Visit to Louisville

Roger: Glad you're visiting Louisville and Southern Indiana in the near future! Our hours at the Howard Steamboat Museum are Tues-Sat 10-4 and Sunday 1-4. More information is available on the website at Howard Steamboat Museum - Home Page. For the BELLE, all of the scheduling information is contained at Steamboat Belle of Louisville - Excursions, Dance Cruises, Dinner Cruises, Charters, Weddings on the Ohio River. You might also be interested in visiting the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center in Clarksville (just a couple of miles from the museum) and you can access their information at Welcome to the Falls of the Ohio.

Yes, the engine room of the BELLE is very accessible and visitors are welcome. You can also get a good look at the boiler room. Be sure to visit the "main deck museum" of photographs and other river memorabilia which includes the large "A" that was on the spreader bar of the stacks when the boat was the AVALON.

Welcome and I hope you and your wife have a great visit!

Keith

I recommend three things to do in Lou-ville...sorta following Keith's lead, I'll add a bit...

Definitly take a Belle of Louisville trip...expect about three hours for the whole experience from pre-trip calliope playing to "lure the masses to the boat" to the return landing. And if you're a steam officiano be sure you are on the top deck aft as the boat turns halfway through the trip (look for and be near what looks like smaller boiler stacks, either side, 2/3 back from the front of the boat), to listen to the 'scape pipes as the boat goes to higher power to pick up some speed after the turn is heaven...Chuff...Chuff...Chuff.... I think there is very few places you can still hear that in the USA. Nectar to the ears...I'd further recommend that you buy general passage and buy a hot dog and a beer, ala-cart, rather than sign up for the indoor, not being able to view the river, catered lunch. Find a table on the top deck forward (front center covered area) and enjoy the "cool river breezes". Parking on the wharf, literially in front of the Belle is $3 for an afternoon, if I remember correctly?

Definitely go to the Howard Steamboat Museum, very interesting and an incredible source for steamboat buffs as well as being able to view one-of-a-kind stuff (where else can you see the original, though cracked, Delta Queen paddlewheel shaft in all its glory?).

Last recommendation is that I assume you gotta eat, assuming the hot dog on the Belle didn't do the trick...I offer two places for lunch (and actually both work for dinner, too!):
First is Joe's Crab Shack on the Kentucky side, as it's within walking distance of the Belle (it's actually right on the wharf where the Belle is) and serves a reasonably priced but good seafood lunch/dinner with very cold beer.

Or, on the Indiana side, very close to the Howard, with a great deck and a beautiful view of the river is the Kingfish, another good seafood lunch/dinner spot...

Louisville is a great place, beautiful city, enjoy. The Falls of the Ohio Center I have heard is also a great experience but we've never been there...

Roger, best of luck to your nephew...I'll be thinking about you and your wife, our son gets married on August 2nd also, in Albany...all of a sudden I feel a little old...

Thanks to you both! Exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. I'll try to squeeze the most out of the trip. We're staying at the Galt House (comfort was paramount given the 12 hour drive from New Jersey and we're already being killed by the gas prices, so might as well do the trip right). Sounds like that puts us most conveniently next to Joe's Crab Shack in addition to BELLE.

Rog