Pioneering an Industry

 

It started small, like all great ventures, with a single sightseeing boat on the Connecticut River in 1970, and grew from there. Eventually a shipyard was added, then more vessels and more itineraries as the concept of river cruising in the U.S. began to slowly catch on.

The concept was long established in Europe, where riverboats – essentially extended barges – were common sights on the Rhine and Danube and Europe's other great rivers for decades, and Americans were eager customers. It took the vision and determination of one man – Charles A. Robertson, whose three sons now run the company – to make it a reality in the U.S.

Others had tried and failed, and today American Cruise Lines (ACL) is not only America's largest cruise line with 21 ships operating solely in the U.S. and nine more on order, it's also the only 100 percent American-flagged cruise line. It's pioneered itineraries all over the U.S. – from coastal New England in the East to the Columbia and Snake rivers in the West and everything in between. And it's pioneered and built new vessels to sail them, creating in the process the modern American riverboat.

You've probably seen the company's ads on TV or gotten one of its brochures in the mail. "Small Ship Cruising Done Perfectly®" is its slogan, and it's not far from the truth. "Perfection is a high bar," says President & CEO Charles B. Robertson, "and that's why it's so perfect. It keeps us striving to improve every day."

LEARNING THE HARD WAY

Robertson says the first thing he had to do when he took over the company in early 2020, following his father's death, was "shut it down." Covid was raging, and everything had come to a halt.

"Even my skeptics didn't think I would kill it that fast," he quips. "We had to figure it out on the fly. It was like the early days of the company when everything was new and everyone did whatever needed to be done."

ACL got through 2020 and 2021 and was smart about how it managed bookings and revenue and kept selling tickets. Importantly, the shipyard never shut down – Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Maryland – and that paid off when the company quickly began running again, meeting the boom in cruising that came after the pandemic lifted.

"We were able to take advantage of the rebound because we kept building," Robertson explains. "But I think more important than that is what it meant to all the people in both companies – Chesapeake and ACL. We kept people working and it was the clearest possible demonstration of commitment to the business. We were building ships, delivering them into layup and just waiting until we had our moment to get started again."

The company has been on a tear ever since, building new ships at the rate of three a year and feeding them into a market that's growing by leaps and bounds.

SHARING AMERICA'S STORY

The name itself, American Cruise Lines, the names of the ships, and the company's red, white and blue color scheme are no accident.

"My parents truly believed that their story and the way they founded the company was only possible in America," Robertson says. "We're an incredibly patriotic company. And the more I travel on our ships exploring America, the more patriotic and the more excited I get about it. We have such an extraordinary history, and it's so much fun to explore it and to share it with people."

You can follow the path of Lewis & Clark as they traveled down the Snake and Columbia rivers to the Pacific Ocean, or sail the Mississippi in a modern paddlewheeler the way Mark Twain did, or take an autumn foliage cruise up the Hudson River in New York, or get close to a glacier in Alaska – with more than 50 different itineraries to choose from.

The company keeps innovating new destinations and itineraries that celebrate the American experience and history and culture and appeal to its target audience: affluent Baby Boomers. It's an elevated, all-inclusive experience with spacious staterooms (much larger than on ocean cruise ships), gourmet food, curated excursions and no more than 180 passengers per vessel. There are no pools, no casinos, no prepaid beverage packages (drinks are free), no overpriced shore tours and no nickel-diming.

The company is distinguished as much by what it is not as by what it is, and it's not for everyone. "It's not like where you would go with your family on a big ship," says Robertson. "What the big ships do is add a lot of value to a lot of vacationers' experiences. It's just not at all what we're trying to be."

PROJECT BLUE

First announced in early 2022 as the pandemic ebbed, Project Blue – a new series of 12 small ships for the U.S. river cruise market – inaugurated the company's current growth phase and marked the beginning of a new chapter in its history. It was also the largest order of U.S.-built cruise ships in decades.

The new ships – 100-passenger Coastal Cats and 125-passenger Patriot Class vessels – provide the luxury of river cruising with the access and expanded itinerary options of expedition cruising. Their unique design enables the company to continue adding new cruises all over the U.S., particularly on protected waterways along the coasts like in Florida where several new ships have been recently added.

All the Project Blue ships – like the existing fleet – feature state-of-the-art design and environmentally friendly technology that includes using ultra-low sulfur fuel, advanced wastewater management and emission-control systems, and cold ironing (plugging into shore power when docked), among many other sustainability initiatives.

"It's all part of our commitment to operating responsibly in the environmentally sensitive areas we visit," says Robertson. "We're doing a lot with Tier IV now, for instance, and it's a challenge, but it's also pretty exciting what the new technology can do."

Two of the Coastal Cats (American Eagle and American Glory) were introduced in 2023 and two more (American Liberty and American Legend) in 2024. This year the first two Patriot Class ships will be launched – American Patriot and American Pioneer.

"The shipyard is really powering our growth," notes Robertson. "We've put a lot into it to ramp up production as much as we have." Investments in technology and manpower have allowed the yard to increase production from one to three ships per year.

SMALL SHIP CRUISING DONE PERFECTLY

The company has an extraordinary repeat rate among customers, testimony to how much they love the product. The fact that it's family-owned and has a family-like feeling on board is part of the magic. It's a winning formula, all right, and after 50+ years the future has never looked brighter. Happy sailing!

Tony Munoz is The Maritime Executive's founder, publisher and editor-in-chief.