Hundreds of new jobs for Seafarers were added in April when the union’s most recent contracted vessel, the Detroit Princess, began operations.Members of the engine and deck department were hired to work aboard Detroit’s newest attraction under an SIU contract. Other crew members, including waitstaff, cooks, dishwashers and experienced bartenders, belong to an SIU affiliate, the Seafarers Entertainment and Allied Trades Union (SEATU).
The 222-foot-long riverboat was launched in 1993 by Harrah’s as a casino boat on the Mississippi River in Illinois. When Harrah’s replaced it, it was sent to Texas, where Capt. John Chamberlain, a riverboat entertainment producer, bought it to provide a unique setting for lunch and dinner cruises on the Detroit River. He is very optimistic about the entertainment possibilities of the vessel in Detroit, including weddings, anniversaries, reunions, conferences, large group cruises and more. The boat cruises are generally two or three hours long, journeying from Hart Plaza past the Ambassador Bridge to Belle Isle, and back to the dock. Already scheduled are big band shows, comedy murder mysteries, moonlight cruises and musical revues featuring music from the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.
The trip from Texas to Detroit proved the seaworthiness of the Princess. Since it was too tall to clear bridges in Chicago, it had to steam through the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and up the East Coast to the Great Lakes, traveling nearly 7,000 miles through some pretty rough weather, including four hurricanes. When the oceangoing vessel arrived in Toledo last fall to undergo dry dock inspection and repairs, there were a few broken windows and a very tired crew. Every inch of the five-deck converted casino boat was washed and painted and thoroughly cleaned both inside and out. It then traveled to Detroit where it first tied up at the Nicholson Terminal in Ecorse and later docked at Hart Plaza.
Chamberlain noted that the vessel, which is designed to look like a 19th century river sternwheeler (although the paddlewheel was removed by Harrah’s) is better equipped than many freighters. There are enough dining rooms on the four entertainment decks to feed 1,600 people. And, unlike other riverboats on the Detroit River, the Princess has its own kitchen and cooking staff and does not rely on shoreside caterers. It is wheelchair accessible and has elevators, air conditioning and heating for year round comfort.
The Detroit Princess is owned by CJC Catering L.L.C., and its investors are Chamberlain and many of his friends.
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