American Cruise Lines will increase its footprint in the Pacific Northwest next year, sending the Queen of the Mississippi (to be renamed) to join the Queen of the West on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.
The company said that the addition of the Queen of the Mississippi -- a three-year-old vessel featuring oversized staterooms and private balconies -- will more than double the capacity on those waterways, helping to to meet increased demand in the region.
The line’s new riverboat, America, will replace the Queen of the Mississippi on the Mississippi River in early 2016. She is scheduled to be launched this week at the company's Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Md., and will be moved to the East Outfitting Basin for completion of the upper decks and final outfitting. A new Queen of the Mississippi is also under construction at Chesapeake.
