American Classic Voyages

The Patriot was reregistered in the United States by special act of Congress as a "stop gap" until a pair of new 72,000 ton cruise ships could be completed in an American shipyard. The decision to relaunch United States Lines was taken, due to the historic connotations of the brand name and the strong association of the American Hawaii brand with its aging ocean liners, being deemed unsuitable for the fresh, modern image American Classic Voyages hoped to create for their Hawaiian operations.[4]

A contract was signed with the Litton-Ingalls yard in Mississippi for construction of the two new ships for United States Lines under the code name Project America. The US government contributed considerable support in the form of loan guarantees, tax credits and a construction mortgage from the Maritime Administration. American Classic Voyages planned to have put six vessels into service by 2004.[5]

The company released a statement on their website:

We believe this process will allow us to rebuild our business in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks and continue our proud tradition as America’s cruise line.[7]

United States Lines, Delta Queen Coastal Voyages, and American Hawaii Cruises immediately ceased operations. amcv.com was taken down by September 21, 2002.[8] The MS Patriot was laid up and eventually sold back to her original owner, Holland America Line, before being chartered to Louis Cruise Lines and being chartered again to Thomson Holidays. The unfinished Project America hulls were later purchased for US$24 million and completed for Norwegian Cruise Line, the resulting ship being the Pride of America. Additional parts from the other mainly unfinished Project America hull were later refitted onto the Pride of Hawaii. Pride of America continues to sail Hawaiian cruises for NCL America, while Pride of Hawaii was eventually transferred to Norwegian Cruise Line as Norwegian Jade. After years of lay-up in California, the American Hawaii Cruises liner Independence was wrecked while under tow bound for the scrapyard, the remains are being broken up on site.[9]

Cape May Light, performed cruises from April 2001 to October 2001 for Delta Queen Coastal Voyages prior to the bankruptcy, and her unfinished sister ship, Cape Cod Light, were repossessed by the shipyard and eventually sold to International Shipping Partners and renamed Sea Discoverer and Sea Voyager, but remained largely unused for years aside from a charter to the US government to house aid workers after the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[10]

The original Delta Queen Steamboat Company division survived the bankruptcy of American Classic Voyages, being purchased by Delaware North Companies in 2002, along with three of its four riverboats (Delta Queen, Mississippi Queen, and American Queen.)