DQ Photos

Travis,
Is the NO engine room visits Homeland Security, or MAL rule? IF one applies 24 hours in advance, can one perhaps get a pass for 20 minutes?? They're taking away my fun!!
S'
David D.
PS. Yep, words alone cannot convey the magic of the Delta Queen--in fact, a non-running DQ cannot convey the magic either!

David,

Last I talked to Mary Charlton (Discovery Guide on the DELTA QUEEN) she told me they are working on a plan to allow Engine Room visits again. How they will be conducted, when they will be conducted, and who will conduct them are still up in the air. From what I can glean from it, the tours will have to be made in small groups when the boat is not in a handling situation (Landing, departure, locks, etc.). Some attempts have been made so far and the kinks are being worked out. Perhaps with in the week she will have more information for us about the process.

~Travis~

Travis,
OK, say "HI" to Mary for me. Hmm, I prefer being able to talk to the engineers, and just watching the pitmans and valve linkage working, and smelling the cylinder oil, but I suppose it will be like the pilot house visits now. HEY--I could volunteer to be the guide!!! 🙂
S'
David
PS I could even bring visual aids!

Bruno,

Thanks so much for the idea re the August 19th cruise! I'll definitely take you up on that. I would be great to finally get to meet you and some the other dot-orgers.

I'll contact you via private message or e-mail later on to work out the details.

Thanks!

Don't you just love how Homeland Security and the love of Steamboats don't seem to co-exist well? First, it was restricting the observation decks at locks. Thankfully, this has relaxed somewhat, but some locks are still closed. Now, they don't want people to visit the Engine Room. And, they've sharply curbed the practice of letting any visitors aboard. A lot of times in my city, you can't even get near the boat, because there's some junky chain link fence or yellow caution tape preventing you from getting close to the waterline. They probably fear that good will might actually lead to a future customer. We don't want some nobody to fall in love with a steamboat. We want only those people that we have made our fine-tuned marketing pitch to. Well, that's not working either. Maybe the new owner might have some sense to loosen up and embrace the magic of the river and of steamboats, instead of hiding behind poorly designed rules. Here's a new requirement to consider for 2009 cruises: passports and travel visas required for US citizens!

Don't laugh... it's a comin'

Bruno Krause;10944 wrote: David, my friend, what I know you meant to say was this: "...we're at least TWO of the FRN's on board..." repeat after me: TWO...the other half (and better half I might add) of your "TWO" is continually convincing you not to cancel, right? So she needs the credit of being the ultimate FRN... 😉

[/email]

I guess we'll have to come up with an alternative to "FRN" and this time NOT tell anyone what it means.

Let's see, where IS my Dick Tracy decoder ring????

:O)

Paul

Darin, the passport requirement for US citizens traveling to bordering countries is here now. I'm sure most have read that a passport is just about mandatory for travel to Canada. What the brain trust at Office of Homeland Stupidity aren't telling anybody is that Canada doesn't require them at all. Of the eight or so times yearly that Deb and I travel to our Canada place, Canada customs rarely asks for ID, maybe once in ten trips, and the Custom official's questions are basically the same harmless ones they have been asking for 45 years, always with a smile.

But coming back to the good 'ol USA, that's a different story, and since the brilliant inception of the Office of Homeland Security, it sometimes now feels like we're not wanted back in our own country. There, a passport or an original birth certificate with photo ID IS required to return to New York and the questions have morphed into somewhat a rude theme...gotta love it, I feel so much more secure now and sleep better at night...It's funny the questions they now ask are worded obviously to "get a reaction" as they have little to do with security or duty on goods and you typically don't expect those type of questions. Some that I remember are "What do you do for a living?" and "Where did you grow up?" and "Where did you go to high school?" Security questions all! Not only that, but since 9-11, USA Customs knows how many times I have gone to Canada, even to the date of the last trip. And our Customs isn't too nice to Canadians entering our country either, I've been told. Now, I ask, we pay these people to be rude? Great PR for our Canadian friends trying to spend some money down here. Great PR for our country being supposedly friendly to all...

Pluhease!.......Ok, thanks for letting me vent, nothing about "DQ Photos" here...we now return you to your forum...

Paul, Jazzou told me FRN stands for Friendly River Neighbors, why the big secret?

😉

I sure hope not. I already know that passports are required for international travel, but when a company would require them for domestic travel, that would be real news, and a sign that the company has lost their mind. Maybe they should perform patdowns, too. You know, that always works great. Ever gone to an NFL game and had to suffer through a patdown, just to enter? How ridiculous. And, I feel that much safer because of it. Ah, the "safety ideas" some people have...

Bruno Krause;11041 wrote: Paul, Jazzou told me FRN stands for Friendly River Neighbors, why the big secret?

😉

My grandfather, my parents, my siblings & I were labelled with that decades ago it seems by some on DQ crew & office...and that isn't the meaning.

We found out the hard way....unfortunately.

Bruno Krause;11040 wrote: It's funny the questions they now ask are worded obviously to "get a reaction" as they have little to do with security or duty on goods and you typically don't expect those type of questions. Some that I remember are "What do you do for a living?" and "Where did you grow up?"

Years ago, I took a weekend trip to Montreal. We drove up from Cape Cod. Had a great time. Had never been out of the country before that and didn't know quite what to expect at the border. Getting into Canada was a breeze.

Coming back, we were asked by the US Customs officials to pull my van over for an inspection of its contents. No problem, but I did wonder what all the hub bub was about, until....... I stood outside my van during the inspection and noticed my bumper sticker.....

"Support the arts. Kiss a musician"

Hmmmm a little profiling I would suspect.

Paul