American Cruise Lines to Build Series of Five New River Cruise Ships

[Host Jazzbeau]

New article on Cruise Critic:

American Cruise Lines to Build Series of Five New River Cruise Ships

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7578

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BJR52001]

The design is pretty much what I was expecting. While people are saying its like Europe, the design takes a lot of influence from Russia, Egypt, and China. It also has some influence from its coastal sisters the Pearl Mist and American constellation. Most interesting is that these are 4 decks. The ACL Paddlewheelers are 5 and the Mississippi/ Ohio can take 6 up to St Paul and Pittsburg. This suggests a move into new markets like the Illinois and Red which FAL and AQSC just moved into and perhaps the Missouri. Overall, its a good move getting ahead of the market. I think the modern Mississippi-Ohio and Columbia-Snake systems are about to explode.

[steamboats]

I wonder who the people will get onboard. The hull is pretty high. No stage/gangplank. There?s an opening in the hull on the side but on the Mississippi river system you have to run the bow into the bank and use a stage to get people off and on. You can?t see whether the hull is flat bottom or not. Also a necessary requirement for a landing on the Mississipp river system.

 

steamboats

[BJR52001]

According to Seatrade Cruise News, they're supposed to have an integrated folding bow ramp similar to those on Blount's

Grande Carine and Grand Mariner

[steamboats]

Thanks, BJR52001, found it. Neither this nor the propulsion system has been mentioned in ACL?s own press release. Nor did the three pictures indicate anything.

 

steamboats

[chengkp75]

I wonder who the people will get onboard. The hull is pretty high. No stage/gangplank. There?s an opening in the hull on the side but on the Mississippi river system you have to run the bow into the bank and use a stage to get people off and on. You can?t see whether the hull is flat bottom or not. Also a necessary requirement for a landing on the Mississipp river system.

 

steamboats

 

Hate to say it, but all ships are flat bottomed.

 

From what I've read, ACL is building two ships first, the American Constellation and another, which will be coastal cruises (Constellation is scheduled for New England), and the third will be the first of the river boats. This appears to be a derivative of the Constellation (longer), so I suspect the hull form to be similar. The only mentions I can find about propulsion is "green technology", which certainly points to diesel-electric. From my experience with Mississippi river pushboats, I would suspect they are going with kort-nozzled azipods, designed so the nozzle does not hang lower than the flat bottom.

 

There does seem to be an "indent" in the hull of these larger river boats, so this may also be where boarding can happen at more conventional docks.

 

And whether or not the decision to build these river boats was long ago or not, just getting them in place puts added pressure on Viking to have to meet the provisions of the PVSA, and against granting any waivers.

[steamboats]

Cheng,

 

Actually here you can read something about the propulsion.

 

The current boats (Queen of the Mississippi, America, American Star) do have a pod-type propulsion. The paddlewheel is adding a little speed but is not able to propel the boat on its own. Modern towboats have pods too.

 

River cruise ships have to be flat bottomed as they have to land bow first in the mud. And I mean a wide flat area (otherwise the stuck boat would tip).

 

There are only a few ports where you can dock alongside a concrete wall or a dedicated structure (like in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Louisville, Memphis). But most of the river ports have a sloping river bank (like St. Louis). So you have to land nose in first against the current. The boat usually sits a little on the ground which can be mud or cobblestone. You need something to cover the "gap" between the bow and dry land. Therefore you need a stage/gangplank.

 

Viking intended to make a copy of their Longships for the Mississippi river system. They sent representatives up and down the rivers to convince the cities/towns to build a dock type landing for them (or a floating landing pontoon which is very frequent here in Europe). What I?ve heard also is that the Coast Guard told them they can?t go without a stage/gangplank (which the Longship design does not have). I still don?t believe Viking will be on the US rivers soon unless they redo an older vessel. There are still a couple of old casino boats on the market.

 

steamboats

[BJR52001]

Thanks, BJR52001, found it. Neither this nor the propulsion system has been mentioned in ACL?s own press release. Nor did the three pictures indicate anything.

 

steamboats

 

 

The release was pretty basic. As for the renders, they're pretty basic concepts. They're missing things that the actual vessels would need like the anchors. Plus, if the bow ramp is like the ones on the Blount boats, its pretty hard to see when up.