If the Bill Passes

Not the case

Jim, as you have been told several times before, this 10% reduction is nothing new. The Delta Queen has been undergoing structural fire-load reduction modifications since the 1990's, and you never noticed. All of the sundeck bathrooms and forward cabins, and some of the Texas Deck have been replaced with non combustible materials, with only the visible top surface being paneled in wood. This protects the authentic appearance, while meeting the USCG requirements in order to let the vessel sail. I think you'd be shocked how much of the Delta Queen is non-combustible already.

Like you said, the devil is in the details, and thankfully those who now own the Delta Queen are deep into the details of it. In getting the exemption considered, there had to be some trade-offs. As with any bill, the details will be defined in the legislative language once its passed. It sure beats the alternative of letting the boat sit and rot somewhere because the only way to ensure she survives is to see her sail and generate some revenue.

Thank you, Phil, once again I opened my big mouth without knowing all the facts. I must say I assumed that "annual structural alterations to at least 10% of the area that are not constructed of fire retardant materials" meant all wood, down to the steel framework, had to be removed. Apparently, I was mistaken, thank you for enlightening me and others who assumed the same as me. Now lets get THE BILL out of committee and to the floor of both houses. I am quite optimistic that the it will pass in both houses.

How much is ACL paying their lobbyists to spread lies and kill the bill? We have to counteract that with massive letter/email writings!!

ACL

I wondered the same thing and asked Cornel about it. Circumstances are different this year than in 2012-13 because of the entry of Viking into the market. Part of ACL's argument was to keep the partial monopoly which they've lost. It's highly doubtful they'd be willing to spend anything to keep a smaller boat like the Queen from running. It sure doesn't make economic sense to waste the funds.

While sitting on the porch swing this morning, coffee in hand I was looking at the latest Viking 2016 River Cruises-Vive la France! I read the description of the longships [built 2012-2016, length 443 ft., crew 50, passengers 190.....etc] then it got my attention "Sun Deck with shaded sitting area, organic herb garden, solar panels and walking track".

So when the bill passes and the DQ gets refit for service she will-to keep up with 21st Century amenities-need a organic herb garden (not just old 20th century mint boxes) & solar panels!

Current Sun Deck makes for a perfectly acceptable walking track I should think--from my mid (20th) Century mind.

Viking, whoopee, amenities

I'm not a big herb fan, much rather have the mint for the juleps. As to solar panels, I sat in the sun all day storing up enough solar energy and sunburn to last the whole trip. Does the Viking walking track come with calliope encouragement?????
The one thing that I would change on the DQ from my days is the bunk beds. I had difficulty getting up on the top one years ago and no way would I make it now. Making all those regular bunk bed rooms singles would not be cost effective - but it sure would be nice to have a few for singles without punishing us for having that status. Several rooms on the Texas 207,209 and the corresponding starboard ones for sure had the extra wide lower berth and a regular top bunk. I'd say that lower is comparable to today's twin xl. While it wouldn't be the most desirable size, that lower berth held two people OK (my parents) back in the day. Of course 338 etc. are a bit narrower rooms, but hey what is the difference between walking in a 24 inch area to the 'spacious' bathroom or walking in an 18 inch area? I realize this idea in no way fits the grandeur that today's boats publicize, but I don't think the DQ's reentry should try to make her 'just like everyone else'. She could be the GCG to the new DQ in 1949....

In their infinite lack of wisdom Majestic America Line added a wooden ledge behind the mattress to make those lower berths into standard twin size beds. It became a twin size lower with a standard upper berth. Hopefully, MAL's damage can and will be reversed! The extra wide lower and the built in storage spaces at the foot of the bed made those rooms quite comfortable.

Hey!

Hey Frank -you say that was a wooden board they put in? Remove those and there's a good part of the 10% modifications promised! 🙂

Makes sense to me. So finally there will be some good that comes out of MAL's ownership of the DELTA QUEEN. It's about bloody time!

You're saying my favorite room (338) is narrower??? Gee, I never noticed. . . . .
🙂
Just cause I'd have to step outside on the deck to change my mind. . . .
That's part of the charm of the DQ, yep, we're not the "usual customer" the other lines are looking for!
S'
David D.
PS and then there's that gol-darned noisy calliope very close at hand. . . .
Ah memories!

338

5.5 x 13 plus the spacious bathroom - at least you can sit down on the throne and close the door, unlike the old 313/314!
One of the DQ's many charms is that rooms of the same category are not exactly the same. When I rode, I booked directly, as I knew the rooms like no travel agent ever could.

The Sun Deck upper/lower bed rooms never had the extra wide lower berths only the Texas Deck bunk bed rooms. So don't worry, David, 338 is still its same spacious size!

As far as quirky rooms, even 6 foot 4 inch me could not sit on the commode and touch the floor in room 210's WC. Also don't go looking for any more than one electric outlet in room 209, there just ain't any others! Until the bathrooms were enlarged in rooms 201 and 202 the door could not be shut while sitting in there, and to get to the shower one still has to step gingerly over the toilet.

