For many hard-driving incentive qualifiers, a river cruise is the perfect Rx, with its leisurely pace, beautiful scenery and regular doses of fresh air. When most incentive planners think river cruise, they think Europe, but there’s another option right here in the U.S.: American Queen Voyages.
No passports, no overnight flights, no jet lag. Just unfiltered luxury on America’s most picturesque waterways.
Start with the stylish accommodations, spacious and elegant, some with such details as French doors opening onto private verandahs. The culinary is an intrinsic part of the journey, meant to connect each guest with the regions they visit through locally sourced ingredients and authentic flavors. There’s entertainment, of course, but a pillar of AQV is enrichment, with historians and naturalists there to share their knowledge with groups. Best of all, AQV is all-inclusive, including the use of meeting spaces.
River destinations include the Lower Mississippi, Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, and Columbia and Snake rivers. AQV also operates lake cruises on the Great Lakes and in Canada, New England and the Southeast, as well as Mexico and Costa Rica. Its expedition cruises on the Ocean Victory take groups to Canada and Alaska.
“American Queen Voyages offers an ideal setting for incentive groups on river cruises, blending luxury with unique experiences,” says Ilan Biran, sr. director, group sales, for American Queen Voyages. “The intimate ambiance allows for effective networking, while curated shore excursions provide a perfect balance of leisure and exploration. Our attention to detail ensures a seamless and memorable incentive travel experience.”
Following multimillion-dollar refurbishments in 2023, Crystal Serenity and Crystal Symphony have both returned to service and are available to charter globally. The cruise line will also be selling its four anticipated new ships in the charter market once they debut.
“When our ships went through their refurbishments, they were transformed into the perfect choice for group incentives and full ship charter options in the market,” says Matthew Boutwell, sr. director, charter & incentives, Crystal Cruises. “This was accomplished by reducing the number of suites by more than 30 percent, which offers our guests much larger suites, more choices in our upper suites, all by still having the public space and choices that the midsize ships carrying 900-1,400 guests have on board. When either of the ships are sailing at full capacity, we still have multiple options for our groups to choose from for their private event spaces, simply because there are so many options available for all our guests on board.”
Options for private group events include Palm Court, which is a lounge space that can accommodate groups of 100-275 and boasts 270-degree views over the bow of the ship. The venue also offers a full bar and service to allow passed canapes to be served during a reception. For smaller groups, Pulse Night Club is ideal for an after-dinner cocktail reception for groups of up to 65 guests, while the Stardust Club can accommodate groups of 75-250 guests for receptions or dinner and a show.
“Every group that is contracted as an incentive, meeting, event or full ship charter has a dedicated account manager to assist with every detail of the sailing,” says Boutwell. “This person is the client’s direct point of contact for all pre-cruise related functions including assisting with manifests, changes to names, onboard programming, shore excursions and any special requests while on board. If the group is large and requires on-ship assistance, this team member will also travel with the group. If the group does not require our shoreside team to travel with the group, we do have shipboard direct point of contact for our groups and their onboard needs.”
Incentive groups booking with Crystal Cruises receive two hours of private receptions including an upgraded canape menu, complimentary evening room drops for any gifts that clients would like to present to their incentive reward winners, complimentary use of all AV equipment and no charge for the rental of conference facilities or the theater venue.
“With pricing, we offer an uncapped TC policy, which for every 20 suites sold, one suite will be charged with only our destination fees,” says Boutwell. “Almost all cruise lines in our category have this policy but they are capped at two-four suites, whereas we do not cap this benefit simply because you are bringing a large group on board.”
“There are a lot of pain points in chartering ships,” says Matthew Shollar, Transcend Cruises’ CEO and co-founder. “It’s a complex process, and it can sometimes take a couple of weeks to generate a quote. We’re very simple. All we do is charter, and we have a flat price per-night net for our ships. We can let you know within hours whether it’s available, and you can go to contract immediately. We don’t hand you a 50-page complicated contract, but something that people can very quickly move through. We really looked at our own experiences of chartering ships, and where those pain points are, and then we tried to erase them.”
Transcend Cruises began its operations in 2023 with Advance by Transcend, a leased vessel designed to provide an introduction to the brand and its business model ahead of the launch of its newbuild ships. The first of these ships will launch in May 2025 with the second anticipated for July 2025. The new ships have been specifically designed for MICE and can accommodate up to 120 passengers across 60 cabins and feature charter-focused spaces and services. The ships will also boast an extensive wellness space that extends across three decks, with the top deck showcasing an open-air yoga pad as well as a barefoot walking path.
“We have five spaces on board where all of the guests can gather for programming, versus about two on a normal ship,” says Shollar. “We have up to eight locations where we can serve food. We have up to nine locations where we can do corporate breakouts. So again, it’s designed with that idea of a corporate group being on board. We give the charterer a lot of infrastructure to run the program, cabins for their staff, a digitally branded reception desk in the lobby, a fully working office and storage on board for everything they bring with them to run the program. Amenities that even hotels don’t typically offer.”
Sustainability initiatives on the new ships include low emission Stage Five Engines as well as rechargeable battery packs to meet peak power surge requirements and for powering the last mile of maneuvering into harbors, which has enabled the cruise line to cut its emissions on board by around 37 percent.
“When you travel with us, we start by saying to the client—who are the people on board and what are they trying to achieve?” says Shollar. “And then you get into what an itinerary looks like that might be appropriate for them. It really starts with the client’s needs, and very often that’s a more sustainable trip because you don’t have to go these long distances and can get into some of these smaller locations.” —Barbara Scofidio & Steve Grasso
aqvoyages.com/charters-meetings-incentives; crystalcruises.com; transcend.cruises