This week’s broadcast of Eye on Travel is from the American Duchess river cruise of the American Queen Steamboat Company as we sail from Pittsburgh to Louisville. First the news: Barry L. Biffle, CEO of Frontier Airlines, on the airline’s exponential expansion of its routes post-pandemic. Then we hop across the ocean to check in with Luis Araujo, CEO of Visit Portugal, as Portugal opens to Americans. But Americans are already rolling…on the river. Kevin Rabbitt, CEO at Hornblower Group, speaks on the boom in riverboats as Americans once again rediscover their own country. Steve Spracklen, the Riverlorian onboard the American Duchess, describes the rich history of the American Duchess’ seven day route on the Ohio River, and stories from Mark Twain you might not have heard before. And singer Lee Greenwood, who will be performing on the Duchess, stops by. There’s all this and more on this week’s Eye on Travel.
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Barry L. Biffle, CEO of Frontier Airlines, converses with Peter about the current exponential expansion of airline routes post-pandemic. Frontier has announced over 30 new routes for this summer, including the destinations of Alaska, Central America, and a new travel hot spot: Bozeman, Montana. About 200,000 seats per month are heading into Bozeman, which is currently booming with new construction to cater the influx of guests. Barry also mentions how Frontier is catering to leisure travelers and is excited by its current expansion of international travel options. He hopes for Frontier to consist of 20% international routes in the near future. As for now, he is excited about the new destination of San Jose, Costa Rica as well as spots along the Caribbean. As more people are vaccinated and COVID-19 infection rates continue to decrease, Frontier has recently discontinued its temperature check policy, and Barry recommends booking trips for July as soon as possible.
Luis Araujo, CEO of Visit Portugal, joins the program from Lisbon to discuss the reopening of Portugal to Americans. The country has returned to operating at 100% capacity, and Araujo speaks about the enormous amount of preparation and care that the country has taken with regard to health and safety measures in order to ensure a safe environment for travelers when they come to visit. All one needs to enter the country is a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of departure if it’s a PCR test or 48 hours for an antigen test. They also discuss the shift from focusing on the vaccination rate within a country to the vaccination rate of the country that the travelers are coming from to decide when to reopen. Araujo notes that this is one of the main reasons American travelers are starting to be welcomed back into many countries. The Azores and Madeira are also open to Americans, but travelers do need to take a second test on the sixth day after arrival.
Steve Spracklen, Riverlorian onboard the American Duchess, describes what his role on the riverboat entails and the rich history of the American Duchess’ seven day route from Pittsburgh to Louisville. As a riverlorian, Steve shares his expertise on river history, stories, mythology, and tradition with passengers. Some guests may be surprised by the amount of commerce conducted on the rivers. However, many communities were grown from the Monogohela, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, which explains the close proximity of settlements to the boat’s route. Steve and Peter also talk about their mutual love for Mark Twain, who has had a strong influence on the tradition amongst the rivers. To this day, Steve is still amazed by the bridges built along the American Dutchess’ path.
Kevin Rabbitt, CEO at Hornblower Group, explains the depth of his company. Hornblower Group shows duality within its two marketed brands: the City Experience guided boat tours and the American Queen Steamboat Company. With the United States opening back up to its new normal, people are eager to travel and feel free again, and river sailing is a way to do it. On a riverboat, passengers get access to cities they wouldn’t usually explore otherwise and Kevin is appreciative of how well the local cities have kept up with their rich histories. Post-COVID-19, things look a little different on the boat tours, which require 100% vaccinations, but he argues that Hornblower wants to create a safe environment for customers and is encouraging Americans to explore their own backyards.
Alex Weld, Executive Director at Wheeling Heritage, defines the unique and forward tradition within the town of Wheeling, West Virginia. At a cross section of Appalachia and the Rust Belt, Wheeling is located right on the Ohio River and was known as the original gateway to the West. It’s a huge place for commerce with lots of inventors and makers who can easily promote their goods along the river. She speaks about how the city used to build itself in spite of the river, but the new generations see the river differently as a recreational attraction they can build around. New developments are being worked on right now, but Wheeling still has a sense of tradition within it, which can be shown through architecture such as their suspension bridge. Alex says that Wheeling is constantly evolving with innovation in its DNA and a great location to express it.
