Ben Bernstein: [00:00:00] This episode of Ramblin on the River is presented by BB Riverboats. 

Sponsor Message: What does summertime in the Ohio River Valley mean to you? From the deck of a BB Riverboat, it means a breeze on the water, lush views, and a historic cruise by the Queen City skyline. BB Riverboats offers an experience as unforgettable as childhood summers.

This season, let our crew take care of yours as you cruise the mighty Ohio River. BB Riverboats. The river is waiting.

Moderator: You're listening to the Ramblin on the River podcast, presented by BB River Boats. The Bernstein family has been a predominant name in Cincinnati's hospitality landscape since the 1960s, and this podcast will be a collection of the stories, tales, and experiences from their [00:01:00] entrepreneurial endeavors in the restaurant and excursion boat business.

Join as they take you on a a journey through the family's history in their own unique style. Now, here are your hosts, Ben Terri, and Alan Bernstein. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, good afternoon and good morning. Yeah. Welcome to the Ramblin' on the River podcast. My name is Ben Bernstein joined by my father Alan I am here and my sister Terri, 

Alan Bernstein: you know I think that the order in which we are introduced on the on the radio 

Ben Bernstein: Always be you first 

Alan Bernstein: It absolutely should be me first 

Ben Bernstein: Shocking. Very very shocking 

Alan Bernstein: and then I think Terri because she came before you so it would be in 

Ben Bernstein: whatever you want You guys could host and do it do the whole show 

Alan Bernstein: I'm just making a comment.

Terri Bernstein: I thought women were first [00:02:00] anyway. 

Ben Bernstein: Well, yeah Anyways, thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in listening to us We are very thankful that you have chosen to join us for today's episode Before we get started, we would love if you could follow and connect with the show, give us a like, and subscribe on any of your favorite podcast platforms.

You can also visit us on our Facebook and Instagram pages by visiting our website at Ramblin' on the River. com and please email us. The show has an email podcast@bbriverboats.com. That's going to come to all three of us. And really we would love to hear from you. You might get three different.

Alan Bernstein: That's exactly what I was going to say. We 

Terri Bernstein: need to move from 10 to 11. Like, so please like us. 

Ben Bernstein: Yes, absolutely. But I can assure you every single question will get answered. They will all get read. They will all probably get dissected. But we're looking to do something entertaining for everybody.

So please. Reach out to us. First episodes down [00:03:00] and off the books. We gave you a little overview of things that are to come. 

Alan Bernstein: It was good. Yep. 

Ben Bernstein: And then 

Terri Bernstein: we could do better. 

Alan Bernstein: It was, I was going to say we could do a lot better. 

Ben Bernstein: We are not very good at this, but we'll get better.

Terri Bernstein: I thought it would be a lot easier than it is. 

Ben Bernstein: It's really not. It really takes a It's a big effort. It's a, it's a big effort. It is. But today we are going to dive a little deeper into some of the things we talked about in the first episode, just a little more specific information.

And we'll get the show started with story time. 

Moderator: Gather round everybody because it is story time on Ramblin' on the River.

Ben Bernstein: So last week the first episode, we. Kind of gave you that high level view. And we talked a little bit about your childhood, Dad and your time spent in South America, specifically in Quito, Ecuador, [00:04:00] and coming home from Ecuador was really a key part in your life as far as your love of the river goes.. School got, school got done. He comes home.

Alan Bernstein: I came home in the middle of a senior year right at school. So I went to Woodward and that's how I got my, 

Terri Bernstein: did you have to go that last semester?

Alan Bernstein: I didn't, yeah, the last half for the year. It, but there wasn't, you know what you, but what did you do? Did you go to plans? There's not much. I So you just sit there. I was pretty much a, yeah, 

Terri Bernstein: you have no 

Alan Bernstein: idea. I attended I idea. I mean, I don't remember. That's 60 years ago. 

Ben Bernstein: He got outta of the house. Yeah. . He didn't have to go to work yet. 

Alan Bernstein: But actually the ceremony was for the what, April or May of of that next year, 1970. Yep. And, I decided I heard on the radio on my little car. My very first car. When I got home from Ecuador, my dad took me down to the Volkswagen dealer and we bought a yellow convertible Bug, Volkswagen Beetle, [00:05:00] convertible, convertible a yellow car, black top.

And it, all it had was an AM radio. The only knob on the entire car was a AM radio. And the heat came from the engine, from the engine. You'd pull up a lever for the heat and it would come out of the, you know, the engine compartment. 

Ben Bernstein: I know people are listening to us right now, so they're not seeing us. Yeah, that's right. So, do yourself a favor and check out some of our Facebook posts about this episode. You can start picturing the man talking in a little Volkswagen convertible. Do we have a picture of me in a Volkswagen? I'm not in it, I'm just saying in general we're not the body types, you and I, that would drive around in a Volkswagen bug.

Alan Bernstein: Oh, come on, I was a I was a hot dude. A convertible. 

Terri Bernstein: Is this the same car that you talked about that the whole floor rusted out and you could put your feet on the floor? 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, it was like a fred Flintstone car. You could move your feet along [00:06:00] the road. 

Terri Bernstein: I'm sure my mother loved that. 

Ben Bernstein: It would be like saying nowadays you got a Mazda Miata.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. Well, it was a stick shift. 

Ben Bernstein: Cause everything was a stick shift. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, yeah, back then actually an automatic car was very expensive. You had to, order an automatic car. So I had a stick shift the radio and I think the windshield wipers came on from the steering wheel. I guess there was some way to turn them on and off, so I heard on the radio That the Delta Queen was coming to town for its annual Kentucky Derby and then New Orleans trip. And I said, well, that sounds pretty neat. Now you have to remember, I have already been traveling internationally as a young kid several times by myself.

I think after 14, then you could travel by yourself internationally. As long as you had the paperwork, you could travel. So I had come back to Cincinnati [00:07:00] several times and I was probably a little bit more schooled in that kind of. You know, traveling or going comfortable. I was comfortable getting by myself, going to a hotel if I had to, or whatever.

So you knew how to do it. I knew how to do it. And it wasn't a strange thing. So I went down to the landing that day, that morning, and it was really, really neat. Betty Blake was there. Of course, I didn't know who she was, but she was there and they had two high school bands there playing music. And then the boat pulled in and their band came off their Dixieland band and the trumpet. It was really a, the calliope was playing, but they stopped when the ceremony started. It was really this really cool thing. And so I started asking people, well, how do you get a job on this boat? And they said, well, you go over. To this guy, you go over to that guy and I finally found the right guy. I'll never forget him. [00:08:00] His name was Franklin miles, an imposing character. He wasn't imposed. He was absolutely bald, not, not a hair on his head six foot. Seven, maybe six foot eight dressed in a full white uniform with his epaulets.

