Live from the Queen of the West

Check-in process & fFirst Night

Day 1 (Sunday) - Portland

We met the Majestic America folks at baggage claim, near #3 on Sunday morning. They list checkin as both between 9am-3pm and 1pm-3pm on the literture that they send you. Basically, they are there when your plane comes in as long as they have your flight information.

Handed over our baggage and even got an extra tag since we had an extra bag. They then escorted us out to the curb to wait for the Embassy Suites Airport shuttle. Had to wait for the 2nd one (which had no AC, but did have excellent heat!) since there was about 20 people waiting.

Got to the hotel and checkin is setup in the atrium. Took about 15 minutes of waiting and 5 minutes to fill out the "Gastrolintensive Illness Questionaire" and get your card (already printed) and your picture taken.

We opted for the city tour, otherwise we would have had to sit in the hotel until 3:00 pm for the bus to depart for the ship. You can't meet the boat at the doctor due to "DHS" restrictions.

The city tour was nice and included a stop at the International Rose Test Garden instead of the listed stop at Fort Vancouver. Bus Driver is also the tour guide. The bus are extremely comfortable and drivers very nice and knowledgable. The tour is given by one of the same drivers who accomplies the boat along the route.

The port was a bit funny. It is a "secure" facility, but in actually we just drove up to the boat (no vehicle check or id check like other ports). At the dock they checked for the Majestic id only. They did scan us as we boarded. We got to the boat about 4:15 pm.

At 4:45 we had the "mandatory" safty orientation in the Columbia lounge.

In all, checkin was nicly handled.

We set sail about 5:30 and pulled up to a dock for the night about 10:00 pm. This is done so we reach teh Bonneville Dam & Lock (first one of 8) during the morning.

Alan

Hi Alan,

Thanks for joining steamboats.org and welcome! That´ll be the first live review on steamboats.org :-)! So go ahead I´m waiting for your next installment. And of course don´t forget to enjoy your cruise while posting your adventures :-)!

Carmen

Day 2 (Monday) - Stevenson

Well, we had our first issue with a stop this day. We were suppose to go to the "Columbia River Gorge Discovery Center", but they had an issue with their AC and they are closed. So instead we headed out to Mulnomah Falls and the "Columbia River Gorge Interpretive Center Museum".

The falls were very nice. Stayed there about an hour. You could walk up to the top (at least one person did I hear). There is also a bridge between the upper and lower falls that a lot of people walked to.

The Interpretive center was very nice (new) but they gave us 2 hours for it and everybody was done in 90 minutes. We sort of mutinied and they drove us back to the boat after 90 minutes.

They only issue was that they weren’t ready for us on the boat, so they had get the bars opened for all the passengers.

That night we are on the way to our next shore stop in Tamastslikt Cultural Center and Pendleton. Suppose to be the best. The interesting thing about this stop is they drop you off in one place and then we pick up the boat 35 miles up river in preparation for traveling up the Snake River.

During the night we went through 2 sets of locks, The Dalles and Jim Day. The Dalles occurred about 10:00 pm and Jim Day at about 1:00 am.

Carmen Winkler;6636 wrote: Hi Alan,

Thanks for joining steamboats.org and welcome! That´ll be the first live review on steamboats.org :-)! So go ahead I´m waiting for your next installment. And of course don´t forget to enjoy your cruise while posting your adventures :-)!

Carmen

Thanks Carmen. Hopefully my next posts won't have some the mistakes my first couple contained. I did them straight in the editor and forgot to spell check them. But alas, that is why I’m majored in computers and not english! I’m also a bit new at this board stuff!

Don't worry about me enjoying it. The moment I set foot aboard I was in River Heaven.

Alan

Day 3 (Tuesday) – Stuck on the River

Whoops, woke up this morning we aren’t moving and we aren’t docked. We are anchored in the middle of the river. I didn’t even know that paddlewheels had an anchor! I always thought they just “chocked a stump” if needed. Later in the week I asked the captain about the last time they used the anchor and it was over a year ago.

