American Duchess Will Offer More Capacity, Overnight Stays in Nashville and New Orleans

A feature new for the line, American Duchess will offer overnight stays in port in Nashville as well as shorter roundtrip itineraries from the “Music City” and New Orleans.  Passengers will have the added convenience of departing from Chicago (Ottawa, Il.) for the first time.

“Demand for more capacity on the Mississippi River has been overwhelming the past two seasons,” explained Ted Sykes, president and COO of American Queen Steamboat Company.  “A third vessel will help us meet that demand and give us flexibility in creating itineraries for the riverboats, now sailing between New Orleans and St. Paul.”  Since spring 2014, AQSC has also sailed the Pacific Northwest with the American Empress.

American Queen Steamboat Company is quite a cruise success story. In five short years, it has grown to over 500 employees and will be hiring another 100 for the new ship.  All are from the U.S.  “We are proud of the economic impact we continue to have … in our homeport of Memphis and the cities like New Orleans and St. Louis, we visit.” noted John Waggoner, the line’s chairman and president and CEO of HMS Global Maritime, which operates 85 U.S.-flagged vessels and owns AQSC.

• By Guest Writer Kay Showker

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