American Queen Steamboat Company has a new timeline for
restarting domestic river cruises.
While the American Duchess will resume service on July 20 as
previously announced, the first cruise for the American Empress will be pushed
back from July 6 to July 19. The Empress will sail on the Columbia and Snake
rivers in the Pacific Northwest.
The American Countess and American Queen are now scheduled
to start sailing on the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers on Aug. 8.
AQSC said the decision to update its sailing schedules was
made “in an abundance of caution due to local regulatory compliance and ongoing
governmental restrictions across ports, cities and public institutions.”
“We hope that with this extended suspension and our ongoing
work with local partners in each of the communities we visit will help bring
our guests back to the river and allow us to continue offering the same high
quality, extraordinary cruise experience they are desiring.,” said AQSC founder
and CEO John Waggoner.
The new timeline follows AQSC’s recent announcement that it
was partnering with Ochsner Health to help implement new health and safety
protocols and disease prevention and mitigation strategies.
As part of that partnership, guests will have real-time
access to infectious disease experts within Ochsner’s telehealth system.
AQSC says it has also reached agreements with regional
healthcare providers along all of its routes to ensure passengers can be taken
ashore quickly for treatment if necessary.