Topic starter
16/09/2011 5:30 pm
Got this from a river friend:
Great American Steamboat Company Unveils American Queen Plans | Travel Agent Central
I have to say this company is covering all the bases. A couple of things here jumped out as very positive from my old days DQ experience: they are targeting Americans who live near the rivers; they are making it easier to get to/from the boat, especially by avoiding air travel - they have arranged one-way car rentals with Hertz, and they plan to bus passengers back to the embarkation city on their own motorcoaches, thus enabling people to drive to the boat. What a convenience this would be! I once rented a car in St. Paul to drive home. One ways were so expensive, but I had too much stuff to load onto a plane. Having a special one way rate would be great for those in decent driving distances to the embarkation point. I would often book the back to back St.L/St.P/St.L trips so I could keep my car in St. Louis, thus saving hundreds of dollars in returning home fare. Great ideas in my opinion. Add the news Keith posted elsewhere about Kitty Ruxton joining the company, and it just looks better and better.
Now if only they'd charge the regular per person double occupancy rate for one person in a single room, or reinstitute the share basis on cheaper rates...
16/09/2011 6:36 pm
Judy, the AMERICAN QUEEN has always had single berth inside rooms that were sold at the same per person rate as the second least expensive rooms on the boat. Hopefully, that will continue, but you had to book very early to get one.
All I can say about the new Great American Steamboat Co. is that they have a lot of great ideas, and I'm excited to see them all work out. I do wonder if there will really be 55 steamboatin' buses, or was that a typo?
Topic starter
16/09/2011 7:01 pm
GASCo. motorcoaches
I wondered about that 55 too. If everyone on a full boat took a shore tour, they'd need a max of 8 buses a time, and I doubt if there would be many times 400 people would need to be accommodated. Maybe they plan to have a fleet in each major embarkation point and to charter them out locally when not needed for the AQ: 7 or 8 each for Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, St. Paul, Memphis, NOLA, Nashville????? Now one other concept they could do to make travel even easier: round trips! What was the charge in the old Greene Line wharfboat for parking for a GCG or DQ 21 day rt, $5 or so? I enjoyed the 7 day roundtrips Cincy/Kentucky Lake, Cincy/Pittsburgh, NOLA/Vicksburg. Then there were the long weekend roundtrips out of Cincy, St. Louis and NOLA. And there was one unique rt, a St.Paul/Dubuque back in the late 1970s, which gave you a view of the entire upper Upper Miss in daylight...
17/09/2011 2:44 am
Amen, Judy!
Now one other concept they could do to make travel even easier: round trips! What was the charge in the old Greene Line wharfboat for parking for a GCG or DQ 21 day rt, $5 or so? I enjoyed the 7 day roundtrips Cincy/Kentucky Lake, Cincy/Pittsburgh, NOLA/Vicksburg. Then there were the long weekend roundtrips out of Cincy, St. Louis and NOLA. And there was one unique rt, a St.Paul/Dubuque back in the late 1970s, which gave you a view of the entire upper Upper Miss in daylight...
I agree! Round trips suit my schedule better, especially Pittsburgh where driving or Amtrak are viable options.
Wesley
Topic starter
18/09/2011 12:21 pm
Single penalty
I had hopes of doing a short trip, but I just saw the prices. And yes, they have single rooms, but their price is equivalent to a C double occupancy: $1495 for 3 days, and an F equivalent $2995 for 7. The cheapest double, an I, goes for $995 and $1995. What I don't understand, especially when they provide single rooms, is the need for this penalty. A single person will take the same amount of food, wait service, entertainment, deck space, dining seating, bus seat, etc. as one person of a couple. The only expense I see that would be more for a single rather than half a couple would be the room cleaning service, and that certainly isn't a $500 difference over 3 days, or $1000 over 7. Oh well, it will be great to see her again from the shore and to watch her pirouette into Davenport 4 times next fall.
18/09/2011 8:01 pm
GASC Help Desk---
Judy and others -
Where is the link to the brochure and pricing? I cannot find anything...
Wesley
19/09/2011 1:08 am
I can empathize with Judy. As for my wife and I, I can't imagine not having an outside cabin (spoiled by the DQ). As far as I can tell, the cheapest would be E, which, regardless of cruise length, figures app. 1000.00 per diem with tips, after adding the bar which is considerable in my case, it gets rather spendy. We all know a steamboat vacation has never been cheap, but I would say that these fares test today's economy. This is not to criticize the GASBC., I'm sure the #'s have been crunched and it is what it is, especially when including all the extras. I'll say this, these guys have guts to even make the attempt to launch this endeavor during these trying times. I wish them luck and would love to support them. With two kids in college, I'll need to crunch my own numbers!
19/09/2011 1:11 pm
Judy Patsch;27302 wrote: I wondered about that 55 too. If everyone on a full boat took a shore tour, they'd need a max of 8 buses a time, and I doubt if there would be many times 400 people would need to be accommodated. Maybe they plan to have a fleet in each major embarkation point and to charter them out locally when not needed for the AQ: 7 or 8 each for Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, St. Paul, Memphis, NOLA, Nashville????? .
I think you hit it right, Judy. I was a little vague on the bus thing until I read the article. The concept of having busses chase the vessel was an American West thing and it was marvelous. Pax got to know "their" coach drivers as well as boat crew (and vice versa). It made for a great enhancement and, as mentioned in the article, guaranteed consistent quality you can't get with various local carriers. But since the coaches (drivers are very picky about this. The difference between a bus and a coach is that a coach has a bathroom) will chase the vessel anyway, I don't see a need (yet) for more than what it takes to service the pax for a particular cruise. Perhaps if they get another vessel sometime in the future?
19/09/2011 6:16 pm
Paul Penta;27324 wrote: Perhaps if they get another vessel sometime in the future?
They don't even have one booking yet! And at those prices, to fill the boat up during mid-November between NOLA and Memphis will be a formidable job indeed.
19/09/2011 6:53 pm
While I agree that the prices are high they are certainly below the Queen of the Mississippi prices. The Happy Ladies are reduced to traveling with bunk beds and believe me at our age that is no small feat. They used to have one inside cat. Now there are three. But we are looking forward to being on the Mississippi again. We certainly hope they can make a go of it.