M.T. Schwartzman reports

French America Line, a new company based in Avondale, Louisiana, will make its Mississippi River System debut in August with the 150-passenger Louisiane. The vessel, formerly known as the Columbia Queen, was built in 2000 for the Delta Queen Steamboat Company. The new company is headed by a team of travel industry veterans including Chairman Christopher Kyte, who was a co-founder, owner and first president of the American Queen Steamboat Company when it brought the American Queen back into service in April 2012.

French America Line promises “deluxe voyages through America’s waterways” along five different itineraries: Deep South, Heart of America, River Crossroads, Gulf Waterways and Wilderness Rivers. Programs will originate in eight homeports including Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; Pensacola, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, St. Louis, Missouri; and St. Paul, Minnesota. Each voyage will begin with a one-night pre-cruise hotel stay in the city of embarkation and transfers to the ship.

Signature elements aboard the Louisiane, which will offer a “distinctive French flair,” will include open-seating meals; a casual alternative restaurant; 24-hour room service; complimentary house-brand wines and spirits, selected beers, soft drinks and bottled water; iPads in every cabin; free WiFi; destination-based enrichment programs; plus shore excursions included in the fare. Other amenities of note will be the placement of Hermes bath amenities in all suites and L'Occitane en Provence products in all staterooms. Spa services including salon stylings, manicures and pedicures, plus an additional range of beauty treatments will also be available. Healthy spa menu selections will be served in the dining room as well.

More information on the Louisiane’s refit and inaugural sailings will be announced soon on the company’s website at www.frenchamericaline.com.