Joe Schadler News

Every four years the excursion vessel segment of the commercial marine industry stages one of the largest festivals in the United States, yet except for the vessels that participate in it, little is known about this event. It overshadows the Workboat Show but receives little attention in the marine press. From an attendance standpoint, if this event were the World Series of Baseball, the Workboat Show would be T-ball for five-year olds. The event is called Tall Stacks and is held on the Ohio River every four year in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 2003 event was the fifth such Tall Stacks event and was attended by over 800,000 people during a five-day period in mid-October.

M/V Alton Belle, the former 156 ft. casino vessel is being converted to dinner cruise service by Cape Fear Riverboats of Wilmington, N.C. Renamed Henrietta III, the vessel's engineering will be completed by DeJong & Lebet Naval Architects. The vessel operated for several years in Alton, Ill. after undergoing a lengthening and conversion for casino service in 1991. This marks the second casino-into-dinner vessel conversion for DeJong & Lebet - the company initially converted Celebration Cruises' Joe Schadler, which was later renamed Celebration Belle.