American Empress Review

A Beautiful Week on the Columbia/Snake River

Review for North America River Cruise on American Empress
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K9pal
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Oct 2017
View of Mt. Hood from the boat just after sunrise
Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center
Bridge of the Gods

We are an active couple in our mid-late 60's, and this was our first river boat cruise in the US. We wanted to do another European river cruise, but decided to stay in the US this year and had never been to the Pacific NW. We picked October because the price dropped at that point, plus we hoped to see fall colors. Boy, did we luck out on the weather! Absolutely gorgeous the entire week, bright sunshine, mid-high 60's. Very rare to have no rain at that time of year. We were younger than most folks on board, who tended to be at least in their 70's. Most were well travelled retirees. We decided on the east to west route for several reasons, but mainly we wanted to do the 2 hour bus ride at the beginning of the week when we could enjoy it, rather than at the end when we were tired.

We flew into Spokane and had reserved the hotel shuttle to the Historic Davenport ($25/room, booked online in advance, very nice shuttle van). At check in we were told the cruise line had arranged for a 1pm checkout instead of the usual noon check out time, which was nice. We had a corner room on the 10th floor, probably the nicest hotel room we've ever had! I could have spent the entire week there! The bathroom was just gorgeous, with a soaking tub and a HUGE glassed in shower. There's a history of the Historic Davenport on one of the TV channels that was fascinating. We immediately headed to the lounge for happy hour and were disappointed to be told they had discontinued the half price happy hour appetizers (even though it was advertised on the folder we received at check in). Cruise check in was on the second floor of the hotel, and was disorganized in my opinion. First we checked in at a table in the hallway, then went into a room to finish up. Apparently they were supposed to take our photos there, issue bus transfers and get our credit card info. But the guy who did ours only took my photo and told us we were good to go. Found out the next morning from fellow passengers that we should have bus transfers, so we had to return to check in for those (of course we were on the last bus by that time). Then when we got to the boat, we were flagged to go to the Pursor's Office because hubby's photo wasn't on record, as well as our credit card info. But it was easily resolved.

Breakfast at the hotel was a buffet in a private room, nice but nothing spectacular. We got a walking map of downtown Spokane from the concierge, as well as the self-guided tour of the hotel. The hotel tour is a must-do. We also walked an easy 2 blocks to the overlook of the Spokane River Falls. Bonus: There's a short cut to the Falls through a high end, multi level shopping mall. Just one block from the hotel was a great New York style deli, Domini's, where we got a delicious sandwich for lunch. Highly recommend. The worst part of the day was having to wait about an hour in the ball room for our bus transfer. Had a great driver for the 2 hour ride to the boat, learned a lot about the region and saw some beautiful scenery.

Response from AlexL, Consumer Marketing Mgr. - AQSC

Hi K9pal, Thank you for submitting this review about your recent voyage on the American Empress. We are so pleased that you enjoyed your cruise, and that you have been so honest with your...

Cabin Review

Cabin E

We were in cabin 416, a category E veranda stateroom on the 4th (top) deck. The balcony was semi-private, a wall between our balcony and adjoining cabins but open to the outside walking deck. Our cabin was tiny, but very well appointed. As most people have already mentioned, the walls are THIN. We could hear every word in the cabin next to us, and they were speaking in normal voices. Bed was quite comfortable. Our safe short circuited in the middle of the week with our things in it, and it took 2 crew members and an electrician to get it working and unlocked.

ROOM AMENITIES:

- Magnifying mirror in bathroom

- Hairdryer

- Night light in bathroom

- Clarins bath products (lotion,shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, bar soap)

- Dorm size refrigerator

- Keurig coffee maker with a selection of coffees and tea

- Binoculars

- Small safe in one of the closet drawers, unfortunately too small for my 9” tablet

- 2 plugs plus 2 USB ports on the desk, so we were able to charge both phones as well as both tablets at the same time

- Bathrobes and slippers are provided

ROOM TIPS

- Take earplugs if you are noise sensitive

- Set the fan on the thermostat to Medium to help drown out noise

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