Tickets are here! Question on Shore Tours

Well, considering its Julia St, not Julie St, why would you expect the trip numbers to be right??? I asked before and didn't get a response, what are you shore stops scheduled to be on this trip?

A little off-topic here {and likely I'll be black listed from MAL, and maybe banned from Steamboats.org for stating this??? ;+)}

One of my more memorable trips on the DQ was the one & only (of recent) St. Paul DQ roundtrip (5 nights) my parents & I took in July 1999. This trip WAS sold out, MAL...hint-hint...

Anyways, this was the beginning of the local shuttle at shorestops being scaled back to almost nothing, and being quite expensive...like $10-15 per person/per shorestop...

I was fortunate enough, though my "connections" here at work to arrange rental cars in Red Wing, LaCrosse & PDC for around $30 (each) for the day! I was even scolded by a "veteran steamboater" riding with us that trip...that doing this was not by any means steamboating at all!

Here is my point (finally)...instead of being just "confined" to one small area which neither walking nor the shuttle would extend to, my folks & I did our own thing in each stop with the freedom of our "own car" to venture further inland! At each of those stops where we had the car, we logged at least 70 miles seeing various places not included in the somewhat expensive shore tours or the shuttle. For the same amount of money (less gasoline, of course) we were able to do much-much more in that short amount of time!
Granted along many shore stops rentals are not available, nor are there car dealers, etc, that are close enough to where the boat lands. In Red Wing we were fortunate to have the rental car, as we never made it back to St Paul for "boiler issues" and my Dad's van was in St Paul! We made a nice day of it our last day zig-zagging to downtown St Paul and then picking up the van to come back to Red Wing.

In LaCrosse I rented from Enterprise, and I had it so that they picked me up at the DQ at a certain time...and they did! I rented from car dealers in Red Wing & PDC, both were very accomodating (but I knew them too!)...

In short, this was the best $60-odd spent while on the DQ!!!

Pete,

I think that was creative and sensible too. Sounds like something I would have tried.

Dave,

The shore tours are a separate expense and most repeat passengers don't go on them. Crew members rarely have the time to use that as a benefit because shore stops are for stocking and reloading for crew. But, I did enjoy the tours of the southern mansions at the St Francisville stop- the only official shore tour I ever went on.

The rest of the time, I truly wanted to see what I could find within walking distance and always enjoyed that. Plus, the boat pulling into port makes the passengers and crew the welcomed celebrities for the towns. People greet the boat in many ports although Homeland Security has made this more restrictive.

But, my observations of passengers from my time aboard is that most of the passengers were so in love with the boat itself and the steamboat experience overall that the entertainment was a fantasy of the mind. While all of the entertainment staff are top notch talent and do an extraordinary job on that score too- steamboating is an experience where people become part of one large family.

As is the case with most large families, some require more stimulation and entertainment than others. But even under new management and even with changes in crew and shore tours- I am quite sure that you will have the time of your life. If your budget allows for shore tours, take them. If not, don't. It will be a win-win situation- no matter what you do.

Cheers
Elaine

David....a few years ago we talked about "tours" on the old message board...

Here is a link to some of the conversation...

http://www.steamboats.org/talkshop/messages/6291.html

Hi Judy, sorry, I forgot, here's our Itinerary, as published on our ticket.
Day 1 NOLA depart 6:00PM
Day 2 (My Birthday) River Cruising, Arrive 8:00am, Depart 1:00pm--does this mean we cruise from 8 to 1, then tie up to a tree??? 🙂
Day 3, Natchez, MS Ar.12:00am, Dpart 11:00pm
Day 4 (Linda's Birthday) Vicksburg, MS Ar. 12:00am, Dpart 3:00pm (must not be much to see here??? 3 hour stop?)
Day 5 River Cruising Ar 0:00am, Dpart 0:00 am Is this a ripple in the time continuom?
Day 6 Helena, AR AR 12:00am Dpart 5:00 pm
Day 7 Tunica, MS Ar 0:01am (Huh????) Dpart 5:00 pm. (shore tour, PM Graceland tour)
Day 8 Memphis, Ar 9:00am
Now that Bruno has 'splained that we are tour #600, I see a FEW of the tours are available to us. Now how to find out what ones might be worth doing, and where it might be better to just wander around on our own.
S'
David

David,

It depends on what you like to see. Check the Steamboat Traveller online for Natchez, Vicksburg, Tunica and Memphis. Natchez and Vicksburg are easy to explore on you own.

