AQ in St. Louis

Carmen,

Can you give this St. Louisan a little more details on this? I am shocked that St. Louis was chosen as headquarters!

Kevin

Its marine operations hq. The office and reservations are in Seattle. Supposedly the St. Louis office is out in pricey western burbs, with handy access to the river, right! Robin St. is being cleaned out, and presumably when the boats are in NOLA, they will dock at whatever is available, as they did pre-Robin St. This will be good for the passengers, as the available docks are all closer to town and much more scenic than Robin St. For supply delivery purposes, I'd presume they'd use the cruise ship terminal at Julia St. whenever possible. I would guess the move to St. Louis is partly influenced by the hurricane possibilities, but more likely it's economics. In NOLA, even though the company leased the Robin St. Wharf and paid for its improvements, they still had to pay a daily docking fee for each boat when they were at the wharf. This could amount to hundreds of dollars a day. I'd guess St. Louis doesn't do that - yet. So if the boats are laid up in St. Louis in the winter, it would be a great savings wharfage-fee-wise. Another reason they may have relocated is the ability to get personnel in to the boats. The NOLA airport never was very busy and since Katrina there are far fewer flights serving it. St. Louis obviously doesn't have that problem. I haven't looked at the new cruising schedules since I know they aren't po$$ible for me, but if they are running more trips out of St. Louis, in addition to having the marine operations there, it could well be influenced by the airport availability, for both passengers and crew. One of the sore points in current management/crew talks is the fact that the company is no longer paying the crew members' way to and from the boat to their jobs. So St. Louis might be a cheaper air alternative - but of course not for the crew living in NOLA.

Hi Carmen,

If DN is still the operating unit, does that mean profits for the 2006 season belong to DN?

So, boat crews- who is signing your paychecks these days?

Choosing St Louis rather than New Orleans as headquarters gives the company advantages with both air and rail travel. It also indicates how badly New orleans is still suffering. That is a shame!

One of the crew aspects is that the boats on the west coast paid better per diem but did not pay for travel to and from the boats. If the crew member wanted the job, they paid to get to it and they paid to get back home. The DQSC boats paid for travel to and from the boats however under DN had been stricter about caps on the costs of tickets and very little allowances for ground transportation to or from the airport. St Louis had the cheapest to and from the airport access with its public transit system.

Just as an FYI- the large cruise ships and Disney paid for one 1-way ticket every six months according to what they told me when I asked about working for them. But if others have more information, please feel free to correct me.

While air fare may seem like arguments over small stuff, it is indicative of the increasing costs involved in operating the business. It affects both crew and passengers. St Louis was always considered a "hub" airport because of its location. St. Louis has also done a lot in recent years to improve its airport with more stores and restaurants. Using hub airports could be beneficial for the company.

It will be interesting to me if the new company also lets people book tours of the boat during refurbishing and if it will charge for or schedule the tours. Homeland Security was largely responsibile for all of the boats inability to be extra hospitable during ports of call. It was always easier and nicer to say to people that the company simply could not allow the invation of passenger privacy but a great deal of the restrictions was Homeland Security regulations. While the new pricing structure does make it hard for many, I think that AI is probably trying to dream up marketing strategies and having tours of the boats is just one small way to help market them. The one boat that does this best is actually the AQ. Much as I love the DQ and understand people's affection for the MQ, viewing the AQ is as grand as it gets.

Elaine

Judy,

We were typing at the same time or I would have changed my reply.

As for the crew living in NOLA- well, that is part of the problem- how many are still living in NOLA? I have no idea. Also, I am wondering IF the crew will do more shuffles between boats including the west coast boats. For many, this is appreciated and desirable but for many others, it only makes their gypsy lifestyle harder. However, if there is a boat sitting in St Louis that needs a specific type of crew member and a boat in Oregon who has an extra available in that department, will the corporate headquarters then pay to get the crew member to the new job? What happens when their rotation is done and they want to fly home? Cheaper to fly out of St Louis? Or Portland, Oregon?

As for Seattle headquarters, Washington State may also end up home for various crew members. Although it has a high sales tax, they still enjoy no income tax and milder winters along the actual coast than most people think. Energy costs with its hydro-electric power is also less expensive than most parts of the country. It is not cheap to live there but there are very few places today anywhere in the USA that are really cheap to live there.

DN still kept its headquarters in upper New York State even while it expanded its Robin Street Wharf employees so I see no reason why AI using Seattle as an operation base will really cause problems. The Sea-Tac airport to St Louis is daily non-stop because I have taken it more times than I care to count although now that I switched to living in Manchester, I usually use Northwest with Detroit as the stop-over.

The biggest disadvantages to living in Seattle is the lack of bright sunny days. It is overcast, cloudy, and rainy. People don't tan, they rust. Yes, the cost of living there has been going up but that is true everywhere. Yes, pay rates are not generally keeping pace with the rising cost of living but that is also true everywhere.

However, I am biased. If I did not live in New England, I would probably live in the Pacific Northwest. I like the 4 seasons but get more snow in New England.

Cheers
Elaine