - Twin Cities News, Weather, Sports, Health and Politics from 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.