MQ - Steamboat Race Cancelled - Help

Hi Kathy
Welcome to steamboating. The MQ in the past has been our favorite boat. 32 cruises with the majority being on the MQ. Others steamboaters will only ride the Delta Queen. They say the first boat you ride is the one you go back to. Go with the flow and enjoy the river moment. The DQ is the historic lady on the river. Built in 1926. We have had many a fun time riding her. A cabin in the Betty Blake Library is the only ones we will take because they open to an inside entrance. (bad weather you don't have to go out) The room is very important to us on any ship or boat. Space wise all the cabins are interesting! The Betty Blake deck is a great location. All the cabins on the other decks open to the outside. You will find there are only steps no elevators. I usually wear low healed shoes because there are steps down to the Orleans Room where you eat and steps up to the forward cabin lounge where you may (if you do) drink and enjoy the company of other steamboaters. Just go and enjoy yourself. After eating so much we looked at the steps as a form of exercise!! Just think your first steamboatin trip will be on the beautiful historic lady the Delta Queen. She has a lot of history treading the rivers. If you let yourself go, you will fall in love with her and the river. The Great Steamboat Race is fun, but unless the American Queen is going to be going that way with you, yes things will be different.
Marian Nusekabel

Hi Kathy
Different people like different things. To me, having a DQ stateroom that opens onto the deck is all I would ever want to have. When I see daylight, I'm ready to dash out the door and see where we are. I love to walk all the way around the boat to see the scenery on all sides. On the river the scenery is different on the other side and it changes continually. If we are moving, I love to stand back by the paddlewheel, watch the wake, sometimes even see a rainbow in the spray. I love to go up front and look at the view of what is ahead of us -- hills, trees, birds, bridges, locks, towboats headed our way. There is a song called "Something's Always Happening On the River" and that is true!!

I love the deck, love to sit with book and camera and catch the ever-changing scene. Some mornings I open the door and see us docked in a town. Often I see a beautiful sunrise as I walk all the way around the boat. Sometimes I see lots of fog, but how beautiful it is when the sun begins to lift the fog. I have hundreds of pictures of just the beauty of the various rivers on which the DQ travels. The scenery is different on each river, and each part of the river, and changes with the light, the time of day. Sunsets on the river are spectacular, and I never come home without some sunset pictures.

So I just have to have a stateroom that opens onto the deck, a deck I can walk all the way around to see the beauty that can't be seen anywhere but the river. And what the room itself is like is of small importance to me when compared with what I can see out there on the deck by just opening the door and walking out.

As I said, we are all individual and you will have to decide what is best for you. I'm just offering my point of view. Hope it helps.
Pat

Pat, you're making me drool, I can't wait--first cruise in 21 days! (plus a few hours).
Kathy, I think you'll find the DQ not as roomy as the MQ, but she is the Grand Old Lady and makes up for space with other qualities.
Steamcerely,
David Dewey
A "wanna be" for 36 years, but not much longer!!

Hi Kathy,

I was so sorry for you when I first heard of the cancellation. I know you were looking forward to the cruise.

The DQ does not have any AA staterooms (after the reclassification by MAL). Highest classification is A right now, next is B (only 2) and C. Those are the cabins on the cabin deck opening to the Betty Blake Lounge. Those cabins are nice, not very spacious and do not expect a separate bathroom. The sink is in the cabin (shower and toilet in an extra "room"). We once had stateroom 110 and in fact I have to say I didn´t like it. Why, because the stateroom attendant of the Texas Deck used to push his cart around starting prior to 6 am. And the outside deck of the Texas is right above your head in when you´re in a Cabin Deck stateroom. I first thought it´s a train going over the nearby bridge.

My favourite deck is the Texas Deck. Any cabin would do it for me. Like Pat, I love to be able to open my door and walk right out and see the sunrise .... I prefer the Texas because there´s some shade/cover provided by the Sun Deck and it´s conveniently located to the Texas Bar.

If you prefer outside space and a larger cabin I´d go for the D cabins on the Sun Deck (311-316). We once had 316 and it was really spacious (for the DQ).

All outside cabins do have a chair or two in front of them like on a private balcony.