And those are the stripes on your shoulders, the stripes on your shoulders, right? Shoulder boards. And And he and I struck up a conversation and he said, well, what can you do? I said, well, my parents have a restaurant and we have a boat. I could deck hand. I could do whatever you need, need me to do.

He said, well, if you can be back here at five o'clock in the afternoon you can get on the boat and we put, we'll put you to work. So back then, now this is 1970, and this is the day of your high school graduation. The that is correct. I was supposed to be at graduation, the ceremony of walking down but I had told them I wasn't going to be there.

Oh, I didn't, I didn't know. [00:09:00] I had called the school or no, actually my mother called. Oh, that you were, wait a minute. My mother did not call cause she didn't know I left. All right. I called the school and said I was not going to be at graduation. 

Ben Bernstein: Subsequently . After you were offered the job. Yes.

Alan Bernstein: Okay. This is in the morning. Not before. I was offered the job in the morning. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: You're making it sound like ahead of time. You had already told him you weren't coming. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, I am so sorry. 

Ben Bernstein: Let me get you back on track. 

Terri Bernstein: Not that this is a shocker, but I don't know that I was paying attention in the first part of this.

Did we, was Franklin Miles the chief steward? 

Alan Bernstein: Yes, he was the chief steward. 

Ben Bernstein: You should really pay attention. I, 

Terri Bernstein: I was actually, no I was Googling Franklin, Franklin Miles. I have pictures of him. We'll post it on our Facebook page. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. But she, she wasn't paying attention. 

Terri Bernstein: And Ernest Wagner was the captain.

Alan Bernstein: He was. And he and I became very good friends at the end. 

Ben Bernstein: But let's go back. This is easy. Let me break it down for everybody. The day of dad's [00:10:00] high school graduation. Heard on the radio, Delta Queen's in town. He goes down to the public landing. At 9am when they told me. Finds six foot seven Franklin Miles and is offered a job. Now he's gotta get back. At 5 o'clock I gotta be back at the boat. He's gotta be back at 5 o'clock, so now he's gotta go home, pack his belongings, find his parents, and and hop on a boat for the rest of the summer. That's correct. Go ahead. 

Alan Bernstein: I go back to the apartment we lived on Torrance something. Torrance Port? Yeah. I think you were in Bond Hill. No. No. That was my, that was my childhood. 1102 Egan Hills Drive. Still there. Google that. So I went back to pack my clothes and I, I packed them all up and I started calling the restaurant to find mom and dad. I got ahold of somebody that said, your parents are at a meeting, they can't be disturbed and you'll just have to wait till later on. Well, I [00:11:00] obviously didn't have a whole lot of time to wait.

I got my stuff together. I packed it all up into a suitcase and I decided I would leave them a note because it was getting closer to 2:30/3 o'clock and I gotta go. So I wrote him a note, dear mom and dad I have taken a job on the Delta queen. I'm leaving tonight at 5 o'clock and I will call you in two weeks from New Orleans when I get there.

Ben Bernstein: Did you put the little peace sign at the bottom? 

Alan Bernstein: No, no, no. 

Terri Bernstein: How mad would you have been if I had done that? 

Alan Bernstein: I don't look at it that way, and my father didn't look at it, actually. Dad, probably, my mother was pretty upset. Oh, my mom would've been, would've been bad. My mother, I dad would've been like, what?

What? My, my mother was not happy with her little baby Alan. And you missed her baby boy. I called her when I got to New Orleans, just like I told her I would, she was probably pretty happy. She was not happy. In fact, when she picked up the phone, I said, [00:12:00] mom, it's your little baby Al.

Silence, crickets. And I said, mom, and she said, Alan, get your ass home right now. And I said, mom, I can't do that. this is the greatest thing I've ever done. And beyond Ecuador, this is like a week later, it took us two weeks to get there. And I said, I'm having the time of my life, and this is just too good to pass up.

And I said, I'll call you periodically when we get a phone. There's not a lot of phones around, but when I get a phone, I'll be happy to call you. But I'm on the Delta Queen, and you can follow us. You know where we are. We might be, you know, whatever. I was able to travel the entire Mississippi River, the entire Ohio River, the entire Tennessee River and the entire Cumberland [00:13:00] River.

In my very short career on the Delta Queen and your father thought it was pretty. My father thought it was really great. There's probably no better way to do that. I mean, I never even knew the Mississippi River existed. I think I'm jealous. And I got to see all these great cities and meet some really great people that you just don't often run into.

So what were your responsibilities on board? Well, I had two major responsibilities, actually three. I was a bus boy in the dining room. I assume three turns a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And then on Saturday night, there was a was a show kind of a thing which was down in the dining room, so I worked that.

And then I had brass shining. Everybody on the boat had. Duties on brass shining, 

Ben Bernstein: Which if you've ever seen pictures of the interior of the Delta, it's all brass, there is brass handle. And when you ask, when you [00:14:00] polish one thing and you go through your list, you got to go back to the start. 

Alan Bernstein: It started with all over again. So everybody had brass, the maids all had to do the knobs on the state rooms and even the engineers had brass in the engine room that they had to clean, everybody had brass. Then my other was when the boat went through a lock and dam, I would help deck him.

So those were my main duties. Obviously you can tell during the day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner is the majority of your day. The brass was generally in the evening and night. Huh? 

Ben Bernstein: How do you polish bras? 

Alan Bernstein: There's a brass. Oh, there's a rag, and it gets really gnarly. I mean, black and, and your hands turn green. Yeah. , you, you get this green tint to your fingers, and 

Ben Bernstein: it's not sea sickness, it's just, 

Alan Bernstein: yeah. No, no, no. It's hot seasickness. But when you do it enough, you know, it's an art. It is, it really is. And you can see the streaks [00:15:00] if you leave streaks and all that.

And of course the mate would never put up with streaks. He would make you do it all over again. 

Terri Bernstein: But so you started out in the dining room and then you asked to help be a deckhand. And I told 

Alan Bernstein: him, I told Franklin Miles, I know how to deckhand him. My dad has a boat and and, and he said, well, if you want a little houseboat, 

Terri Bernstein: you were never, that's 

Alan Bernstein: correct.

It was not, you 

Terri Bernstein: didn't really know how to 

Alan Bernstein: deckhand him. A 285 foot steel overnight boat. You 

Ben Bernstein: weren't throwing three inch 

Alan Bernstein: lines. No, no, no, no, no. And then of course the brass shining with everybody had a duty for brass shining. So I got to see all these great cities, all the cities we talk about today and much more. And it was really quite a summer. And then at the end of September, I started attending the University of Cincinnati. So I had to give up the Delta Queen to come to school. 

