I have just learned that the Delta Queen is in her last cruising season able to offer overnight accommodations. At issue is her wooden superstructure. Coast Guard fire codes prohibit boats with wooden superstructures from “having berth or stateroom accommodations for 50 or more passengers”. The 82 year old paddlewheel riverboat, with her four teak decks and original Tiffany-style stained glass windows, accommodates 176 passengers in 86 staterooms.
The steamboat, a National Historic Landmark, has been operating under a special Congressional exemption from the federal Safety at Sea Act since 1968. The exemption has been renewed eight times. She lost two congressional votes for another exemption last week.
The Delta Queen’s current owners, upon purchasing her, refused to recognize the Seafarers International Union — thus ending the history of collective bargaining with the ship’s crew.
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