American Queen Voyages American Empress Cruise Reviews

This cruise goes from Clarkston to Portland. The first excursion we took was the JetBoat Tour of Hell’s Canyon. I have never seen anything like the terrain. We saw BigHorn Sheep, Deer, Turkeys, and a bald Eagle. The river is clear and beautiful. This cruise was wine themed so we had wine tastings onboard and two dinners with wine pairings. We also did the Red Mountain Vines to Wine ...

The boat was period décor throughout. Having a little balcony was relaxing. I was on a Road Scholar booked trip so excursions were included and well arranged. Learning about the hardships of the Discovery Expedition, it was surprising that the trip was completed. The food in the main dining room was sumptuous with a variety of choices. I personally opted for the River Grill. It was more ...

Staff worked very hard to please the guests. The crew continually displayed great enthusiasm and many wore more than one hat--and wore them well. Cabin was comfortable. Dining room food was very good for the most part with enough variety for a week on board. Excursions were somewhat limited due to inclement weather and location. Talented musical entertainers. Our first river cruise after ...

We live in the Pacific Northwest, so we are familiar with much of the territory that we visited, but we wanted to see it from the rivers. Our special interests were the history and geology. Since we know the area, we did not take many of the special (extra charge) excursions, but the one that we did take...the jetboat into Hells Canyon...was a highlight of the trip for us! We highly recommend ...

Our cruise trip began with a night at the beautiful Historic Davenport hotel in Spokane Oregon. We boarded the American Empress in Lewiston WA. We visited Hells Canyon then Richland, The Dallas, Stevenson, Astoria and disembarked in Vancouver WA. The ship was lovely and food, service and entertainment were good. In each port we found interesting and/or scenic things to see and do - and ...

In midst of wave of new Covid cases, safety is not a big concern. They spray the luggage, but mask enforcement is minimal if at all. It has been shown that contacting Covid from surfaces is at the bottom of the list. No social distancing in any venue. Supposedly they follow state law when docked and on land, but not when moving on water. If you need mask protection when at the dock, you ...

My mom and I got back two weeks ago from the Columbia river cruise through the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington) with the American Queen Voyages Company. We were initially booked on this tour in April 2020 just before the world shut down. We have been dreaming of rebooking since then, and although we were somewhat nervous about cruising at this time, were reassured by the Co-Vid ...

(First, actual embarkation was in Clarkston, WA, but that port wasn't listed) I wanted to take my first 'post-pandemic' cruise close to home, and always wanted to try a riverboat cruise. My wife had already been on most of their other itineraries, and always wanted a Snake/Columbia River cruise. She had 'Ruby' status on AQSC, so we chose this one, and in our preferred westbound, downriver ...

July 8-11: Pre-Cruise First: my wife (“The Missus”) and I had a taste of river cruising almost a decade ago, sailing up the Danube on Ama Waterways. We had a fabulous time. But it’s a PITA to get from the West Coast to Europe. We’ve been on over forty ocean cruises on various cruise lines. We had never sailed the byways of North America. This was our reason to try American Queen. Not so ...

This was the third actual cruise for the American Empress after the reopening. We started from Clarkston WA and sailed down the Snake and Columbia Rivers. The cruise was fairly full and the crew was slightly short handed. But the officers and assigned people filled in marvelously well. The cabins are small and compact on the Empress but most have private verandas. Food was American style, ...