Judy and Lil, you are right on track. As I was reading your posts, I was agreeing with you. Casino operators use all tricks that are necessary. A few years ago, after the Admiral was hit by a barge and then closed by a few high water incidents, the now-bankrupt President Casinos (still operating) petitioned that if they were allowed to move upriver to the north end of Laclede’s Landing, all would be great… they would be “safe” and be open more. And, of course, the lure… the city would make more money. Wow, just a few short years later and the company is bankrupt, got the ‘for sale’ sign out on everything (they sold the now-suffering President riverboat, but that didn’t help the cause), and the city is not making much money. The new solution? A new casino operator. But, it will be a competitor to the Admiral. They will build an all new BARGE casino, to go along with their millions in shoreside development, including a hotel. Now, what’s really interesting is that this same company was selected to build a sister casino in southern St. Louis county. This one will be even larger than the downtown one. Kind of a 2 for 1 deal. Pile of Debris Casinos is rumored to be buying the Admiral out of its bankruptcy, but I suspect that it will be sent to the fleet in Memphis, with the other President Casino/former Streckfus boat 'President'. How sad. Thank "Boss Hogg" John Connelly for screwing up a perfectly good President 10 years ago. The Admiral was not as lucky, so the casino is one of its only uses left.
Back to the DQSC, you are right, they will try every trick to get their way, too. My personal “focus group” could tell me this. If it means that they would dock a boat “until conditions improve”, they would do it. Afterall, the AQ sat around for about a year when DN resurrected the DQSC after American Classic ran itself into the ground. (Different situation, but still a boat sitting around unused.) Focus groups are often a flawed way to do things. So, in this case, they polled non-steamboaters in 3 large cities. What does that represent, other than a potential audience. So, they are shocked that these boats don’t offer what they enjoy on their ocean cruises. But, do they know that these boats cruise on rivers, are 400 feet long max, and are designed to be “different” than every other cruise vacation. Even with all of the missing “needs” they were shocked about, would they come if those things were offered. Probably not. So, what about the rest of us, who already enjoy this type of vacation the way it is? The assumption is that we will go along with whatever they decide, since we are longtime repeat passengers. Well, you screw around with us too long, and people stop spending the money. Then, you have REAL problems! My hope, but I know it won't happen, is that the gambling bill fails in the LA legislature and the casino idea disappears. But, we're talking Louisiana politics, where money and corruption sometimes still 'talk'. Unofficially, of course.
By the way, despite reports from others in the non-river cities, especially the northeast, they DO NOT advertise DQSC cruises in this city, which is one of the point-of-origination cities for many cruises. I have never seen these commercials or newspaper articles and I certainly don't run into people who even know about the majesty of a river cruise. So, there's a large audience out here that are not affected by this new media "blitz". It's just like old times--hardly anything. Here's a fun fact for you... I took a cruise that originated in St. Louis once. I was the only person on that cruise who was from St. Louis. Sounds like we are "missing the boat" in certain areas, huh.
Judy, I know that I was involved in part of the hullaballoo on this gambling subject last year, so don't feel bad if people call you insensitive or whatever. I think I had some jabs lobbed my way too.
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