MAJESTIC AMERICA LINE Alaska, Mississippi and tributaries, Columbia & Snake Rivers, U.S. west AMERICAN QUEEN      Cajun Cruise Report Passenger Capacity: 436 Built: 1995 Length: 418 ft. Beam: 89 ft. Draft: 9 ft. Elevator: 2 Officers: American Staff and Crew: 180; American Wheelchair Access   Itinerary: Various length cruises depart from New Orleans, Memphis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, St Paul, and Pittsburgh. Cabins: 222. Of the cabins, 75 percent are outside. There are single, double and triple occupancy cabins. Beds are twin, queen or king. All cabins have individually controlled air-conditioning, telephone, and private bath with shower, some with a tub. Suites and many staterooms have French doors that open to deck or a private verandah. Some cabins are connecting. There are 9 wheelchair-accessible cabins. Dining: The dining room is designed likr the long main cabin of an old-time steamboat with windows providing a river view. Vegetarian and other diets can be requested with advance notice. Room service is available for continental breakfast. Dress: Casual during the day; dressy for captain’s night. Facilities and Activities: This is the world’s largest steamboat. It is propelled by a paddlewheel, 28 ft. in diameter and bright red. The steam engines were restored from the US Army Corps of Engineers dredge Kennedy. (Passengers are welcome to visit the engine room.) Public areas include the Grand Saloon with entertainment and ballroom dancing in the evening, Mark Twain Gallery with antique furniture and old books, a lounge with white wicker furniture where passengers sit and watch the river, the Calliope Bar overlooking the paddlewheel, and the Engine Room Bar with dixieland and ragtime music. There is a theater, pool, library, and a chart room that has a view of the river and navigational charts for passengers to follow the voyage. Gentlemen dance hosts are on board for most cruises. There are tours of antebellum homes, Civil War battlefields, museums and other historic attractions. One stop is to Hannibal, Missouri, the boyhood home of Samuel Clemens and Becky Thatcher. Recent Fares Reported to Us: Three-night cruise  $915 to $2,055; four-night cruise $1,190 to $2,710; five-night cruise $1,465 to $3,365; six-night cruise $1,740 to $4,015; seven-night cruise $2,025 to $4,600.  One free cabin for group of 10 passengers traveling together. Discount for booking six months or more ahead and on certain voyages a 10 to 50 percent discount, pre-cruise hotel night, or free or reduced air. COLUMBIA QUEEN Passenger Capacity: 161 Built: 2000 Length: 218 ft. Elevator: 2 Officers and crew: 60. American Wheelchair accessible Itinerary: Columbia, Snake and Williamette Rivers from Portland. Cabins: 81. There are outside cabins with windows or doors that open to deck or semi-private veranda. Inside cabins are either twin or single. Facilities and Activities: Lecturers, entertainment, shore excursions visiting scenic and historic points along the rivers, including parts of the Oregon Trail and the journey of Lewis and Clark. Shore excursions are mostly by bus and are included. Dress: Casual, dressier for captain's reception. Facilities and Activities:  A dining room converts to a show lounge with local entertainers. Historians and naturalists guide shore excursions in motor coaches. Past Rates Reported To Us: Value season: $1,669-$3,369. Other times: $2,195-$4,589 per person double occupancy, including one night hotel stay. Booking six months in advance, $800 discount per stateroom. CONTESSA Passenger Capacity: 48 Built: 1927 Former Name: Executive Explorer Length: 104 ft. Officers & Crew: 18 Itineraries: Cruises of the Alaska Inside Passage from Sitka and Ketchikan. Highlights include Misty Fjords, Ernest Sound, Le Conte Glacier, jet boating up the Stikine River, Wrangell Narrows, Le Conte Bay, Sawyer Glaciers, Tracy Arm, Pt. Adolphus (for humpback whale), Tenakee Springs, Tlingit settlements, kayaking, helicopter flightseeing, and dog sledding on a glacier. Sometimes Glacier Bay. Cabins: 24. All are outside, and have TV, DVD, heating, ir-conditioning, private bath with shower. There are two suites. Facilities and Activities: Twin-hulled vessel with shore excursions from kayaking to helicopter sightseeing and dog-sledding on a glacier. Dining: Single open seating.. The cuisine is American, especially features local seafood. Rates Reported to Us: Startiing at $2,966 per person double occupancy when booked by Dec. 15. DELTA QUEEN  Cruise Report Passenger Capacity: 174 Built: 1927 Length: 285 ft. Beam: 60 ft. Draft: 9 ft. Officers: American Staff and Crew: 75; American Departures: New Orleans, Memphis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, St. Paul, Nashville, Pittsburgh, Chattanooga, Galveston. A