Historic Delta Queen steamboat to become floating hotel

mercedes · January 29, 2009

The historic Delta Queen steamboat is heading to Chattanooga, Tennessee to become a floating hotel -- at least for now.

USA TODAY sister paper The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the famed paddlewheeler has been leased to a hotel operator in the city and soon will be moved from its current home in New Orleans. It could open as a hotel along the city's waterfront as soon as April, the paper says.

Long beloved by riverboat fans, the 82-year-old Delta Queen was forced to stop cruising America's waterways in November after its 40-year Congressional exemption from a fire safety rule expired. Still, the legendary vessel's days traveling America's rivers are not necessarily over for good.

Fans of the Delta Queen have been lobbying Congress to extend the exemption, allowing the boat to resume operations on the nation's rivers. The Enquirer says the Delta Queen's owner, Ambassadors International, is looking for a buyer who is committed to returning it to the water.

The lease Ambassadors signed with a Chattanooga entrepreneur to operate the Delta Queen as a hotel requires the ship's priceless wooden and brass interior as well as its machinery to be left intact so the vessel can someday return to cruising.

The entrepreneur, Harry Phillips, who also is a licensed boat captain and preservationist, tells the Enquirer the vessel's move to Chattanooga is a win for everyone involved. "The boat gets saved, people still get to appreciate it and can still sleep on it overnight, and Chattanooga gets a unique hotel," he says.

Built in 1926, the 174-passenger Delta Queen was the last traditional steamboat carrying overnight passengers on America's inland waterways, and it hearkened back to a bygone era with stately wooden cabins and hardwood-paneled public rooms.