What is the AQ schedule during the DQ "final" trip?

Identical schedules of AQ and DQ...

The last word I heard, two weeks ago, was that they were to be lashed together enroute and passengers would move from boat to boat while underway. Sounds real safe and logical, sure a heck of a lot safer than staying overnight on the dangerous DQ!!!!!! ( I wonder if anyone has checked to see how the guards match up, and incidental navigation stuff like that???) Peter Voll, who is running the charter for the group, rode the AQ about a month ago to familiarize himself with her. Of course he knows the DQ well already. I'm sure that in the course of these two weeks, the plans have changed 13 or 14 times at least...

Judy Patsch;13125 wrote: The last word I heard, two weeks ago, was that they were to be lashed together enroute and passengers would move from boat to boat while underway. ...

Huh? Joke, right? Please say it's a joke.

Paul

This whole owner's stewardship has been a joke, but I am merely repeating what the word was the last time I was on the AQ. The people who were discussing it said that plans were changing hourly, so who knows what it is now. But yes, sad to say, the lashing together and transferring bodies while underway was a real plan, not a joke. Only the 1919 Ohio River ice jam has done more damage to steamboats than what has been inflicted in these past months. I am so grateful to be associated with the NATCHEZ, and know that she will be in good hands and a sensible mind when our young poster Matthew takes over in several years.

Thanks Judy, but I'm asking about the Oct 21 trip!
Can't believe they're still talking about lashing them together--from my memories of being rafted with her at Natchez in '07, they "sit" in the water differently--also quite noisy on the DQ with all the AQ machinery going, and echoing between the two boats' superstructure.
Hmm, if they're lashed together, does that make them one veseel, thereby the AQ is then non-compliant with SOLAS????
heh heh heh
S'
David

thanks for the compliment, Judy! And are they for real with this idea of lashing the two together? that's a lawsuit just screaming to happen, but it sounds like Majestic America wants to go out with a 'bang' so we'll see what happens.

Lashed together when underway? Judy, my friend, you're making my day, best laugh in weeks. Can you even begin to imagine who the "master in charge" would be? good one...Sounds like MAL....Probably the worst problem the two boats might have when lashed together this way, is at all the "locks" on the lower Miss, hee-hee-hee...Rudder to Port, no dammit, WE want rudder to starboard. Oh my Gawd, I'm crying here...but I agree==>MAL=SAD JOKE.

David, I suspect you will not see the AQ until Memphis...and yes I'm parlor talkin' here as I have not looked at the AQ's schedule at all, the DQ's "last" trip I have memorized, thank you. Anyways I suspect that if anything you and Linda might see the AQ on the 36 hour stop in Memphis, good time to go over and have lunch ala Vicksburg where the four of us did an AQ lunch last year. If not I suspect the AQ will be along side on the morning of the 31st, in Memphis.

I'm pretty sure the AQ doesn't come into the Ohio at all this month so I believe that seeing the AQ at all before your 36 hours plus/minus stop in Memphis is a fantasy.

And yes, Deb and I are starting to become a tad envious...Give Linda an extra hug for us.

Places and dates of stops for the AQ/DQ from Memphis to NOLA?
I presume departure from Memphis is Nov. 1 and arrival at NOLA is slated for Nov. 8.
However, having election day Nov. 4 in the middle of this schedule makes it a problem for me to chase and/or videotape this, especially after taking off on Oct. 19 to drive to Cincy to follow the DQ.
-Jim Herron

AQ whereabouts

David, the AQ is on the UMR run until next Saturday, the 25th. I presume she'll leave St. Louis on the 25th and head for Memphis. Where she'll stop between those points I don't know.

As I review the comments posted after my posting about the boats being lashed together, I see the incredulousness from people who know something about steamboating - if only from our passenger status. It is mindnumbing to realize that those in ownership of the safety and care of the vessels could even consider such a folly, and it would be funny if it weren't so sad. As Bruno pointed out, it almost looks like 'they' want to go out with a bang. And quite frankly, things that have happened behind the scenes this year with the CG, crew, and other entities that haven't been made public, lead me to the 'big bang' conclusion too. If they have to kill her, at least let the DQ go out with her dignity. If this sounds bitter, it is. I haven't seen the DQ since she left here July 16, 2007 and I couldn't stand to see her again this year. It would be too gutwrenching. I'm hanging on to my wonderful memories and experiences, and the fact that it was the DELTA QUEEN which changed my life on Aug. 20, 1973, and for that I'll be forever grateful.

The real scandal in my opinion here is WHO has chartered the AQ (and obviously the DQ alongside) for this post season cruise: It's the National Trust - the very organisation that should do everything to save the Delta Queen and in fact has done nothing at all.

I don't want to add fuel to the fire by speculating why the National Trust is betraying the Delta Queen because it doesn't really matter - it's just a very sad fact. And then, ironically, the National Trust has a charter after the exemption has run out.

If I were a member of the National Trust, I'd say "good bye" to this organisation for ever.

I can't believe that National Trust would have the nerve to do that!! I can't speak my mind on this board out of respect for everyone else on here, but that's just sickening.

OK, curiosity got the best of me and I perused the Majestic Website a bit. Best I can tell is that the American Queen is always at least one day away from the Delta Queen, i.e. the Delta Queen leaves a town and the American Queen arrives for the next day or vise-versa.

Somewhere the two boats will pass, I'm thinking somewhere between Paducah and Cape Girardeau, the evening of the 27th, probably pretty late. The DQ is in Paducah on the 27th and Cape Girardeau on the 28th. The AQ is in Cape Girardeau on the 27th, Mount Vernon (Mount Vernon, is that a new stop?) on the 28th and into Paducah on the 29th.

Maybe with a little luck the pass will occur near Cairo and everybody can do one big coin toss...but I suspect it will be quite dark as the DQ doesn't leave Paducah until 5 pm, then through two locks before Cairo, so the coin toss will probably not be an "event". But the pass could be near John Myers L&D, which would be cool, even in the dark...

So I'm thinking the only time the AQ and the DQ are rafting together on the DQ's "last" cruise is the morning of the 31st, in Memphis.

Hey, kids, calm down. I had to laugh, reading all the comments in order, from all the date-misunderstandings & stuff. There's indeed a charter scheduled from Oct. 31-Nov. 8 from Memphis-to-NOLA with Peter Voll; it's not on the website's roster for the DQ because it's a private charter; the way it's supposed to work is thru identical stops for the 2 boats; I've been hired, fittingly (I used to play for Peter Voll charters often), to work on the DQ, playing piano for possible afternoon sets, a heck of a lot of calliope whenever, & at 3 dinners that are scheduled on the DQ. If Peter V. did indeed come on the AQ (I worked there Sept. 20-Oct. 11 & he wasn't on it then), he was probably familiarizing himself with it because that's where the guests will stay at night. I'm not sure how it'll all work-- I certainly haven't heard about any boat-lashings-- but when I know first-hand I'll keep you posted.

Whoa!! Does this mean the two boats will pass each other on the same river, so we might have a great "on the water" photo op? And maybe Dueling Calliopes???
Or am I just getting too excited?
David D.

David, It's scientific guess work on my part, but re-read my now edited but clearer post below, post #13, this thread. Sorry, I'm thinking Photo-Op and Dueling Calliopes will not be on the menu, if my parlour talking timing guesses are correct...