What other "unique" rooms are there? Would others kindly share their memories here.

Well, yes you can shut the door if the bunk ladder isn't stored on it! 🙂
I always put the ladder on top of my bunk (the top one of course!). After a day or two on a trip, the cabin steward would figure it out and put it back up there instead of on the door--after all, during the day, I'm not using the bunk, so it's a great place to keep that thing out of the way!
Probably one of the reasons I never thought badly of the accommodations is that my family still runs a 1923 "Auto Court" (now a resort) whose cabins aren't much different than the DQ's cabins; although a bit larger. My Brother has put queen sized mattresses on the antique bed frames (some clever welding modifications to the frames) so the bedroom are even smaller nowadays. Some folks like them some hate them (check out the reviews online, Cave Springs, Dunsmuir, CA)--I notice many reviews call it a "1950s motel" Hmm, young people today have no good time-date reference points do they, some even call my '25 T a 1950s car!
But back on track. That "spacious bathroom" where you do have to pop the shower door open to raise your arms over your head! 🙂 We've booked that room three times so far, oh wait, and once when she was in Chattanooga. The Desk wondered why we'd take that one when larger ones were available. TRADITION!!
Steamcerely,
David Dewey

313, 314, in the old numbering

On my first trip in 1973 these were the public bathrooms. In 1974 they had been made into the then B category rooms. But they had the toilet which wouldn't allow for anyone, even a Carol Roth, to sit on the throne AND close the bathroom door at the same time. As you sat there facing the outer deck, you just hoped your roommate wouldn't open the cabin door just then. We veterans of the small rooms knew how to rearrange them for the most usuable space. Once Edie Schumaker and I were roomies in 314. The first thing we did was pull the life jackets out of the drawers under the bunk and stuff them behind the toilet. Instant storage space for our smaller items! I recall moving the wastebasket under the sink, repositioning the ladder from the side to the end, and of course using the bed as a ready-storage area for cameras, tape recorders, etc. They just got shoved aside the few hours we slept. My very first trip we had 130 and 131, the C bathroomless rooms just aft of the doorways - and right over the engine room. I never heard so many bells at night in my life, and of course then I didn't know what they meant. Next to no sleep that trip. We kidded that we had a 'suite' the Aft Cabin Lounge was our sitting room and the public bathroom/showers were only a few feet away from our sleeping rooms. There were 6 of these bathroomless rooms on the Cabin Deck, which were transformed into a larger room by combining with the next door room in 1984 or slightly before.

I loved those rooms on skid row after they were enlarged from bunk beds and toilets down the hall to having toilets en suite. If you could snag one on either side you had two windows looking over the side and one overlooking the stern. Also all of those rooms had their own window rattler air conditioning unit for the utmost in summer time comfort.

Upgraded Skid Row

I had forgotten about the individual a/c units there. I never had a corner room, but a couple in the middle. I remember the noisy pop machine, and of course the traffic back there for one reason or another - one being to climb up and lean out of the portholes to catch the spray. And didn't they store linens or cleaning supplies in cabinets out there by the pop machine?

Reading about the "uniqueness" of various rooms such as not being able to be on the throne and close the bathroom door, feet not touching the floor while doing your business, bunk beds, etc. etc. leads to the question I must ask, even though I will probably get hate mail. Will the vacationing public in this day and time be willing to pay an average of $365.00 a day for those unique qualities?

Target group

I would say definitely no to the ACLers, and probably not for most of the AQ pax. But no matter how much the DQ would be renovated, she is not going to match up to the newer boats. So she needs to stick to her true self and appeal to that niche group that likes the simpler pleasures, and there are people out there who would rather be watching the river than a Vegas style show, or who don't need more than the room facilities the DQ has. But the question is: how big is that group? Remember the Voyages to America slogan? How about Voyages to Yesterday or something similar...

If I have it, I'll pay it - but only for her. I'm not alone in preferring the simple pleasures and legitimate experience that the Delta Queen offers. Time will tell if there are enough of us.

I'd agree with "Voyages to Yesterday". I also always liked "Steam-Powered Time Machine". There are 3 reasons to go to your room on the DQ: sleep, change clothes, shower. Otherwise, you're enjoying the boat and the cruise. As Ginnie says, there are folks who will pay regardless, those who know what she is and realize what they're getting. It just has to be marketed rightly and truthfully. Make it seem like an exclusive club, which of course it is!

Speaking of marketing truthfully...

