More Small Ships Sailing U.S. Rivers and Coastlines

With the growing number of American river vessels and coastal cruises, more scenic and historic cities are accessible than ever before. Great Lakes cruising, for instance, virtually unavailable a decade ago, was a sellout aboard several small luxury ships last summer.

Now a unique vessel, the River Explorer from RiverBarge Excursions, has announced the first Missouri River Valley overnight cruises in nearly 100 years. The 198-passenger vessel, the only hotel barge sailing America’s inland waterways, will cruise to river towns in Nebraska and Missouri the weeks of Aug. 20 and 27.

The ship sails between Kansas City, Mo., and Omaha, Neb., calling in Parkville and St. Joseph, Mo., and Brownsville, Neb. Excursions include the Steamboat Arabia Museum in Kansas City, the Pony Express Museum and Jesse James Museum in St. Joseph, the historic side-wheeler Captain Meriwether Lewis in Brownsville and the restored Union Station, Durham Western Heritage Museum and Strategic Air Museum in Omaha.

We sailed aboard the River Explorer in Kentucky horse country during its first year of service in the fall of 1998 and ranked it one of the most enjoyable cruises we took that year. The ride is smooth, the atmosphere casual, with no dressing up, and the food simple but tasty.

All accommodations are outside cabins with windows ($2,180 per person, double occupancy, for seven nights) or with windows and small balconies ($2,440 per person). Discounts are offered for bookings made six months ahead. All tips and shore excursions are included in the basic fare, and meal seatings are open. Passengers arrive when they wish within specified hours and sit where and with whom they please.

The barge is actually two connected barges, one with cabins and the other with public rooms, propelled from the rear by a powerful tugboat, creating a vessel 730 feet long. The entire boat is accessible to wheelchairs because of its flat sills and two passenger elevators; three staterooms are designated accessible.

All cabins have twin or queen-size beds, adequate hanging, drawer and shelf storage space, a long desk and dresser, two chairs, a mini-refrigerator, TV and VCR and an armoire. All bathrooms include a tub and shower combination and hair dryer. Other thoughtful extras in the cabins are a pair of binoculars for use during the cruise, an in-room coffee maker and a pair of insulated mugs with the line’s logo for the passenger to take home. Free self-service laundry facilities are also on board.

A huge area atop is flat and open, with jogging track, shuffleboard, two hot tubs and a small exercise area.

RiverBarge also offers cruises into the Mississippi Delta from New Orleans; an “Atchafalaya Basin Cajuns and Creoles� sailing; Ohio River cruises with visits to Kentucky horse country; a trip along the route of Jean Lafitte between New Orleans and Port Isabel, Texas; a visit to Matamoros, Mexico; and a sailing through the Cumberland River Valley out of Nashville.

The familiar Delta Queen name turns up a new label, Delta Queen Coastal Voyages, for a pair of new ships arriving this spring and summer. First is the Cape May Light, a 226-passenger ship designed to resemble the coastal vessels of the late 1800s. A sister vessel, the Cape Cod Light, is scheduled to enter service Aug. 4.

The pair will offer nine different weeklong itineraries in the eastern United States and Canada--the Chesapeake Bay; the coastal islands of New England; historic New England towns; Maine and Nova Scotia; Canada’s Maritimes and the St. Lawrence; Quebec and Niagara Falls; autumn coastal colors round trips from Providence and along the Hudson River; a “Discovery South� itinerary between Philadelphia and Charleston, S.C.; and a round-trip “Antebellum South� sailing from Charleston.

Fares for the voyages begin at $2,185 for seven-night sailings and $3,985 for 14-night voyages, but an early booking bonus of $800 per couple ($1,600 for the 14-night cruise) for booking at least six months ahead lowers the price substantially.

Clipper Cruise Line also offers U.S. coastal sailings aboard its 138-passenger Nantucket Clipper and Yorktown Clipper, visiting the Antebellum South, New England and Canada’s Maritimes on the East Coast, and British Columbia, southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest on the West Coast. Fares begin at $1,950 per person, double occupancy, for seven-night cruises, and all cabins have windows aboard these charming little vessels with a country club atmosphere.

For more information and a free brochure, contact a travel agent or the lines themselves: RiverBarge Excursions, (888) 456-2206, Internet https://www.riverbarge.com; Delta Queen Coastal Voyages, (800) 846-8000, https://www.coastalvoyages.com.; or Clipper Cruise Line, (800) 325-0010, https://www.clippercruise.com.