Terri Bernstein: So how much did you make on board? 

Alan Bernstein: Hmm. You have no, I was paid. I, I was [00:16:00] paid $60 a week in look up minimum wage. I think it was a dollar five. See what minimum wages in 1970. We have all this technology here. We might as well use it at our fingertips at our fingertips. She's about as fast as a typer as you. Oh yeah. Well, you don't want me doing technology.

That's sure. 

Terri Bernstein: The other problem is what state 

Ben Bernstein: I don't, what's the governing body in 

Terri Bernstein: 1970 in Kentucky? It was a dollar 45, 

Alan Bernstein: a dollar 45. Yeah, but no, that's what I was working for. It went 

Terri Bernstein: from 1 in 1967 to 1. 30 and then 1970. That's a 

Ben Bernstein: huge increase. 

Terri Bernstein: Well, there's a few. Percentage 

Alan Bernstein: wise.

Yeah, percentage wise it is, but not in reality. I mean, the difference is not I don't 

Terri Bernstein: know what state you were paid in, but 

Alan Bernstein: I believe we were paid in Ohio, but I'm not sure. [00:17:00] So that's what I got paid. 

Ben Bernstein: But most of that money was gobbled up in your gambling? 

Alan Bernstein: Wait a minute. Then in, in the dining room, we would make tips, you know, that people, you know if they left 50 cents, sometimes that was a, you know, big payday. 50 cents. Yeah. Half my minimum wage. So, I made some money and I really didn't account for it because every Friday night,

On the boat, the captain would run his craps table, and every Friday night, he was the house, he was out, he was out and every Friday night, by the end of the night, I had zero 

every Friday night. 

Ben Bernstein: It was forgive me if I'm wrong, but at some point growing up, I remember you telling us a story rather be bullshit or not. That you get done with your summer on the Delta Queen and you go home and, Grandma, who was not happy that [00:18:00] you, left unannounced, came to you and said, well, Al, where's all this money you made? And you looked at her and said, well, I didn't make a dime . 

Alan Bernstein: I, I did not make a dime in, in fact, 

Terri Bernstein: but you had a good time in.

Alan Bernstein: But the time of my life, it was I was a very famous craps player. Very famous. Because you were that bad. Be everybody betted against me, , you know, so, but anyway we had a good time. 

Terri Bernstein: So let's talk about the people on board. Did you meet. Any special people

Alan Bernstein: We did the many celebrities because the 1970 year was the year that Betty Blake and Bill Muster the two principals in the company were trying to save the queen from the safety at sea act, which meant all overnight boats had to be made out of steel and not wood.

And of course the Delta queen was all wood. And it was a major awareness. , We worked [00:19:00] very hard at telling passengers to write their congressmen and everybody had a duty to promote saving the Delta queen from the scrapyard. And obviously you know how the story ends.

We saved it. Betty and Bill did it mainly on their own tenaciousness. They were in Congress quite a bit. And so we had many celebrities, we had congressmen , and, you know, people that they would invite down to show them the boat. We had different entertainers and celebrity in 1970. Major league baseball had the all star game in Cincinnati, the riverfront, 1970 in riverfront stadium. And the Delta queen was a big part of that, but , my whole experience on the Delta queen , I learned real Southern hospitality and why the South is so different.

Then hospitality in the north southern hospitality is famous and it's [00:20:00] famous because they're nice people and they're trying to promote coming to the south. So that is my money making opportunity on the Delta queen. 

Terri Bernstein: Now I remember as a child hearing a story. About you and the crew going out one night, 

Ben Bernstein: maybe swimming without any clothes on.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, 

Terri Bernstein: maybe. 

And 

Alan Bernstein: I remember where I sort of forgot that one. Well, we were in Paducah, Kentucky. I've been there, the metro, the th thriving metropolis of Paducah, Kentucky. And in 1970, if anybody wants to fact. Check, check my comments you probably should back then in 1970 Paducah was a major hub for marine transportation.

Terri Bernstein: I can't even spell Paducah, 

Ben Bernstein: but P A D. It still is a major, right?

Alan Bernstein: Well, absolutely it [00:21:00] is. It's a thriving hub of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. And Paducah, the city was made up of a lot of liquor stores because Paducah was the only other city other than Lexington, Louisville and the Northern Kentucky area that was wet.

Everything else was dry. 110 counties in Kentucky were dry and there's not a whole lot more right now, So we loaded up, we were headed for Kentucky Lake which is just about 40 miles, maybe 50 miles from the dam to get you to the lake. And we were sort of overnighting in, in Paducah.

So once everybody went to sleep, the crew said, well, why don't we go up to the lake? We'll get a car or a truck and we'll. I said, where the heck are we going to get a car and a truck? They said, we'll get one. So they did. They went out and borrowed a truck, pickup truck. [00:22:00] We went up and loaded up with beer and booze.

 Who knows how much we got and we drove out to the lake and the lake was absolutely beautiful. It was a beautiful night, moonlit and everybody said, let's go swimming. It I said, well, I, you know, there's not, okay, well, we'll all go swimming. All of us are four girls, four guys took our clothes off and away we went.

And we're having a great time. I mean, we're having a real time and all of a sudden lights come on and a policeman goes, you're all under arrest, please come forward. So in all of our nakedness, we all came forward. 

Ben Bernstein: Was Franklin miles with you? 

Alan Bernstein: No, he was not. Yeah, he was a smart guy. Although we probably would have taken it, but anyway there was the, the eight of us four guys, four girls and we were all taken to. [00:23:00] I guess it was the Paducah. I don't know exactly what jail it was, but it was close to Paducah anyway. I don't know. 

Terri Bernstein: Did they let you put your clothes on?

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. They, they did give us our clothes back. Either that, or they would have given us a blanket. I'm sure. So we all end up in jail. And We did have, what was it? One of the engineering guys. And he said, I have the captain's number. I'll call Captain Wagner. He'll bail us out of jail. And so here comes captain Wagner about 3:30/4 o'clock in the morning. And ,he came and I don't know what he said, but he said, I'm here to pick up my crew and we all got out of jail and, and went down I do not remember that captain Wagner ever said a word. To anybody.

Terri Bernstein: You didn't get in trouble? 

Alan Bernstein: We did. I mean, we got into trouble because we knew we were in trouble. But it wasn't like, okay, you have to do 100 laps today, it wasn't like there was punishment. [00:24:00] Working for the Delta Queen was punishment enough. I mean, it was hard. It was hard work. It was, there was no easy job.