seven-night Civil War cruise goes to Louisiana’s Red River. In September an eight-night cruise from Cincinnati includes a gathering of sternwheelers in Charleston. Cabins: 87. Of the cabins, 64 are outside. All have air-conditioning and a private bath with shower (two cabins have tub). Suites have large windows and a sitting area. Dining: There are two seatings. The cuisine is regional American with specialties such as catfish, gumbo, Cincinnati chili, fried chicken, pecan pie and crawfish etouffee. Vegetarian fare can be requested. Dress: Casual during the day; dressy for captain’s night. Facilities and Activities: This authentic paddlewheel steamboat not only visits historic landmarks, it is one. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989. The boat has many of her original fixtures including stained-glass windows, paneling, brass, and an ironwood floor. The ambiance takes you back to the spirit and elegance of the Great Steamboat Era of the 1800s. There is a lounge, a Victorian parlor with Tiffany-style lamps, and three open decks with rocking chairs and patio furniture for river watching. There are jazz and cabaret shows in the lounge. Kite flying is usually held one afternoon. Riverlorians give lectures on river history and share steamboat tales. There are visits to towns along the river, plantation houses, museums, and parks. Excursions are often tied in with theme cruises, such as fall foliage and Civil War. The steam-driven calliope is played at arrival and departure at every port. Recent Fares Reported to Us: Three-night cruise $515 to $2,055; four-night cruise $660 to $2,710; five-night cruise $800 to $3,365; six-night cruise $940 to $4,015; seven-night cruise $1,090 to $4,680; 10-night cruise $1,515 to $6,645. One free cabin for a group of 10 passengers traveling together, two free cabins for 30 passengers in a group. Discount for booking six months ahead, some voyages may include free air, pre or post cruise hotel nights. EMPRESS OF THE NORTH Passenger Capacity: 235 Built: 2003 Length: 360 ft. Elevator: 2 Officers: American Staff and Crew: 84. American Wheelchair Accessible Itinerary: The ship cruises Alaska's Inside Passage during the summer and the Columbia & Snake Rivers in the fall and spring. Roundtrip from Juneau, a 7-night Alaska cruise includes Petersburg, Ketchikan, Wrangell, Juneau, Skagway as well as Glacier Bay, Misty Fjords, Tracy Arm, Peril Strait and Wrangell Narrows. One-way from Seattle or Sitka, an 11-night itinerary includes all of the 7-night cruise, plus Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver and the San Juan Islands. A 7-night Columbia and Snake River cruise goes through Oregon, Washington and Idaho along the Lewis & Clark discovery route, the Oregon Trail and through the Columbia River Gorge. Cabins: 112. All cabins are outside with large windows, TV/DVD, individual thermostats, and bathrooms with showers. Twin or queen-size beds are available.  Most have a private verandah. There are two wheelchair-accessible cabins. Dress: Comfortable casual wear. For the Captain's Farewell Dinner, ladies wear a dressy pants suit or a cocktail dress, gentleman's attire is a suit or slacks and coat. Facilities and Activities: The shallow-draft sternwheeler recaptures the romance of 1800s paddlewheel cruising. There are historical artifacts, paintings and photographs that show the region's native cultures, Russian exploration and gold rush prospectors. There is showboat entertainment every night in the Paddlewheel Lounge and Golden Nugget showroom. that include jazz, Broadway, country-western, and big band. An historian narrates and interprets history and landmarks along the cruise route. Bow landings allow passengers to go ashore easily. Alaska shore excursions may include Lumberjack Show, Chief Shakes Island, Petroglyph Beach, St. Michaels Cathedral, Raptor Center, Tlingit Dancers, New Archangel Dancers, White Pass Railroad, Salmon Bake, Saxman Village, Sheldon Jackson Museum, Buchart Gardens, Royal Museum, Stanley Park, Vancouver Aquarium, Wrangell Museum, and Mendenhall Glacier. Shore excursions for Columbia and Snake River cruises usually include Mt. St. Helens, Columbia Gorge, Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, Nez Perce Interpretive Program, Hells Canyon Jet Boat, Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, Fort Canby, Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria Column, Pendleton Western Show, Tamstlikt Cultural Institute, and Lewis & Clark's Fort Clatsop. Recent Fares Reported to Us: $1,493 for value stateroom for 7-night river cruise to $8,599 for owner's suite for 11-night Alaska cruise. Discounts of up to $1,200 per person on selected sailings and early booking discounts of up to $600 per person