NATCHEZ — Just two days after the American Queen waved hello and whistled goodbye, a second ship will slip into Natchez today to soak up the culture.

The Grande Caribe, a smaller, 96-passenger ship built by Blount Boats, docked in Natchez overnight Tuesday, Natchez Pilgrimage Tours Director Marsha Colson said.

The 184-foot ship will spill out passengers onto a bus from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. today for tours of Longwood, Stanton Hall and Rosalie.

Colson said the group will de-board at the Natchez-Adams County Port.

The tour, which departed from Memphis Saturday, will be in Natchez on the fifth day of a journey before heading south toward New Orleans for three days.

The itineraries for the Grande Caribe passengers are set, but Colson said the visitors will be exposed to Natchez during their short trip enough to hopefully inspire future visits.

“Those people that take the tour in town will see (Natchez) and love it just like people on the American Queen did, and they’ll go home and talk about it,” Colson said.

Colson said a cruise ship owned by American Cruise Lines will also stop in Natchez Aug. 15 for the first of nine trips to Natchez in 2012.

“Five (of the American Cruise Lines trips) will be in December, so that’s good,” she said.

Colson said she’s already heard feedback about American Queen passengers’ day trip to Natchez. One passenger, Colson heard, already booked a four-day trip to Natchez to follow the Queen’s arrival in Memphis.

While the city charmed the passengers, she said it was the warm welcomes of the locals that impressed them the most.

“If we wow them with our warmth and friendliness, that’s the best kind of advertising we can get,” Colson said.

Colson said she’s unaware of any cruise ships stopping in Natchez in 2011 at all, and some say it’s been as far back as 2008 when one did. So two boats in three days is good news for tourism.

“The best thing I can say about it is there are three cruise ships coming to Natchez this year, and that’s wonderful,” Colson said.

The Grande Caribe will return to Natchez with another boat full of passengers in December.

The American Queen will make 14 more stops in town this year.