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Columbia Queen - Part 1
Written by: Dominick and Margherita Miserandino
An easy way to see the Columbia River, end to end.
We were familiar with the Columbia Queen through our adventures with the Delta Queen line. The Columbia was built for that line but a little thing called bankruptcy prevented them from using it. Great American River Journeys bought the ship and now she is up and running at full speed.
The itinerary includes stops along the Columbia River, sailing west and then east and back west again. Even though you go back and forth, they don’t visit the same place twice. The shifting environment gives you an in depth overview of the Pacific Northwest and more specifically the Columbia River.
The trip starts in Vancouver, Washington reaches the Pacific Ocean in Astoria and travels east to the Idaho border. The entire way you are traveling at bicycle speed, which gives you time to appreciate the surroundings. Nothing was better than waking up while navigating through the Columbia River Gorge and having the chance to sip coffee marveling at the view.
Compared to other ships, the rooms are spacious and well appointed with amenities such as TV/DVD player and plush robes. The decor is similar to an old steamship but there is a modern feeling throughout. For example, the back porch was the best place to hang out, drink chai, eat ice cream and watch the scenery slide by. The dining room converted to a stage, which was convenient for the later seating and, more importantly, it looked out onto the river.
The cruise line has three buses, which follow the ship and conduct the day tours. Most cruise lines milk you for every dollar on the day tours but here they are included. Since you have the same drivers every day they become as much of part of the experience as the waiter or room steward. For example, we talked more and more with John the bus driver who was really half tour guide and half bus driver. These excursions add to the overall experience of the cruise and work with the experience in the boat. Too often, we’ve been on cruises where people would get confused when they arrived at the port or the prices would be so exorbitant they couldn’t consider the excursions.
The excursions themselves were carefully planned and diverse. For example, one of our favorite days was a laid-back visit to Astoria, Oregon. Astoria is well know for being the filming location for the movie Goonies, but they have an incredible farmer’s market that lasts for blocks in every direction. We walked back with bags and bags of purchases.
The official tour took us through the town up to the Astoria Tower and over to Cannon Beach. The tower is famous as it tells the story of the town while wrapping its way around to the top. It’s an interesting feat but gives you a kink in the neck if you read it while twisting around. While we were on the west coast, it seemed a great idea to go visit the ocean. Keep in mind that only three days later we were walking in the sweltering desert and a day after that were looking at snow on the mountains. That’s what makes the tour work, the Pacific North West has a lot to offer and you can’t see it all in a week. This cruise gives you a flavor of what the area has to offer.
Another major highlight was the first day where we got to see Mount Saint Helens. I could talk about the concept of seeing the results of this mountain blown to smithereens or the ash and fall-out afterwards, but the unique part was how it integrated with the cruise. The first day of a cruise is usually filled with getting your bags somewhere and is slightly chaotic. This cruise line used a tour to unload the passengers off the ship from the cruise the week before, move the bags from our hotel to the boat and got us to the boat. Instead of waiting in a lobby, we were seeing a National Park.
Part 1
Part 2
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