MAL website online

Would someone please tell MAL that the DELTA QUEEN is not, "The last operational steam paddlewheeler in America." This does not bode well for the MQ and AQ; not to mention, the grasp that MAL management has of its boats is somewhat (sic) lacking! 🙁

Has Don Deming been reincarnated???? The historic ship's bell from Mark Twain's boats is on the DQ? Presidents Truman, Carter, and Hoover dancing on the DQ????? and as to the last operational steam sternwheeler Frank, so long Belle, Julia Belle and Natchez, I guess!.... hopefully the new symbol doesn't mean the swan song for the Queens.... Its obvious they're reaching for a new group of passengers, those without a clue about steamboats and river history, so these blurbs will do just fine in attracting them. Did anyone get the 2007 brochure this week, still under the DQ Steamboat Co. logo, which included an insert of specials on spring cruises, like $1200 for a 7 night AQ cruise, and several more on all three Queens for under $2000? Is this a valid promotion, as I thought they said earlier there wouldn't be any discounts????

Maybe MAL people have read Don's tales and assume like hundreds of his audiences at lectures that its the truth !!

There maybe a connection with Mark Twain and the DQ bell though. This has been kicked around with the "wise men" at S & D several times. It's certain that no connection exists with any boat Sam Clemens served on as steersman or pilot, but possibly connects to his trip in 1882.

The boat Clemens rode from St. Louis to New Orleans on in 1882 was the Str. Gold Dust, an Anchor Line boat, built by Howards. Now the Gold Dust exploded in August of 1882. Just a few months later the Str. City of St. Louis was completed at Howards for the Anchor Line. There has been speculation that the Gold Dust bell was placed on the new boat. We do know for sure that the Str. City of St. Louis bell went on the Str. Queen City, then to the towboat John W. Hubbard ( now Mike Finks) and then to the DQ. Anybody with more thoughts on subject ???

The amusing part is that the special prices had to be booked by September
30, 2006 - kind of hard to do when we just received the information in December! I've been trying to get them to send a 2007 brochure since June.

Another new owner, and a new name - but they're still using the same old pictures.

I signed up for all three brochures yesterday. Let´s see if they send them over to Germany! I also signed up for the email newsletter. The last I heard of DQSC was an email with offers for the two Thanksgiving cruises.

BTW 3rd/4th bed including children are $150 per night (like it was on AWSC).

Carmen

Judy, Deb and I received a postcard special offering on Monday with the name DQSC all over it offering 20% off and free air on all DQ/MQ/AQ cruises through mid-May. If memory serves as I don't have the postcard here at work, the special is good for all cruises except for one cruise with each boat, typically the end of April, for the DQ I suspect this would be the Belle race. And you have to book before December 21st to get the special, I believe. It sounds like your insert you received is the same one Deb and I got.

It is funny that the special was not addressed to us but to a close friend of my Dad's wife. We have a DQ cruise booked for my Dad's wife and her friend to give them a 'taste'. As far as American Classic Voyages, DQSC, Delaware North or MAL, the Krause's have never existed. We never receive anything from the company unless I repeatedly request it from the website. Strange appreciation of customers, don't you think? The Paddlewheeler? Never seen one.

You received a 2007 brochure? I just requested one as well as registering my email address on the new website. Maybe this time we'll be on their radar...

Bruno

Wonder why MAL appears to be advertising for so much help - nearly every single position on the boat? Aren't the boats well-staffed (or well-"crewed") already?

Keith Baylor;2606 wrote: Aren't the boats well-staffed (or well-"crewed") already?

I wondered the same thing, but then I remembered that they just purchased more than just the Mississippi River System fleet, and may need additional help in other regions of the country.

Keith,
Bruce,

I think everyone has been laid off by the end of the season. DN did operate the boats until the end of the season. So all employees need a new contract with the new company.

Carmen

My sternwheel telegraph says MAL is still not having open dialog with the unions. Thus, I can understand all the advertising for help. But, in time, these issues can be resolved. I have mixed views on this because too many big businesses shaft the employees who create their profits. But we have no real knowledge of this except for the actual employees and they are wisely not talking.

