urbanSTL

urbanitas wrote: ↑

Apr 01, 2020

That is a big boat.  Is that even going to fit under the Eads at high river stage, or do they only run the north cruises in late summer and fall?

This doesn't directly answer your question, but FYI the deck plan can be found here, including a profile view of the boat:

https://docs.vikingcruises.com/ships/20 ... kplan2.pdf



For what it's worth, by my eyeball ruler it doesn't seem that much taller than the Admiral was, which didn't have any problem fitting under the Eads. But I don't know nothin' 'bout nothin'.

-RBB

I wonder if we’re nearing a point with Viking and other American based rivers cruises that we need to invest in the river port and landing north of MLK. Replacing the existing structure with a Cortex MetroLink structure and actual dock could give a modern vibe.

The market could really just be starting depending on expansion strategy. If Viking found success, they could start bringing smaller ships for 3 or 4 day trips that are more affordable priced and target a younger demographic.

I spoke to an Amtrak conductor who said they have a growing number of young people who work remotely or freelance that purchase rooms and spend 3 to 4 weeks bouncing around the country. Could the same market be relevant for a river cruise if more affordably priced?


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Trololzilla wrote: ↑

Apr 02, 2020

Any thought given to Missouri River cruises? I believe that it's not quite as navigable a river as the Mississippi is, but I think it'd be a much 'prettier' cruise through America's Rhineland to KC (or even up to Sioux City) with just as many fun places to stop at (like Hermann) if you use a smaller boat.

I'd guess they would see how this goes before they consider moving to other rivers. Mississippi also has some bigger well known cities on it than the Missouri. That probably is part of the draw. I'd guess if they expand that the Ohio/Cumberland would be the next one, they already had some cruises on it. 

I also saw American Cruises has they new "modern" boats supposed to start up in August of this year, pandemic pending. About half the size of Viking at 184 people. 

I don't recall ever hearing of any of the big paddle boats going up the Missouri, just the Ohio and Mississippi up to St. Paul.  I'm not sure how the draft of a boat like that compares to a fully-loaded barge, but the Missouri has some pretty shallow stretches, and was never dredged out to the extent the other two were.

I would think the Missouri to KC and beyond would be pretty attractive. There are no locks needed to get to KC vs 26 above the Mississippi confluence, right? Also, could they go up the Illinois to Chicago?

Also, are they only marketing to Americans? The Viking cruise I took in Europe was all in English catering to America, Canadians, and Australians. Besides talks on history and culture before each stop, they told us about local do’s and dont’s so we wouldn’t be ugly Americans. If they fill some ships with all French or Germans, what will they tell them about sales tax, tipping, etc.?


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gary kreie wrote:Opening pictures on the www.vikingrivercruises.com primary web site is the Arch right now.

It would be neat if someone like Viking had a boat designed to look like one of the old steamboats. I know there’s ones like that, but it would be neat to have one going up and down the Mississippi River and then dock in front of the Arch or where the Admiral once was.

^I like the old-style steamboats as much as anyone, but I'm glad to see the 21st Century making it's mark too 

^They just need a stainless steel superstructure and we're good to go.

Like this one called Mississippi Queen on the Elbe River in Hamburg, Germany? https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mississippi+Queen/@53.5420651,9.9773333,567m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x47b18f08c7312a31:0x2b5953e91fd19189!8m2!3d53.5420651!4d9.979522

Ok, so I have been doing some research on this and now I don't see what the big drama is to the Viking ships coming considering that the St. Louis cruise port already gets a lot of action.
https://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/st-l ... 7#schedule
scroll to the bottom once you click the link^^


Ohio river cruise from STL already exists too
https://usarivercruises.com/cruise/ad-s ... incinnati/

^Drama?

Anyway, it's interesting because unlike all the local river cruise companies, Viking is a large, international river and ocean cruise operator, which, assuming they survive the pandemic, will bring experience and resources the small operators can't.

I would hope Viking might bring a lot of Europeans to our city eventually.  We may be flyover country to most of Americans, but the big cities on the coasts don't have the legendary river that we have, not to mention Route 66 heritage, and music heritage that Europeans might want to discover.  These tours are all about cultural learning tours, wine, and comfort -- not party boats.  

On the Rhine River, Viking has so many long boats, that at nearly every evening stop, you almost always see another Viking boat parked there along with yours, usually going the other direction.  So if they could someday get well-off Europeans coming here with 2 of these boats stopping in St. Louis every night from March through December, I think it could be a boost to tourism.  Even though the guests have quarters on the boat, any guests that fly in or fly out of St. Louis will need a hotel room downtown. Viking sets up pre or post cruise hotel space in pretty nice hotels, and would coordinate multi-stay visits in St. Louis tied to the start of end of a cruise. 

That room in the second picture looks like a gathering area in a nursing home. Not that I would mind boatloads of rich elderly folk being dumped on our riverfront on a regular basis!

Er . . . someone flipped the skyline in that second shot.  

framer wrote:Er . . . someone flipped the skyline in that second shot.  

Selfie Mode!


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framer wrote:Er . . . someone flipped the skyline in that second shot.  

I noticed that and thought I’d see if anyone else noticed. I’m sure those Europeans would be surprised it might matter to us.


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Might well have been intentional,  and they figured it was a subtle enough change not to worry about it. Maybe they'd simply never sailed downstream during the photo shoot, so they only had the portside shot to work with, but they wanted the arch on the left to anchor the place, but they wanted to lead the viewers eye into the luxurious splendor of their cabin on the right as you scan the booklet.

I'm pretty please with where we landed on the cover for the same reason: my eye picks up the palace first, but ultimately lands on our skyline. And I didn't even really notice the valley or iceberg on the first scan. Just kind of bounced off the blue bits until I'd been looking for a bit.

Here is what the photo should have been.  I suppose all "symetricish" cities like St. Louis have this issue occasionally.  I could see it if the photographer had a plastic negative he turned over accidentally and had a 50 50 chance of getting it the right way.  But in the digital age someone would have to do an edit flip.  And here is a public domain photo from Wikipedia Commons of San Francisco that I flipped.  I think those residents would notice. 

"The company’s first custom vessel, Viking Mississippi, will debut in August 2022 and will sail voyages on the Lower and Upper Mississippi river, between New Orleans and St. Paul.

Scheduled ports of call in 2022 include Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Darrow, New Orleans and St. Francisville); Mississippi (Natchez and Vicksburg); Tennessee (Memphis); Missouri (Hannibal, St. Louis); Iowa (Burlington, Dubuque and Davenport); Wisconsin (La Crosse); and Minnesota (Red Wing, St. Paul).

Strong demand has led Viking to open additional 2023 sailing dates sooner than originally expected.

Viking chairman Torstein Hagen said: “We are very pleased at the initial response and support we have received from guests and community partners along the Mississippi river."  

More at:

CRUISE TRADE NEWS - Viking’s 2023 Mississippi sailings on sale following surge in demand

Was that a test to see if we'd catch SF being flipped?