The ambiance is totally different especially on the DQ (although our first cruise on a big cruise ship will be in April). You will soon find a lot of new friends and know all fellow passengers within the first two or three days. It´s only 174 passenger (maximum capacity). You soon will make friends with the crew and join the steamboating family. The DQ is mainly a repeater boat. Maybe John Mullen can step in for that one. I´m not quite sure but I think at least 2/3 are repeaters on the Great Steamboat Race.

I don´t think the usual race activities will be held. But I´m definitely sure they MAL has to come up with something special for this cruise to compensate the missed race experience.

Carmen

Pajama Game

That catchy tune you mentioned, Something's Always Happening on the River, was my theme song when I was working at Walt's Boat Harbor in the mid-1950's. A light air, it was - uplifting and frolicking, and quite jolly. Was it sung on the showboat? It would make a jaunty calliope tune. But I wonder if it was ever played on the steam piano? Something's Happening made its way up the national music charts and was heard blasting across the Ohio River from the loud-speaker atop Walt's head boat as I dreamed of outgrowing Walt's and journeying beyond the bend below town.

Capt. Richard "Dick" Bissell, of Dubuque, was credited with writing the lyrics, and Bob Scobey's Frisco Band, Art Mooney and his Orchestra and Choir, and Hugo & Luigi were some of the groups that recorded it. Bissell is best remembered for writing "7 1/2 Cents", the story of his family's clothing manufacturing business in Dubuque that became a hit on Broadway and on the big screen as "Pajama Game". But it was Something's Always Happening... that remains my favorite work of Captain Bissell's.

Captain Dick Bissell's photo has been added. Cool-looking dude, if I may say so.

No, I didn't hear it on the showboat. I found an album with that title in a record store when I got back home and I just had to buy it! Your message sent me off to dig through my old LP's to see whose recording it is. Bob Scobey's Frisco Band. I love all the songs on the album, all river related, but I love the title song best. It has run through my head all these years whenever I thought about the river. I taped the album years ago and more recently got it into my computer and on my iPod. Thanks for telling more about the song and who wrote it. I didn't know any of that info, just loved the song.

Anyone who grew up in Cincinnati in the 50s knows that Something's Always Happnin' was Skipper Ryle's theme song!! Anyone else out there remember him? I won't comment on the boats--you've all done a wonderful job of explaining how to find happiness on every boat--there's no such thing as a bad day on the river.

Rabbit Runs Round the Tree...

Why, Steamboat Mary, every kid who could tune in to the Skipper did so. It's impossible to determine the full extent of "Skipper" Glenn Ryle's influence on boys and girls and the river. He was a big AVALON fan, according to Captain Doc Hawley, and often rode the boat when it was in Rag Town. The Skipper taught his viewers, on the tiny black and white screen, how to tie knots. So I learned to tie the bowline from watching him: "Make a hole. Now the rabbit comes out of the hole; runs 'round the tree and back down the hole." Remember?

That rabbit also ran along the banks of the Charles River in Boston, MA where I learned knots and splices and all sorts of stuff when I learned sailing in the oldest program in the country dedicated to teaching young people sailing.

Later, I used black and red licorice to teach a few more knots. But the best one remains the rabbit comes out of his hole, runs around the tree, and goes back in.

Cheers
Elaine

Kathy, sorry about your unexpected change in plans. I know how excited you two were.

You and I have talked in the past about stateroom size and how important that is to you. On the DQ even the higher classes of stateroom will not compare in overall square meterage (yes, I remembered) to the room that you had booked on the MQ. If the size of the room matters, then I'm afraid you will be disappointed with the DQ. A BB room on the MQ, room 302 for example, is much, much bigger in size than a C room on the DQ, matter of fact I believe that room is bigger than the A rooms on the DQ. There is no room on the DQ that will compare in size to the room you booked on the MQ.

However, what I was trying to tell you with Deb's and my experience is summed up perfectly by Pat Carr above. Of all the things that matter on the boat, all the little things that when taken together make up the "steamboatin" experience, the reasons why there is quite a few of us that take multiple cruises on the DQ year after year, I will say this...

