Millions of people have hopped aboard ships to sail Europe’s great rivers, from the Loire to the Rhine to the Volga. Companies such as Viking River Cruises have been so successful they’re now expanding into Asia, selling journeys along the Irrawaddy, the Mekong and the Yangtze.
As Bloomberg reports, only 55,000 of the 700,000 people who cruise rivers each year do so in the U.S., where the market is dominated by two privately held companies, American Cruise Lines and American Queen Steamboat. The latter, based in Memphis, operates the American Queen, the world’s largest riverboat, on the Mississippi all but six weeks a year, and a second ship, the American Empress, on the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest.
Now, the possibilities for growth in the U.S. market have drawn river cruise operators to cut prices and add ships, while also branching out to the Great Lakes. Both American Cruise and American Queen say their business is growing robustly, driven by aging boomers and a unique, upscale travel product that’s close to home. Both privately held firms are plotting expansions to fill an even bigger niche in the U.S. cruise industry.
Many blame the stunted U.S. industry on the 1920 federal Merchant Marine Act, known as the Jones Act, which requires that travel between U.S. ports be conducted on U.S.-built ships owned by Americans and with American crews. That makes U.S. cruises more expensive than many of those available in Europe and significantly pricier than the average weeklong ocean trip on Carnival or Royal Caribbean Cruises. The smaller boats that ply rivers don’t offer the economies of scale of the oceangoing behemoths; the broader industry expects 24 million cruisers this year.
American Queen’s average fare is $3,400 per person for an eight-day sailing; American Cruise’s lowest rate for a comparable summer voyage is more than $4,500. Low-season sailings are slightly less, but a couple can easily spend $15,000 for a week on the Mississippi. In Europe, where the options are more like ocean cruising, a voyage can be found at nearly every budget level, from no-frills to luxury.
“The legal side is a little bit of a challenge,” said Rudi Schreiner, president of AmaWaterways, which offers upscale river cruises in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa on 20 vessels. “If not for the Jones Act, it probably would be a little easier.”
