River cruises won't stop in Cape Girardeau this year

The Queens are dead. The Majestic America Line's flagship sternwheel riverboats the American Queen and the Mississippi Queen will not cruise the big rivers of the central United States this year.

And the Majestic America Line's main competitor, RiverBarge Excursions, has also called it quits, ending the cruises of its River Explorer.

Both companies cited the poor economy, with a combination of rising costs and low numbers of tourists, for the shutdowns.

With them go hundreds of visitors that took time from their expensive river cruises to visit downtown Cape Girardeau's shops and restaurants. The loss comes on the heels of announcements that Libertyfest, the Cape Girardeau Independence Day celebration focused on the river, and the Cape Girardeau Regional Airshow, an annual favorite at the airport south of the city, are also canceled this year.

The city's top tourism official, Chuck Martin of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, hopes he will be able to announce some good news next week. The Missouri Division of Tourism will announce the cities hosting the 2009 Tour of Missouri bicycle race and Martin said he believes the Cape Girardeau's bid was a strong one.

"I am a big believer in the old adage that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade," Martin said. "A whole lot of these things are noncontrollable items. I like to see the boats coming, especially the queens. I hate to see all that come to an end. Fortunately for us, we do have an awful lot of other things to offer."

Repeated rounds of high water cut the number of times the cruise ships docked at Cape Girardeau in 2008. Majestic America had already lost the ability to operate its oldest boat, the Delta Queen, due to a federal law that bans overnight excursion boats with wooden superstructures. The Delta Queen operated for years with an exemption to that law but Congress was unwilling to extend it.

For more information, check back at semissourian.com or read Tuesday's Southeast Missourian.