Captain Ford came on the overhead and explained that at 4:00 am PT a hydraulic line was detected as leaking (not a rubber line either). It spilled 5-6 gallons of hydraulic fluid into the river, but it is a vegetable oil based fluid. They have notified all of the appropriate people about the spill. No info on if this (the spill issue) means anything. The real issue is that the line is broken. They can’t use the engine without dumping more oil into the river and they can’t get a tow because there aren’t any towboats around here! (This river definitely has a lot less river traffic than the Mississippi.) So the alternative was to wait until they send some people from Portland up river to fix the issue. They arrived at the river’s edge at 10:30 am PT (just watched them come across the water in the “captain’s boat”). Original estimates stated we should be underway again in early afternoon.

In a nutshell, we have lost the stop today due to being stuck “at sea” (at river?). They have scrambled and put together a day of activities, but I think I will sit on my balcony and surf and read. A lot of people are discussing the issue of compensation for the missed stop. But we will see.

Lunch was interesting. The menu was a free for all with "Come Get Us Corn Chowder" for soup. Your entries were a choice of "Anchored In Chicken Pasta", "Coast Guard Cobb Salad", or "Welder's Stir Crazy Fry". Dessert we had "Hydraulic Fudge Brownie a la Mode".

The Captain came in at lunch and told us the “Good News, Bad News, and Good News”. The Good News was that the repairs were completed. The Bad News was that the Coast Guard was requiring them to change the part out as a permanent fix ASAP. This means that we were not able to go to Snake River due to time constraints. That means we missed the Jet Boats and Clarkston (and all the locks & dams on the Snake). The Good News is that while the boat is being repaired on Day 4 (Wednesday), we will do the Tamastslikt Cultural Center and Pendleton shore excursions. The repairs will be done at the Port of Umatilla. The spill issue was not even mentioned.

The repairs should be completed on day 4 and we should be good to go to continue on the voyage completing all other shore excursions.

Alan

Alan,

I´m sorry to hear that you will miss the Snake river and the jet boat cruise. It is truly one of the highlights of the cruise (o.k., there are really many of them, Mt. St. Helens and the Tamastslikt Cultural Center were the other highlights for me). We didn´t have a real stop at Clarkston anyway. We stopped and borded the jet boats. There wasn´t any free time for the town on our cruise on the Columbia Queen in 2005.

Carmen

Day 4 (Wednesday) - Umatilla

Well it’s a beautiful day on the river. Woke up to a cool morning and good news. The part was replaced during the night and we are now awaiting Coast Guard inspection. Once that is done we will be continuing the cruise, but today is Tamastslikt Cultural Center and Pendleton shore excursions.

The Tamatslikt Cultural Center was a wonderful facility. It’s amazing what a little gambling money can do. Before we even got to Hamleys, my wife found a quilt store in Pendleton. She can't pass up a quilt shop (if you know a quilter, you will understand).

We then went shopping at Hamleys. They don't give you enough time in the shop. I bought a cowboy hat and wanted to look around some more when we were called for lunch. The lunch at Slickfork Salon (upstairs from Hamleys) was a buffet. Food was plentiful and good. Then off to the Pendleton Woolen Mill was very interesting. We saw the production of the wool itself and of the blankets made in that factory.

When we got back to the boat and we departed within ten minutes of the buses unloading. We then continued to head east on the Columbia River. The boat had been cleared to proceed by the Coast Guard during the day. They went up to Sacajawea State Park to take on water.

Tomorrow was supposed to be cruising, but instead we now have a shore excursion in the afternoon. It was announced that we will be going to the Maryhill Museum of Art and their Stonehenge memorial.

BTW, for all the people who know Ian, the Discover Guide on the Queen of the West, he is transferring to the Contessa on Friday. Bring a jacket Ian!