The stateroom is the least important "thing" in the experience to us. Yes Deb and I have a favorite deck area (sundeck starboard) but we do not have a favorite room. We look at the room as the reason we can cruise again, I know that sounds confusing, but put simply, multiple cruises in a lesser expensive room is WAY more important than one cruise every so often in an upscale room. I think you will find that most repeaters book the the least expensive room they can for that very reason. But, no question the DQ rooms are tiny, and some DQ bathrooms make for some interesting contortions, but the rooms are tastefully decorated and we always seem to have enough room. And because the room is a convenience only is the reason quite a few forum posters have made so much fun of the upcoming fluffy white robes, premium bed linen, the TV and the DVD player. Those things are worthless to experiencing the river...The cruise is not about being in a hotel that floats and moves, its about the river experience that as little time as possible you just happen to sleep in, so to speak.

The room is a place to sleep and that is all. Why would I drink coffee in our room when I can go out on deck and see where we are, see the sunrise, look for wildlife, check out the scenery, smell the river. One of our tablemates from a past cruise e-mailed us asking what kind of coffee the boat uses...could I find out on the next cruise as it was the best coffee she ever tasted? I chuckled as I believe the brand of coffee is meaningless, the coffee could be close to sludge, it would still taste marvelous...the steamboatin experience is what gives the coffee its 'flavor'.

Deb and I have stayed in rooms as huge as 402 on the MQ (and yes that room is very nice, very big and very private) to rooms as small as 318 on the DQ, you have not lived until you experience the bathroom in 318. And for cruises this fall we have booked even smaller, our first bunk room, room 320. And even though Room 402 on the MQ was our first cruise and was a wonderful experience, in comparison to the DQ cruises it wasn't nearly as satisfying. The reason was that you are isolated from all the other passengers and the crew AND you can only see one small part of the river when you sit on your veranda. I can think of only one person we got to know on that cruise (hi Barb). While on the DQ Deb and I have made many, many friends. If Deb and I were to book a cruise on another MAL boat, the one that sounds the best is the AQ...think it might have to do with getting a stateroom with a walk out deck? On the DQ, with the latest re-classifying of the staterooms, we have stayed in an A, two C's, three D's, two E's and most of the F's. We like the F's best, but I suspect that will change when we stay in our first G room this fall. It's the $$, not the square footage, that matters to us. I made fun of the DQ's room 318 above, but we have stayed in 318 a few times and would do so again in a heartbeat.

In terms of DQ rooms, if we are asked what our favorite rooms are we would agree with Carmen, 311 through 316 are nice rooms, especially 312. We have also stayed in various cabin deck rooms but didn't like it because you can't walk right out onto the deck. I had to chuckle about Carmen talking about the noise of the cabin attendants cart above your head on the Texas deck. For us the issue was squeaky shoes worn by Michael the night watchman, bless him, what was it, every 20 minutes?

And for the rest of us, I take it that there will be no Great Steamboat Race this year? MAL isn't gonna try and fake it with just the DQ, are they?

21 days, and I'll be honest I'm not sure what stateroom we're in without looking it up!

Bruno

Dan Forman played Something's Always Happening on the River on both the DQ and MQ calliopes, and Debbie Fagnano currently plays it on the NATCHEZ... it is a good calliope tune.

Kathy, on the DQ the whole boat is your verandah! You can walk and sit anywhere you please, not just out in the chairs by your room. I don't have a catalog handy to know which rooms are the C rooms, but if they are the ones that Marian is talking about, they don't have outside seating in front of them due to the narrow walking space, but you can go anywhere on the boat and sit - no class system on the DQ. I had one of those rooms once and it was nice and as Marian said, very convenient. Carmen mentioned the noise from above, there can be noise from below if you're toward the stern - from the Orleans Room or Engine Room. But I loved to listen to those bells, and try to figure why we were changing speeds. Hopefully by now you've made your decision, and you are going to ride the DQ...

Lots of Knots

Want a site for learning how to tie knots? Check this one out:

http://www.tollesburysc.co.uk/Knots/Knots_gallery.htm

I confess I'd forgotten that the Skipper taught the knots. I had a good refresher from Second Mate Dave Hardesty this past year--and he taught me the rabbit and the tree. Best way to learn that particular knot. He taught me how to splice, make a bumper and a monkey fist. Did the latter here all by myself just the other day!

I couldn't stop laughing Bruno because every time I was ever asked which room is the best, I was inclined to make some smart aleck reply like- they all are. It was so difficult to decide.

