American Cruise Lines Chooses To Scrap Former AQV Vessels
by Dori Saltzman
American Countess is one of two ships that will be scrapped. Photo: AQV
American Cruise Lines revealed its plans to scrap two of American Queen Voyages’ former ships, American Countess and American Duchess, to Seatrade Cruise News. While some of the art and furniture will be salvaged, the ships themselves will be “recycled.”
As for American Queen and American Empress, plans are still up in the air, though the chances ACL will absorb American Queen into the fleet are looking slimmer by the day. One possibility ACL is considering is donating American Queen to “a municipal or nonprofit entity.”
According to the Seatrade Cruise News, the amount of money required for the technical work needed to return American Queen to service would be “costly.” American Cruise Lines paid $6 million for all four vessels, along with all intellectual property including trademarks, customer database, and website domain names.
Plans for American Empress are less clear, but it will definitely not be operating on the Columbia and Snake rivers this year.
In a statement sent to TMR, ACL simply said “American Cruise Lines remains focused on modernizing and elevating the domestic cruise industry with new ships, large staterooms, modern technology, and rigorous environmental standards. We have recycled the former AQV vessels Countess and Duchess. We continue to evaluate options for the Queen, including the possibility of donation to a municipal or non-profit entity.”
The Seatrade article goes on to theorize that ACL’s reason for purchasing the ships was to prevent competition on the American rivers, though the article also details some of the financial hurdles the four ships represented for American Queen Voyages.
