AQ to start new season on Mar 9th

The AQ moved to the Julia Street dock this morning. She shows up very nicely on the NOLA Terminal web. They put the fancy gingerbread top back on the piolt house. cam. http://www.portno.com/pno_pages/cruises_building_webcam.htm
The info that came with our tickets show this as the NOLA docking for the boats. If you want to see her moving down river to the dock, check the Bridge Cam at 0745 this morning.
Carol and I will be on her 3/9/07 to the 16th and then go back to NOLA and bring the Delta Queen out on the 17th. I may be able to provide updates on the 16th from the Motel. We are looking forward to being back on the river in 2 days, but who's counting. In case you can't see the camera here is the shot I downloaded this morning.

John,

What are your DQ docs saying? Julia Street or Robin Street? I´m just wondering if Julia Street is for the press event only.

Carmen

PS: I just checked the webcams. Great view! For the bridgecam archive check starting at 7:37 am and you can see the AQ floating downriver backwards.

I've always liked her better without that crown ontop of the pilothouse. They always kept it off until they were operating only below Cairo, so we never had it on up here. As to the Julia St. docking, here's my guess: The Julia Street terminal has undergone extensive and expensive renovation, including a parking garage, and it has berths for two ships. Since Carnival is not bringing their second ship in this year, that leaves a void. I can't remember when the FANTASY is in, on Fridays or Sundays, but I think most of the other visiting ships like the GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS are in port on Saturdays. So there is definitely space there for a QUEEN. Considering how hard the city is trying to present a good image to visitors, the area around Julia Street is fine, while the Robin Street area never was that great anyway. So I suspect the city/dock board want the new wharf utilized to its fullest. A secondary plot is that they want to build a third berth down at Poland Street and have made the necessary land/wharf trade arrangements. To justify this new wharf, Julia St. needs to be pretty full. But whatever the reasons, its great to be in view of a camera, and the NATCHEZ will definitely get to pass them, at about 10 after 1 and 4 and will make her turn right there if possible...

Incidentally, the pix of the new terminal building on the webcam page says Erato Street... that's the same place as Julia Street. Erato is the first berth by the bridge, Julia the lower one in front of Riverwalk. By the way, the vessels and equipment abreast of the AQ today in the webcam is a dredging operation run by the dock board. They maintain a 40 foot clearance at the docks and pretty much move up and down the wharves continously to maintain this. The silt is just pumped out into midstream where the depth is plentiful.

Judy,

The NCL Sun is in on Sundays, the Grandeur and the Fantasy usually on a Saturday. Princess is using Poland Street. It might get crowded on Saturdays at Julia/Erato Street.

Carmen

The QUEENS never used to go out on weekend days if possible, due to the temp help cost and delivery of goods. I don't know if they are doing more Saturdays this year, but if so, that would be good for the port in having to use the Poland St. dock too. Other days shouldn't be a problem at Julia. Unless they've put up a fancy building down there in 3 months, Poland St. is not finished as a cruise terminal, but of course is serviceable. And if they have put up a building in 3 months, that will be the first one in the city so fast since Katrina!

As the attatched photos show, having that "gingerbread" topping on the pilot house can be a real pain when going under a low bridge in high water. I took these shots in 2003 on the AQ. Even though the pilot house has been lowered, it would have been impossible to make it under this bridge with the "gingerbread" attatched. The first photo shows the "gingerbread" top sitting on the deck (in the rear of photo) and two engineers next to the lowered pilot house. Over their heads is a bridge under construction.
The second photo shows the lowered pilot house.

The third photo shows the Master of the AQ, Capt. Schultz making his approach.

That's a great shot going under that new bridge! With the pilothouse down, the highest point(not literally) on the AQ is the pilot's head as he stands on the wing bridge.

I've lost track of the AQ's itinerary for '07. She hasn't been on the Ohio since 2002 (if I remember correctly), and she was supposed to return to the Ohio in '06, or was it '05? Will she be on the Ohio this year, or remain a distant memory?!

