The Remodel

Thanks to all the people who entered our contest; congratulations to James Contreras of Portland, who blamed the hijacking on a local news celebrity (who converted the ship to a news helicopter) and provided photographic evidence to prove his point.  James won a cruise for himself and 300 or so of his friends, after the unmentioned news celeb gives us our ship back.  Special thanks to all the crew who worked so hard to make this remodel happen.  We're very proud of the effort we made and hope that you will come and join us onboard soon.  We have a fast-facts sheet for you to peruse.

The following paragraphs are from our press release.

Portland Spirit, the Northwest's premier dinner boat, returned to service February 7, 1998 after a $750,000 restructure and remodel.  Locally owned and operated by American Waterways Inc., the 150 foot ship has been completely upgraded and is ready for a busy 1998 cruise schedule.  The work was completed in 30 days at Sundial Marine Shipyard in Troutdale, with Maritime Services from Hood River acting as lead contractor.

The highlight of the project is the extension of the bow on the second deck, which has created 40 more seats for dining.  In addition, all windows have been replaced and enhanced with new window treatments, a new environmental system was installed which includes heating and air conditioning for the entire vessel, and an extensive new stereo sound system is now onboard.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer Portland an exciting new option for entertaining," said Dan Yates, president of American Waterways, Inc.  "The community will be quite impressed with the improvements we have made to the ship."

Since becoming a fixture downtown on the Willamette River seawall in 1994, the company has carried over 350,000 passengers on both public and private cruises.  In 1996 a second yacht, Willamette Star, was added to the fleet.  In 1998, the company added the yacht Crystal Dolphin to the fleet.