This has been a stressful week at Moxley Carmichael. We had an important vote at County Commission on Monday (which we won, thankfully). We had the big Pilot announcement on Wednesday. (Glad that’s over.) Plus a million other things, including some new business presentations, which tend to get me keyed up.
That’s why I was glad that Alan and I had a little pizza cruise scheduled on the Volunteer Princess last night. I was thinking it would be a good way to relax in the middle of the week.
I was so disappointed, therefore, when Beverly LeMasurier, one of the boat’s owners, e-mailed me on Tuesday to say they were going to cancel the outing because they only had six people signed up — Alan and me, our friends the Fords, and one other couple. I decided to see what I could do to get enough other people to come along to salvage the trip.
I sent an e-mail to a couple dozen folks telling them what a great deal this pizza cruise was and asking them to sign up. And lo-and-behold, several of them did — and the cruise was saved! Yay!
Wednesday was a perfect night for it, too. It was actually fun having a small group — it felt like we had the boat to ourselves. When we cast off, there were only two couples we didn’t know — and they turned out to be really nice.
I’ll post some photos here from our fun little jaunt on the Tennessee River. But let me just tell you what a good deal this can be. The pizza cruise only costs $25.95 per person. You get pizza, beer and cookies for that amount. There also is a fully stocked cash bar. The best part, of course is the cruise itself. Although we go on them quite frequently, we never get tired of being on the river in the middle of downtown. Knoxville truly is beautiful from there.
The Volunteer Princess has been in Knoxville for four years. The 96-foot luxury yacht is owned by Beverly and Walter LeMasurier. Their son, Chris, is the captain and his wife, Nikki, is the terrific bartender.
There are many ways to enjoy the Volunteer Princess. Their website clearly outlines the options. You can rent the entire yacht, as many people do for weddings, receptions and corporate functions. It can accommodate 149 passengers. (We have had staff parties on it in the past and loved the experience.) If you don’t need the whole boat, you can reserve a deck or a special section. Or you can go on a public cruise, which is what the pizza cruise was. And here’s another tip: the Volunteer Princess often is on Half Off Depot, so click here to go to that website and see if you can cut the cost of your public cruise in half!
The Volunteer Princess is not a client of ours and they didn’t give us anything free to write this — so put that thought out of your suspicious little mind! But let me encourage you to grab some friends or loved ones and hop on board this under-appreciated Knoxville treasure.
There’s only one table left for this weekend’s Fourth of July cruise. And the Boomsday cruise on Sept. 5 already is about half-sold. It is a terrific way to enjoy the fireworks, which is what we did last year. The Old City Buskers will perform on the Boomsday cruise this year, so go to this website and get your table reserved before it is too late!
Dammit, Cynthia, quit making Knoxville sound so appealing — esp. for ex-pats like me who live 2,000 miles away! You’ve convinced me the Pizza Cruise is the next best thing to try next time I’m in town, and I laughed out loud at your slumber party tale. The pic. of your friend stumped by the remote had me in stitches!
I’ll be back in town Aug. 1 for George Korda’s radio show. Maybe we can get together then.
Ciao!
That sounds great, Carol (well, not the George Korda part, but . . .) Let me know details when it gets closer and we’ll figure something out! Knoxville is great — wish you could move back!
Thanks for the excellent post and the excellent reminder of the Volunteer Princess cruises. I have taken a couple in the past and loved them. However, for a city with the wonderful asset of two picturesque rivers joining to form a beautiful great one, Knoxvillie has unfortunately ignored and disregarded some of this amazing potential. A year ago, when visiting in Chattanooga, I took the high-speed River Gorge Explorer offered by the Aquarium into the Tennessee River Gorge area. It was a beautiful trip, but I couldn’t help thinking of the beautiful stretches of river that Knoxville has, particularly upstream past Ijams on the French Broad. Seems like an opportunity for nature cruises (with the right marketing) is being overlooked here.
Art: Wow. That is a great point. I have been on nature cruises in Naples, Fla., and thought they were just amazing. I wish someone would start something like that here. I wonder if that is something Ijams could do, maybe as a money-maker.
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