Also does anyone have the link to the AQ's online intinerary?

Steve,

The AQ was last on the Ohio in 2003. In the spring she made a trip up here in March and it was sucessful. However, in May she did Louisville-Madison cruises for a week with high water.

Here is a link to her 2007 season.
http://www.majesticamericaline.com/products/cruises.aspx?durations=&dates=&ships=1&ports=&destinations=

~Travis~

AQ Itinerary

Steve,

I´ve listed the day by day itineraries on our rivers-rails.com website

http://www.rivers-rails.com/boats-aq-schedule07.shtml

Hope it´s still up to date with all the changes.

Carmen

Just got our ticket packet for our DQ March 17 cruise: the booklet lists "Julie St. Cruise Terminal, just behind the Convention Center" as the landing.
S'
David D.
PS This packet smells like linseed oil, thought I had a can of paint burst somewhere in the house (I'm rebuilding, so there's things like that around).

Travis, Thanks for the link. Like I said, I don't think we've seen her up this way (above Madison) since 2002. But there's been so much "water under the bridge" that I can't remember.. Are you saying she did a brief Madison-Louisville stint in May 2003?

Low Bridge in the Rain

If the AQ has to go under a low/high water bridge in the rail or other foul weather, is there somewhere for the pilot to stand that isn't in the direct line of the rain?

No.............................................................................

No, but he does have his choice of getting soaked on either the starboard or port side.

Phil Westbrook wrote a song called "North to Paducah", a parody on "North to Alaska". It tells the tale of the AQ being unable to get under the bridge downbound on the Ohio to get to NOLA. They went back and forth several times.

Somewhere, I think in John Jarret's files, there's a picture of me touching the undercarriage of a bridge as the AQ slipped through with Capt Davitt crouching in the wing station.

Very hairy stuff.

Paul

Any ideas why the AQ is faced downriver???

Carmen

Boats traditionally land headed-down alongside the Crescent City wharves due to a strong eddy working there. Ever notice the NATCHEZ doing so? Pilots on the PRESIDENT often threw a chunk of wood into the river, there, to test the strength and direction of that eddy. If that is not the reason, then they may have the portside-to to give that side a good scrubbing.

Yes, the NATCHEZ always is landed facing downstream, as she's right at the beginning of that eddy. It normally extends up past Canal St., and as the river rises it extends further upriver. The NATCHEZ and the harbor towboats prefer going upriver close to the East Bank to utilize this eddy. Or, as Sam sharply points out, they could just be scrubbing her down on the port side. Can't get much by Shipyard! The PREZ was always facing downstream at her Canal St. dock too.

Sam,

The Natchez is docked facing downriver but the landing is more or less opposite Algiers Point at Algiers Bend. I saw the logs drifting upriver there with the strong back eddies there.

The AQ is docked at Erato Street quite a bit upriver. Have a look at John Mullen´s screenshot. There she´s docked facing upriver. When I checked the webcam for her relocation she floated downriver backwards. Now she´s turned around (although she has to turn around again for her cruise).

BTW the big cruise ships are docking heads upriver too (except for the Carnival Fantasy when they fixed the dent).

Anyway I do not understand very much about navigation. I just wondered why she turned around.

Carmen

Another very real possibility is that she was taking on fuel today, and was probably pretty empty, so she would have taken it from one of Stone's fueling barges. I don't know her setup, but chances are this was accomplished easier from the starboard side. I can't see any fuel flat and towboat in the picture now, but they could have been there earlier. Or the opposite might have been true as for loading supplies - perhaps the port side was easier. But my guess is the refueling situation.

Was the AQ's departure late last night or was the port cam frozen? We began watching (and reloading) the image shortly before 6 pm (CST) and finally gave up a little after 8 pm. Although it was dark by then, it sure looked as though she was still docked. Thank you.

AQ departure at 7:30 pm

Suzanne,

Departure time was 7:30 pm. I just checked the archive but it was too dark to see anything.

Carmen