I´d book a shore tour in Vicksburg if you like to see the battlefield. If you´re more interested in steamboats walk up to the Court House Museum, have a look on the riverfront murals and the remains of the Sprague in the new riverfront park. You can also walk out to the remains of the Sprague (but I wouldn´t advice that) on Hwy 61. You´ll find all directions in the Steamboat Traveller.

In Natchez some of the antebellum homes are easy to explore on your own. Have a look on the Gandy Photo Collection. Go up to Stanton Hall to see the bell of the Betsy Ann.

They might offer a shuttle in Natchez and Vicksburg which would be worth the money if you don´t like walking uphills.

In Tunica there´s a great museum, Tunica RiverPark Museum, and the Tunica Queen (No. 2).

Carmen

David,
Doesn't 12:00 AM mean midnight?

Anyways, I don't have a clue what MAL is talking about for Day 2 but I'll bet its a slow bell steamboating day.

In other words we leave NOLA about 6 on Saturday and we cruise non stop to Natchez arriving at Midnight early Monday morning. We stay in Natchez until 11 PM Monday night (we stay late so that the passengers can get back to the boat after the Natchez Spring Pagent is over, an evening performance), we leave Natchez and arrive in Vicksburg at midnight Tuesday morning, an hour later. Now Vicksburg isn't that close to Natchez so I suspect that the schedule is off a bit and we will arrive in Vicksburg in the morning, say 8ish Tuesday. We leave Vicksburg Tuesday afternoon at 3 and cruise non-stop arriving in Helena at midnight early Thursday morning, Wednesday being another slow bell steamboating day. Thursday afternoon at 5 we leave Helena, and cruise to Tunica, again arriving at midnight, early Friday morning. We leave Tunica at 5 PM Friday afternoon and cruise to Memphis where the boat will dock sometime way before 9 AM.

Keep in mind that a Steamboatin' schedule is a little bit an oxymoron. "we'll get there when we get there", so the times above could be off a little bit. On the two Steamboatin' days, Sunday and Wednesday we could also be treated to "choking a stump" at night, which is tieing off on the river bank in the middle of nowhere, one of the ultimates of cool! And two, count em', two steamboatin' days, another ultimate cool.

Also, I suspect you know that we are rafting with the AQ in Natchez, at least that is what I heard. You gotta do a walking tour, or have breakfast or lunch on the AQ, the boat is beautiful. And wait until you see the ballet moves the DQ must do to turn around in the Yazoo canal at Vicksburg, impressive!

Bruno

David,
What is the date you arrive in Memphis? I'm wondering if your cruise is the one befor mine.

Sandy

Sandy,
Sat. march 24--a day that will live in infamy (that can't be spelled right) in my memory--we have to leave the boat!! AAUGH!!
S'
David D.

Hmm, I thought it meant "noon" as all the shore cruises state "PM tours only" for our cruise. Ah well, as you say, we'll get there when we get there--it's all up to the river and the engines. (and the wheel--I suppose if it lost a few boards, we'd run slower) 🙂
S'
David D.

Thanks David....so your cruise is a full month before mine..:) I can't wait for your full report!!!

Sandy

Here's what I emailed David. I'll fill it in later when I have my charts handy.

Well, that's the most screwed up itinerary I've seen. Let me try to translate it.
You'll leave NOLA at 6PM of course. It looks like they have a stop arranged for you on the next day, from 8 to 1, but they didn't name it. That could mean it will be determined later according to river conditions. The plantations are varying distances from NOLA, and the landing area if there is high water, could be questionable. But I'm thinking you won't stop in order to make Natchez in time, and I'm sure that because this is Pilgrimage Time in Natchez, that is a highlight stop. Natchez is 269 river miles from NOLA. The best the DQ does is 8mph, but down there in swifter current 6 is more reasonable to assume. And if there is high water, it could be less. So at 6mph, you'd need about 45 hours from NOLA to Natchez. Going straight up, that would put you into Natchez by 1PM, and your departure is scheduled for 11PM, so that's plenty of time. They've put a midnight arrival time on, which is being optimistic... first thing you learn about steamboating: DO NOT PLAN ON SCHEDULED TIMES! Then they've got you arriving in Vicksburg at midnight, one hour after leaving Natchez - you couldn't do that by car! Its 71 miles between N and V, so at 6mph, that's an 11 AM arrival. They can extend the departure time if necessary. (As printed, its a 15 hour stop, not 3). They'll have buses to take you to the Battlefield and that's a 3 hour tour for sure. Day 5 just means you are cruising all day. Day 6 Helena. Once again they have you arriving at midnight. I don't have my charts handy, and I can't remember the mileage between V and H offhand, but you'll arrive sometime in the morning and depart at 5PM. Day 7 is Tunica, just below Memphis. Again I don't know the mileage offhand, I'll find my charts and tell you later. You'll arrive there sometime and then be bused up to Memphis for the Graceland tour. Tunica is about 30 miles south of Memphis by road. The last day you'll arrive at Memphis, actually probably more around midnight or earlier.

