Steamboating on the Mississippi River

The American Queen pulled out of St. Louis at 6pm, three hours ahead of schedule. The Mississippi River was technically closed to commercial traffic, but the captain worked out a deal to let us pass by the trouble spot as long as we did it during daylight hours. Because of the early departure, a couple who had been dealing with a medical problem missed the boat. For just about any other type of trip, their vacation would have ended before it even started. I could be wrong, but if you miss the departure of a Carnival cruise, I’m pretty sure they’re not going to put you on a helicopter to join the boat at sea.

The American Queen, though, is a highly maneuverable steamboat that operates on a river and those factors give the boat flexibility you won’t find elsewhere. The couple who couldn’t make the earlier departure got a chance to board the boat the next day after a short ride on a company bus. At Clarksville (Missouri) Captain John shimmied the 3700-ton, 418-foot long vessel next to a gravel bank just south of town. He chose a gravel bank because his first choice, the end of a boat ramp, turned out to be too shallow.

Once the gangway was in place, four deckhands raced off the boat to greet the couple on shore, carrying their bags and escorting them along the riverbank and onto the boat. The unplanned stop gave the on-board passengers a half-hour of unscheduled entertainment; dozens watched the operation from the port side of the boat. As the couple walked up the gangway, the passengers greeted the couple with a round of applause. That couple will never forget their trip on the American Queen!

I’m not sure what impressed me more: the choreography that was involved in guiding that big boat next to a landing that was more fit for a canoe than the world’s largest steamboat or the captain’s willingness to give it a shot. After all, the boat was scheduled to dock in Hannibal the next day; the captain could have told the couple to meet the boat there and no complicated landing would have been needed.

**Read more about the places along the Mississippi River in Road Tripping Along the Great River Road, Vol. 1. Click the link above for more. Disclosure: This website may be compensated for linking to other sites or for sales of products we link to.

That was my second experience this summer where the American Queen had to improvise to keep the cruise moving along. In August, the Queen encountered a stretch of the Mississippi that had been recently closed because the water was too shallow for the big tows. We got lucky, though, because we were at a part of the river where there was another channel we could take as a detour. Navigating the side channel was complicated by overhead wires that were close to the top of our boat, so the captain lowered the smokestacks (they can do that on the American Queen), and then the pilot house (yes, they can do that, too!). The captain slowed the boat down as we neared the wires, and we slid under with a room to spare. Once again, our trip continued uninterrupted.

There was a time, of course, when it was common for steamboats to land on gravel bars and to reroute around shallow water. It’s a lot less common now because, well, there are a lot fewer steamboats and because we have spent a lot of money to alter the river so big boats don’t have to deal with those challenges.

Even with those changes, traveling on the river comes with no guarantees. High water has sometimes forced the Queen to reroute away from the Upper Mississippi. It’s a big boat and sometimes sits too high to get under the bridges of the upper river. Traveling by river still has its risks, at least to a company’s bottom line.

I had a great time steamboating on the Mississippi this summer. It’s a trip that I’ve thought about taking but always talked myself out of because of the price. After traveling with the American Queen three times this summer as a guest lecturer, I’ve decided that the cruises are worth every penny. For one thing, they offer a first-class experience with exceptional customer service. And I don’t say that lightly. I travel a lot and have seen a general erosion in customer service in the travel industry, but not for the American Queen.

But, more than that, a trip on the American Queen gives us an opportunity to experience something rare: a few days to travel leisurely on the Mississippi River and see the river in its many moods and the different ways people interact with the river. It gives us a chance to get personally familiar with the river.

You could do that in a canoe or even a houseboat trip, but, honestly, most people won’t. And, even if you have, sometimes we need to splurge and enjoy the rewards of taking a trip where you can spend some time on the river spotting eagles or American white pelicans then retreat to a Victorian dining room and enjoy Carpaccio and quail with a glass or two of wine. You can paddle and pitch a tent on your next trip.

I’ll be on the road again in a few days, traveling along the river in a way that is more typical for me—in a car and staying in budget motels. If the weather is nice enough, I may even camp a couple of nights. All that is fine by me, but you can bet there will be times I’ll be wishing I was sitting in a rocking chair on 4 forward watching the river roll by.

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