Saturday, October 16, 1999
Inland river cruises evoke Twain's era
New boats help meet demand
BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The popularity of Tall Stacks '99 reinforces what Scott Young already knew by looking at the bottom line of his New Orleans-based Delta Queen Steamboat Co.
The president of America's largest inland cruise ship company thinks the thousands of Tristate visitors on the riverfront this weekend are evidence that most consumers have a deep yearning to connect with the past.
“It's all about Americana,” Mr. Young said aboard a Delta Queen hospitality cruise on Friday morning. “It takes people back to an America from another century. We sell memories. We sell history.
“People like that we have an all-American crew, and we wave that flag a lot.”
People are willing to pay for the experience, too, averaging $260 per night per passenger.
In the early 1990s, the company recognized that demand for inland river cruises had far outpaced the supply of cabins — cruises were at 98 percent capacity — so it committed $68 million to build the 436-berth American Queen.
It increased the company's overnight inland cruise capacity by 70 percent when the American Queen was launched in 1995, but revenues did not fall as a result.
“We were able to absorb that capacity and still keep our occupancy rate at 90 percent,” he said.
Company research indicates that the traditional customer has grown weary of Caribbean cruises and is looking for an enhanced vacation experience.
“They are tired of cruising on a "big white ship' and are looking for something different,” he said.
Rather than bringing more customers to the company's Ohio and Mississippi river cruises, the firm plans to bring the cruise ships to the customers.
Ocean-worthy ships are under construction in Jacksonville, Fla., to offer plantation cruises along the Georgia and South Carolina coasts. Other ships will sail from Boston, New York and Portland, Maine.
Yet another line will operate on the Columbia River on the Washington and Oregon border, he said.
Everybody loves a riverboat parade
Today at Tall Stacks
Captains grab chance to socialize
Inland river cruises evoke Twain's era
On board the ... Dottie G
Paddle wheel part of new monument
Women can change lives of young girls
Broadnax pitched for agency
Church settles over lost grave
Audit finds flaws at child agency
Reforms in Ky. education may provide model for Ohio
School boards: a slice of pure democracy
Transit plaza proposed for Northside
Y skate park opens today
Cancer kills Cincinnati policeman
GET TO IT
Here comes CitiRama
Jarvi gives CSO boost once again
Clearcreek on its 3rd levy try
Columbus mayor's race starts to heat up
Flights give bird's-eye view of Butler Co.
Former basketball player sentenced for sexual battery
Goshen tax needed for school plan
Husband found guilty of wife's shooting
More changes due at uranium plant
More Montgomery widening on way
Observatory invites visitors to sky fair
Officer is master of martial arts
Roeding will run to keep Senate seat
Splats all for a good cause
TRISTATE DIGEST
Volunteer school mentors may move with Starkist
