This Week in Cruise: Century River Cruises Completes Quality Enhancement Program

Century River Cruises completed its “Quality Enhancement Program,” which encompassed everything from the hotel management to the food quality to the entertainment onboard its fleet. The program also focused on improvements to its staff training, with senior staff members sent to Europe for training and meetings with their counterparts. Other changes included a re-tooling of Century's food system.

American Cruise Lines' Queen of the Mississippi recently completed its first sea trials at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Md. The Queen of the Mississippi will be completed in May, with its inaugural cruise scheduled for Aug. 11, 2012 from New Orleans to Memphis. Currently, the interior is well underway with carpeting being installed throughout the ship and furniture beginning to go onboard. All sliding glass doors leading to the private balconies are in place and painting is nearly complete.

The Great American Steamboat Company updated the culinary options offered aboard the American Queen as it prepares for its opening. Culinary director and chef Regina Charboneau drew inspiration for the dishes from the Mississippi River region, which offers ingredients including sustainable fish and seafood, farm-raised quail, free-range chicken, artisan cheeses, wild pecans, rice, honey and stone-ground grits.