'The river determines': Queen of the Mississippi set to dock Friday

With floodwaters receding, the 150-passenger Queen of the Mississippi with her towering stacks and bright red paddle wheel is set to sail Friday toward Cape Girardeau’s Riverfront Park.

The stop will be one of 12 tentative visits by five riverboats — Queen of the Mississippi, American Queen, American Duchess, America and American Harmony — through December.

Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau office administrator Betty Seesing Roth said the schedule is interrupted every year because of issues caused by Mother Nature. Roth handles the specifics of the riverboat dockings.

“The schedule is just an outline,” she said. “The river determines.”

And every year, she said, there are boats unable to dock and boats that have unscheduled stops in downtown Cape Girardeau.

She said the riverboats, “just show up, spend four hours here, and are on their way.”

For each docking, Roth said, there’s a separate company running the boat. There also is a separate company organizing the on-sight excursions.

A woman takes a photo of Queen of the Mississippi, left, and American Queen while the riverboats dock Aug. 23, 2017, at Riverfront Park in downtown Cape Girardeau.Southeast Missourian file

“For every boat docking, I’m dealing with three different companies for the same boat,” she said.

Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director Brenda Newbern said many of the boats may pay for passengers to visit downtown museums and historic buildings, a practice “that hasn’t changed” through the years, she said.

That, in turn, creates momentum within downtown Cape Girardeau’s economy. Last year, close to $10,000 was generated in that market, she said.

Downtown stops include the historic Glenn House, Cape River Heritage Museum, Crisp Museum at Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus and Old St. Vincent’s Church.

“For some of those, you can only imagine,” Newbern said. “That’s a big impact for them, based on the number of visitors that they have ... if you have more dockings, then it’s going to impact a little more.”

A recent amendment to the schedule is the docking of American Queen at 8 a.m. Saturday, Roth said, adding the whole season will change and many subsequent dockings also will change.

American Cruise Lines operates American Harmony, Queen of the Mississippi — built in 2015 — and America. American Queen Steamboat Co, operates American Queen and American Duchess.

America, constructed in 2016, can accommodate 185 passengers; American Duchess was built in 2017 and can house 166; American Harmony, built in 2017, can hold 187 passengers; American Queen, built in 1995, has a capacity of 436 passengers and a crew of 160, according to the visitors bureau’s website.

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Tentative riverboat docking schedule

• 8 a.m. Friday | Queen of the Mississippi
• 8 a.m. Saturday | American Queen
• Noon Saturday | American Duchess
• 8:30 a.m. Aug. 13 | America
• 7 a.m. Aug. 29 | American Duchess
• 8:30 a.m. Sept. 3 | American Harmony
• 8:30 a.m. Sept. 8 | Queen of the Mississippi
• 1:30 p.m. Sept. 18 | Queen of the Mississippi
• 8:30 a.m. Sept. 22 | Queen of the Mississippi
• 1:30 p.m. Oct. 2 | Queen of the Mississippi
• Noon Dec. 5 | American Duchess
• Noon Dec. 13 | American Duchess

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