Eastbound or westbound on the Columbia/Snake?

[coljack]

We took our first river cruise in the US in June on the Empress on the Columbia and Snake Rivers.  We are luxury ocean cruisers (Regent Seven Seas) and wondered if we would be disappointed in AQSC--we were not; we had a great time!  I remembered that I had seen the question asked on this forum about which direction to do this cruise, eastbound or westbound.  I would like to weigh in on this question now, because my wife and I and our two fellow travelers have a STRONG preference for westbound.  Here are several reasons why.  You will have a two to three hour bus ride between Spokane and Clarkston--the only question is whether it is southbound at the beginning of the cruise or northbound at the end.  It is not exactly fun, even though the bus is very nice and well appointed.  It seems better to do it at the beginning when everyone is excited to be headed for the ship, rather than at the end when the vacation is essentially over.  A more important point is that Spokane is a very nice, one night and one morning experience, but not a place to have a long post-cruise add on.  The Historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane is a wonderful experience in itself and a great first impression of AQSC and you can choose to take the premium excursion the next morning or explore on your own.  On the other hand, Vancouver WA/Portland OR/Mt St Helens  is a great place to spend some time, whether on the sponsored post-cruise extension or on your own. Lastly, it seemed really neat to do the river in the direction that Lewis and Clark did it.  Westbound made it easier to imagine you were with them on their magnificent journey and adventure as you discovered each part of the journey in the same manner as they did.

[TinCan782]

Agreed. We did this cruise several years ago E to W. Haven't done the other direction. Part of our decision was our use of Amtrak to get to Spokane and return from Los Angeles. The Davenport (enjoyed the stay) is not far from the station and in Vancouver, the station there was a very short ride from the Empress with only a few hours wait to catch the southbound Coast Starlight.. If we do it again, it will definitely be the same direction.