Alan

Hi Alan,

Some of the frequently asked questions about a cruise are "how is food" and "what kind of entertainment (daily and evening) can we expect" and "dress code for dinner and on shore tours". I don´t want to stress you on your vacation. But just in case you got some spare time :-).

Carmen

Carmen Winkler;6691 wrote: Hi Alan,

Some of the frequently asked questions about a cruise are "how is food" and "what kind of entertainment (daily and evening) can we expect" and "dress code for dinner and on shore tours". I don´t want to stress you on your vacation. But just in case you got some spare time :-).

Carmen

Thanks for the "nudge". I am writing this in two parts, one what you see and a second (that I'm going to do on the airplane on the flight back home) that contains more of a general impressions of the cruise line, ship, staff and food.

Spare time. All I have is RIVER time!

Thanks,
Alan

Day 5 (Thursday) – Dallesport (The Dalles)

Well it’s another beautiful day on the river. We went through McNary during the night and John Day during the day. We got delayed waiting for an upriver fish barrage at John Day. John Day’s lock is a guillotine type. A big huge gate is lifted over the ship to open the lock. You then cruise under this "guillotine" to leave thelock. A little spooky to me.

We cruised until after lunch when we choked a stump at the Port of Dallesport (Washington side across from The Dalles, OR) right above the dam. During the day Ian gave 2 different presentations in the continuing series of “Discovery Guide” lectures. They were "A Nation Looks West" and "The Oregon Trail: In Their Own Words".

I talked to Ian the other day. If anyone (and I’m sure you do) remembers or knew of, Bill Wiemuth (Riverlorian from the MQ), he is now in charge of the “Discovery Guides”. He has mapped out “boxes” of information for each cruise and it is up to each “Discovery Guide” to present them. To be honest, I have stopped going to Ian’s presentations. I do listen to them in the room on the radio system. My wife and mother still are going and enjoying them.

In addition we had the galley and pilot house tours. The Galley is, how do we say, SMALL. I think my kitchen is bigger. Nothing to earth shattering other than the day they boarded the boat at the beginning of the season to the last cruise of the season, the ovens/ranges/etc are never turned off. They run 24 hours a day. During the day is the meal cooking and at night the baker takes over to prepare the next day’s bakery items.

For the pilot house, the Captain was at the helm when we went up to the pilot house. We were “plowing a hole in the river” waiting for the John Day lock to clear. Interesting navigation equipment including a working wheel (for emergency use only!), at least 2 different GPS units, a depth gauge, and of course the normal gauges and controls for a hydraulic engine, the paddlewheel and the bow thruster. He didn't seem happy when I asked about the Columbia Queen. Seems like they had a generator cut out on them this week. Must be something "in the water".

Because today was suppose to be cruising, but now was a shore excursion day, we did not have Bingo or the Wine tasting today. There of course was some grumbling because of that.

We then went to the Maryhill Museum and the Stonehenge War Memorial. Maryhill was very nice but not enough time for most people (not me, I don’t care for art or museum much). My wife and Mom did enjoy it. This was the first time that the ship had ever visited the Maryhill Museum. After that we drove to the Stonehenge War Memorial that Sam Hill had built as WWI War Memorial. Since then it was been expanded to include honoring the local heroes from WWII, Korea and Vietnam. It is a replica of the original version. I guess I don’t need to see the original (just kidding).

The entertainment tonight was a “step-on” group called Upcountry ( http://upcountrymusic.net/home.html ). They were pretty good. Tomorrow we head up to Lonview, WA for our shore excursion to Mt. St. Helens.

During the cruising to Longview, we stopped to drop off the entertainers and to take on some more water and off load some waste items. This ship seems to make several stops that are not “on the schedule” like this.

Oh, BTW, they gave a $50/per person credit for the “inconvenience or disappointment” over the last few days.

