Like Rome, America wasn’t built in a day, and to see it all could occupy a lifetime. What better way to sample the United States’ diversity than by threading along its waterways on a cruise?
Domestic cruises emphasize a region’s history, nature and local culture. Generally, these voyages aboard small ships are more casual than cruises aboard floating hotel-type vessels. Passengers choosing such journeys tend to be well-educated and lured more by learning than by luxury. Few vessels offer facilities dedicated to children.
However, each year more variety is added to the mix. Here are some of the more unique ways to see America, courtesy of a cruise:
– Clipper Cruise Line, a small St. Louis-based adventure line, is a leading explorer of America’s waterways, with the emphasis on explorer. Its two ships, the 138-passenger Yorktown Clipper and the 100-passenger Nantucket Clipper, carry Zodiac landing craft and, depending on itinerary, sail with stellar naturalists and historians. Clipper cruises explore Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, the Hudson River, New England’s islands and the Great Lakes. In May, a new cruise debuted, focusing on the ecology and history of the Chesapeake Bay. History buffs can choose cruises along the Intracoastal Waterway highlighting Colonial America, battlefields of the Civil War or the antebellum South. Duffers even get their shot with golf cruises along the Southeast coastline, which has more than 70 courses.
Last year, Clipper introduced cruise-and-rail combos, which combining six-day cruises on the Yorktown Clipper with five-day rail journeys on the private luxury train American Orient Express. Among the 15 refurbished rail cars from the 1940s and ’50s are sleeping cars, dining cars, lounges and a parlor-observation car that originally belonged to New York Central’s famous 20th Century Limited.
Sailings in California’s wine region are coupled with rail trips from San Francisco to Santa Fe via the Grand Canyon. The Clipper has assumed the onboard management of the American Orient Express, which means that Clipper-hired staff will oversee all passenger services on the train, from gourmet meals to the turndown provided by the porters.
Clipper’s cruises start at $1,150 for the six-day Chesapeake Bay ecology cruise. For more information, call 800-325-0010.
– Another company linking cruises with U.S. travel in private rail cars is Uncommon Journeys, which operates three private luxury rail carriages — the Houston, the Los Angeles and the City of Angels. Dining service aboard the train is under the aegis of Regina Charboneau, chef of Regina’s, a San Francisco restaurant. Uncommon Journey’s cruise-rail holidays pair cruises on Delta Queen Steamboat Co. paddle wheelers with overland train trips. If turn-of-the-century steamboats aren’t Americana enough, there’s Debbie Reynolds, “America’s sweetheart,” who will perform aboard the Mississippi Queen during a 13-day New Year’s cruise-rail combo departing Dec. 28. This package combines the nine-night cruise from Nashville with a rail journey from New Orleans to Los Angeles. It includes two hotel nights in New Orleans and free air fare to Nashville. Rates start at $2,295.
An 11-day package departing Oct. 10 combines a rail journey from Oakland, Calif., to Chicago with a five-night cruise on the American Queen from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh. Starting fares, from $2,995, include two nights at Chicago’s Fairmont Hotel, post-cruise hotel in Pittsburgh and return air fare from Pittsburgh to any U.S. city. For more information, call 800-323-5893.
– Independent of Uncommon Journeys, Delta Queen Steamboat Co. is best-known for its three authentic steam-powered paddle wheelers, which retrace America’s history on nine heartland waterways — from the mighty Mississippi and Ohio to the Arkansas and Atchafalaya Rivers. It is the oldest U.S.-flagged cruise line, sailing since 1890. The line’s ports of call offer opportunities to visit antebellum plantations, the boyhood home of Mark Twain and historic Civil War sites. Ports of embarkation and disembarkation: New Orleans; St. Louis; Minneapolis-St. Paul; Louisville; Cincinnati; Pittsburgh; Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga; Little Rock, Ark.; Galveston, Texas; and Ottawa, Ill.
Also new for the line this year are six-night fall-foliage cruises on the Illinois River in October and a Cajun culture cruise from New Orleans in November.
Air fare bonuses are offered for cruises booked with deposits eight months before departure: You’ll get free round-trip air fare on cruises of seven nights or more or a $150 air fare allowance on cruises of six nights or less. For more information on rates and schedules, call 800-543-7637.
– You can retrace the journeys of Lewis & Clark on Special Expeditions’ 70-passenger Sea Bird and Sea Lion, luxury yachtlike vessels with all outside cabins and Zodiac landing craft for up-close explorations. These Pacific Northwest voyages on the Columbia and Snake Rivers are led by historians and naturalists. Eight seven-day departures are offered in October, starting at $1,190, including excursions. For more information, call 800-762-0003.
– Alaska Yacht Safaris is a new company that caters to the upscale nature-lover seeking a look at Alaska. Cruises aboard two 100-foot, 12-passenger yachts start at $3,950, and include such stateroom luxuries as Jacuzzis. Prices also include tony amenities: private limousine airport transfers, wine and alcoholic beverages, guided safaris, champagne on secluded islands, most shore excursions and private receptions with local artists in Prince Rupert and Juneau. Through September, the yachts ply 30 seven-night cruises between Vancouver and Juneau, visiting remote villages and nature sites in the company of naturalists. For more information (and 1998 schedule), call 800-325-6722.
– Don’t overlook our 50th state. Year-round, children under age 17 cruise free on American Hawaii’s Independence. In addition, between July 5 and Aug. 9, the line is throwing in all this for free: a $200 shipboard credit per cabin, a two-night pre- or post-cruise stay at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Waikiki for two adults and their children or grandchildren sharing their cabin, plus a two-day car rental. Two adults sailing without children get the same package with a $400 shipboard credit. Seven-day sailings start at $1,695. For more information, call 800-765-7000.
– Rhode Island-based American Canadian Caribbean Line (800-556-7450) offers Great Lakes cruises and sailings from New Orleans to Chicago on ships of fewer than 100 passengers.