Michael Clinton, Author of ROAR, joins Peter to speak about his book, Roar: into the second half of your life (before it’s too late).It turns retirement into rewirement and serves as a road map to help individuals move confidently into the next phase of their lives. They also speak about how the pandemic has caused people to sit back and consider what they really want in life and expanded peoples’ choices and paths whether that is accelerating retirement or moving to a place they always wanted to but never could before now. They then speak about how this new desire will lead to a global travel renaissance over the next few years and how certain countries have also pivoted to be more attractive to these visitors. Michael also explains the meaning of ROAR which stands for Reimagine yourself, Own who you are, Act on what’s next, and Reassess your relationships beginning with yourself and your community.
Terence Kelley, Cruise Director on the American Duchess, discusses the unique opportunities on board the elegant red paddle wheel riverboat. The interior of the smallest boar in the American Queen steamboat fleet is visually stunning, featuring murano glass, beautiful paintings, and an art walk. During their experience, passengers have access to top-notch food and wine as well as entertainment. Coming from a musical background himself, Terence talks highly of the Broadway-caliber entertainment, which includes a Riversong performance — containing 101 songs about the Mississippi River. Sometimes, guests also get to witness living history firsthand when a knowledgeable Mark Twain impersonator comes on board.
Bill Reynolds, Historian at High River Museum & Campus Martius Museum, expands on the relevance of boats and the Ohio River in the town of Marietta. The Ohio River was one of the first major rivers to be explored, chartered, and mapped and is still widely used today. Bill talks about how more goods are moved along rivers today than any other mode of transportation because of the lack of tax on items. He also proudly mentions his museum’s notable river memorabilia. It includes the steam towboat, WP Snyder Jr., which is the only boat of its type to be listed as a national historic landmark. Built in 1918, the boat is still floating today and although steamboats aren’t used as much anymore, he has an appreciation for steam as it is a very powerful source of energy.
Kari Tarnowski, SVP Marketing at American Queen Steamboat Company, catches up with Peter while talking about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the company. The American Queen Steamboat Company was affected by the pandemic as early as January, 2020, because some of its boats were docked in Asia during an influx of cases. As guests saw the chaos going on around the world, they became more fearful of getting stuck somewhere and not being able to return to their homes. Luckily for the American Queen Steamboat Company, it was able to start cruising again this past March as its passenger numbers were under the CDC-allotted maximum.
Gerry Reilly, Assistant Manager of the Museums of Oglebay Institute, describes the life of Earl W. Oglebay and his impact on the city of Wheeling, West Virginia. Oglebay, who grew up in Wheeling, founded the Oglebay Norton Company, which would mine and ship ore throughout the Great Lakes. After becoming wealthy, he bought a large vacation home and eventually 150 surrounding acres of it in Wheeling. After he died, he left it to the city. Thus, the Museums of Oglebay Institute was created. Gerry explains how each room contains a different period of antique furniture, and how the museum has over 4,000 pieces to showcase to visitors. A lot of the pieces are glass as Wheeling used to be a huge production hub and even perfected the formula for pressed glass.
Lee Greenwood, American Musician, chats about his love for riverboats and performing on them. After staying put in Nevada and California for over 30 years, he began to tour often and was traveling all over the place, learning that his favorite way to travel was by riverboat. Lee explains how music on riverboats is quintessentially American, and that instruments like the mandolin, acoustic guitar, and fiddle have a different sound on boats like the American Duchess. He appreciates being able to see things from a riverboat that would not be visible by land. And he believes that songs about land have an entirely different meaning when performed on a boat. Lee will be performing on the American Duchess in June, July, August, and December of this year and into 2022.