Alan

Alan,

Great to hear that Bill Wiemuth is still with the company. We had a great time with him last year on the MQ. He did a wonderful job on John Fryant´s video of the launching of the MQ added John Hartford´s song Mississippi Queen which perfectly fit the length of the video and presented it on his talk about the MQ (it was the 30th anniversary cruise of the MQ).

Carmen

PS: The Columbia Queen is in Astoria today. For those who want to see the new color scheme

http://www.crmm.org/

Alan Eisen;6700 wrote: Day 5 (Thursday) – Dallesport (The Dalles)

The entertainment tonight was a “step-on” group called Upcountry ( http://upcountrymusic.net/home.html ). They were pretty good.

Alan

Hi Alan,

Up Country has been with these boats (former American West) for years. They work both the Queen of the West and the Empress of the North. The friendship I developed with both of them, Ray and Kevin, is among the lasting highlights of my time on the EON.

The guitarist of the duo, Kevin, is one of the best musicians I've ever heard. And that is in addition to the fact that both he and Ray are just the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet.

As part of their show, they would call me up to do a song with them. It was usually "On the Road Again", but for some reason, one night it was some other up tempo thing. In these situations, you sing a chorus and then everyone plays a chorus.

Well, Kevin just SMOKED a guitar solo and then looked at me, slyly, and indicated it was MY turn. Thinking quickly, I slung my guitar on my hip and graciously refused that little invitation for disaster. We had a good laugh about it.

Thanks for reviving those memories for me.

Paul

Day 6 (Friday) – Longview

Well it’s another beautiful day on the river. It was drizzly and foggy. Well, okay, not a beautiful day, but a typical Oregon day at the least. But I was still on river time. We went through Bonneville in the morning.

Steve gave his disembarkation speech. To sum it up, you have to worry about 4 items: 1) Tipping: Pooled tip system that can be put on your room charge. $15 per person per day. 2) Luggage Tags 3-4 colors are given out with 2-3 different ones going to the airport and 1 for the hotel. You can also request a taxi which they will call for you. 3) Survey, one per person that you can turn in for a drawing for a $50 credit. 4) Your bill. It was (supposed to be) delivered to your statement on Saturday evening.

Ian gave his last talk of the cruise, "The Raging Rapids of Progress". He then had to leave to catch up to his next ship. After Ian, we had our delayed from Thursday "Past Passenger" reception. Food was fine with all drinks avaiable. Given it was held in the morning, it was a little different. They gave prizes for the longest time since there last curise, the shortest time since there last cruise and the top number of cruises.

We then took the buses up to Mt. St. Helens. At least we were told there was a volcano out there. We went to the Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center. Given we had our worst weather day of the cruise; you could not see even Johnston Ridge through the fog. The ranger talks were again very entertaining and informative. These guys love their jobs. They did mention that they are having funding issues and the center may be closed as of Nov. 5, 2007. Johnston Ridge will remain open. We also saw a movie on the aftermath of the eruption that was filmed in 1990. It was very interesting.

Dinner tonight was either Beef Wellington or Duck and it was very good. I have to say the soups on the boat are some of the best I have ever tasted. Always order the soup!

Also during dinner, we took a dinner cruise. We left Longview and went up river until dinner started and then we returned to Longview and tied up again. Turns out we didn't need to leave so early so and the Longview dock is a commercial area. This gave us some visual scenery during dinner.

Entertainment tonight was the 40’s & 50’s show with Steve and Heather. Mom said the show was very enjoyable.

Alan

Sorry for the delay in posting. I got back and got sick. I will be posting the final day and my summary by this weekend.

Paul Penta;6708 wrote: Hi Alan,

As part of their show, they would call me up to do a song with them. It was usually "On the Road Again", but for some reason, one night it was some other up tempo thing. In these situations, you sing a chorus and then everyone plays a chorus.