Remember all those fisheye lens shots they used when showing a room? Made the 5.5 x 13 look much bigger. And all the models they used for the photo shoots... I always wondered where ordinary looking or less could vacation - I know I didn't see those models on my trips, except the 1979 one where they were doing the photo shoot for the '80 brochure (remember the Texas Deck furniture blowing across the bow in the strong winds and us few passengers waving our gloved hands out the door, Bob???)
Back in my day the entertainment was the singalong, later a band set from 5-6 in the Texas, piano dinner music, and the band doing a brief show then dance music after dinner around 9:15 to whenever the band outnumbered the passengers, and of course the calliope music at the locks, landings and passing towns! No Vegas style shows/singers/dancers. Our Cruise Director organized the entertainment and was not a main performer, if at all. To my dying day I will remember my angst when some passengers went down to the Orleans Room at 10 AM to watch the old movie Steamboat Round the Bend, while we were cruising! They were ON a steamboat rounding bends, but didn't see that because they were watching an old movie inside. DUH.
As to the pool of passengers today: RAGRBRAI just finished last weekend. Thousands of bike riders pedaled across the state of Iowa from the Missouri River to the Mississippi. They camped out each night in small towns along the way. Most say the best part of the experience is meeting the townsfolk and seeing rural America - this is certainly a group that could be targeted for the DQ. There ARE people who don't need, or want, bathrobes and Vegas shows on their boat trips. For those who do, there are plenty of options currently available. DELTA QUEEN, be the DELTA QUEEN, our anachronistic unique monarch of the rivers! Don't be 'just like'......

$365 a day?? If only it were that "cheap"! Yes, I think there are enough of us out there, especially if it is marketed honestly as a trip to yesteryear. The cabin, for us at least, was just a place to keep our "stuff" sleep, shower, bathroom needs, and quick camera battery refills! After all, there's the entire deck out there for a "sitting room" with the best decor one could ask for.
Yes, holding talks, etc. inside the Orleans room during daytime cruising time seemed counterproductive. Now if they were held on the front porch in front of the pilot house. . . . And, unfortunately all our trips were under MAL, so there was never enough calliope and other stuff going on! We went through many locks without calliope accompaniment, which was just WRONG! 🙂

*Earlier DQ rooms/Entertainment Etc.*
Greetings, Steamboating colleagues:
Catching up here reading the continuation of this most fascinating and informative thread. And to boot you ALL make great points, valid discussions with memories. From the very beginning in 1947, Capt. Tom Greene had a far different view of his then 'new' DELTA QUEEN than what appeared in later years under the Blake/Muster management. The original architectural plans drawn up in 1947 indicated the 'Skid Row' cabins be in time eliminated or combined. There were also other 'outside' cabins on the deck very small to miniscule with just the usual porcelain sink and the standard white porcelain chamber pot under the bed. It was no small hike out, down the deck and in to the back cabin to reach the even then limited lavatories and shower stalls. The then main bar/cocktail lounge was proposed for the starboard side directly behind the gift shop. That nixed early on, moved down below on the starboard side behind the main dining room later rechristened 'The Orleans Room.' due to limited space and concerns for passengers being bothered at night by bar noise. The original main dining room of both DK/DQ were aft of the Purser's Office and Gift Shop. We also have to remember that originally the DK and DQ built expressly for the 'night boat service runs' from San Francisco to Sacramento and not extensive long cruising. Passengers, at most, only aboard for one night--two if making the immediate return trip. Even in the 1920s and for a number of years creature comforts in cabins, full or even half baths a luxury. The GORDON C. GREENE had her own fans and followers in the river enthusiasts. Yet, the GCG was recognized for her shortcomings leading to Capt. Tom Greene purchasing the DQ. Mrs. Letha C. Greene mentions in detail the reasoning of her husband in her fine book 'Long Live the DELTA QUEEN.'

Betty Blake and colleagues found themselves in something of a sticky spot in later years where the 'image' of the DQ matched up with 'reality.' The company had brought in top travel writers, executives for a trip with all the whistles and bells. The real shock hit when several travel writers let go on their opinions. One went so far writing, "The DELTA QUEEN is nothing more than a preserved relic." Another hit home decrying that the "DELTA QUEEN is not a true Mississippi grand steamboat." I think you all get the idea with the above NOT being my own quotes or thinking. Judy is on the mark RE: "target market."

Betty Blake, when faced with the above quotes appearing in journals, quickly retrenched, regrouped with, "The DELTA QUEEN is one of a kind. Take her for what she is." Again, what do I know?

R. Dale Flick
Northern Shores of mighty Lake Michigan.

Volume of target group and 'repeaterism'

I honestly believe there is a market out there for the DQ restored, but not reinvented. But here is another question: how financially endowed is this group and how willing would they be to become frequent repeat passengers? I'm thinking most of us in this group aren't rolling in dough (unless its chocolate chip cookie dough), and while we'd support and ride as much as possible, I don't know how many trips that would be, and if it would fill the boat enough along with the single time passengers. This is not to say a wealthy person wouldn't appreciate the 'lesser things in life' for a week, but I'd suspect that number wouldn't be many and they would gravitate to the luxury boats. Another DQ draw that is going by the wayside is the cruising factor. A recent Viking European rivers commercial promotes "Spend less time getting there and more time being there." Now for a river town destination such as Cologne or Paris, yes time ashore is needed. But for Wabasha, LaCrosse, Davenport, Henderson, etc.? Half a day or less would suffice. Maybe the DQ slogan could be: Cruise, don't bus, your day away!!!