keeping functions," Williams said. "We are like any other
cruise vessel in that we serve three meals a day, make up
and clean all 99 staterooms daily and offer turndown ser-
vice at night," Williams added. In addition, there is a staff
for the entertainment functions, a Purser's staff for pas-
senger accounts and coordinators for the shore tours. A
typical six-day cruise will include shore excursions every
morning. The hulls of the two barges are full of mechan-
ical equipment designed to serve the specific needs of
each barge. Both barges have a pair of 600 kW generators
to supply the specific electrical needs of the barge above.
On the forward barge, the main consumer of electricity is
the galley.
The generators also supply electricity to the walk in
freezers and chill boxes also located in the hull and to the
central heating and air conditioning units that supply
tempered air to all public spaces on the barge.
On the hotel barge, a lot of the electrical load is for the
staterooms heated and cooled by individual through-the-
wall units and for the water heaters that supply hot water
to each space. In addition there is a laundry in the hull.
There is also an emergency standby generator located
on each barge.
The River Explorer relies on two different grades of
water for the staterooms. The showers and sinks use
potable water. Water from the showers and sinks is col-
lected in gray water tanks, treated and pumped over-
board. Water for the toilets is supplied directly from the
Mississippi River after filtering and is collected and treat-
ed before being returned to the river.
Many of the cruises stop at famous plantations and
unique small towns that dot the Mississippi River in
Louisiana and Mississippi. Other cruises venture to
Memphis, St. Louis, Nashville, and towns on the Ohio
River system including Cincinnati, Ohio and Louisville
and Paducah, Kentucky.
The River Explorer is a year around excursion opera-
tion spending the winters cruising the Mississippi River
and the Gulf Coast Intercoastal Waterway and moving up
the Mississippi River and onto the Ohio River system in
spring, summer and some of the fall season.
The Miss Nari is the permanent power source for the
River Explorer and is seldom detached from the two
barges. It is tied up only while passengers are on shore
tours. Needless to say, it logs more hours on the inland
waterway system than any other tug in the nation and
probably the World.
24 • MarineNews • March, 2005
Tugboat Tech
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Kenny Williams, one of the two Captains onboard the River Explorer. He is in the pilothouse of the vessel located above the third deck on the aft barge. The
two prominent circular controls are the controllers for the Z-drives. (Photo: Larry Pearson)
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