Judy, amazing...friggin' amazing. I guessed, basically my parlour talking SWAG, at what i think is going to actually happen, DQ cruise 600.

But you KNOW exactly what is going to happen. I'm in awe...

My friend, someday, somehow I got to meet you. Drinks on me that day...

Bruno

As I'm sure you've been able to tell from most of my postings, I didn't ride the boat for the food or entertainment - I was interested in the scenery and the navigational aspects. I kept a log on all my trips, so I knew how long it would take from one place to another. And now after my years on the NATCHEZ too, I know some more about the navigational aspects. When I rode the DQ, I was literally out on deck from 9AM to midnight, with a break for the 5PM sing a long in the Texas and an hour or so of showtime in the Orleans at night. Also, back in the 70s passengers could go up to the pilothouse during the cruising times. I took advantage of that and learned a lot from the PH personnel. On the UMR here, we have the locks to use as another benchmark of progress, and now that the Corps has the lock page which shows the traffic waiting at each lock, that makes it easier to find a Queen. Up here I always figure 8 mph so that they don't slip by me, and I don't think that's ever failed - I've come close to missing one, but they've never escaped me if I was in town and not stuck working. You'd be surprised how many of us up here are able to pinpoint the boats for our lock/shore stop visits. I don't remember if you were on the board when the NATCHEZ came up for Tall Stacks, but we were able to keep close track of her progress on the Ohio too. Nowadays you've got the GPS gizmos which give exact progress, I just go on my own experiences and do ok. I guess I should mention the one time I almost missed a boat, the AQ. I couldn't reach the lock to check on her and the lock page was down too. So I was heading over to our lock before going to work at our PGA tournament. Much to my chagrin, the AQ was exiting our lock already. So I parked my car downtown, grabbed the cookies, and walked up onto the Centennial Bridge and waited for the AQ to come under. Butch Karnath came out on the wingbridge, and I yelled "Airmail special delivery" and dropped the bag of cookies down to the boat. The next week the MQ came through and darned if they hadn't heard of the cookie drop already.... now, as to the rest of your trip's schedule: Helena is at mile 660, or 225 miles up from Vicksburg. So that's at least 37 hours of cruising, putting you in to Helena around 6 AM. Tunica is only a few miles up from Helena, so you'll get there late night the same day. You'll probably get into Memphis middle of the night too. Now this is all ncp of course - we haven't even mentioned fog, but no sense stirring David up about that too!!!!

David...Its about time to start counting down when we will be recieving our Cruise/Trip tickets...How long before your trip did you recieve them...and did you book your trip from MAL, a private TA...or a online travel Service?

Sandy

Sandy,
Our ticket packets were a bit late because of printing problems, usually you get them about 2 weeks before. We booked through Phyllis Dale, one of the Steamboats.org advertisers, and a former on board performer. Her agency is great (she is too, as is Peggie, her partner). I personally arranged our pre-trip and post-trip lodgings.
S'
David D.

David....I forget I wasn't the TA on this...I always got my clients tickets a month before the cruise...We booked though vacations to go...cruise only...they say the tickets won't get to us 7-10 days before the trip....I'm sure they are sitting on their desk or safe as we I type. BTW where do you live in CA.

Sandy

Hi Sandy,
I'm at the other end of the state, about 1-1/2 hours north, and a bit east of Sacramento, in the foothills east of Oroville---a LONG way from brown water!
I need to post some more pics, but time is too short this week, hopefully next week I will have more time.
Steamcerely,
David D.

I'll be up that way the end of July...I know exactly where that is..

Sandy

Well, then we'll have to get together, unless we're on board the DQ (I'm looking at that time period, July or Aug to go again, if I can sell enough stuff or find another credit card! 🙂
S'
David D.
Website (in dire need of updating!) www.quiknet.com/~djdewey