It was late August, 2007. For a birthday present, I was being treated to a lunch buffet river cruise aboard the Detroit River Princess riverboat. Throughout my fifty-some years here in Michigan, Detroit has had several river excursion venues that offered a river cruise, the most well known being the 2 Boblo triple-decker river boats; the Colombia and the St. Clair. In the late 50's there was the Aquarama, which was more of a Great Lakes cruise ship. Lately we have had the Diamond Jack River Tours - departing from Bishop Park in Wyandotte, and downtown Detroit near Hart-Plaza. Now, add to that the magnificent Detroit River Princess, a 1992 river gambler converted to an entertainment dinner cruise venue.

Standing alongside the Detroit River Princess, I was amazed by the size of the boat. It seamed like a 4 or 5 story building dockside as we walked up.