John Waggoner Is Bringing Back Victory Cruise Lines
by Dori Saltzman /The former Ocean Navigator from AQV. Photo: AQV
John Waggoner, the founder of American Queen Steamboat Company, is bringing Victory Cruise Lines back to life, according to a report by Seatrade Cruise News. The new Victory Cruise Lines will launch on the Great Lakes in the spring of 2025.
Waggoner purchased the two former Victory Cruise Lines ships during American Queen Victory's bankruptcy auction, in what he told Seatrade Cruise News was an "unbelievable deal." Both ships will revert to their original names – Victory I and Victory II.
The vessels will undergo extensive refurbishments before their 2025 launch. Victory II (most recently known as Ocean Navigator), which suffered a generator fire in 2023, will receive a new engine and control system, along with soft goods such as carpeting and wallpaper. Victory I (most recently known as Ocean Voyager) will receive cosmetic refurbishments.
To help him revive Victory Cruise Lines, Waggoner has brought on board a team of veteran executives, all of whom come from either AQV or one of his previous companies. They include David Kelly as head of operations, Bill Annand as head of marine operations, Dietrich Giles as head of technical services, Bob Salmon who will head up sales, and Kari Tarnowski to head up marketing.
Kelly, in particular, is familiar with the Victory Cruise Lines vessels. He led the refurbishment and modernization of the ships back in 2019 when AQSC first purchased them.
According to Seatrade Cruise News, Waggoner, and Victory Cruise Lines is targeting July 1 for its marketing launch with planned outreach to past customers. The company will also launch a U.S. trade show in September of this year.
American Queen Voyages (American Queen Steamboat Company at the time), purchased Victory Cruise Lines in 2019 but ran the two companies separately until 2021, when they merged to become American Queen Voyages. The ships sailed their final Great Lakes season in 2023, at which time AQV announced it would be selling them. AQV itself went out of business shortly afterward.
Victory Cruise Lines will offer 10- and 12-day itineraries on the five Great Lakes with sailings between Chicago and Toronto or Montreal, as well as 12-day roundtrip Chicago cruises. Like AQV before, pricing will include a pre-cruise hotel, hop-on, hop-off bus tours, and Wi-Fi.
