Globalfish

Road Scholar is probably salivating at an opportunity to offer Great Lakes cruises again and I’m sure they would jump at it. Without them leaves a terrible void in their domestic cruise offerings.

Yes, I too hope he can make it a go. Would book a Lake Superior cruise that begins and ends in Chicago (with a similar itinerary to AQV’s Ocean Navigator cruise that I was originally supposed to take this August). I agree with you that it would have to be cheaper than Viking.

Also see https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/john-waggoner-reviving-victory-cruise-lines-great-lakes

https://www.travelweekly.com/Cruise-Travel/John-Waggoner-revive-Victory-Cruise-Lines

Will also be on the RA from Vancouver to Nome starting 4 Aug 2024. Cabin 721. It will be my first expedition, but not my first cruise. See you in Alaska!

Everyone’s happy: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/American-Queen-Voyages-ships-find-new-life

The sale of the four AQV riverboats to ACL was just approved by the Bankruptcy Court in Houston. The sale of the Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator to a different buyer is still pending. https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/finance-legal-regulatory/19m-winning-bid-aqv-coastals-court-oks-6m-sale-river-vessels

I’d like to see it return to Alaska. For prospective repeat Alaskan cruisers, ACL could use a more innovative Alaskan cruise itinerary in addition to their wonderful Alaskan Explorer cruise that I took last summer (or the longer and shorter versions of it that they offer). I’m thinking along the lines of Metlakatla, Misty Fjords, Kake, Endicott Arm, Dawes Glacier, Elfin Cove. In other words, something similar to Ponant’s July 2024 9-day Inside Passage itinerary, albeit hopefully cheaper. ACL, if you are reading this, hint, hint. Would do it in a heartbeat!

Yes, if the Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator purchase goes through and the vessels are appropriately brought up to “ship shape” to ply the Great Lakes once again, Road Scholar is likely to be one of John Waggoner’s first customers.

Aegean Odyssey. $&#*!

The charterer isn’t mentioned, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is US educational study program provider Road Scholar which used the same ship in Alaska with AQV.

Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator rescued from the scrap heap? https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/American-Queen-Great-Lakes-cruise-ships-sold-at-auction

What transpired with this? Don’t see anything online about it. Has the auction been further postponed?

Agree. If AQV’s competitor ACL had sensed more of a market for AQV-style cruising, they would have commissioned their 3 newest boats plying the Mississippi (the Melody, the Symphony, and the Serenade) to be built as [pseudo] paddlewheelers instead of sleek modern design.

Definitely BS. If it were Covid, ACL and possibly even Viking would be “on the rocks” as well.

For university business schools — a classic, textbook case on how NOT to run a company.

Ditto!

Whatever on earth could explain their financial obligation to Elevation Africa Destinations? Were they considering offering an expedition along the west coast of Africa or around the Cape of Good Hope?

And even more far-fetched, Elevation Africa Destinations.

Apparently Hornblower’s pure unbridled greed has done itself in. Alas, the Hornblower Group itself has just filed for bankruptcy: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/hornblower-group-files-for-chapter-11-to-be-acquired-by-svp and more to the matter at hand: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hornblower-group-to-be-acquired-and-receive-significant-new-equity-investment-302067034.html

They’ve been “obfuscating” the truth for almost a year, if not more. In Aug. 2022 I put down a deposit on a 14-night Great Lakes cruise on the Ocean Voyager starting Aug 10, 2024 beginning and ending in Chicago. On March 28, 2023 I was informed by AQV that my cruise had been cancelled because they are temporarily taking the Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator out of service next year because they are revamping their Great Lakes itineraries. We know where they wound up…

Very sad. They expanded without thinking. A lesson to all never to bite off what one can’t chew. As a person who has taken over 100 Road Scholar trips (albeit not cruises), I feel especially sorry for all those who had 2024/25 Road Scholar cruises on AQV ships — on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Columbia Rivers, as well as their Alaska expedition.

A similar article appears at https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/American-Queen-Voyages-cancels-February-sailings. Methinks that greedy venture capitalists took a long-standing company with a fine reputation and ran it right to the ground. Not sure it can ever recover but wishing it the best. The first step should be to get back to their roots on the Mississippi and chuck the expedition stuff (i.e. Alaska) and other “flotsam and jetsam.”

In other words, AQV’s problems are a case of venture capitalism gone terribly awry.

AQV’s Response dated 11 Jan 2024: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/American-Queen-Voyages-response-to-travel-agency-groups