I have been away for a few days on business in my new job that I am very excited about. So, keeping up with the board is hard these days. And part of me hates to sound Pollyanna again but the key to everything is still bookings.

Without bookings, there will be no jobs and no DQSC steamboats (regardless of their name) or overnight floating hotels that travel back in time. The history of the boats in the past 10 years has been a rocky road or muddy waters indeed. Not all of the problems were caused directly by the boats ownership even if some of them were. We (myself included) have a tendency to all be backseat drivers here and that does not always help matters.

I agree that getting new brochures with updated pictures would be nice. But I also hope that the boats aren't taking lessons from the airline industry on pricing. The most confusing thing ever is figuring out pricing on travel these days. Its no wonder people are driving more despite high gas prices.

Since travel and the journey can be more important than the actual destination, I can understand some of it. But if a person needs a college education just to figure out the offers in any given brochure, there is something wrong.

I hope that when everything settles down, pricing is simplified and easy. I hope that when the company offers a dream, it can deliver on that promise. I don't know that MAL has as many connections in the media as I sensed that DN had. When they first took over, there were programs on A&E and the History Channel and in magazines. That type of advertising is golden.

So, although I have been behind on my book project, I think that people's holiday gift list should include The Steamboat Traveller. I think that we need to keep a positive tone in our posting about what MAL needs to do.

My first lesson aboard the steamboats was meeting a class of people who are second to none. The old "people on the river are happy to give" was true time and again. From crew to passenger, from officer to lowly kitchen help, I met a collective group of people who shared a dream. It was not being rich or famous although some had that dream. It was not an "all about me" tour even among those paying guests who are properly called passengers. It was and remains to be a sharing of the love of the rivers and the romance and adventure that it provides. We are all somewhat proud of our addiction. We even try to outdo each other on our addiction. But the real key is always to create new addicts. Have you told someone you met about steamboating today? Do that. Help peak other's curiosity and maybe those requests for brochures will keep coming in and people will keep booking trips.

I have just as much reason to be negative about the boats as I do to be positive. Most people who know me well understand this- but I refuse to give up no matter who owns the boats. If I was a multi-millionaire, I would buy the boats regardless of if they are for sale or not. And I might not make a profit when all is said and done. Everything has a price. But I am not and don't aspire to be a multi-millionaire either. So, all I can do, in my own private way is continue to evangelize the boats. They provide the adventure of a lifetime while going under 10 miles per hour. It is the funniest thing I know to think that something that goes so slow and can be full of soot should be so grand. But that is steamboat fever folks.

Good holidays to ya!

Unfortunately the reason we are backseat drivers, Elaine, is because nobody in power allows us in the front seat to share ideas and conversation...

Press release on modernagent.com

http://www.modernagent.com/Resources/Editorial.aspx?n=19585

Carmen

Steam Power

A check of the comment on the Delta Queen says that it is the last operational "over-night" steam-powered sternwheeler in the United States

I wonder what this means about plans for the American Queen and Mississippi Queen? Maybe they mean that the Delta Queen has no other source of power, and the AQ does, and the MQ will?

Interesting observation, Bruce. And I went back to their description because the way you quoted it was not what I remembered - they have in fact changed their DQ description, as it originally was what Frank quoted: the last steam powered paddlewheeler. Now it is a bit closer to the truth in the last steam powered over-night sternwheeler. Guess maybe somebody from MAL is reading our back-seat drivers comments???????

Judy and All: I checked it out the first day (evening) it was posted, and saw "last overnight steam powered paddlewheeler". If it was changed, it was a couple of days ago.

Not on list either

I never receive mailings from the company either. I have traveled more than any of my other traveling companions, yet they are the people who get the mailings. Some of the people who receive mailings are deceased. I guess it is because they are of the target age group and I am not. We'll see if MAL changes this. Maybe they should send ME the brochures I often request, too.

