Captain’s Blog

Every five years, the Southern Belle Riverboat undergoes an essential and rigorous hull inspection mandated by the Coast Guard. This comprehensive process ensures the vessel continues to meet the highest safety standards, reflecting our commitment to passenger security and reliability over the past 40 years. With Chief Engineer and Roger Murphy Award winner Nick Williams…

  For nearly two decades, Nick Williams has been a steadfast leader in Chattanooga’s maritime industry, dedicating his career to ensuring the safety and security of every passenger who steps aboard the Southern Belle Riverboat and Chattanooga Ducks. As Chief Engineer and Master Captain, Nick’s commitment to excellence and his remarkable ability to balance work…

Brand new year, brand new attitude, and a brand new boat! Well, kind of true. The Southern Belle Riverboat has been in operation for 32 years and the last offseason we repainted everything on the interior to make it look a bit more modern. It was a maroon color, which was a good looking color…

We have been working on our dockside restaurant, The 3rd Deck Burger Bar! This year already we have added 6, 55 inch big screen TV’s, 6 custom made made wooden ping pong tables that double as dining tables for private parties, a brand new awesome wooden dining table that fits 12 ppl, and we repainted…

I’ve driven over Chattanooga’s four bridges too many times to count. The view never gets old. But as much as I’ve admired the Tennessee River from above, I wanted to actually experience it. So I hitched a ride on a riverboat called the Southern Belle. I boarded the 450-passenger boat on the first day of…

Come experience one of awesome dinner cruises aboard the Southern Belle Riverboat. This dinner cruise is one of the best traditions in all of Chattanooga, we have been dining on the TN River through downtown Chattanooga for 32 years! From the start you can make a dinner reservation on our website or over the phone…

Myself, Jonathan Reinert, the kitchen manager, Joe, and the bookkeeper, Jordan all traveled to Seattle for the annual PVA convention at the Washington State Convention Center! The company has never been before, but with a new emphasis on the guest experience on The Southern Belle Riverboat, we had noticed some key note speeches by some…

My best friend Phil, his birthday is in the first week of February, moved to Huntsville to open a physical therapy clinic and left me behind in Chattanooga to suffer with our beautiful mountains and the best riverboat cruises in the US! Well, he cam back to see me and man had a lot of…

Join us on May 14th aboard the Southern Belle and celebrate Mother’s Day with us! That’s right, leave the cookin’ to us! We’ll be cruising on two cruises for a 2 hour cruise on the lazy Tennessee River! As you’re cruising we’ll offer live music for a laid back atomsphere, after lunch or dinner join…

The Best Place to See Chattanooga’s Fall Colors “Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain Fall brings…

The Southern Belle sightseeing cruise has so many wonderful things to offer during your visit in Chattanooga. The guest experience begins when you call to book your reservation with the super friendly Chattanooga Riverboat staff. They will help you to best accommodate during your visit to Chattanooga , they’ll help book your cruise and they…

Top Things to Do in Chattanooga Enjoy the summer sunshine with a cruise on Southern Belle! As the school year wraps up and proms and spring sports seasons come to an end, it’s time to start planning out your summer. As you do that, here’s a helpful hint– a cruise down the Tennessee River on…