Terri Bernstein: Well, he wasn't going to find crew in, where's 

Alan Bernstein: he going to get 8 people? 

Terri Bernstein: Although you just showed up and got on. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, that's true. So yes, I don't know if I'm a convicted felon in Paducah or what. I never went to court, but I have a, Criminal record in Paducah, Kentucky.

Terri Bernstein: Did they make him pay to bail you out of jail? 

Alan Bernstein: I don't think so. I think he came and said, This is my cruise here, and What were they doing? They said, Well, they were skinny dipping. And the Delta Queen is a big deal. Paducah didn't want us to bypass Paducah. No, I 

Terri Bernstein: feel like when we pull into cities, people think we're royalty too.

Alan Bernstein: Well, I remember we were in Ironton, Ohio, and I had to go for a girl that was caught speeding, one of our crew members coming up I had to, you know, deal with that, and well, we did pay, we actually paid the fine, but [00:25:00] anyway, so, that's, that's my story of skinny dipping, it was the last time I ever did it in public, thank God yeah, 

Terri Bernstein: in public, in public, 

Alan Bernstein: yeah.

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. We all came here by storks. Yeah. Just remember that 

Alan Bernstein: you were all delivered by storks. That's right. That's right. 

Ben Bernstein: What were some of the things that really, you look back and the lessons that you learned on that boat, maybe specifically, or maybe that summer. I it, it, it fostered your love of the river.

It did. There's you, you, what, what it could be in the, the. The magic of it, the romance of Riverboat Times. 

Alan Bernstein: Yeah, and that is very true. I think it got me hooked on the river, and the river cities, the river style, the river romance if you want to use romance and it has that capability.

Now, you know, one of the few books that I did read as a young man was Mark Twain. That was a [00:26:00] part of a curriculum and you could really understand what his writing was back then. When he wrote this, it's a long time ago, and it was absolutely true. You came to these little cities, it was like the carnival or the circus coming to town.

And we were greeted by mayors and, oh my god, it was just a lot of fun. A lot of fun, and it, it did get me my memories of the river are going to these little towns that are really not visited by many. This boat pulls up and a couple hundred people get out and start wandering around their little town and it's magical, magical.

Terri Bernstein: Well, a video that you did with Ohio you say that your love from the river, it bites you like a bug and it's magical and it's, you know, there's no doubt, 

Alan Bernstein: no doubt about it. That's a little different today. Today we're in a modern world and a lot of the [00:27:00] old river stuff. Like I said, 

Ben Bernstein: travel down this river. There's a lot that isn't different these days. I mean, in many places that you travel on the river. It's probably pretty much unchanged from when Mark Twain came down. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, you are right. A lot of it is not changed. A lot of it is still the natural beauty of what you come into downtown Cincinnati. Yes, it, it, it, it's St. Louis. Oh yeah. But Pittsburgh and all these great cities when you're 30 miles 

Ben Bernstein: from here, outside and you're in trees, you're in trees. People ask all the time. What's the coolest part of the river?

Yeah. And it's all those places that nobody gets to see unless you travel the river. 

Alan Bernstein: There are uninhabited islands, untouched, untouched. It's just natural stuff. 

Terri Bernstein: My favorite part is when we travel, just sitting outside and watching everything late at night and just watching the river go by.

Alan Bernstein: I think the best sleep you can get is to sit on the river for a [00:28:00] little bit and then say, I'm a little tired now. You go to sleep and it's, it's just. 

Terri Bernstein: You wake up and you sometimes see the same thing I've been on those trips making two miles an hour. 

Ben Bernstein: When we took the Mike Fink up to dry dock, that's right, I ran an eight hour shift driving the boat.

And when I got off a shift, I looked back and I could see where I took over eight hours. We made 1. 1 miles. That is, that is very, very true. 

Alan Bernstein: That happened to us on the way back from the world's fair. You were a little bit of a 

Ben Bernstein: whole facility. You were, we had the entire, 

Alan Bernstein: we had everything and we hit the Ohio river and it was in flood stage and actually captain Bubby Hall came to me and he said, he said, Al, I think we ought to stay in Paducah and we ought to wait for a few days. And I'm thinking a few days. Do we have enough food? Do we have enough water? Do we have? And [00:29:00] we decided to go. I said, Russ, we can't wait. He said, Well, you're going to use a lot of fuel and not get very far. And he was right. We made about 1. 1 miles all the way up to Cincinnati. It was a brutal trip. And we ran out of fuel. That's, that's a different story, different day. So I think the magic of the river is really self explanatory. And if you ever didn't have a chance to do it come down and you can get a sense of it. Just sitting on the. Deck of one of our boats and 

Ben Bernstein: watching things go by. We're just coming down and sitting in the parking lot and just staring at, I mean, it's, there are many ways to experience 

Alan Bernstein: it. Now, I think it's a little different now, but back in 1970, there was no technology other than a radio and there was no, you know, texting emails, all that stuff. No television. No television.

You know, we'd be lucky if we got to a big town that we could get in on a radio station to try to get some [00:30:00] news. But it is different today. I think they have technology pretty much everywhere, although there are still many places on the Ohio River. I don't think that there is internet and you know, cellular connections.

Ben Bernstein: It is improving, but yes, we are an industry where we have to make everybody else's stuff work for us. There's very little developed that is specifically made for our industry and things like POS systems and Wi Fi and things like that that are common everywhere. Is all a big challenge for us.

You're trying to run a credit card because nobody carries cash anymore and you have no service and it shuts your system down. Those are difficulties of, of our job. Now I'm hoping I've been following not to really go off in too much of a tangent, but.

The stuff with SpaceX and Elon Musk and the satellites and hoping to, to connect the entire world, whether [00:31:00] you're in a metro area or not. We'll see. Hopefully that will be something that as it develops that could help us greatly. But that's one of our biggest challenges for really everything we do is. Having connectivity 

Alan Bernstein: I keep sending you information about somebody advertising Be Connected Anywhere and I don't know if you read them or not, but I read them, 

Ben Bernstein: I replied to you, and I think we even had a phone conversation. I think we did. Wow. You clearly don't remember.

Terri Bernstein: Alright, moving on, moving on. Let's stay focused. 

Ben Bernstein: So you get off the Delta Queen, the restaurants start, you work through the restaurants. We buy the Mike Fink restaurant in 1977. And I'm guessing at that point we would have as many guests as we used to have come down and ask when the boat was Well, when I got 

Alan Bernstein: off, let me just go back just a second, because when I got off the boat in 1970, I went to school, but during school, I worked at El [00:32:00] Greco as a bus boy or a waiter or a host or whatever.

