Dan and Peggy Reynolds enjoyed a pleasant Friday afternoon recently exploring downtown Dubuque.

The couple drove from the Des Moines area that morning with the intention of checking out the city, but they didn’t really have a plan for their visit.

They liked it that way.

“It’s nice to just go with the flow sometimes,” Peggy said.

They already visited several shops downtown and grabbed a bite to eat. They said they intended to visit the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium and probably ride the Fenelon Place Elevator. There were some other sites they were interested in — including the city’s breweries — but they wanted to mostly play it by ear.

Over the years, the couple had driven through Dubuque a few times on trips elsewhere. They talked about visiting the river museum but never did.

They finally decided to visit after listening to some longtime friends rave about the city.

“They took a cruise up to Dubuque and absolutely loved it,” Peggy said. “We figured we should probably finally check it out.”

Riverboats help power tourism industry

Riverboats play a major role in the tourism industry in Dubuque and the tri-state area, according to local officials.

Travel Dubuque reports that there were more than 40,000 passengers on all riverboats coming into and out of Dubuque in 2024. While the total dropped from 2023, the final tally came despite a range of river conditions impacting riverboat stops and American Queen Voyages not stopping in Dubuque for the first time in more than 10 years due to bankruptcy.

“We continue to grow that market,” said Keith Rahe, president and CEO of Travel Dubuque, in a presentation to Dubuque City Council members earlier this year. “It’s another area for us to bring another demographic in and to showcase Dubuque and the tri-state area.”

Julie Kronlage, Travel Dubuque’s vice president of sales, works closely with the riverboat companies that feature stops in Dubuque.

She noted that the riverboats bring thousands of visitors with “fresh eyes” to Dubuque, particularly the vessels that stop in the city as part of long-duration trips on the Mississippi River.

“It’s really exciting because there are so many people who haven’t been here before,” she said.

‘Staples’ and long-distance lines

Rahe referred to three local operators as the “staples” when it comes to riverboats in Dubuque.

The American Lady yacht is the only riverboat offering daily cruises from Dubuque. The company offers a range of 90-minute and two-hour cruises with indoor and outdoor seating and that can include meals. It can accommodate up to 135 passengers and is a popular option among area residents and out-of-town visitors alike.

Based in LeClaire, Iowa, the Riverboat Twilight plans to take 60 trips to or out of Dubuque during the 2025 season. Those trips will accommodate an estimated 7,000-plus guests, according to the company.

“Our two-day, overnight trips stand out because cruises of this length — on the Mississippi River — are actually quite rare,” wrote Emily Stier, group travel and marketing specialist for Riverboat Twilight, in an email. “There are many riverboats that offer daylong trips or shorter cruises, and then, there are larger vessels that can accommodate 5- to 10-day cruises. We fill the void in between both offerings.”

Meanwhile, Celebration River Cruises’ Celebration Belle is a 750-passenger, four-deck riverboat. Based in Moline, Ill., it will offer cruises from and to Dubuque on a few days each in June, July, August and September

Susan Yarolem, director of sales and marketing for Celebration River Cruises, said the trips that involve Dubuque stops are very popular.

There are two companies offering long-distance cruises with scheduled dockings in Dubuque in 2025, as well.

American Cruise Lines bills itself as the “largest riverboat company on the Mississippi River and across the country.”

A spokesman reported that the company plans 26 dockings in Dubuque in 2025, with each riverboat carrying 150 to 180 guests. American Cruise Lines will increase that total slightly to 28 in 2026 and 32 in 2027.

Meanwhile, 2025 will be the fourth full season when Viking River Cruises visits Dubuque. The 450-foot-long Viking Mississippi cruise ship can accommodate 386 guests, with a crew of about 150.

Local officials report the company has 10 dockings planned and that these cruises in particular often feature international travelers.

Impact on local economy

Local officials said the impact of these riverboat visits and the passengers they carry is significant.

For example, Kronlage cited the Riverboat Twilight two-day cruises on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer, where the passengers stay the night in Dubuque at Grand Harbor Resort.

“It’s a huge impact in the midweek,” she said, explaining that a range of businesses benefit from this influx of visitors at a time — during the middle of the week — that other tourism traffic typically isn’t as high.

Riverboat passengers stepping off their vessels into Dubuque get tickets to the highly popular National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, but that’s just one destination on the scheduled itineraries for some of these companies.

Kronlage works to ensure that riverboat passengers see the sites of the tri-state area. She noted that Travel Dubuque hires and trains all the local guides and writes their scripts as they take visitors on a range of different tours.

For example, Viking River Cruise passengers arriving in Dubuque have eight tour choices. There are multiple river museum options, an “Art in Dubuque” tour that includes stops at St. Luke’s Methodist Church and Dubuque Museum of Art, and a “Beekeeping in Dubuque” tour revolving around a visit to Convivium Urban Farmstead. Other tour options take passengers to the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa; to the bustling downtown of Galena, Ill.; to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin in Spring Green, Wis.; or to the Stonefield Historic Site in Cassville, Wis.

“It benefits the entire area,” Kronlage said, referring to the “regional tourism” impacts.

American Cruise Line passengers can take Dubuque tours that include stops at Steeple Square Community Event Center, Convivium, Dubuque Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, Fenelon Place Elevator, Dubuque Museum of Art and the river museum.

Steeple Square saw more than 1,300 visitors on such tours in 2024, according to Terry Friedman, president of the nonprofit’s board of directors.

Meanwhile, Convivium Urban Farmstead welcomed more than 1,200 such visitors in that time, according to cofounder Leslie Shalabi.

“It’s fantastic,” she said. “We get to share our mission with people from all over the world.”

Riverboat passengers often frequent a range of businesses beyond their tour stops as well. And the industry is poised for another strong year in 2025, according to local officials.

“We’re very excited about 2025 and the amount of (riverboat) stops we are going to have,” Rahe told city leaders earlier this year.