Free Republic

The hour is 11:30 on this Saturday night aboard the American Queen, somewhere south of Natchez, Miss. The dance floor in the Grand Saloon is deserted, and a lone man sits in the 24-hour Front Porch lounge, reading a paperback novel. The evening's holdouts, perhaps 30 people who, like most of the passengers, appear to be 55 or older, are in the Engine Room Bar. Jackie Bankston, who plays the piano, and Bob Schad, who plays guitar, are singing the '70s Kenny Rogers song "Lucille," which has roused these last-to-bed passengers into a sing-along. Only one couple is dancing, laughing...

Steamboat cruises are back on the Mississippi River as of today. The Great American Steamboat Co. heads out of New Orleans today. "They'll be offering three-, to seven- to fourteen-day cruises all up and down the Mississippi River," says Robert Jumonville, director of cruise and tourism at the Port of New Orleans. They're steaming on the American Queen, which has been totally refurbished since it last sailed out of New Orleans in 2008. "It's about 420 passengers and top-of-the line. They've done a really nice job of reconditioning it after it's been laid up for a couple of years," says...