Barge provides unique vacation trip

For the next vacation, try something completely different. It’s not a cruise ship, it’s two enormous barges, moving up the Missouri. They’re moved by a tugboat and all total 730 feet. The unique craft has been making the voyage from St Louis to Kansas City for a couple of years, but soon will come as far as Omaha on its inland cruise. Check out riverbarge-dot-com. Missouri River cruises on a luxury barge will soon extend their route to Omaha. “Riverbarge” V-P Jeff Kindl says from staterooms to the two-story theatre, it’s as luxurious as any cruise ship.He says you tell people you’ve got a hotel on a barge and they think of coal or grain, but once they see it they’re surprised. Dining, entertainment and staterooms are like a hotel, says Kindl. He says the focus is outward, on the river and its culture and history, so entertainers come on board from towns along the route. Kindl says “RiverBarge” was the brainchild of a captain who’s been in the tugboat business for forty years. The River Explorer consists of two barges and a towboat, and public space like a “guest control room” where passengers can hear the captain talking on the radio. The second barge has luxury staterooms that compare with the finest ocean-going cruise ship. Kindl says it’s the first overnight sailing vessel on the Missouri in over a hundred years.