And I did that for what is it, five, six years until the Mike Fink came around and we bought the Mike Fink. And that is really what started us thinking that maybe there's a river career in front of us. But the Mike Fink's logo was the romance of riverboat dining. Yes. And that really, that logo is responsible for BB Riverboats.

When people would call and say, well, what time does the boat leave? What time does it come back? What do we get served? And of course the Mike Fink was stationary. It was a restaurant. And it never left. But it got dad and I thinking now I was a young kid. That maybe there's room for an excursion boat company.

There was. A boat over on the Cincinnati public landing called Johnson party boat. Yeah and he actually bought Yeah, we [00:33:00] ended up with the right but Johnson was just a party place. He would only do private cruises and we thought with the phone calls that there was a good public business And that's really how BB got its 

Ben Bernstein: got its start at what point though I mean the entrepreneurial part of it was easy.

You heard the interest from so many customers that, Hey, we'll go into business. At what point did you say, okay, I'm going to go get my license and actually run the boat. Some, you know, grandpa, if you weren't involved, probably would have put ads out, found captains to operate the boat for him. I don't know if he would have ever had any desire being a boat captain, 

Alan Bernstein: Our friends in Pittsburgh, which we modeled ourselves after they leased our first boat, they helped us get started, but the owner and his grandson were not boat captains. Yeah. He still doesn't have a license. And his grandfather [00:34:00] didn't have a light. He said, I'll, I'll find somebody to run our boat for us, which is exactly what they did. Now when we decided that maybe excursion boating was where we needed to go remember, I met a lady named Betty Blake on board the boat. 

Ben Bernstein: Yep. 

Alan Bernstein: Betty was a Cincinnati resident up in in Mount Adams and was the president and was the president of the Delta Queen steamboat company.

 The way we met her really, or not me because I had already met her, but my dad, she used to come to the restaurant on a regular basis and my dad would sit down and you know, just talk and well, you know, I'm with the Delta Queen. 

She would come in and really started to encourage dad. To do the project that, the, The whole thing, Betty had no money involved. We paid her as a consultant and Betty helped us find John Connolly. So she knew John and we all went up in a car and met John [00:35:00] and Terri Wirginis was a little kid with my age.

Terri Bernstein: This is from Gateway Clipper. Oh, 

Alan Bernstein: I'm sorry. From Pittsburgh. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. I guess none of you that are listening. Some do. But anyway but even today, Pittsburgh and us are very, very, very, very, and I'm sure they're listening. Oh, well, I hope so. How are you? Yeah. I hope everything's up. Stop flushing your toilets in Pittsburgh, because it's coming by here.

Sorry. I tell them that every high water. I said, quit flushing your toilets up here. What did they say? What rolls downhill? Yeah. Go on. Go on. Sorry. 

Terri Bernstein: Anyway. 

Alan Bernstein: And they did, in fact, lease us the first boat called the Betty Blake which was a great honor for Betty. She had cancer. I think we knew she had cancer, but we didn't know how bad it was until that very first real effort to get going 1982, she passed away [00:36:00] from a really bad bout of cancer. And her funeral was quite nice more towards Lexington, but she's buried in a beautiful cemetery. That's how we got started and it grew immediately when the name BB Riverboats, Oh, of course. Thank you, Terri. You really have to keep him on track. BB Riverboats. Absolutely. Every day. 

Terri Bernstein: This has nothing to do with the 

Alan Bernstein: podcast. BB comes from Betty Blake, Ben Bernstein, and you can play it the way you want. Bernstein, Blake, Ben and Betty, Betty and Blake. It was just a 

Terri Bernstein: coincidence that both of their initials were BB.

Ben Bernstein: And contrary to popular belief. 

Terri Bernstein: There is no, and 

Ben Bernstein: there's 

Alan Bernstein: no, that's right. Everybody says B and B it's okay. As they say B&B, at least they know who they're talking. That's 

Ben Bernstein: right. 

Alan Bernstein: That used to 

Ben Bernstein: make me so mad. I 

Alan Bernstein: would, but at least they know that they're talking 

Ben Bernstein: about, yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: At least they're talking about us.

Alan Bernstein: Yes. Yeah. 

Ben Bernstein: Good point. 

Alan Bernstein: After 50 [00:37:00] years, you sort of get used to B&B. And that's how we really got started. We. Found out about the 1982 World's Fair. That was really our biggest and Knoxville, 

Terri Bernstein: Tennessee. 

Alan Bernstein: Knoxville, Tennessee. 

Terri Bernstein: I went to first grade there.

Alan Bernstein: Yeah. Yeah. And you could speak Tennessean. 

Terri Bernstein: Yeah. One a C, two a C. People, kids made fun of me because I, I didn't sound like them. 

Alan Bernstein: Well. They 

Terri Bernstein: would make, yeah, I had a, I had a weird accent. 

Alan Bernstein: If any of you have an opportunity to go to Knoxville, Tennessee, it is a special little place. You better learn how to sing Rocky Top.

Oh yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: I will not be surprised if my daughter doesn't end up there for college. 

Alan Bernstein: Well she might. She really likes it. 

Ben Bernstein: Yeah. Yeah. We, we lived in a very nice neighborhood actually closer than where you went to school. 

Alan Bernstein: It's about driving. Yeah. It's about the same. It's about the same. 

Ben Bernstein: But anyway, we started BB Riverboats. At what point did you say you wanted to be, 

Alan Bernstein: Okay, well, , here's what happened. Dad said to me, Alan, we're going to go [00:38:00] in the excursion boat company. You're going to get your license and you're going to run the company and you're going to do this. And you're going to do. I said, dad, you're crazy. I don't know the pointy end from the round end. I don't know how to deal with engines real well. I don't know what, what are you thinking that I'm going to be able to run the riverboat company? He said, Alan, you're going to learn. You're going to become a captain. You're going to run these boats. And I said, dad, you are absolutely crazy. Which you said a lot. Yes. 

Terri Bernstein: So how did you get the time on the vessel though? I guess, well,

Alan Bernstein: I work as a steward. I mean, I was the, 

Ben Bernstein: A huge chunk of that time was just gobbled up from from the Delta. Well, it was Delta queen. And there 

Terri Bernstein: Was the time, the same amount you had to have 365 

Alan Bernstein: Probably. I don't know. The time really wasn't the issue is, could I pass the test? Oh. Now, I am not the greatest student in the world. 

Ben Bernstein: There are not many tests you have [00:39:00] passed in your life. 

