The confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers aboard

The confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers aboard the Riverbarge "River Explorer."
Are you at a time in your life
when you want to take a cruise that’s
restful, uncrowded, un-noisy and unhurried, yet still interesting and stimulating. Then a riverbarge cruise is for
you.
Formerly only a European phenomenon, RiverBarge Excursion
Lines, Inc. has single-handedly brought
barge cruising to the United States,
and they're doing it right--boasting a
customer return rate of 18%. Many
return a second, third, fourth, or fifth
time to experience a different Riverbarge trip. Their 730-foot-long riverbarge, the R/B River Explorer, holds
198 passengers (based on double occupancy), and runs 52 weeks a year. Its
different trips include routes along the
Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and the
Cumberland River, as well as between
New Orleans and Galveston, Texas
and Port Isabel, Texas, along the
Intracoastal Waterway.
activity and the number of new friends
you have time to make. And in the
opinion of most of those who make
these trips, it’s the people that you
meet on a trip that have a lot to do
with the warm memories you have of
the overall experience.
It is interesting how many bring
books along “to catch up on their
reading.” And of course, there is time
to do that, too. But most find recreation with others much more pleasant.
It seems that the riverbarge clientele is
a very affable bunch. And the unhurried pace of barge cruising lends itself
to a congeniality of all the passengers.
Riverbarge cruising has several
distinct features that make it very
attractive: all-inclusive pricing (including all scheduled shore tours, port
charges and taxes), all-outside, large
staterooms, an American crew, seven
geographic regions of varied river
itineraries, no tipping, plus regional
music and food.
MEMPHIS TO ST. LOUIS
One of the many trips offered is
Memphis to St. Louis, up the Mississippi. You can fly to Memphis on
Delta Airlines and board the riverbarge at Mud Island. From there, you
follow the Mississippi to St. Louis over
six days--stopping at Caruthersville
and Cape Girardeau. This trip is one
of their shortest runs; others range
from 4 to 10 days. But it’s long enough
to learn a lot about the river. You can
also feel yourself becoming more relaxed every day. They aren’t kidding
when they say, “you’re on rivertime.”
One thing to remember when you
choose your itinerary is not just to
look for dates that are convenient to
your schedule, but also to take into
account what kind of activity level
you’d prefer. There are trips that have
more shore excursions than others.
On a trip with fewer excursions,
what you quickly discover is there is an
inverse relationship between scheduled
The R/B River Explorer, tied up at Cape Girardeau.
Since the barge doesn't leave
Memphis until midnight, you can take
in Mud Island and downtown Memphis. Mud Island offers the Mississippi
River Museum and World War II’s
most famous B-17 Bomber on display:
the Memphis Belle.
Beale Street, located downtown, is
known as the Home of the Blues and
the birthplace of Rock n'’ Roll. Blues
clubs that line Beale St. issue a
cacophony of live music. The street is
so filled with people, it's like Mardi
Gras in Memphis. Don't miss checking
out the beautiful, historic Peabody
Hotel. Beale Street's high energy is a
real contrast to the laid back experience to follow aboard the riverbarge.
Heading up-river from Memphis,
the Mississippi captivates you. And the
immense amount of barge traffic upon
it is a most colorful sight. But the Big
Muddy isn’t the same river that Huckleberry Finn rafted down. Efforts to
control flooding have meant building
levees under the river’s banks that
pinch the flow of the river’s water.
This, along with asphalt roads and
cities up-river mean an increase in
both the volume of river water and its
velocity. With the fast current and the
amount of barge traffic on the river in
both directions, if Huckleberry Finn
attempted the raft trip down river
today, his raft wouldn’t last an hour.
This is also why you'll see few recreational boats on the Mississippi on the
All Barge guests dine at the same seating.
400-mile trip between Memphis and
St. Louis.
You learn a lot about barging
while traveling on the Mississippi.
Barging is cleaner, safer and more cost
efficient--given its economy of scale-than any other mode of freight transportation. There’s no government restriction on the number of barges that
can be pushed by one towboat. 92
barges is the record.
The R/B River Explorer can make
about 12 knots. But since the river is
flowing against you at 6 knots, the
Riverbarge heads up-river at 6 knots.
The barge is also slowed because
south-bound barge traffic has the right
of way; northbound barges must yield
in spots where the river channel narrows.
Those who get seasick will be glad
to hear that on the R/B River Explorer, there’s almost no sensation of
movement--forward or laterally. You
don’t even feel the wake of other
barges. Yet, in spite of its size, the
barge only draws 6 feet of water.
The R/B River Explorer is actually
two three-decked barges connected-pushed by a 3,000 horsepower towboat--the Miss Nari.
The first barge, the DeSoto, has
the public facilities including the “galley.” This dining room can seat everyone on board, so there’s no “first” and
“second” seatings. There’s also no
assigned tables, so you don’t have to
sit with people you’d prefer not to, or
you can move around at each meal
and meet new people.
Breakfast and lunch are served
buffet style and dinner is done with
table service. There’s no midnight
buffets--like on the big cruise ships,
but you can “raid the fridge.” A
10-foot-wide by four-foot-high refrigerator is kept stocked 24 hours a day
in the galley, filled with sandwiches,
desserts, and appetizers. And the galley is never “closed.”
Barge traffic is a frequent sight on the Mississippi.
Next to the galley is the Sprague
Theater, where live musical entertainment is presented nightly at 8 PM.
And thankfully, there are no "Vegasstyle shows." Rather, local musicians
American staff are handpicked for
their character, friendliness, and work
ethic. Add to that a “no tipping”
policy, and you immediately understand why the service on-board is
sincere and even-handed.
