American Cruise Lines, a small-ship specialist sailing on U.S. rivers and coastal waterways, is forging ahead with aggressive plans to build 12 new “goanywhere” vessels.

Called Project Blue, the identical 109-passenger ships will feature a hybrid catamaran design that allows shallow-draft access and stable sailing along lakes, rivers, bays and coastlines. The first two are debuting in 2023 and will be named American Eagle and American Glory after the company’s first two small U.S.-built ships. They will operate East Coast itineraries.

Small-Ship Experts

“American Cruise Lines has a 50-year history. We’ve built and operated small ships and riverboats in the U.S. for a long time and continue to believe strongly in the market,” said Charles B. Robertson, company president and CEO. “That experience base helped embolden us to both continue building throughout the past few years and get back on the water exploring again sooner than most others.”

Like all of American’s new ships, the entire Project Blue fleet will be built by sister company Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Md. American’s fleet is U.S.-built, -crewed, and -registered.

Growing Demand

Robertson said the time is right to expand because demand is growing for close-to-home cruises.

“The interest in domestic cruising here in the U.S. continues to grow each year, and the pandemic only compounded the demand for new small ships and experiences closer to home,” he said. “Both our new Project Blue fleet, as well as the six new riverboats we have introduced since 2018, offer our cruise guests an array of new options for exploring all over this vast country.”

Project Blue Fleet

The Project Blue hybrid catamaran design gives the company the flexibility to operate on shallower waterways and along the U.S. coasts.

“Our new Project Blue fleet started as a design challenge to create a boat small enough for New England harbors and stable enough for the Alaska Inside Passage, with a draft shallow enough for the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway,” Robertson said. “The catamaran bow enables these boats to operate almost anywhere, and that ability allows us to offer many new goanywhere itinerary options and expand the reach of many of our existing itineraries.”

New Modern Riverboats

American this year is adding two new, 175-passenger, all-balcony stateroom modern riverboats – American Symphony in late August on the Mississippi and American Serenade near year’s end. The riverboats have a sleek design in contrast to the Victorian-style of the paddlewheel boats.

“Our guests have absolutely loved the new riverboats,” Robertson said. “Their elegant interior design that debuted on American Melody and spacious architecture of the fleet has truly elevated the American river cruise experience beyond expectations and attracted many new guests.”

American currently operates 15 ships, all accommodating just 100- 190 passengers, which cruise to more than 35 domestic itineraries in 31 states.

Classic Paddlewheelers Updated, Renamed

American Cruise Lines’ four classic paddlewheel riverboats were updated and renamed before launching the 2022 season in March. America, Queen of the Mississippi and Queen of the West were renamed American Splendor, American Heritage and American West, respectively, while American Pride will retain its original name.

“Both in designation and design, all four of our classic paddle-wheelers have been remodeled to meet the sophisticated new bar we set for U.S. river cruising with our newest riverboats,” said President and CEO Charles B. Robertson.

Plus, the names starting with “American” help reinforce that it’s a U.S.-built and -flagged cruise line.

“On every metric, we are the only 100-percent American cruise company,” he said. “We are American Cruise Lines, and we operate the American fleet.”