Majestic America Line Announces 2008 Farewell Season for the Delta Queen

The historic steam paddlewheeler Delta Queen will have her last sailing in November 2008. The Delta Queen was built in 1926 and has a wooden superstructure. Subsequent Coast Guard regulations prohibited wooden superstructures, but Congress decided more than 40 years ago to provide a special exemption from these rules for the historic Delta Queen. This exemption, which Congress has extended no fewer than six occasions, will expire in November 2008. Majestic America Line and many supporters of this classic river ship lobbied to extend the exemption, but Congress declined, and the Delta Queen will not be able to continue river cruises.

Majestic America Line is planning several special cruises to celebrate the history of the Delta Queen, which has sailed some of the great rivers of the United States, including the Upper and Lower Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Black Warrior and Cumberland rivers, as well as the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

In 1970, the Delta Queen was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1989, she was designated as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of Interior. She was inducted into the National Maritime Hall of Fame in 2004.
Majestic America Line Announces 2008 Farewell Season for the Delta Queen

Delta Queen Photo Courtesy of Majestic America Cruises