FORT LAUDEARDALE, Fla. – The cruise ship company American Queen Voyages, whose river boats made three Winona landings last season, has cancelled 2024 voyages and apparently is putting its fleet up for sale. “All future cruises have been cancelled.” the company announced. Why? “An inability to obtain sufficient capital at a commercially reasonable rate to continue operations,” the announcement said. American Queen Voyages is not to be confused with the larger cruise operator American Cruise Lines. Of 31 cruises with Winona as a port of call in 2023, only three were by American Queen Voyages vessels:
> American Queen. 417 passengers. Last Winona dockings: August 8 and October 3.
> American Countess. 245 passengers. Last Winona docking: September 6.
American Queen Voyages vessels plied not only the Upper Mississippi but also the Lower Mississippi and the Cumberland, Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee tributaries and the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Northwest.
Farewell to a queen? Built in 1995, the American Queen paddle-wheeler reigned as the world’s largest river steamboat. Its financial history has been rocky. Does the Queen have a future under another new owner?
American Queen Voyages profile
American Queen Voyages is one of three units of the Hornblower Group, a private equity company. The origins of Hornblower were the Boston Harbor Cruises in 1926. Besides American Queen Voyages, Hornblower units operate cruises to Alaska, the Canadian the Inside Passage the Mexican Riviera and Costa Rica. American Queen Voyages had its origins in 2015 when HMS Global Maritime founder John Waggoner bought the 222-stateroom riverboat American Queen for $15 million from the U.S. Maritime Administration, which had acquitted the vessel in a $30 million foreclosure. Waggoner’s company grew and eventually ended up in the Hornblower portfolio.