If a person does have mobility problems then being on the interior rooms that open into the Betty Blake lounge would be a bit easier for them. But, even among crew quarters and I have crewed on all three of the boats, I liked the DQ best and there the room was the smallest with the bathroom down the hall (Note- that is not true for passenger rooms) and invariably the room was underneath the dining room which was used as an all purpose room. So, if I was trying to sleep, I might be listening to dancing tables and chairs over my head.

But the room is just the place to catch some shut eye and change clothes. Everything else is done outside of that room. If they really are providing terry cloth robes, don't pack any pajamas because there really is no space in any of the rooms for extras of anything.

The crew handbook mentioned a week's worth of casual clothing but crew are either wearing uniforms or pajamas. There is no week's worth of time ashore. Whatever one wore going to or coming from the boat is the maximum of casual clothing needed.

The C's now used to be the A rooms on the cabin deck, I think???

They were the cabin of choice for my parents...Mom preferring 109 or 110...

My favorite was in the back...and the back rooms on the Texas deck...

DQ Rooms - an oxymoron

Bruno and Pat, just a beautiful summation of the soul of the DQ... its not the size of the room, or the size of the boat. If that is the most important thing, then steamboating is not for that person. And I dare say that for many a passenger who came on board and was upset at the smallness of their room, the old DQ turned on her charm and made them into devout repeaters anyway! I always hated those fisheye lens shots in the brochures. No sense trying to make something look like something it isn't. And most people would rather pay more for a bigger room if that's what they want if they know upfront the sizes. I don't have a breakdown of my room classes on my 42 DQ cruises, but the majority of them were in the now cheapest class, whatever alphabetical symbol that is, such as 338, 337 and the old 313/314 - the small bunk bed rooms on the Sundeck. My favorite was 338, starboard stern, so I could easily run in and grab my tape recorder when the calliope player showed up. My day began with breakfast at 7 and then I was in my lounge chair on the corner of the starboard Sundeck stern until the 5 o'clock singalong, and then again until the evening show, maybe. No lunch or dinner for me, that's when I had the boat to myself more or less and when the beautiful sunsets occurred. On my first trip in August 1973, we four shared 2 rooms, 130/131 which were part of the 6 without bathrooms. These were all on the Cabin Deck aft cabin lounge. There were public bathrooms just forward of the back doorways and these had showers in them for our use. Behind the serving counter there on the stern were several inside small rooms, Skid Row, which were combined with the outside Skid Row rooms(6 across) to provide bathrooms for them. I was in those rooms quite a bit too. This was when we had only the 2 portholes in the splash board, and the pop machine back there. Most of the time I requested the cheapest room on the Sundeck starboard(Louise's deck) and especially 338. Amy Carter had that room and her parents were next door in 340, then a AAA in 1979, but I always considered it MY room. One of the peculiarities of the DQ is that no three rooms of the same class are the same dimensions, only the corresponding two on port and starboard are the same. I would use the turnover days when I was staying on to go in and check out the various rooms and layouts so I'd know which ones to request. 338 was 6.5 feet wide and 11 feet long, plus the bathroom. This was pretty standard for that class. 313/314 were made from the public bathrooms(see Way's Saga diagram) and in those rooms you couldn't sit on the toilet and close the bathroom door at the same time. Those rooms are now part of bigger rooms made from the old officers' quarters. The bathroomless rooms on the Cabin Deck are now also part of larger rooms. The 6 Skid Row rooms became in 1984 the two bathtub suites on the Cabin Deck stern. Many of us 'buffettes', including Ann Zeiger, ended up in the cheapest rooms as roomies through the old share basis policy, which enabled us to cruise as much as we did - no singles penalty.We had a capacity of 180 back in the '70s which is reduced due to the larger and fewer rooms now. And we could also have a third in the bunk bed rooms on the Texas, the ones with the wide lower berth 207, 208, 209 and so on. Thanks to Patrick, I was able to experience the relative spaciousness of 324 several years ago. I couldn't believe it: you could walk between the twin beds, and the bathroom ran the length of the room. It was almost as big by itself as my old 338... but Kathy, you can see the size of the room did not deter me - I made 42 trips on the DQ and you could add up all my rooms' total sq. footage and it wouldn't match one hotel suite. I'd never trade those experiences for a stationary suite! Something IS always happening on the river!