A Mississippi steamboat cruise through Louisiana and Mississippi brings families together in long forgotten ways.

The Delta Queen Steamboat Company hit a home run with families when it instituted Riverbonding Cruises aboard the paddlewheelers American Queen and Mississippi Queen in 2004. During the summer, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, these boats have at least one youth counselor on board and offer a number of kids-only as well as family-together activities.

I sailed on a four-night Riverbonding cruise aboard the American Queen out of New Orleans with my mother Gertrude, 11-year-old daughter Alex and niece Justine. Even though both young girls are very “plugged in” at home, they thoroughly enjoyed the slower steamboatin’ pace coupled with the fun, varied and wholesome family activities aboard ship. So did we.

In the past, DQSC’s traditional paddlewheelers were geared towards retirees. However, with Bruce Nierenberg – family cruising pioneer and founder of the now-defunct, kid-friendly Big Red Boat cruise line – at the helm, the company is succeeding in broadening its clientele to also include children, parents and grandparents. On our cruise in August, 2004, out of 436 passengers, there were approximately 30 children on board. There were also a few groups and many seniors, as all ages and even guests with mobility issues can be accommodated with the ship’s on-board elevator.

Riverbonding’s Junior Steamboaters

If you’ve cruised on big ships, don’t expect a similar day-long youth program where you can drop your kids off and pick them up only at meal times. Riverbonding’s kids-only activities are scattered throughout the day and evening and range from making rings out of dollar bills to a pajama party. The youth counselors will accept children from age 3-13 to participate in the kids’ activities, but I think those 5-years-old and over do best. Since there are only one or two youth counselors on board, they often have to group little kids with pre-teens, which may be tough for a preschooler in particular.

What Alex and Justine seemed to enjoy most were the activities required to earn their Cub Pilot’s Certificate and captain’s hat. To do so, kids had to attend five activities:  an engine room tour with the youth counselors, knot-tying class, pilothouse tour, Basic Navigational Know-How and a Riverlorian lecture.

The Riverlorian, or ship’s historian, imparts interesting “lore” about the river, its inhabitants and the ports of call. Most of her talks were given during the buffet breakfasts or luncheons, which facilitated attendance by many.  I thought the girls would find these talks either above their heads or boring. On the contrary, they listened, learned, and generally did not want to leave the talks until they were completely over. On our later excursion to Baton Rouge’s state capitol grounds, I was impressed with what they remembered from the Riverlorian’s talks.

Family Memories are Made Together

Although you and your children will learn about the people and history of the region while on board, Riverbonding activities are not totally of an academic nature. Families with children are given a list of board games prior to their cruise. Each child gets to choose one, which is then waiting in your cabin upon arrival. Most nights after dinner we happily played one of our games in the lovely Victorian Ladies’ Parlour and then devoured the complimentary cookies ‘n’ milk delivered to our stateroom prior to bed time.

While there were many family-oriented activities that we all enjoyed, the most memorable was kite flying from the boat’s deck. First, we had to put the kites together, then, try to catch a Mississippi River breeze. While we weren’t among the fortunate passengers to get a kite aloft successfully, we enjoyed trying and will remember that experience always. Unique activities on this steamboat cruise included trying to play the calliope, which is a miniature steam-powered organ, and making mardi gras masks to be worn on the last night at the lively Mardi Gras party.

We found plenty of relaxing things to do on our own, too. When we weren’t in port, the girls had a good time playing in the ship’s small pool and chomping on the free hot dogs and popcorn provided daily. Compared with Alex’s experience on 17 past cruises, this was special because we got to do things like watch the smoke stacks collapse prior to going under a bridge. Most importantly, the cruise provided us with much needed time to make our own fun and that we did.

