On February 20, 2024, (at 5 pm Indiana time/12:00 UTC) American Queen Steamboat Company LLC (which operates under the travel brand American Queen Voyages/AQV) officially ceased operations.
In an internal letter, all employees and crew were notified that their contracts were permanently terminated, citing "unfortunate business circumstances and an inability to obtain sufficient capital at a commercially reasonable rate to continue operations".
All scheduled voyages were canceled.
AQV's message stated: "American Queen Voyages has made the difficult decision to shut down and all future cruises have been canceled. Guests and customers should expect to be fully refunded for canceled cruises".
In January, AQV canceled all scheduled February sailings, with a planned restart of operations in March. Before that, all major travel agencies stopped offering AQV cruises.
AQV operated a fleet of traditional paddlewheelers (large riverboats) as well as smaller-sized expedition cruise vessels.
There was a logical possibility, AQV's business to be acquired by the American Cruise Lines/ACL - the USA's largest cruise and cruisetour operator, with a fleet of all American-crewed and USA-flagged vessels.
(UPDATE) On February 21, 2024, Hornblower Group (AQSC's parent company) announced an agreement with its main investor Strategic Value Partners LLC (2001-founded investment company/SVP) to acquire a majority ownership of Hornblower and provide investments in the Group's cruise shipping business. A minority stake in Hornblower remains in Crestview Partners (2004-founded, NYC-based private equity firm).
As of 2024, SVP manages US$16+ billion of capital.
By the deal, Crestview becomes the sole owner of the "Journey Beyond" (Hornblower-owned Australian travel group) and Hornblower Group will receive US$121 million in financing (from SVP and Crestview), which would reduce Hornblower’s debt by ~US$720 million.
As to the future of AQSC/AQV, Hornblower’s cruise shipping division (American Queen Voyages) will be sold or closed down (due to the company's underperformance) as it didn't rebound from the COVID crisis.