Major US small-ship cruise brands merge to form American Queen Voyages
Two of North America’s biggest small ship cruise brands – the American Queen Steamboat Company and Victory Cruise Lines – have merged to form American Queen Voyages, offering a mix of river, lake, ocean and expedition sailings.
The new brand includes American Queen Voyages River (formerly American Queen Steamboat Company), American Queen Voyages Lakes & Ocean (formerly Victory Cruise Lines) and American Queen Voyages Expedition, which includes new Alaska and Central America expedition experiences beginning in 2022 by new exploration ships formerly branded under Victory Cruise Lines.
The new-look American Queen Voyages will continue to be represented in Australia by small-ship specialist Cruise Traveller, which is offering Australians savings of up to US$2,000 ($2,742) per couple on a range of newly released 2023 river, lake, coastal and expedition cruises as well as a zero deposit offer for bookings made by the end of this month.
Looking ahead, American Queen Voyages will offer eight vessels by 2023 and deliver encounter-driven, small-ship adventures throughout America’s heartland rivers, the Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest, as well as Canada, the US east coast, Mexico and Alaska.
The rebranding was announced by the parent company of the two brands, the Hornblower Group, which also revealed that as part of the merger, its identical lake and ocean ships, Victory I and Victory II, will be renamed Ocean Voyager and Ocean Navigator, which syncs with the company’s new state-of-the-art expedition vessels, Ocean Victory (launching in mid-2022) and Ocean Discoverer (launching mid-2023).
The four lake and ocean ships join American Queen Voyages’ four paddle wheelers, American Queen, American Duchess, American Countess and American Empress, which ply America’s greatest rivers such as the Mississippi, Ohio and Columbia rivers.
The fresh one-fleet, one-brand strategy will be underscored by the new marketing tagline, ‘Discovery Runs Deep’, embracing the diversity of travel experiences American Queen Voyages will now offer across America’s rivers, lakes, oceans and wilderness areas.
A special video for the Australian market has been released to announce the rebrand, which you can check out below:
Featured image source: American Queen Voyages
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