Globalfish
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Posts posted by Globalfish
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On 5/22/2024 at 2:59 AM, steamboats said:
The American Queen has arrived at MARS (Modern American Recycling Services) in Houma and Captain Bert Suarez pushed the "all out" button.
The end of an era of overnight steamboating on the US river systems which started in 1811 with Robert Fulton´s "New Orleans".
steamboats
I interpret Steamboat’s comment about the American Queen arriving at a recycling plant in Houma to mean that it’s about to be scrapped.
Therefore I assume that the following article that just appeared in today’s edition of Travel Weekly is outdated:
https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Fate-of-American-Queen-and-American-Empress
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29 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:
I wonder if he could get Road Scholar back again. They booked quite a few Great Lakes cruises.
Road Scholar is probably salivating at an opportunity to offer Great Lakes cruises again and I’m sure they would jump at it. Without them leaves a terrible void in their domestic cruise offerings.
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24 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:
But if he spruces them up and can match or beat Viking and ACL's prices, he could make it work. I hope he can.
Yes, I too hope he can make it a go. Would book a Lake Superior cruise that begins and ends in Chicago (with a similar itinerary to AQV’s Ocean Navigator cruise that I was originally supposed to take this August). I agree with you that it would have to be cheaper than Viking.
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On 4/1/2024 at 12:45 AM, owensp said:
Travelling again on RA in August, doing Vancouver to Nome, but have moved a deck up to 801
Will also be on the RA from Vancouver to Nome starting 4 Aug 2024. Cabin 721. It will be my first expedition, but not my first cruise. See you in Alaska!
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The sale of the four AQV riverboats to ACL was just approved by the Bankruptcy Court in Houston. The sale of the Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator to a different buyer is still pending.
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9 hours ago, ericosmith said:
The Empress originally came from Alaska. It will be interesting to see if it goes back there.
I’d like to see it return to Alaska. For prospective repeat Alaskan cruisers, ACL could use a more innovative Alaskan cruise itinerary in addition to their wonderful Alaskan Explorer cruise that I took last summer (or the longer and shorter versions of it that they offer). I’m thinking along the lines of Metlakatla, Misty Fjords, Kake, Endicott Arm, Dawes Glacier, Elfin Cove. In other words, something similar to Ponant’s July 2024 9-day Inside Passage itinerary, albeit hopefully cheaper. ACL, if you are reading this, hint, hint. Would do it in a heartbeat!
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13 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:
Road Scholar had groups on the AQV Great Lakes ships, too.
Yes, if the Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator purchase goes through and the vessels are appropriately brought up to “ship shape” to ply the Great Lakes once again, Road Scholar is likely to be one of John Waggoner’s first customers.
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14 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:
This would be a big step up for Road Scholar, as their previous Mediterranean ship was an old rust bucket (forget the name).
Aegean Odyssey. $&#*!
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1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:
The final (I think) piece of the puzzle was announced yesterday:
The charterer isn’t mentioned, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is US educational study program provider Road Scholar which used the same ship in Alaska with AQV.
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Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator rescued from the scrap heap?
https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/American-Queen-Great-Lakes-cruise-ships-sold-at-auction
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On 3/27/2024 at 10:47 PM, ericosmith said:
What transpired with this? Don’t see anything online about it. Has the auction been further postponed?
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10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:
But I also think the market for AQV-style cruising is probably only able to support two boats, and Queen and Empress would suit that market.
Agree. If AQV’s competitor ACL had sensed more of a market for AQV-style cruising, they would have commissioned their 3 newest boats plying the Mississippi (the Melody, the Symphony, and the Serenade) to be built as [pseudo] paddlewheelers instead of sleek modern design.
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21 minutes ago, eroller said:
I agree. They are blaming Covid. Easy scapegoat and BS.Definitely BS. If it were Covid, ACL and possibly even Viking would be “on the rocks” as well.
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1 hour ago, eroller said:
That would be my guess. And several AQV executives enjoyed a “preview” at company expense which never got paid.
Another possibility is that it’s an expense from Hornblower, the parent company or one of its other brands. They also filed bankruptcy so I’m not certain that creditor list is just from AQV or all of Hornblower? San Diego might pertain to Hornblower as well.
For university business schools — a classic, textbook case on how NOT to run a company.
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8 minutes ago, GottaKnowWhen said:
I appreciate the useful discussions here!
Ditto!
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2 hours ago, eroller said:
They were spread thin for sure, and trying to diversify was a huge mistake.Whatever on earth could explain their financial obligation to Elevation Africa Destinations? Were they considering offering an expedition along the west coast of Africa or around the Cape of Good Hope?
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6 minutes ago, ericosmith said:
The one that has me scratching my head is:
- Port of San Diego $480,288
Any idea what that could be for?
And even more far-fetched, Elevation Africa Destinations.
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9 hours ago, ericosmith said:
I think there's a big difference here. AQV is is not a family company but is owned by Hornblower. That's a company that's been expanding rapidly throughout the world. By their own numbers they own over 252 vessels 130 private rail cars and a bunch of other travel related assets including a recent big entry into Australian market. Once they took over the day to day management of AQV they obviously decided it wasn't important to their long term goals.
Apparently Hornblower’s pure unbridled greed has done itself in. Alas, the Hornblower Group itself has just filed for bankruptcy:
and more to the matter at hand:
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7 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:
Their recent communications were nothing but obfuscation. 'Updating the payment system' when the truth apparently was that they were locked out of it by the credit card networks? February cruises suspended because they "encountered an occurrence" – when the truth apparently was that they didn't have any money to buy gas? This looked exactly like the slow spiral around the drain that Vantage went through last year, and here we are.
They’ve been “obfuscating” the truth for almost a year, if not more. In Aug. 2022 I put down a deposit on a 14-night Great Lakes cruise on the Ocean Voyager starting Aug 10, 2024 beginning and ending in Chicago. On March 28, 2023 I was informed by AQV that my cruise had been cancelled because they are temporarily taking the Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator out of service next year because they are revamping their Great Lakes itineraries. We know where they wound up…
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Very sad. They expanded without thinking. A lesson to all never to bite off what one can’t chew.
As a person who has taken over 100 Road Scholar trips (albeit not cruises), I feel especially sorry for all those who had 2024/25 Road Scholar cruises on AQV ships — on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Columbia Rivers, as well as their Alaska expedition.
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A similar article appears at https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/American-Queen-Voyages-cancels-February-sailings.
Methinks that greedy venture capitalists took a long-standing company with a fine reputation and ran it right to the ground. Not sure it can ever recover but wishing it the best. The first step should be to get back to their roots on the Mississippi and chuck the expedition stuff (i.e. Alaska) and other “flotsam and jetsam.”
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American Queen Ceases Operations
in American Queen Voyages
Posted
Thank you, Steamboats, for the explanation. Good to know that there is some slight hope for her.