American Cruise Lines, known for its smaller ships that can take passengers into U.S. coastal and river areas where larger cruise ships can’t fit, soon will be cruising on Charlotte Harbor where tenders, smaller boats that take passengers and crew ashore, will bring them to Punta Gorda.
Sean Doherty, tourism director for Punta Gorda/Englewood Beach and the Charlotte Harbor Gulf islands, made the announcement Aug. 18 during a Charlotte County Tourist Development Council meeting.
American Cruise Line’s website shows that on Day 6 of its eight-day, seven-night cruise leaving from St. Petersburg, a newly built motorized catamaran, American Glory, will enter the waters of Charlotte County.
Doherty said the American Cruise Lines vessel will drop anchor, and tenders will be used to take passengers to and from Fishermen’s Village.
Alexa Paolella, spokesperson for Guilford, Connecticut-based American Cruise Lines, said the catamaran carries its own tenders.
Sean Doherty
The first cruise to the area departs St. Petersburg on Dec. 20. Day 6 of the cruise, when it arrives in Charlotte Harbor, falls on Christmas Day.
Doherty said a “red carpet event” is being planned to celebrate the inaugural cruise.
The cruise line’s online brochure shows excursions are being offered to Peace River Wildlife Center and Alligator Bay Distillers for a tour and tasting.
Capt. Ralph Allen, owner and operator of King Fisher Fleet, which operates sight-seeing vessels up and down the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor, said he’s been in discussion with a cruise line representative about possibly having his boats provide excursions for its passengers.
His boats are smaller than American Cruise Lines’ catamarans, at 64 feet with an 18-foot beam (width), versus the cruise line’s 241 feet with a 56-foot beam.
Allen’s Helen M and Charlotte Lady tour boats can traverse shallow waters of the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor and get into even smaller areas than American Cruise Line’s catamarans.
Doherty said the cruise also will visit Marco Island and Key West before visiting Punta Gorda. The cruise begins and ends in St. Petersburg.
Once passengers are tendered over to Fishermen’s Village, they can either stay at the village or board one of the buses that will be lined up to take them to their excursion, Doherty said.
He said some of the cruise line passengers might opt to explore other attractions, such as the Military Heritage Museum, Babcock Eco Tours and Peace River Botanical and Sculpture Gardens.
The cruises will bring more people to the area and help the local economy, he said.
Allen said he believes other excursions will be added before the maiden voyage to the area.
In its brochure, American Cruise Lines describes Punta Gorda as a city that “celebrates its roots with a thriving historic district, ornamented with Queen Anne-style wood frame homes of the mid 1880s to the late 1910s, Victorian architecture of the early 20th century and structures reflecting the Neo-Classical revival of 1920’s Florida Land Boom.”
It touts Punta Gorda’s artist community, open-air art shows, galleries, waterfront areas, plus numerous birds, mammals and marine life in the area.
There are weekly cruises planned through March 8, 2024, then they will start up again on Nov. 25, 2024, through March 22, 2025.
In 2025, several cruises already have been posted, beginning with Nov. 22, 2025.
American Cruise Lines representative Melissa Parry said the cruises are fully booked until after November 2024.
American Glory, which is being used for the Gulf Coast cruise, is one of 12 identical catamarans built by Chesapeake Shipbuilding, of Salisbury, Maryland.
American Eagle and American Glory are the first two catamarans in the fleet to go into service this year. The Glory will be joined by the American Legend in 2024 and be used for the Gulf Coast cruises.
Each of the catamarans in the fleet will accommodate 109 guests and have 56 rooms, several of which are reserved for passengers traveling alone. Each vessel comes with a crew of 50.
The cost for the one-week cruise is pricier than what one would usually pay for a larger ship following a similar itinerary, starting at $6,730 per person.
During the Tourist Development Council meeting, Dave Di Maggio, president of Aqua Marketing and Communications, gave a presentation on the county tourism marketing plan, and said the cruise line focused on those with household incomes of $120,000 or higher.
According to an American Cruise Line statement, the catamarans have a hybrid design, which allows them to come close to shore in shallow waters, making them a good fit for Charlotte Harbor.
American Cruise Lines President and CEO Charles B. Robertson in an earlier statement said the plan to build the fleet “started as a design challenge to create a boat small enough for New England harbors and stable enough for the Alaska Inside Passage, with a draft shallow enough for the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.”
