For the country's 250th anniversary, American Cruise Lines plan nationwide river cruises that include St. Paul stops
St. Paul is set to be a central excursion point for a pair of 50-plus-day river cruises in 2026, billed by American Cruise Lines as the longest such voyages on the market.
At 51 nights, the Great United States Cruise covers 14 states, including visits to three national parks. After heading from the Pacific Northwest to Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks, travelers will fly to New Orleans for a complete Mississippi River cruise ending in St. Paul (or mostly complete; sorry to all the Lake Itasca fans out there), then fly from the Twin Cities to Boston for a New England experience. This cruise runs May 29 to July 19, 2026.
The longer Great American Fall Foliage Cruise, 54 nights, trades the national parks for a cruise of Alaska's Inside Passage, then a cruise from St. Louis to St. Paul and an exploration of more of the East Coast, cruising from Portland, Maine, to Washington, D.C. This cruise runs Sept. 5 to Oct. 29, 2026.
Both itineraries also include a daylong stop each in Winona and Red Wing.
We did not make the cut, evidently, for the Spring Across America cruise in April and May, which begins in South Carolina and Florida and only explores the Mississippi between Memphis and New Orleans before heading to the Pacific Northwest and up to Alaska.
Prices for these cruises are not made available online; potential customers must request a custom quote. However, American sailed a similar itinerary, covering 20 states in 60 days, in 2024, and the per-person price for that journey ranged from $51,060 to $77,945.
The price is all-inclusive of meals, daily excursions, transportation between cruise segments and, for the Great United States Cruise, an 'American Cruise Lines jacket and gear pack.'
The impetus for these extended itineraries, according to the cruise line, is the country's semiquincentennial, or 250th anniversary, in 2026.
River cruising has been making a comeback in St. Paul in recent years, with luxury liners appearing to largely replace the paddle-wheelers of the past.
Run by the international company Viking River Cruises, the splashy Viking Mississippi set sail from St. Paul in 2022, the first luxury cruise liner here in about a decade. Until American Cruise Lines reinstated service here a few years ago, the company's cruises had not stopped in St. Paul since 2018; its luxury ships made their final port-of-call instead in Red Wing.
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The company currently operates fleets of both modern cruise ships — most of which have been newly constructed within the past half-decade or so — and renovated traditional paddle-wheelers.
Meanwhile, paddle-wheeler stalwart American Queen Voyages stopped operations in St. Paul by 2019 and folded altogether last year.
The broader statewide tourism industry has struggled a bit over the past three years, though, after a brief COVID-induced outdoor vacation surge in 2021. Last summer's tourism season was especially tough for businesses affected by major flooding along the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers.
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