Alan Bernstein: There's not. I've passed every drug test, every single one. 

Terri Bernstein: Me too. 

Ben Bernstein: Those are the hardest to study for.

Alan Bernstein: But anyway it was hard for me, my lovely wife of 51 years will tell you that she had threatened me when I went for the second time to get my license. I failed the first time. She said, if you don't pass this time, don't come home. I can't take you studying anymore. 

Terri Bernstein: I remember as a little kid, we lived in Fort Thomas. We had a dining room table and you had books everywhere. 

Alan Bernstein: Oh, they were, there were so many books and it was so hard to read. And if anybody has ever read a federal regulation book, a code of federal regulations, you will know what I'm talking about. It has to be the most boring. And most unentertaining thing in the [00:40:00] world.

It's too late. Matter of fact, yeah, you had to learn it. And by golly, a credit to myself. I'll pat myself on the back. I did it. Yeah. And I pay it. 

Ben Bernstein: It's not that difficult now. I mean, it's, it's difficult to get your license. 

Alan Bernstein: Well, today there's schools, when I did it, there was nothing you had, you went to the library you got it all out yourself. There was no instruction. None. 

Terri Bernstein: Did they have Maritime Academies? 

Alan Bernstein: Yes. They did. Yeah, Maritime Academies have been around for years. That's a professional deal. But that's a, that's a college degree. Right. 

Terri Bernstein: Well, I mean, you could have. 

Alan Bernstein: I couldn't get into any any Merchant Marine.

Terri Bernstein: I mean, was King's Point around then? Oh, yeah, sure, 

Alan Bernstein: sure. Those are a hundred years, yeah, those have been around for a long time. But again, that's college, I was below high school level. Yeah. Yeah. 

Terri Bernstein: No, you finished high 

Alan Bernstein: school. I know, but I mean, 

Ben Bernstein: you still are below high school. 

Terri Bernstein: I mean, you were at the age, you could have gone to a maritime academy or something.

Maybe, [00:41:00] maybe your brother could have. 

Alan Bernstein: Terri, I didn't have grades to get into a reform school. 

Ben Bernstein: You need reform. 

Terri Bernstein: We should send him now. 

Alan Bernstein: So you get your initial license. I get my initial license. Did you start operating? I was so happy I couldn't drive. I, I, literally, when I left the testing place. You couldn't drive your car.

I couldn't drive my car. My hands wouldn't work. I mean, I was so excited. It was just, you can't believe the joy that I had passed the test. And I had a life. Thank God I can stay married now. Well, yeah, yeah. So and, and then it was stupid me. Not only do I take that a hundred ton license, I go for a 500 ton license. And that was 1600. That was after we bought the Belle of Cincinnati. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's way down the road. 

Ben Bernstein: 1999 or 2000. 

Alan Bernstein: But I think those were worse licenses than my first. But at least you got to go to a school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You didn't. Yeah, no, it was only my first [00:42:00] license that I studied all on my own. I would never want to do that. The river school in Memphis, Tennessee, very famous place, very unique instructor and Dick Boyd. 

Terri Bernstein: He did not love me. 

Alan Bernstein: I think anybody who attends that river school probably comes away with cancer from all the smoke. Well, back then. Yeah, it was, Oh, it was, I mean, you couldn't see the walls. The smoke was so thick, 

Ben Bernstein: Man. I've never seen somebody drink so much coffee and smoke cigarettes. And he used 

Terri Bernstein: the restroom a ton. And I was seated right next to the restroom 

Ben Bernstein: And she could hear it all. You drink enough coffee. You probably have to go. Yeah, absolutely. Number one and number two. Yeah, absolutely.

And then he'd swing the door up and it 

Terri Bernstein: would slam into my desk and I would have the smell of the bed. So 

Ben Bernstein: you got your license, you upgraded. Yeah. You were endorsed your 1600 ton. Well, I, yeah, you haven't had the test since your [00:43:00] five, 500 tons, 25 years ago. And I don't think I could do it again. Yeah. I don't think I'd tell you when I went to upgrade my license to an inland license, which the biggest difference between an inland license and a rivers license is that you have to plot and you have to know about different 

Alan Bernstein: things. 

Ben Bernstein: And, and I tell you, you know, I, I was Terri and dad, I'll tell you, I was Always gifted in the academics. Yeah. I mean, and so I went there in, in the past when I went to go get my license, usually, you know, you, you get there on a Monday, they say you could be there up to seven or eight days, typically I'm done in three or four. And we did the charting part. Is he bragging Ter? Is he bragging?

Hold on. Is he bragging? I 

Terri Bernstein: think you failed your first test. I did. 

Ben Bernstein: We don't need to talk about that. That was 19 years ago. I mean,

Terri Bernstein: I made it through all four tests out the door. Wait a minute. 

Alan Bernstein: Am I, well. 

Terri Bernstein: He failed his first test. All right. Go ahead [00:44:00] Ben. I just wanted to throw that out there. He's not perfect. Thank you very much for 

Alan Bernstein: throwing that out there. 

Terri Bernstein: Contrary to what he thinks. 

Ben Bernstein: But I went there and thinking, okay, we'll be able to upgrade this license pretty quickly. I was like, I'll be home in three or four days. I was in Memphis for 12 days. The plotting is, it's not that it's difficult. In fact, I really enjoyed it and thought it was pretty cool. The problem is when you're plotting on a big chart, if you are. A fraction of a millimeter off you're 50 or a hundred nautical miles off, when you go through in these tests, one question leads to the next, to the next. So when you do these practical navigation tests, if you get your first question is wrong, everything else is wrong. It's not like , you have to learn the concept and you have to learn your own way to do it. And it's. That was very, very difficult. But now he's just I think Bill 

Terri Bernstein: cheated. He took a yardstick with him.[00:45:00] 

Oh, you're not allowed to take a yardstick. The rulers were too short. So you'd have to move them. Oh, I see what you mean. He took a yardstick so that he never was off. Right. 

Ben Bernstein: And you have to get it just right. You just have your hundred ton. So you never upgraded, did you? No. Well, she wouldn't have had any time, I guess, to, well time underwriting.

I don't know how she has time to even show. Well, I have 

Terri Bernstein: time on the vessels, the senior decade. I'm saying you don't have 

Ben Bernstein: time to, you don't have upgradeable time. It's 

Alan Bernstein: not time. 

Ben Bernstein: It's your problem. You have more hours than anybody. Three commands where you didn't even operate in your illustrious riverboat. Captain. 

Terri Bernstein: I have run the boat plenty. You can do 

Ben Bernstein: it. You just, I'm with you. Although. Let's go back to our little pontoon boat. 

