When it comes to operating cruises along the world’s rivers, you have to just go with the flow — a fact that became starkly apparent this summer on the Mississippi River, which experienced record low water levels due to a severe drought.
No matter how much river cruise companies invest in the hardware, in the passenger experiences onboard and off, there is one thing they can’t control, and that is the temperamental tide of the rivers themselves.
The Mississippi drought came one year after the same mighty river experienced historic flooding in 2011, which only further underscored just how mercurial a river can be. It also came just as the Mississippi was playing host to its own renaissance: the reintroduction of overnight passenger cruising along its waterways after several years of near dormancy.
Consequently, it hasn’t been the most seamless inaugural season for the 436-passenger American Queen and the 150-passenger Queen of the Mississippi, which after launching in April and August, respectively, had to make a couple minor itinerary alterations because of the low river levels.
But that’s just part of doing business on the river, acknowledged Tim Rubacky, senior vice president of sales, marketing and product development for the American Queen Steamboat Co., which owns the American Queen.
“We can’t control the river, but the beauty of it is we can control the experience,” Rubacky said.
Indeed, while the low water levels on the Lower Mississippi this summer and the corresponding logistical changes, such as transferring passengers by bus between Memphis and Vicksburg, Miss., probably gave the vessel’s operations team a sizeable headache, it was also an opportunity for the company to showcase a different kind of service level, one that involves troubleshooting and problem solving on a moment’s notice.
The same has been true in Europe when high water levels have made it impossible for river cruise vessels to pass under certain bridges: Operators came up with the idea of bringing two sister ships on opposite itineraries up to the bridge and essentially swapping their passengers.
The end result should be that even if the itinerary isn’t executed 100% as originally planned, the customer should have as good of an experience as possible, regardless of how high or low the water is, because changing tides are a reality of river cruising.