RV river barge cruises

[two_travelers]

Some one told me about trips on the Mississippi where you put the coach on a barge and go between two cities with stops along the way. Did some research, but can't find any thing current. Has anyone done this? What is a good experience? Are they still available? Can you recommend a company or trip?

[timmac]

SCVJeff wrote:
The RV train trips seem to have vanished too

Another silly thing, I also think the newer RV generation such as my self find it silly to load RV on a barge or train and take it for a ride with the people sitting inside with their poodle on their lap..

:R

[3oaks]

bgum wrote:
We live next to the Mississippi river. I can see ships passing when I look down my street. I have spent a good bit of time on two major rivers one of which is the Miss. I have traveled them day and night, good and bad weather. I can tell you that this would be a dangerous operation. I have seen tow boat captains run their tow up on the bank a good 50-100 yards. Not sure if sleeping, drunk, or medical issue was cause. If I was a tow boat captain I wouldn't want to deal with 26-30 newbies on deck of the boat or tow. Just loading and unloading is loaded with law suits. There are a lot of other places that owners of boats and barges can put their equipment to work with less headaches and more income. This is no playground. The rivers are heavily traveled.

X2

Accommodating the general public can be a nightmare on land, let alone handling their RVs and insuring their safety and tending to their personal whims while navigating the Mississippi River.

[2gypsies1]

bgum wrote:
We live next to the Mississippi river. I can see ships passing when I look down my street. I have spent a good bit of time on two major rivers one of which is the Miss. I have traveled them day and night, good and bad weather. I can tell you that this would be a dangerous operation. I have seen tow boat captains run their tow up on the bank a good 50-100 yards. Not sure if sleeping, drunk, or medical issue was cause. If I was a tow boat captain I wouldn't want to deal with 26-30 newbies on deck of the boat or tow. Just loading and unloading is loaded with law suits. There are a lot of other places that owners of boats and barges can put their equipment to work with less headaches and more income. This is no playground. The rivers are heavily traveled.

This is why it's great that regulations were given.

[bgum]

We live next to the Mississippi river. I can see ships passing when I look down my street. I have spent a good bit of time on two major rivers one of which is the Miss. I have traveled them day and night, good and bad weather. I can tell you that this would be a dangerous operation. I have seen tow boat captains run their tow up on the bank a good 50-100 yards. Not sure if sleeping, drunk, or medical issue was cause. If I was a tow boat captain I wouldn't want to deal with 26-30 newbies on deck of the boat or tow. Just loading and unloading is loaded with law suits. There are a lot of other places that owners of boats and barges can put their equipment to work with less headaches and more income. This is no playground. The rivers are heavily traveled.

[Allworth]

I have to agree that in all the time we have stayed at Tom Sawyer I have never seen an RV on a barge. That would be at Memphis.

[Matt_Colie]

I am (was) a ship's engineer for lots of years and I can tell you exactly what happened and why.

There were numerous tragedies on ferries and other overloaded watercraft in some less developed countries. This started an treaty group called SOLAS (Safety of Life At Sea) to increase the scope of crafts covered by the agreed regulations. Only a few of the regulations were actually changed, but the vessels covered now included lakes, harbors and near-shore waters.

It is my contention that a clear thinking operator could do this and still make money. It would require more investment and some serious crew training, but I believe that it could be done at a reasonable price.

Matt

[rockhillmanor]

I stayed at a CG right on the Mississippi for a week. Watching all the numerous commercial barges navigating that river 24 7's?.......

Nope, I don't think I would want my MH and me on a barge going down the Mississippi. I think the gov had it right this time about the safety of it. :B

[SCVJeff]

The RV train trips seem to have vanished too

[Jbrowland]

timmac wrote:
Sounds a little silly to me, why not just take a cruise on a boat on the river or rent a boat.

I agree but...

Perhaps not having to go back and get the RV where it was left behind is somewhat convenient, assuming the cruise is one way?

Perhaps people are crazy about their rig and can't stand to leave it and all of their personal stuff behind?

Who the heck knows. Doesn't surprise me that such a business went out of business with or without strict government regulations.

[timmac]

Sounds a little silly to me, why not just take a cruise on a boat on the river or rent a boat.

[ccxnola]

Like a lot of fun and interesting things from years ago, your government has decided that they need to protect you from doing things (with some minimal risk) that you might enjoy.

YES - the Mississippi River did have a barge operator that took rigs with folks to interesting places (including the Intracoastal Waterway), with stops along the way. (We really enjoyed our adventure on the barge!)

BUT...the US Coast Guard decided that the 'rules' under which they operated did not sufficiently 'protect' the occupants - thus the new rules that have simply put that type of operation out of business.

Welcome to 2000! Our Brave New World!!

[kohldad]

I too was curious about this and did some deep digging. The Coast Guard changed the regulation that made it impossible to be economically practical for the barge operators to make a profit. It had to do with escape measures, fire fighting ability and lighting mainly at night which would have added a large expense. These things had to be done each night, so any place a stop over was planned, you had to have a lot of equipment. The rising fuel prices didn't help much either.

Originally, basically the barge had to stop for the night, but only needed to put out a walkway to land at each end of the barge. This was very easy to do any place they wanted to stop.

[K_Charles]

In the early 90s there was Conrad's R.V. River Chaters in New Orleans.

[BB_TX]

I think those have been discontinued. Saw them a few years ago. But last time I looked I could no longer find them. Looked interesting.