Well, Kevin just SMOKED a guitar solo and then looked at me, slyly, and indicated it was MY turn. Thinking quickly, I slung my guitar on my hip and graciously refused that little invitation for disaster. We had a good laugh about it.

Thanks for reviving those memories for me.

Paul

During the show, the called Steve up and he sang with them. Yeah, I can imagine that Kevin can really play a mean guitar. Actually both of them were very talented. We had a very enjoyable time. The only comment that was made about them was that it was "Cowboy Country", but personnally I just love all sorts of country.

Thanks,
Alan

Day 7 (Saturday) – Astoria

Well it’s another beautiful day on the river. It was a bit foggy. Today we have an early shore excursion and all day in port with the afternoon free.

On tap today is the Astoria City Tour, Astoria Column, Fort Clatsop and The Columbia River Maritime Museum. Each bus did the last three items in different order. This is done I gather to not overwhelm each site. The City Tour was a quick overview of the city with pointing out some of the historical homes there. They had a lot of them! Then we were off to the Astoria Column ( http://www.oregoncoast.com/Astorcol/Astorcol.htm ). It is a 125 tower overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River at the highest point over Astoria. It was a beautiful overlook on the city and the river. We were the lucky ones, the last bus didn’t even go up the hill because it was fogged in.

We were then off to Fort Clatsop ( http://www.nps.gov/lewi/planyourvisit/fortclatsop.htm ) part of the Lewis & Clark National Historic Park. The fort was rebuilt since it burned down a couple of years ago. The rangers again were very interesting. The information they provided was very informative. My wife and I then walked down to the river. They have some hand dugout canoes that were recreations of what Lewis & Clark would have used.

Next we went to the Maritime Museum. Since this is where the boat docks, we decided to go into town first. We ate lunch in town at the Silver Salmon Grille. It was good, a break from the cruise cuisine. After that, we went shopping in town. My wife found the 2 quilt stores downtown of course and I found the “River Sea Gallery” where I bought a menorah out of wood using tea lights. Loved the store.

We then walked back to the Maritime Museum ( http://www.crmm.org/ has a webcam were you can see the ships docked on Friday, Columbia Queen, and Saturday, Queen of the West). I really enjoyed the Coast Guard exhibit and my wife enjoyed the rest of the museum. We then went back on the boat for a special guest speaker, Rex Ziak ( http://www.rexziak.com/index.html ). He was excellent.

After that was leisure time and then dinner. Tonight was the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party and the Captain’s Farewell Dinner. The captain spent time in both the Columbia Showroom and the Paddlewheel Lounge. Both were available for drinks (free of course) and socializing. The Dinner was of course Turf & Surf. Bacon wrapped Filet and Australian Lobster Tails. I had two Lobster Tails. Some were not cooked completely, but they were good. The desert was excellent, crème brulee!

The show tonight was the Columbia Showroom Band. We didn’t go, but our table mates did and they said the show was very good with a lot of toe tapping music.

Then it was off to pack. Luggage had to be out by midnight, but you can put luggage out up until 7:00 am for last minute bags.

Alan

Day 8 (Sunday) – Portland

Shoot! We have to get off! I want to go on! On Friday I heard somebody at the pursers office jokingly ask what color luggage tag to stay on. I answered GREEN!

We got into Portland about 6:30 am PT. Breakfast started at 7:45 am this morning. Full breakfast is severed with no requirement to sit at your same table (unlike other larger lines). Also, you could leave items in your stateroom until you left for the bus.

The buses loaded at 8:00 am. They had 2 buses going to the airport and 1 to the hotel. They also allowed you to get a taxi at the dock. The taxies were scheduled for 9:00 am with the buses leaving by 8:30 am. We were the first out and got to the airport by 9:00 am. They unloaded the bags before we got off the bus. The only issue we had was that the wheelchair we ordered for my mom never showed up. Our airline (Delta), was at the other end of the airport from where we were, but we hoofed and picked up a wheelchair at the counter.

