Riverboats add visits to Cape Girardeau

Business Today

Starting this summer, more steamboats and the River Explorer are expected along the Mississippi River at Cape Girardeau than in previous years.

Cape Girardeau, a city that features a number of attractions -- 19th century buildings and homes, the historic downtown district, the Mississippi River, old Lorimier Cemetery and Cape Rock Park where Jean Baptiste Girardot established his trading post in the 1700s -- is a stop for a number of river vessels and tourist buses during the summer and fall.

Stops by the baronial big steamers -- the Mississippi Queen and Delta Queen -- will be fewer, but the longest hotel barge on the river -- the 720-foot-long River Explorer -- will dock here a dozen times, two of them overnight.

This is good news for the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau, following an announcement last year that the Delta Queen Co. might not come this far north.

But when organizers started making up tour dates, the Delta Queen was set for four visits -- Sept. 8, Sept. 11, Sept. 19 and Oct. 6.

The larger Mississippi Queen will dock at Cape Girardeau four times, with the first docking set for June 8.

The annual race from New Orleans to St. Louis over the Fourth of July Weekend has been canceled. The Mississippi Queen's next trips are Aug. 1, Aug. 4 and Oct. 21.

The River Explorer made its first stop here April 20. The final stop will be Nov. 14, with several stops in between.

Schedule of riverboat visits

-- June 8, Mississippi Queen, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

-- June 9, River Explorer, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

-- June 12, River Explorer, 6 p.m.

-- June 13, River Explorer, depart, 6 a.m.

-- July 14, River Explorer, 4 a.m. to 2 p.m.

-- July 17, River Explorer, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

-- July 18, River Explorer, to leave at 6 a.m.

-- Aug. 1, Mississippi Queen, 12:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

-- Aug. 4, Mississippi Queen, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

-- Aug. 29, River Explorer, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

-- Aug. 30, River Explorer to leave 6 a.m.

-- Sept. 5, River Explorer, 2 a.m. to 1 p.m.

-- Sept. 8, Delta Queen, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

-- Sept. 11, Delta Queen, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

-- Sept. 15, River Explorer, 3 a.m. to 2 p.m.

-- Sept. 19, River Explorer, 2 a.m. to 2 p.m.

-- Sept. 19, Delta Queen, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

-- Oct. 6, Delta Queen, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

-- Oct. 21, Mississippi Queen, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

-- Nov. 10, River Explorer, 4 a.m. to 2 p.m.

-- Nov. 14, River Explorer, 3 a.m. 1 p.m.