Columbia River to Clarkston - anyone rent a car to drive to Spokane?

[CarolynFH]

My husband, my dad and I are booked on the Harmony from Portland docking in Clarkston the end of April. We need to fly to Houston so there are no nonstop flights, but I'm hoping to keep our connections to one. One-connection flights from Lewiston leave either at 6:15 AM or 5:15 PM, but there are one-connection flights from Spokane leaving at 12:25 PM and 1:15 PM, so we're considering renting a car in Lewiston and driving ourselves to Spokane (ACL will drive us to Spokane for $120 each, but we can rent a car for less than $200). I'm just wondering what the drive is like, especially weather at the end of April, and wondering whether anyone else has driven themselves from Lewiston to Spokane. TIA!

[Texasramblinreck]

When I first looked at these cruises out west, my first thought was how do I get home.  It appears you are dropped in the middle of nowhere and the flights back to Texas (San Antonio in my case) are horrible.  I chose Music tour from Nashville to Memphis next week instead and considering Upper Mississippi or New England from Boston for our next.  Besides all that I wouldn’t get within 100 miles of Portland with all their problems.  Good luck.

[Treasure Hunter]

We just got off the Song in Portland. ACL took us to the pier in Clarkston  from Spokane at the beginning of the cruise. The bus ride was excellent and we didn’t worry about the luggage . Take the transfer through the company. You’d have to go through the picking up and dropping off the car. Standing in line , transporting the luggage in and out of the car for not much less money. ( if it’s two people). The trip is almost two hours and big buses went really fast. There were twists and turns. You’d really have to know where you were going. You are on vacation and the cost is a drop in the bucket. But I don’t understand, our transfers were included on both ends of the cruise. Are you sure there’s a charge?

 

[Treasure Hunter]

P.S. Portland was beautiful. Yes there were some boarded up windows downtown but everything was open. The homeless on the street were non threatening and polite and no different than any big city lately. We enjoyed the rose garden, Japanese garden, brewpubs and Powell’s book store. We had a guide from First Nature who drove us all over the city, we bought chocolate and souvenirs and had a great time. We stayed two days at the Nines Hotel. Maybe take the Lewis  and Clark trip in the east to west direction ending in Portland would work better. Our cruise included one free night at the Historic Davenport hotel and transfers to and from the ship. We took a taxi to the hotel from the Spokane airport.

[CarolynFH]

On 8/3/2021 at 9:13 PM, Treasure Hunter said:

We just got off the Song in Portland. ACL took us to the pier in Clarkston  from Spokane at the beginning of the cruise. The bus ride was excellent and we didn’t worry about the luggage . Take the transfer through the company. You’d have to go through the picking up and dropping off the car. Standing in line , transporting the luggage in and out of the car for not much less money. ( if it’s two people). The trip is almost two hours and big buses went really fast. There were twists and turns. You’d really have to know where you were going. You are on vacation and the cost is a drop in the bucket. But I don’t understand, our transfers were included on both ends of the cruise. Are you sure there’s a charge?

 

Thanks. We wanted to cruise east to west, but that itinerary wasn’t available at a time we could travel. And while transportation at the end of the cruise from the dock in Clarkston to the airport in Lewiston is complimentary, the bus to Spokane costs $120 each, and there are 3 of us, so $360. We’ve reserved a car from the Lewiston airport to the Spokane airport for under $200. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the mapping programs on our phones will get us there!

[Treasure Hunter]

5 hours ago, CarolynFH said:

Thanks. We wanted to cruise east to west, but that itinerary wasn’t available at a time we could travel. And while transportation at the end of the cruise from the dock in Clarkston to the airport in Lewiston is complimentary, the bus to Spokane costs $120 each, and there are 3 of us, so $360. We’ve reserved a car from the Lewiston airport to the Spokane airport for under $200. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the mapping programs on our phones will get us there!

I’m sure you’ll be fine. It didn’t rain one drop the whole cruise. Are you doing the Hells Canyon jet boat add on? We didn’t know about it when we booked our air. Or maybe they don’t do it when you go west to east. It’s a great trip. 

[jagoffee]

7 hours ago, CarolynFH said:

Thanks. We wanted to cruise east to west, but that itinerary wasn’t available at a time we could travel. And while transportation at the end of the cruise from the dock in Clarkston to the airport in Lewiston is complimentary, the bus to Spokane costs $120 each, and there are 3 of us, so $360. We’ve reserved a car from the Lewiston airport to the Spokane airport for under $200. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and the mapping programs on our phones will get us there!

There are four of us, so the potential savings is even greater.  Personally I think ACL is taking advantage of the situation by charging $120 a person, especially considering the transfer from Spokane to the cruise dock is not charge if cruising from East to West.   When traveling West to East, one must pay for transportation from the Airport to the hotel.  The transfer from the hotel at the port to the boat is not even necessary.

The rental car is our current plan, we can always cancel the car before the disembarkation.

1 hour ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I’m sure you’ll be fine. It didn’t rain one drop the whole cruise. Are you doing the Hells Canyon jet boat add on? We didn’t know about it when we booked our air. Or maybe they don’t do it when you go west to east. It’s a great trip. 

We arrive in Clarkston the day before, so we have booked the Jet boat.

[CarolynFH]

7 hours ago, Treasure Hunter said:

I’m sure you’ll be fine. It didn’t rain one drop the whole cruise. Are you doing the Hells Canyon jet boat add on? We didn’t know about it when we booked our air. Or maybe they don’t do it when you go west to east. It’s a great trip. 

We’re taking the long itinerary, so we’ll arrive in Clarkston the day before disembarkation too. We plan to book the Hell’s Canyon jet boats as well. Looking forward to it very much!

[Treasure Hunter]

We liked it much more than we thought we would. Especially the lectures, scenery and going through the locks. The other passengers were very friendly, we laughed a lot . The food was very good. The young servers are enthusiastic and charming. You just have to  go with the flow. It’s not five star, it’s homey. The internet doesn’t work. Be prepared.