According to a US Court filing, American Cruise Lines (ACL) has purchased four of bankrupt American Queen Voyages (AQV) river ships, plus other assets.
“American Cruise Lines is pleased to be the successful bidder for AQV’s river vessels. We look forward to announcing additional details after this portion of the Hornblower Holdings bankruptcy process concludes,” the company said in a statement.
The reported sale price was:
American Queen = $2.15 mill
American Empress = $1.6 mill
American Countess = $1.6 mill
American Duchess = $200,000.
Other related assets, including, trademarks associated with AQV, website domain names and some business records = $750,000.
An asset auction was held, including for the coastal ships, following AQV’s bankruptcy, with ACL emerging as the winner of the river fleet.
It was not known who bought the two coastal ships in the company’s fleet, ‘Ocean Navigator’ and ‘Ocean Voyager’.
In addition, ACL revealed that two more new small ships were due to join the fleet in 2025 – ’American Patriot’ and ’American Pioneer’ (pictured).
These 125-pax sisterships represent the 5th and 6th ships in the company’s ‘Project Blue’ series of 12 new small ships earmarked for the US market. The ships are being built by ACL’s affiliated shipyard, Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Maryland.
‘American Patriot’ is due to begin sailing in June, 2025, and ‘American Pioneer’ in November next year. Both ships will operate on ACL’s exclusive US itineraries on the East Coast, including new 15-day Grand Florida Coast & Keys cruises, beginning in 2025.
They will feature five decks and 56 staterooms and will offer a more traditional bow construction and slightly deeper draft with full stabilisation, enhancing coastwise capabilities for smooth sailing.
ACL is the only company with a fleet of 100% US flagged river vessels and small ships, enabling the Line to offer domestic cruises across the country—exploring both rivers and coasts.