Terri Bernstein: When I was sideways screaming, Ben! Help me! You guys give me, like, exactly the width of the pontoon to get into 

Alan Bernstein: [00:46:00] a spot. 

Terri Bernstein: I mean, we have this huge dock, and we have exactly 11 feet of space, or however long our boat is.pontoon is 15 story 

Ben Bernstein: time, I guess. . 

Terri Bernstein: Alright, 

Ben Bernstein: we'll move on to the Word of the Day. 

Moderator: Now, it is time for Ramblin on the Rivers. Word of the day. 

Ben Bernstein: Also, it's not necessarily a word today. It's going to be more a It 

Terri Bernstein: is a, it's a term. It is a word. It's a term. Or, 

Ben Bernstein: actually, it's two words, but it's Correct. A word. Well, each episode where we, we pick out a word that's today's not really in Al's vocabulary, just a general. Well, he used it earlier.

Speaker 6: Well. 

Ben Bernstein: Oh, yeah. Come on. He used the proper noun form. Correct. Well. Not the term. He 

Terri Bernstein: said it. 

Ben Bernstein: But today's word today is Mark Twain. Yes. Most people have no idea. Most people hear Mark Twain and they think Samuel Clemens. That's [00:47:00] right. The author of the Rivermen. That, that's right. But it is an actual term and actually a marine term.

For many years. We get asked this on boats all the time. And honestly, in until we started the research, I knew it was a term, but I don't think I could have ever defined it. 

Terri Bernstein: Oh, I knew exactly what it was. Oh, 

Alan Bernstein: I, yeah, I think you learn very early what the real word of Mark Twain. 

Terri Bernstein: Dad always used to talk about it. Yeah. We went to actual Mark Twain's house. Yes, yes, yes. And he would always talk about the term Mark Twain. 

Ben Bernstein: Alright, the definition of mark twain. A weighted rope would be lowered to measure the depth of the river. The rope was marked in fathoms, and marks would be called out. Mark Twain was the second mark, and that is equal to two fathoms, two fathoms is twelve feet. So mark twain is literally the second mark on a rope to measure the depth of the river, and that equals two fathoms, or twelve feet. 

Terri Bernstein: And [00:48:00] they needed that to 

Alan Bernstein: Do you know you for the depth? Do you know the first mark? No. Well, mark one, I, I, I don't know. I, I I'm not, I'm not a Yeah. Mark. 

Terri Bernstein: It was a mark and then a twain was two. 

Ben Bernstein: Right? Twain is a slang term for two. Okay. So Mark, mark one. Yeah. And I'm guessing there was Mark three or, 

Alan Bernstein: yeah. Try, I don't know. Yeah, whatever 

Ben Bernstein: they might have called.

We didn't do that much research. Okay. We know what the second one was called. That was March. Okay. Okay. Okay. They 

Terri Bernstein: needed 12 feet to navigate the waterway, 

Alan Bernstein: correct? Always 

Terri Bernstein: needed a mark. 

Alan Bernstein: But remember in the old steamboat days, the reason that a depth is important is they built boats. Very shallow. The steamboats were not. Deep draft boats like they are today. The steamboats were often less than five feet draft. I would say they still are today. Well, the smaller boats, but [00:49:00] a barge is nine feet down, right? A tow boat is nine feet down. I mean, that's right. But the, the reason that the steamboats were so enormous is they had to get them wide. To get them shout more shallow draft the wider. It is the less the body of the boat goes into the water so it's physics and Algebra and all kinds of stuff Andy Lebet would be happy to come on the show and Sort of tell you how that's all done but that's why steamboats were so big back in the early years and Was to try to keep them very shallow.

Terri Bernstein: I mean, when we go to Charleston, West Virginia. Yep. Up the Kanawha River. Yep. It is only, I think, 12 feet deep or six feet 

Alan Bernstein: mean there's places where it's less than that shallow. And 

Terri Bernstein: the bell sits seven feet in the water. That's right. And I know that the boat squats. Mm-Hmm.

really bad. And it, the suction holds it down. So, I mean, we can [00:50:00] go through it. It's just not, 

Alan Bernstein: it's the speed of the boat. Mm-Hmm. . Over the water. That causes shallow water to suck the boat down. It's again, physics and moving things and not moving things, but and we can feel that at the helm of the boat.

Terri Bernstein: I'm saying is 12 feet was probably, you know, the minimum, but it would have been harder. Well, and after 

Ben Bernstein: they, after the canalization of the Ohio river, that's what you, you were guaranteed 12 feet. Watered nine originally was nine feet nine original was nine 

Alan Bernstein: feet and they raised it in the early the late fifties early sixties to twelve to twelve where it is where it is now, but they built all those locks and dams for shallow.

Yes. And then they built the, the concrete, they call those the modern ones and they were built in 1960. So they've not built more than what that 

Ben Bernstein: means is if you're traveling on, on the inland river system [00:51:00] and you are within the boundaries of the channel meaning you are on the correct side of buoys, Al, you've found your way on the wrong side of the buoys. If you're on the correct side of the buoys, you have a minimum. There will be no less than 12 feet of water unless they tell you differently. If they tell you differently, which is, it will be marked on a regular 

Terri Bernstein: basis. A mark twain. 

Ben Bernstein: Yes. Okay. All right. Moving on to current events. 

Moderator: Welcome to as the paddle wheel turns our look at pertinent current events happening right now in the world.

Ben Bernstein: So this kind of falls along the same lines as last week. Last week we talked about rail jumping. This is another. topic that has been raised that is going on in our industry. The biggest time this, this really showed its face [00:52:00] was during COVID or just before COVID it's probably been, it has 

Terri Bernstein: been going on for a long time, which is, 

Ben Bernstein: but that is the, that is when the, the all the outcry really started.

But in our work with the passenger vessel association, my work with the safety and security committee, that's kind of where I'm pulling all this around, but illegal charters and illegal charters are obviously in an industry that is safety centric is a big deal. Now we just spent an entire episode talking about how well, my father and my sister and myself became professionals by getting licenses and becoming captains and things.

An illegal charter is exactly what it is. It's it's a person or company operating their boats outside of the law, illegally. Whether that be not being inspected or certificated or not having a licensed captain on the boat. And it's become a big problem now a lot of these problems [00:53:00] where all the people are, where the, where the issues are happening.

But 

Terri Bernstein: Florida, Florida, 

Ben Bernstein: New 

Alan Bernstein: York the LA, you know, 

Terri Bernstein: I've seen it here a few times. Yeah. Yeah. 