Traditional Evening Fun

An after-dinner favorite was playing the upright piano in the Mark Twain Lounge. The girls took turns, one playing rousing ragtime tunes on the piano while the other danced with her grandmother or me. We always ended our evenings with some down time chatting and swinging on the Front Porch of America, which was the fore section of Deck 3. We loved sitting either in the rocking chairs or on three-person swings and watching the cargo ships ply the river. This was also a great time to check out the stars or the river banks. In preparation for our cruise, Alex had read “Tom Sawyer” and watched a remake of a “Huck Finn,” movie so she and I would often point to a deserted shore of the Mississippi and say, “Can’t you imagine Huck, Jim or Tom hanging out there?”

All the evening entertainment was very appropriate for kids and adults alike and reflected the local culture. For example, the first night we were treated to a first-rate New Orleans-style Dixie Land band and on another night, Cajun culture reigned with a lively local band and even a Cajun comedian.

I found the shows very tasteful, entertaining and thankfully devoid of the feathers and high heels that you’ll find in some floating reviews. Unlike the large ships, there are no casinos on these riverboats, nor entertainment until the wee hours. This cruise is not for you if your family wants to be constantly entertained, though there are two bars for those who would like to stay up and have a nightcap. We tend to be “early to bed, early to rise” travelers and thus felt very comfortable on the ship.

Educational and Lively Land Tours

Our four-night Mississippi River cruise through Louisiana and Mississippi was packaged with a three-day stay in New Orleans before the cruise. We loved the laid back and fun demeanor of our Cajun tour guides; they sure knew how to make us laugh while imparting interesting and educational information about their region. We strolled the French Quarter munching on beignets from Café du Monde; went on an interesting horse and carriage tour of the French Quarter; learned about colorful, local history at the Conti Wax Museum; and had a fabulous dinner at famous Brennan’s restaurant, where Bananas Foster was created. Naturally we had it for dessert and the girls were quite impressed by the tableside preparation, complete with flambé effect.

The DQSC package included the hotel, coupons for attractions, restaurants, baggage transfer and a pre-cruise bus tour. We stayed at the upscale Fairmont Hotel which was in walking distance of the French Quarter. On the day of our embarkation, we left our bags in our room, went sightseeing independently in the morning, enjoyed the bus tour after lunch, and were then dropped off at the American Queen pier. We didn’t have to think about our bags, which were already waiting in our staterooms.

Among DQSC offerings, there is a separate Riverbonding Tours brochure that highlights shore excursions most appropriate for children. We chose one of these and one from the regular brochure and the girls enjoyed both excursions immensely. Our first port of call was at Natchez, Mississippi, with its many antebellum homes. We went on the “Music, Mistresses and Marriage” tour to Frogmore Plantation. At this working cotton plantation, we heard gospel singing while sitting in a former slave chapel, were given tambourines to play, witnessed the African “jumping over the broom” ceremony, saw the cotton fields, and toured slave and overseer quarters.

Our next call was in the state capital of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where we were whisked away by bus to the Rural Life Museum for a “Child’s Day at the Plantation” tour. Our Cajun tour guide, Rodney, had us laughing from the moment we stepped aboard the bus. In addition to being a guide, he also is a professional accordion player and serenaded us once we arrived at the museum while Mike, a representative from the state tourism department, taught us Cajun two-stepping. The girls had a great time since they helped him demonstrate the fast moving dance steps. After that, the adults independently toured the grounds, which included schoolhouses, slave quarters, and other facilities from the 1800s. Justine and Alex got a separate lesson on using 1800s tools to grate corn off the cob, grind it and put it through a sieve until it resembled corn meal.

That day, my mother went on a full-day shore excursion to some of the large, well-known plantations such as Oak Alley and Laura Plantation. She felt very comfortable going alone and met other friendly seniors on the tour.

And that was the beauty of this whole experience – we each had some time to pursue our own interests, but also had plenty of time together to enjoy our atmospheric surroundings, and most importantly, each other.

Details:  Family Value Packages

From light fixtures, to oak desks and overstuffed chairs, our American Queen cabins overflowed with late 1800s charm. Since most cabins on the ship are for two passengers, we had connecting staterooms featuring two full bathrooms. There are some staterooms for three that can also be connected with another cabin to accommodate families of five or six.