Viking boats to cruise Mississippi River

Fortune ^ | 2/25/1015

[iowamark]

Viking Cruises will establish its first North American beachhead, a homeport in New Orleans, starting in 2017.

Viking Cruises will establish its first North American beachhead, a homeport in New Orleans, and will offer cruises up the Mississippi River starting in 2017, the company and Louisiana officials announced.

The move is seen as an effort to capitalize on rapidly growing interest in river cruises, which involve much smaller vessels than most ocean liners.

The company — whose boats ply the rivers of Europe, Russia, China, Southeast Asia and Egypt — will begin cruising the Mississippi with two boats in late 2017, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The cruise line plans to expand its fleet on the river to six by 2019, it said.

Depending on the season, the cruises will go as far north as Memphis, Tennessee; St. Louis, Missouri, or St. Paul, Minnesota, the company said.

Currently, the cruise market on the United States’ biggest river is limited, Mike Driscoll, editor of the trade publication Cruise Week said in a telephone interview.

“The view is that Viking is going to create that market,” Driscoll said.

“We are excited about the prospect of bringing modern river cruising to the Mississippi,” Viking Cruises Chairman Torstein Hagen said in the statement issued by Viking and Louisiana Bobby Jindal’s office.

Each boat will carry up to 300 passengers, about a tenth of the capacity of most oceangoing cruise ships, the company said. The vessels are expected to dock near New Orleans’ historic French Quarter...

[maggief]

Viking “love” boats?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Vikings_boat_party_scandal

[cripplecreek]

I’m guessing the staff is American and Canadian which is more expensive.

[Verginius Rufus]

The first Viking cruises on the Mississippi River since the 1300s, when they left the Kensington Runestone in Minnesota.

[BenLurkin]

Hoo-ah!

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Don't forget their detour up the Arkansas river into Oklahoma where the Heavner Runestones are located. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was NOT the first!

[driftless2]

Depends where you are on the Mississippi. As you get closer to Wisconsin, the bluffs get larger, and it is actually very scenic. No castles though...or vineyards....maybe a few apple orchards.

[LRM]

Most of the ports on the Great Lakes look like Marquette MI does now.

While shipping may not be as heavy as in the past, the two harbors in Marquette remain active. For example, here's "Boatnerd's" report for Marquette for December 2014:

"Dec 29th: I realize it has been some time since my last report but here is what is going on. The rush is on to get as many trips in and out of Marquette before the locks close. Last week, there were at least three ships in port three different days. On Christmas day, the James Kuber was at the ore dock. The Herbert Jackson arrived yesterday and as of this report was still at the dock."

"The Michipicoten and the Kaye Barker are heading for Marquette now and should arrive by mid afternoon."

You must be thinking of the old ore dock downtown, which hasn't been used in many years. Both the Lower and Upper Harbor docks remain in use and should see boat traffic once again after the SOO locks reopen.

[Ouderkirk]

I am thinking of Downtown. The upper docks weren’t active when I was there last. or at least what I could determine.

Admittedly it was three years ago and that has most likely changed. I spent week there and didn’t see a ship in that port the entire time.

But it did remind me at the time, of the empty ports on the east end. Erie PA , Dunkirk NY , Buffalo, Rochester NY, Oswego NY, Kingston Ont, All these places have next to zilch for commercial traffic and are mostly recreational boat harbors now.

I remember Buffalo Harbor in the mid 1960’s....it was a bustling place 24 hours a day.