Tom Stieghorst
Here's something that might surprise you: American Cruise Lines is emerging as one of the world's largest river cruise operators, even if it never goes near the industry's main battleground of Europe.
Using its affiliated shipyard in Salisbury, Md., American has been turning out new vessels for the better part of a decade. The brand's trademark red, white and blue funnels grace ships with names like American Glory and American Legend.
As the name implies, American operates exclusively in U.S. waters. No Europe, no Egypt, no Vietnam. Its ships are American flagged and American crewed, allowing it to legally go port-to-port in the U.S., unlike foreign-flagged vessels.
Strictly speaking, it isn't a pure river line. About a dozen of its more than 20 ships (26 ships by count on its website, both in the water and under construction) are hybrids, with the ability to do coastal itineraries, such as its popular Grand New England cruise, which visits 15 New England seaports in as many days. But the rest of its ships are deployed on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, and on the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest.
The American fleet has grown to be the fourth largest of any river cruise company worldwide. It is still well behind the industry leader Viking, which has 81 ships, and CroisiEurope, which numbers its fleet at 50, including some small cruise barges. AmaWaterways has 31 river ships, with two more scheduled for delivery this year.
A key to its growth has been control of the Chesapeake Shipbuilding Corp., which is responsible for all its newbuilds. The company, which dates to 1974, also builds commercial vessels like tugboats.
The yard has upgraded its production capacity significantly in recent years by acquiring additional land, building two new hull fabrication buildings and investing in additional automated equipment. It can now work on three new American cruise ships simultaneously.
Of American Cruise Lines' river vessels, the newest of its five Mississippi River ships is the 180-passenger American Serenade, which debuted in 2023. On the Columbia River, the similar American Jazz (2020) is the newest of five ships there. Some of American's older designs look like vintage paddlewheel steamers, but the newer ones have contemporary features, as do the ships of the other line on the Mississippi, Viking.
A competitor that used paddlewheel-style vessels, American Queen Voyages, went out of business last year, leaving that segment free for American and Viking, which so far has deployed one ship in the U.S., the Viking Mississippi.
This year, American Cruise Lines will add a pair of 125-passenger coastal ships, American Patriot and American Pioneer, to its fleet. In 2026 a new 180-passenger river ship arrives, American Encore, as well as two more coastal vessels, American Maverick and American Ranger.
One open question is how the company, which is family owned, has financed its supercharged growth. Although river ships aren't nearly as expensive as ocean ships to build, a new 190-passenger Viking Longship costs about $50 million, according to Viking financial documents.
Last year Viking sold shares to the public for the first time to help fund its growth. AmaWaterways is owned by private equity. American Cruise Lines CEO Charles B. Robertson has said it is actually more expensive to build ships in-house than to contract them out.
Asked about the source of financing for its shipbuilding program, an American spokeswoman simply reiterated that the company is "100% private and family owned."
Correction: The shipyard in Salisbury, Md., is affiliated with American Cruise Lines, not owned as a previous version of this article stated.