Shuffleboard enthusiasts take to the River Explorer's "Skydeck."
from the area join the cruise to
perform. The theater is also used
during the days for special movie
presentations or for excursion briefings.
same barge means you don’t have a lot
of hall traffic at odd hours the way you
would on a cruise ship (where you
have to walk past staterooms to get to
the disco, etc).
Next to the theater, there’s the
lovely Crevasse bar that folks seem to
gravitate to after the evening’s entertainment.
We were lucky enough to meet
company president and mentor Eddie
Conrad on our trip. Conrad, who is
almost singularly responsible for bringing barge cruising to America in 1998,
explained that the barge was designed
to make passengers feel like “they’re
guests in our home. They’re GUESTS,
not passengers. That’s why there’s no
roped off areas. That’s why the galley
doors aren’t locked between meals.”
Upstairs on the first barge is the
main lobby, the purser’s desk, gift
shop and the game room. Once under
way, the main lobby area becomes the
ship’s “family room,” where folks go to
chat, curl up with a book, or play
cards. The feel of a family room is
augmented by presence of a "perpetual
cookie jar." The kitchen keeps this full
with freshly-made cookies 24 hours a
day.
He explained that the entirely
The staterooms are surprisingly
comfortable. You have your choice of
super-queen or twin beds. The bathrooms are FULL bathrooms--complete
with shower/bath tub. There’s also
satellite television, individually controlled room air conditioning, a small
refrigerator, hair dryer, a pair of
binoculars, and large picture windows
that open. Second floor staterooms are
a little higher priced, as they also have
a walkout balcony.
One thing that sometimes concerns travelers is water quality. That’s
why it’s so good to know that the
water quality on-board is excellent.
There’s no need to worry about drinking bottled water.
There’s also the matter of special
dietary needs. The crew are very eager
to satisfy when it comes to dietary
restrictions. Just let them know in the
kitchen when you first get on board.
R/B River Explorer has been in
operation for about four years. It’s
The game room is also a favorite
area. It has shelves of board games,
video tapes you can take back to your
room and view, or books to read.
There’s also bumper pool tables that
convert to card tables.
The second barge, the LaSalle, is
strictly staterooms, elevators, and
laundry rooms on the first and second
decks, and a skydeck (third deck) that
includes the canopied Under-TheBridge bar area (which also has a
24-hour beverage station), enclosed
exercise room, a jogging track, outdoor shuffleboard and hot tubs.
Having all the staterooms on the
Breakfast buffet is served.
never any big lines and you don’t feel
anonymous.
• There’s no concern about being in
the middle of an ocean.
• It’s restful. No one’s trying to sell
you a rum drink every five minutes.
• Casual attire means easier packing.
• An unstructured schedule means a
more relaxed trip.
• There's no emphasis on liquor, gambling or noisy entertainment.
An overhead shot of the Riverbarge taken from the top of the St. Louis arch.
clientele is almost entirely seniors.
Children are “welcome” on these trips
with the caveat that they are wellbehaved and they are the kind of
children that do not “need to be
constantly entertained.” Most passengers agreed that young children were
generally inappropriate on a cruise so
geared to relaxation.
On Day 2, Caruthersville is the
first stop heading up-river. It is a very
small town whose distinction is their
very nice casino. The barge ties up
within walking distance.
On Day 3, the riverbarge arrives
at the confluence of the Mississippi
and the Ohio Rivers. This is an
impressive matter as it’s really the
central junction of the United States.
The trip is timed to reach the confluence at dinner time, and they hold a
barbecue on the skydeck so you can be
outside and witness the event.
Of interest is the fact that most of
the water that flows to the lower
Mississippi is not from the upper
Mississippi, but from the Ohio River-in fact there's 10 times more water
flowing from the Ohio. Many argue,
for this reason, that the Ohio was
misnamed. It should have been named
the Mississippi.
Cape Girardeau is the riverbarge's
second stop, on Day 4. This quiet
river-front town of 40,000--the home
of Rush Limbaugh--has a colorful
history and made news most recently
• The River Explorer is wheelchair ac-
with 1993 floods that came up to a 49
foot crest.
The first thing you notice about
the town is the river wall, which holds
back the river during flooding. It is a
mile long and has an average height of
20 feet above and below the ground.
The town has a variety of retail,
antique dealers and fine restaurants.
The R/B River Explorer makes St.
Louis around 2 PM on the fifth day,
and incredibly, ties up RIGHT UNDER the St. Louis arch. If you're on
the port side of the barge, you can
look out your stateroom and see it
towering overhead--all 630 feet of it.
Made with 900 tons of stainless steel,
it is taller than the Washington Monument! Passengers are given vouchers
to go up into the top of the arch, and
many brave souls do.
The next morning, you'll say goodbye to the riverbarge and board a bus
to take a tour of the city, which
concludes at the airport and your
flight home.
RiverBarge Excursion Lines is
planning to add a second barge in the
next few years. This one will be
shorter, to enable it to pass through
rivers that have shorter locks.
In the meantime, there’s lots of
reasons to consider barging on your
next vacation:
• With only 198 passengers, there’s
A Cape Girardeau local points to the
49' flood crest of the 1993 flood.
cessible. There's even an elevator to
the skydeck.
• There's no tipping, and shore excursions are included in the cruise price.
• The money paid toward your cruise
is escrowed until the cruise is completed, so passengers are protected
from default.
For more information, call RiverBarge Excursion Lines, Inc., at 1888-462-2743 or go on-line at www.riverbarge.com. E-mail is rel@riverbarge.com, or write them at 201
Opelousas Ave., New Orleans, La.,
70114.