DINING ONBOARD THE STEAMBOATS

Dining on the steamboats while going up the Mississippi River is a wonderful experience.  And, the two boats are so completely different, it is hard to compare them.

The Orleans Room on the Delta Queen serves as both the dining room and the showroom, and the atmosphere is as friendly as you will ever find on a travel journey.  The dining room on the Mississippi Queen is bigger, fancier, and a room unto itself; the showroom is separate from the dining room on the MQ.  I love them both, and so will you... when you choose to take a ride on these extraordinary steamboats.

Here we are having dinner with our two table mates in the dining room of the Mississippi Queen.  Our friends are Kerry & Kellie Pollack, from Cleveland, Ohio.  They've only been married 11 months, so it was like a follow-up honeymoon for them.  They had just taken ballroom dancing lessons back in Cleveland, to learn to dance together in the romantic way, so they truly enjoyed dancing to the dance band in the Grand Saloon Showroom later in the evenings.  They also reported they enjoyed being "unplugged" from the rest of the world... with no electronic cellphone access or wireless broadband access most of the time.

Riding on the Delta Queen Steamboats provides you with a vacation that is truly relaxing... a real vacation.  It's the kind of vacation you don't have to come home to recover from!

We had the pleasure of dining with the master of the Mississippi Queen, Captain John Dugger, and his vivacious wife, Janice.  What a treat it was to visit with them over a delicious riverboat meal.  He is one of the most prominent captains on the river, having spent most of his career as the no.1 river pilot for the Corps of Engineers.  (I just had to pose for a flashy photo with him, after our dinner.)

When I was performing on the Mississippi Queen in the early 1980's, as "The Last of the Riverboat Gamblers," I met a woman onboard who was the most beautiful & alluring creature I had ever seen.  I decided the moment I first saw her I wanted to marry her.  I can't explain this in any rational or logical way, as I was a confirmed bachelor at the time!  It took me 3 months to convince her to marry me -- she later admitted to a great sense of risk in doing so! -- and we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary this year.  This is us, having dinner together in the dining room of the Mississippi Queen on Captain's Dinner Night.