MAL website not great

In looking at the new MAL website, I can't say that it impresses me. Overall, it is pretty vague and not impressive enough to get someone excited about cruising with this company. At least, not yet. There are things that were on the old sites that were better. The whole lack of credibility in their "facts" and the odd wording of other things leads me to conclude that there is much room for improvement. No matter how they word it, the DQ is not the last of any of the various descriptions they have given. It is the OLDEST of the overnight steamboats, but certainly not the last. Maybe they should talk to those who know and stop reading the tall tales that were invented by a marketing liar. I agree, they are using the same old photos that every other owner did, too.

I'm annoyed by using the term 'ship' when referring to what we all call a 'boat'. Aren't vessels that are on rivers commonly referred to as 'boats'? Maybe the blue water folks don't know the difference.

Did anyone notice that for all the boats except the DQ, the rooms are advertised as containing "Television, DVD and sound system". So, the TVs are coming.

At 1:48 PM on December 5, 2006 there was no mention of "over-night" in regards to the DQ, it was the ONLY steam powered paddlewheeler! I guess some one told them, or they read this board. Now the MAL powers that be need to have a chat with the steam engineers on both the AQ and MQ to find out how those two boats operate......Oh wait, the MAL powers that be can't find any steam engineers, they're all union!

I don't know what you're seeing, but I'm still seeing the same inaccuracies. It is 1:35 PM Central.

http://www.majesticamericaline.com/products/Ship.aspx?ID=2 . This page reads "In 1989 the Delta Queen, the last of the over-night steam-powered sternwheelers, was designated a National Historic Landmark" in the 'Interesting Facts' box on the right side of the page.

http://www.majesticamericaline.com/products/ourships.aspx . This page, where it talks about their "ships" mentions that the DQ is "the Delta Queen is registered as a National Historic Landmark and is the last operational over-night steam-powered sternwheeler in the United States. "

By the way, I think I know why we've never heard that Hoover and Truman danced on the DQ. I think that they were only recently sighted dancing with Mary Greene. So, they would be ghosts who have moved in. How about that for far-fetched?

Too funny on the dancing ghosts : )

However, I still want to see the advertising in the northeast. I am sure there is money here somewhere even if I am not the person who has it.

The Swans don't really cut it for me! Some of the website pictures are so old
I would have thought they would have taken the time to come up with some new ones. Re the dancing ghosts: Have there been any?? Whenever people talk about the "ghosts" they were walking, I think.

Ah, the swans don't cut it for the swans. I like that. How about ducks? Or a goose?

I have always thought that type of marketing funny. I could understand a boat or a paddlewheel in the logo or a smokestack (even if they aren't all steam) but as much as I like to watch the birds, the swan doesn't do it for me either.

As for the swans read modernagent.com:

"The new company logo incorporates an artfully designed trumpeter swan in colors reminiscent of fall foliage or a sunset on any one of America's rivers. Known for their beauty, trumpeter swans are indigenous to the wetland areas associated with America's inland and coastal waterways."

I don´t remember seeing swans along the Mississippi River system nor the Columbia river nor Alaska. A blue heron or a bald eagle would be more appropriate. Obviously a high paid PR agency developed this new name and logo and none of those folks have ever been on the rivers.

Carmen

I'm sure that MAL paid a hefty price for the development of the new web site. It's just a pity that it wasn't vetted by those whom truly know something about MAL's boats. For instance we all know by now how MAL doesn't realize that all three of The Delta Queen Steamboat Co. boats have steam machinery onboard. In another instance the old marketing hype of American West Steamboats was used, and it does not mesh well with The Delta Queen Steamboat Co.'s hype. In the description of the QUEEN of THE WEST it states that she was the first overnight paddlewheeler to have been built and operated in the American west in eighty years. So if this is the case, and she did originally come out in 1995, then the DELTA QUEEN and BELLE of LOUISVILLE are contemporaries, and the DQ is older than claimed! I've noticed other inaccuracies too, but enough!