Alan Bernstein: We've had a few here, but Ben, I think what the listeners have to understand when you decide to go into a business and. charge people to go on your boat. 

Ben Bernstein: And that doesn't necessarily mean money. Just that doesn't necessarily mean 

Alan Bernstein: money. Trade could be, it could be fuel, food whatever. But yeah, there's a process in which the law allows for people that have a houseboat. If you want to take passengers for hire and make money, there's a way to do that. You, you call the coast guard. I want to be inspected. They give you a certificate of inspection and you are in business basically with you do have to register your boat. There's things you can do if you want to do it legally. Most [00:54:00] people don't because it's not only expensive, but it's a real hassle. I mean, 

Terri Bernstein: it's a, most people 

Alan Bernstein: don't, yeah, right. I mean, a pleasure boat is really for you and your family and if you want to have people on it, you can certainly do it. Charging people to go on, it is a whole another ball game. Correct. And professional mariners are trained. They have skills. they go through drug testing. They go through all the rigmaroles of learning, training, fire training, and man overboard training. man overboard training. And the Coast Guard makes you do the drills. And they, they want to make sure that you can do what you say you can do.

And they want to make 

Ben Bernstein: sure that the vessel you are operating is up to date in all ways. That's correct. So the Coast Guard considers a vessel to be in a legal charter if it meets certain criteria. Passengers are required to pay money, fuel. Or supplies before or after the trip. The vessel carries at least [00:55:00] one passenger for hire, meaning that they paid something.

Yes. The captain doesn't have an MMC. That's a merchant mariner credential or a license, your boat license. Or doesn't have it on board when passengers are present. And finally, the captain doesn't comply with Coast Guard safety requirements or the captain of a port order, because what happens in a lot of times these operations say in Miami.

They'll do it one time. , they'll come and slap 'em on the wrist and say, don't do this to the captain of the report. We'll issue an order and then they continue operating. Mm-Hmm. . And they go from there. Do 

Terri Bernstein: you carry your license with you? Well, no. You're supposed to. 

Ben Bernstein: No.

Well, there is a, there is an exception. Us as a company, you're allowed to have a copy of the license On file. Yeah. File. Okay. We don't have to have our license with us on the boat, but that's a the real one. You're the actual real right? You should have a you should have a copy available 

Terri Bernstein: Which I think right now there's a big issue with people faking that they have a license. That's a new one. 

Ben Bernstein: Is that a new one? [00:56:00] Yeah They're just like with anything else. There's fraud and yeah in any counterfeiting. Sorry I just got back from Grand Haven, Michigan. Our group rented three pontoon boats, took everybody out. That's what's called a bare boat charter. So a bare boat charter, you are in essence transferring ownership for a temporary point of time to another entity. So if you go and you're on vacation, you go and you rent a boat, you operate the boat That's perfectly legal. That's, that's really the idea of it all.

The, the issue where you have to worry or you have to question is if you see , Terri B's boat tours, you go down and you get on Terri B's boat. You pay money for her to take you on a tour. Does Terri have a license? The Coast Guard recommends if you have more than six people, six passengers on the boat, you should ask for.

A COI, which is a certificate of inspection, meaning the coast guards come on the boat [00:57:00] and said that this boat is fine to use. If there's less than six, you can actually have to see there's a there's a safety exam decal. It's called a UPV or an uninspected passenger vessel decal. The boat should have they should have a safety plan, safety devices.

They're they're required equipment on board type one life. Correct. And a big one is if you are the captain of a boat, you are required Prove that you are enrolled in a random drug and alcohol testing pool So if you find yourself in a situation where the 

Terri Bernstein: captain's having cocktails with you 

Ben Bernstein: That might be a red flag.

Well in the Bahamas, I think they do yeah, but yeah, like I said that the the bareboat aspect of it where you're renting somebody's boat That that's really really not there are big penalties owners and operators of illegal charter vessels can face up to a 60, 000 fine. All of that's segregated by what your infraction is.

You could get that full fine amount. But they kind of break [00:58:00] down where it goes from there. Like port Miami, they had a, a 100 percent rise in both 20 and 2021 as far as shutting these operations down. In fact, if you follow there's a website, a legal charters.

com. If you, I just did a quick Google search of a legal charter, United States coast guard, illegal charter, and you'll see News article after news article written about you know, Port of Miami, Port of Boston or Chicago. And so it's just something that is, that is prevalent in our industry.

Unfortunately there are some apps that are out there, with the advent of Uber and, and people making things available like they were saying, like the, the largest hotel chain in the world doesn't own one hotel, like Airbnb or VR or Verbo. You know, the largest car company in the world doesn't own a car.

Uber, you know, things, it, it kind of goes into the same thing. There's apps out there that you can rent people's private boats and understand that if you're renting somebody's private boat they're [00:59:00] requiring you to use them as a captain, that's, That is probably a red flag for you to ask questions. They could be completely, I hope a lot of people, I think 

Terri Bernstein: another big one are the dive boats. Don't people take illegal 

Ben Bernstein: snorkeling and like, that's a dangerous thing to do. There was a major accident a few years ago. Diving vessel Conception, 

Terri Bernstein: but they were licensed. They were, they were, they 

Alan Bernstein: were a legal operation, but You know, when you kill twenty, thirty people, it's it's a big 

Ben Bernstein: deal. Sadly, laws get changed because there's blood on some of these hands. 

Terri Bernstein: Well, it's not sadly, it's, it's meant for a reason. Well, no, no, 

Ben Bernstein: no, the sad part is that people had to, , people died, certainly. 

Alright, well, I think we've covered everything. Yeah. Next week, I think we'll, we'll start getting into kind of the founders of it all. Grandma and grandpa, Ben 

Terri Bernstein: and Shirley, 

Ben Bernstein: Ben and Shirley, and some of the restaurant endeavors and, and and [01:00:00] go from there.

Terri Bernstein: Okay. 

Ben Bernstein: Thanks for listening. And we'll see you all next week.

Moderator: Thank you for listening to the Ramblin' on the River podcast presented by BB Riverboats. Stay tuned for the next episode of our podcast and remember to like, subscribe and follow.

Ben Bernstein: The previous episode was brought to you by BB Riverboats. 

Sponsor Message: The moments that await just around the river's bend are what we look forward to each day. Watching high school sweethearts tie the knot. Or watching them celebrate 50 wonderful years together. A group of old friends reuniting for one more adventure.

Or young minds embarking on their first. At BB Riverboats, we believe a cruise on the mighty [01:01:00] Ohio is where lifelong memories are made. And that once you experience it, you'll want to share it with others time and time again. Plan your group event at BBRiverboats. com. Journey Aboard.