A few weeks ago, Carol and I had the pleasure of sailing on the American Queen Steamboat as it sailed on the Ohio River from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh. Our cruise was an extremely enjoyable experience in virtually every respect, and it was definitely a wonderful way to enjoy the scenery along one of America's most beautiful rivers. It was also an excellent way to explore and learn about the history of numerous small towns and mid-size cities as well as a superb way to view and learn about the intricacies and challenges of navigating on a river as opposed to sailing on an ocean.

The American Queen Steamboat Company began service this past April and the line is being operated by the same executives who ran the highly regarded Delta Queen back in the 1990's. Headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, this is an American company with a warm, friendly, and enthusiastic all-American staff who were recruited from that area and also from many other parts of the country.

The line offers cruises on the Ohio, Mississippi, and Tennessee rivers and their itineraries range from 4 to 10 nights in length. Many of the guests to whom we spoke during our trip were sailing on back-to-back voyages and many of them had previously sailed on the Delta Queen and were extremely excited about the relaunch of the line. Read more