![\"\"](\"http:\/\/dennygibson.com\/chatt0709\/day01\/pic11a.jpg\")
<\/a>This picture is from my 2009 Chattanooga Queen<\/a> trip. The Delta Queen<\/em> steamboat had been forced to stop cruising about six months before and was docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as a stationary hotel. I’d never felt like I could afford a cruise on her, and the odds that I ever will get an opportunity are not good. This might very well be the closest I’ll ever get. The minimum stay was not determined by the length of a cruise , and rates for the non-moving rooms were less than they had been for the moving ones. I reserved one of the cheapest rooms for two nights over Independence Day.<\/p>\nThe experience was far better than I had any right to expect. Even though hopes of a reprieve from the cruising ban were dimming, they weren’t entirely extinguished when the Queen<\/em> first arrived in Chattanooga. Although virtually all of the existing crew\/staff had or were working on plans to leave, the majority were still in place during my July stay. I was treated to food and lounge service, and even entertainment that differed little from that offered during cruises a few months prior. I stayed twice more on the Delta Queen<\/em> while she was in Chattanooga, and, while I truly enjoyed both of those stays, neither compared to that first one.<\/p>\n The photo used as this blog’s banner was taken on the Delta Queen<\/em>‘s next to last stop (so far) in the Queen City. She paused in Cincinnati, her home port, twice during the wind-down to docking in Chattanooga, and I was at both. My report on those visits is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trip Peeks are short articles published when my world is too busy or too boring for a current events piece to be completed in time for the Sunday posting. In addition to a photo thumbnail from a completed road trip, each Peek includes a brief description of that photo plus links to the full sized photo and the associated trip journal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This picture is from my 2009 Chattanooga Queen trip. The Delta Queen steamboat had been forced to stop cruising about six months before and was docked in Chattanooga, Tennessee, as a stationary hotel. I’d never felt like I could afford a cruise on … Continue reading
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