By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
June 12, 2025
MUSKEGON, Mich. — The Victory II visited Muskegon on Thursday, June 12, arriving about 6 a.m., docking at Heritage Landing, and then departing about 8 p.m. It’s the second cruise ship to visit Muskegon this cruising season. The first was the Pearl Mist on June 4. The visit is the second of 16 scheduled cruise ship stops in Muskegon this summer.
The story of Victory II and its sister ship, Victory I, begins in 1999.
The ships were initially owned by American Classic Voyages Company of Chicago. AMCV had been established in the early 1990s to own both the Delta Queen Steamboat Co. (a descendant of the 19th century Greene Line Steamers) and American Hawaii Cruises. In 1998, AMCV signed orders with Atlantic Marine in Jacksonville, Fla. for a pair of coastal cruise ships which American Classic Voyages would launch under the brand Delta Queen Coastal Voyages.
The ships were built in a style similar to a Victorian-style riverboat.
Construction of the first ship (which is now Victory I) began in August 1999 with the hull launched on June 2, 2000. It was delivered to Delta Queen Coastal Voyages in 2001 as Cape May Light, named after the historic Cape May Lighthouse, located in Cape May, NJ, which was built in 1859.
Cape May Light’s maiden voyage from Philadelphia was on May 5, 2001 where it traveled to ports in Virginia, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
Sister ship Cape Cod Light (now Victory II) was named after the Highland Lighthouse, built in 1857, located on Cape Cod, Mass. Construction for that ship began in September 1999 and its hull was launched in July 2000, with the goal of entering service in August 2001. Financial issues at AMCV along with delays at Atlantic Marine pushed delivery back to April 2002.
Due to stretching itself too thin with other ship projects, and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, American Classic Voyages filed for bankruptcy in October 2001, terminating all cruises in their nearest ports and laying up all ships.
The U.S. Maritime Administration, as mortgage holder, became the owner of both ships and provided funds to restart construction of the nearly-complete Cape Cod Light, which was finished in 2004 at a cost of $38.5 million. Both ships, however, sat idled at Jacksonville for the next several years.
In 2006, Hornblower Marine offered $50 million for the two ships with the intention of using them for Great Lakes cruises, but the deal was canceled when Cay Clubs of Florida made a better offer, which ultimately fell through in 2007. In 2008, both ships were sold to Clipper Group of Denmark for $18 million. The Cape Cod Light was chartered back to the Delta Queen Steamboat Co., which had by then been reorganized under new ownership. It was renamed Coastal Queen II in 2007, then Clipper Discoverer in 2008 and then Sea Discoverer in 2010. Cape May Light was renamed Sea Voyager in 2009. Both ships were ultimately laid up again.
In 2010, following the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the two ships were chartered by the United Nations to house international relief workers.
In 2011, both ships left U.S. registry and were transferred to the Bahamian flag. They were returned to lay-up following the earthquake duty until 2015 when Sea Voyager (which is now Viking I) was re-activated for Clipper Cruise Line and renamed Saint Laurent. It was used for a series of Great Lakes cruises.
The Saint Laurent was sold to Victory Cruise Line in 2016 and it was renamed Victory I, used in Great Lakes and East Coast cruises.
In 2017, Victory purchased sister ship Sea Discoverer and, following some refurbishment, entered it into service as Victory II.
In late 2018, American Queen Steamboat Co. acquired Victory Cruise Line, initially keeping the Victory brand. In 2021, the company renamed the two ships, Victory I became Ocean Voyager and Victory II became Ocean Navigator, under the fleet name American Queen Voyages.
The two ships were acquired in May 2024 by American Queen Steamboat Co. founder John Waggoner, now founder and chairman of Victory Cruise Lines. The company operates in partnership with Anglo-Eastern Leisure Management, which oversees hotel operations, provisioning, crewing and other logistical services.
Victory I and Victory II are both 300 feet long, 50 feet wide, with a depth of 20 feet. They are equipped with Caterpillar diesels making a total of 4,054 hp, driving two electric Schottel Z-drive units, for a top speed of 14 knots, and a service speed of 10.
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