Steamboat Minnehaha Blog

Dear Minnehaha supporters,

Over the last couple of years we’ve noticed a trend in ridership on the Boat. There are fewer riders on the Excelsior to Wayzata cruises and more requesting the one hour trips.
Comments from passengers indicated that:
        They’ve been there & done that.
        It’s too long especially with the kids.
        There isn’t enough time to do anything in Wayzata.

This years schedule addresses these comments. First of all we lowered the ticket prices. Round trip tickets Excelsior to Wayzata are now $15 and the one hour cruises are $10. Children under 12 are $5 for all trips. infants are free as usual.

We are scheduling the Wayzata cruises with some new options. The first cruise of the day leaves Excelsior for Wayzata at 10:40 and returns to Excelsior at 1:20 with a one hour trip between so that passengers have a good 1 1/2 hour to have lunch, shop and walk around town. As you may remember we stopped in Wayzata for 1/2 hour before returning and that was barely enough time to get a cup of coffee or a hot dog. The one hour trip in the middle of this lets Wayzata passengers cruise the lake for an hour and return to the Depot.

Our return to Excelsior @ 2:20 is when the volunteers change and we run one hour trips for the remainder of the day. There are three different routes we will take in the afternoon. One will cruise Gideons Bay, Lafayette Bay up to the Narrows bridge and Gale island, The second heads to Carsons Bay, St. Louis Bay and the east side the Big Island. The third is a circumnavigation of Big Island. Mixing up the cruise schedule will freshen up our history talks and encourages those who have “been there & done that” to come back and see different parts of the lower lake.

Another exciting development is the dock on Big Island. In case you hadn’t heard the city of Orono has purchased and will install a dock this year. The 8′ wide floating dock will have bollards for the Minnehaha to land at. The dock will be in place sometime late June or early July. Minnehaha will not be landing there on a regular basis this year but we will be there for special events on the Island

We are looking forward to full season starting May 24 with the Memorial Day Holiday.
       
I’ve attached a copy of the 2008 schedule. (http://www.steamboatminnehaha.org/tickets.cfm)

Hope to see you on the Boat this summer

Thanks for your support of the 1906 Steamboat Minnehaha.