Possible Expansion On the West Coast

[mikedw]

Came across this on another maritime site. They're close to announcing the purchase of the 2002 built Empress of the North.

 

 

 

 

http://maritimematters.com/2013/05/an-american-empress/

[steamboats]

Press conference was yesterday in NYC

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=5361

 

steamboats

[hondorner]

Does the former Empress of the North have true steam power, or is the paddlewheel powered by a diesel, or fake like the Queen of the Mississippi?

[steamboats]

Don,

 

No steam but a true paddlewheel plus Z-Drives (similar to the American Queen).

 

The Empress of the North was designed for the Columbia/Willamette rivers plus Alaska´s Inside Passage. So during the summer season she was repositioned to Juneau (without passengers, no permission for that open sea part). And during the winter season she did the cruises out of Portland/OR.

 

Back in 2005 I did a nearly identical cruise on the Columbia Queen on the Columbia river. Tours were included (including a trip to Mount St. Helens on embarkation day). Out of Clarkston there was a jet boat ride up the Snake river including a picnic. Then we went downriver again to Astoria (visiting Fort Clatsup, the end of the Lewis & Clark expedition, we´ve been on the Upper Mississippi earlier that year so we had the start point and the end point of Lewis & Clark in one year). Very impressive were the locks (plus a visit of the lock in Stevenson which has a viewing area where you can watch the salmons going upriver). And the landscape is really breathtaking. You start out in rainforest like woods and end up in desert like areas.

 

After that cruise we flew from Seattle to Juneau and joined the Empress of the North there. Also a great cruise although we had liquid sunshine almost all cruise long. The Empress did make stops in smaller ports like Wrangell or St. Petersburg as well as Skagway, Sitka and Ketchikan. Once we stopped for more than an hour as humpback whales were checking us out.

 

steamboats

[SailorJM]

I sailed on the Columbia Queen in the Pacific NW, too....loved her! Sailed on her in early 2001, one of her first sailings (built in 2000). I haven't been able to find the CQ, but I did find the Queen of the West sailing that Columbia River-Snake River route. I don't think they're the same ship, since everything I find says the QWest was built in 1995, while the CQueen was built in 2000. Queen of the West was acquired in 2010 by Amercan Cruise Lines, renovated (including reducing it to 120 passengers) and now sailing. I just discovered this ship, and the reviews are good.

[SailorJM]

Oops, I've spent too much time sailing in recent years! I meant to say cruising in reference to Columbia Queen and Queen of the West. And the latter apparently does have a working paddlewheel, unlike the CQ.