American Cruise Lines, which operates river and coastal cruises in North America is expanding in three directions at once, adding seven new-build ships in two classes and buying four paddle-wheel riverboats that had been operated by bankrupt American Queen Voyages.
Altogether, the additions will bring the company’s fleet to 25 ships as they come into the fleet over the next couple of years.
The new ships include a new river cruise ship, a 180-passenger sister to its American Riverboat series, which shifted U.S. emphasis from reproductions of 19th-century paddle-wheel steamers to ships closer to those that ply Europe’s rivers.
The other six are part of its ‘Project Blue’ class, designed to take just over 100 passengers on coastal itineraries where their low-draft catamaran hull design gives it access to a wider range of ports.
The ships bought from the American Queen bankruptcy have operated largely on the Mississippi, but there’s no announcement what their itineraries under their new owner will be.