Flight back was uneventful. On time and no issues. Well off to work (and getting sick).

The summary is next up!

Alan

Summary

There is one thing I tell my friends when I’m taking a river cruise. First I have to explain to them what a river cruise is and then we have to talk about the itinerary and the “ambiance” of a river boat. People are always interested in them, but I always caution them that it is nothing like a big ship cruise. I always point out that we, again, were one of the youngest couples on the boat. I joke that we are the next generation of passengers. Also, I make sure they understand that they don’t entertain you all day every day. One of the reasons I love the river boat, is I can always catch up on my reading.

We love the concept of “river time” and laid back attitude of the river boats. I know there has been a lot of talk of the changes that Majestic has brought to the line, but if I compare my two trips on MQ and this trip on the Queen of the West, I have to say that they were equivalent. This boat was in much better shape than the MQ. Of course, it was newer and had actually been refreshed recently, unlike the last season of the MQ. We thought the cruise was great and of course would do another one again. We of course are going to have to do the Northwest Rivers again since we didn’t make it to the Lewiston/Clarkston stop (and Hell’s Canyon). Our next one though will probably be on the DQ though.

There are only 2 entertainers, but the dance floor on the Queen of the West was not very big so that was fine for this boat. Yes the shows are only 45 minutes long and the band stops playing at 11:00 pm, but to be honest, this is not us anyway. We go to most shows but not to the dancing after. If anything we would go to Paddlewheel lounge before dinner.

Yes, the rooms were expensive, but boat was sold out. It was also sold out for at least the previous week and for the next 2 weeks we were told. I don’t know how much discounting they had on those trips, but when I booked mine, I got 30% off the book rate.

Our stateroom (a BB) was very nice. We had plenty of room and a nice balcony. We were forward on the starboard side (203). The beds are very high but extremely comfortable. One item I will make sure I take with me next time is a short piece of a 2x2. We wanted to prop open the door to our balcony because the weather was so good, but you had to put a chair in the door.

My mom was in an EE stateroom. Talk about small! But it was only one person in there. They did have a drop down bed, but the storage room was next to none existent in her room. It was enough for 1, but would never work with 2 people. She had trouble with the bed height. They gave her a baby stool. It worked, but they need another solution. Other people could not even get that help.

The rooms had a regular TV (no flat panels in the rooms) and a DVD player. They had DVDs available in the Paddlewheel lounge. There was a run on them immediately, so I don’t know what the selection was. The towels were some of the best I have ever used and I travel a lot! Never tried the robe, but I know the shop ran out of them for sale.

The staff was interesting. Every person, with the exception of the top staff worked at least two jobs. All of the room stewards and bar personnel worked in the dining room during dinner as the assistant waiter. The hotel manager, Joe, and the Maitre d’, Forest, were excellent. Overall they did a good job, but the time the room was turned down was variable due to the need for the room steward to work the dining room for dinner. Also on our floor, there were only 2 room stewards working 38 rooms. They would start at breakfast and not finish until after lunch.

Our waiter was very good, but they have too many tables (5 tables with 30 people). Some days the server was fast, but other days it was slow. Basically they rotated the table that was first to be served. Overall the food was good. Salad was always on the table when we got to dinner. There was always a hot soup on the menu. The Entrée’s were always pretty much a meat or chicken dish, a fish/seafood dish and a vegetarian dish. Never tried the vegetarian dish, but the others were consistently good. My major complaint was the quantity of food. For example we had lasagna one day. It was a three layer piece that was only 3x3 in size. I have never had a dish so small in my life anywhere. It was also not possible to get 2 entrees or a double portion. It was just ignored or misinterpreted. It did not matter who the waiter was (this happened during lunch also). Overall we thought the food was good, just the portions were a bit small.

Hope this answers all your questions, if not; please post them and I will try to answer them. Look forward to seeing you on the river!

Alan