Ambassadors International, owners of the historic Delta Queen, have chartered the vessel to Harry Phillips, owner of Chattanooga Water Taxi and Fat Cat Ferry in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to act as caretaker. Ambassadors said the paddlewheeler will operate as a boutique hotel, preserved in its current state and managed by Sydney Slome, owner of Chattanooga’s StoneFort Inn. Slome purchased the historic inn from Phillips two years ago.

Ambassadors said it continues to search for a buyer to operate Delta Queen as an overnight vessel while also pursuing a congressional exemption to enable the 82-year-old wooden vessel to resume service.

Delta Queen is a National Historic Landmark and recently was nominated for inclusion on the National Trust for Preservation’s 2009 list of America’s Most Endangered Historic Places. Ambassadors stated that the agreement with Phillips states that the vessel will not be altered in any way. The company selected Phillips due to his knowledge of restoring and maintaining historical properties and his maritime experience.

“The Delta Queen is a national treasure and she will be cared for accordingly until her return to overnight cruise service,” Phillips said.

The boat offers 87 cabins for overnight stays. Slome plans to book Delta Queen’s entertainment venues and offer Dixieland jazz and shows ranging from cabarets to musical revues. Group tours are envisioned, to teach visitors about steam technology. Delta Queen is scheduled to depart New Orleans for Chattanooga in February. It will moor at Chattanooga’s Coolidge Park Landing.

It looks like another cruise queen is about to become a floating hotel. Ambassadors International, owner of the Delta Queen, said it is in talks to lease the vessel for use as a hotel. A report in this week’s Travel Weekly quotes Ambassadors’ vice president of corporate development, Joseph McCarthy, stating the company is in talks with various parties in regards to a lease. But there’s a catch, the lease would be subject to a sale to operate the vessel as an overnight cruise passenger vessel and that would require a congressional exemption.

The Delta Queen is no longer permitted to sail. Built in 1926, the Delta Queen has a steel hull and a wooden superstructure. A 1966 law prohibits wooden vessels from carrying 50 or more people on overnight trips, but in 1968, Congress granted the Delta Queen an exemption that had been renewed nine times over the next 40 years. That exemption expired on October 31, 2008.

In December, four members of Congress signed a letter to President Bush asking for an executive order to extend the Delta Queen’s exemption.

Stay tuned for more…

Joe Ueberroth, chairman and CEO of Ambassadors International the parent company of Windstar Cruises and the now defunct steamboat operator Majestic America Line, has voluntarily given up his compensation but will receive 250,000 unrestricted shares which will vest in one year.

According to the company, Ueberroth was set to receive approximately $3 million in cash with an option up to $6 million in certain circumstances in September 2009. He also gave up his 2008 long-term compensation valued at $750,000 that was due in stock.

Ambassadors International stated that Ueberroth’s compensation package was offered in 2006 when the company’s situation, and the economy, was in a lot better condition.

On February 23, 2007 Ambassadors’ stock reached an all-time high of $47.01 — yesterday shares closed at a record low 79 cents. Ouch!

As the Delta Queen left Pittsburgh for a recent 10-day Ohio River cruise, the last of America’s wooden paddlewheel steamers played its famous calliope for passengers and swarms of fans gathered along the banks of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers.

This scene is a typical one that has played out since 1927 along America’s great waterways. But it’s not business as usual. A “Save the Delta Queen” banner hangs from the deck railing reflecting the hope that this will not be the last summer for this historic boat.

Double trouble

The Delta Queen’s survival is threatened by a 1966 federal fire safety law called the Safety at Sea Act, which prohibits any wooden vessel with more than 50 passengers from making overnight voyages. The boat carries 174 passengers and 80 crew. Despite the law, the Delta Queen has won nine congressional exemptions. The latest will expire in October, and efforts in Washington to renew it have failed thus far.

Why, after 40 years, is the exemption about to be pulled? The reasons appear to be political.

Majestic America Line, which operates the Delta Queen along with four other steamboats, says the real opposition has been Congressional allies of the Seafarers International Union. The union represented the Delta Queen’s crew for more than 30 years, until Majestic America took over the boat in 2006 and made them non-union. Since then, two union-friendly congressmen, Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota and Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii have actively pursued to permanently dock the Delta Queen, stating the ship isn’t meeting safety standards.

Majestic America is quick to point out that the Delta Queen has an excellent safety record despite its wooden superstructure. The hull is made of steel and the wood has been coated with fire-resistant paint, every room is equipped with heat and smoke detectors, and modern sprinkler and electronic monitoring systems have been installed. Additionally, there is a guard on duty who patrols the ship during the night. Also, like big cruise ships, the Delta Queen’s passengers and crew undergo a fire and boat drill at the beginning of each cruise.

If Congressional opposition wasn’t a big enough obstacle there’s another issue. Ambassadors International, the parent company of Majestic America Line, announced last month that it is selling its steamboat business to concentrate on its international cruise line, Windstar. The company says it’s hopeful that it will find a buyer who will continue to operate all its steamboats.

Oddly, when it comes to ownership it seems that change is business as usual for the Delta Queen; it has changed owners six times.

National treasure

The Delta Queen was built in 1926 to transport passengers and cargo on California’s waterways. During World War II, the boat was called into military service in order to transport troops on the West Coast. In 1947 the boat was decommissioned and was purchased by Greene Line Steamers of Cincinnati, who transported the boat on a barge through the Panama Canal, to its new home where it would cruise the Mississippi, Ohio, and Missouri rivers.

“The Delta Queen has soul,” says Mary Charlton, the boat’s historian. As I walked with Charlton around the Delta Queen, I have to agree with her soulful assessment. The Delta Queen is a product of a by-gone era with its stained-glass windows, elegant red mahogany woodwork, and rare Siamese ironwood floors.

Charlton points out the 32-whistle, steam-driven calliope whose 44-karat gold-plated pipes fill the air with happy tunes each evening as the boat cruises. She then shows me the original bell that came from a steamboat Mark Twain rode on in the 1880s when he was researching his book “Life on the Mississippi.”

Indeed, history is everywhere around the Delta Queen.

“She is the only remaining example of a time when our rivers were our superhighways,” adds Charlton. She says for that reason the boat has been designated a National Historic Landmark.

Chasing Delta

As the Delta Queen left Pittsburgh many fans drove six miles downriver to meet the boat at its first lock, Emsworth Lock and Dam. As the boat entered the 110-by 600-foot chamber the calliope bellows out “The Pennsylvania Polka.”

Within minutes of the first notes, a traffic jam had formed on the roads leading to the dam. People crowded against the metal fencing to get a better view and many came equipped with cameras and camcorders in hand. For most, the opportunity to wave to passengers and watch the technical marvel of the lock was a fun change of pace.

However, for some the vision of the Delta Queen lowering in the lock was a somber one. Pittsburgh residents Ellen and Bill Simpson had chased the Delta Queen downriver because it might be the last time they see it. With tears in her eyes, Ellen talked about how much the boat means to them. The couple has cruised on the Delta Queen a half dozen times over the years and hopes to be able to continue doing so. “It’s an American classic,” said Ellen. “We must save it.”

If the Delta Queen is spared, it won’t be the first time. In 1970 the boat had a jazz funeral in New Orleans before winning a last-minute exemption. Let’s hope the politicians in Washington wake up and grant this great steamboat the exemption it truly deserves.

For more information on how you can help visit the Save the Delta Queen site.