if booked 6 months before departure. MISSISSIPPI QUEEN                Cruise Report Passenger Capacity: 416 Built: 1976 Length: 382 ft. Beam: 68 ft. Draft: 9 ft. Elevator: 2 Officers: American Staff and Crew: 156, American Wheelchair Access Departures: New Orleans, Memphis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, St. Paul, Louisville, Nashville, Pittsburgh. Cabins: 208. Of the cabins, 65 percent are outside, many with verandahs. Cabins have 19th-century-style furnishings, individually controlled air-conditioning, and a private bath with shower. There are cabins with wheelchair access. Dining: Two sittings. Cuisine is regional American. Vegetarian fare can be requested. Dress: Casual during the day; dressy for captain’s night. Facilities and Activities: The Mississippi Queen meanders along at about eight miles per hour and when on the upper Mississippi goes through many locks and dams. The calliope is the largest ever built – 44 pipes and a sound range of 5 miles. There is a showroom with jazz, ragtime, big band, cabaret shows and dancing, or you can in the Paddlewheel Lounge watch the bright red paddlewheel go round and round and listen to dixieland music. There also is a library, a lounge with game tables, exercise room, small pool, hairdresser, and a theater/conference center that seats 69 and has audio-visual equipment. There are rocking chairs and lounges on various decks. Activities include kite flying, calliope concerts, shuffleboard, singalongs and lectures by a riverlorian. There is a chart room on the bow for passengers to follow their course on the river. There are gentlemen hosts for most cruises. Smoking kept to the port side. Recent Fares Reported to Us: Three-night cruise $515 to $2,055; four-night cruise $660 to $2,710;  six-night cruise $940 to $4,015; seven-night cruise $1,090 to $4,680; eight-night cruise $1,230 to $5,335; 10-night cruise $1,515 to $6,645.  One free cabin  for a group of 10 passengers travelling together,. Discount for booking six months or more ahead. Certain voyages can have a 10 to 50 percent discount, hotel night, or free air. QUEEN OF THE WEST                                  Cruise Report  Passenger Capacity: 150 Built: 1995 Length: 230 ft. Beam: 50 ft. Elevator: 1 Officers: American Staff and Crew: 47; American Wheelchair Access Itinerary: There are 7-night Columbia and Snake River cruises of 1,000 miles along the Lewis & Clark Route, Oregon Trail, and in the wake of the great sternwheelers. Most areas passed during the night cruising upriver are seen during viewing hours cruising downriver so you see points of interest during daylight. The sternwheeler cruises through Oregon, Washington and Idaho February through December from Portland. Cabins: 72. All cabins are outside and have TV/VCR, individual thermostat, and bathroom with shower. All have entry from inside companionways except two suites on the top deck. Twin or queen-size beds are available, except for four value cabins that have upper and lower berths. Some cabins have private verandah. Vista suites on the top deck have a view of both sides of the river. There are two wheelchair-accessible cabins and several quad cabins. Dining: The dining room has large windows for river-viewing. There is open, single seating. Special diets are accommodated. There are wines from the cruise regions. In-season fruits, vegetables, and seafood are purchased from local vendors. Breads and pastries are fresh-baked. Early breakfast and simple lunch are also available in the grill on the top deck. Dress: Casual during the day. On captain's night most men wear a jacket and women a cocktail dress; other nights are casual resort wear or slacks and shirt. Facilities and Activities: This is a shallow-draft sternwheeler river boat in the Victorian style of the paddlewheelers that cruised in the 1800s. Public rooms and staterooms have large windows for river viewing. Live entertainment begins at the cocktail hour in the showroom and lounge. Folk songs, country western, jazz, golden oldies, and big band music is played for listening and dancing. There are lectures by onboard historians. Bow landings. All shore excursions are included in the cost of the cruise and may include a rodeo demonstration, visit with Nez Perce Indians, and jet boat ride into Hells Canyon on the Snake River. Excursions by motorcoach may include Mt. St. Helens volcano, Multnomah Falls, the Maryhill Museum of Art, Bonneville Dam, Lewis and Clark's Fort Clatsop, Pendleton, Tamstlikt Cultural Institute, and Columbia Gorge. Recent Fares Reported to Us: 7-night cruises from $1,195 (value staterooms) to $5,039 (owner's suite). Early booking discount of $400 per couple. For current fares and itineraries of Majestic America Line cruises, click on this direct link