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American West Steamboat Alaska BargainTwo or Three Nights Free Plus Free Air
Special 11-night cruise rates start at $3,399 and include all featured shore excursions, fine dining and live showboat-type entertainment in the price plus one-way airfare between Seattle and Sitka. Special 8-night cruise rates start at $2,549 and include all featured shore excursions, fine dining and live showboat-type entertainment in the price plus round-trip airfare between Seattle and Sitka. The Empress of the North’s 11-night itinerary sails each way between Seattle and Sitka and includes cruising the San Juan Island Archipelago and Canada’s Inside Passage, with port calls in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia. Like the 8-night itinerary, the Empress of the North also calls on Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Skagway and Sitka as well as includes the scenic attractions of Glacier Bay National Park, Tracy Arm Fjord, Misty Fjords, Peril Strait and Le Conte Bay. Shore excursions are featured in every port and included in the price of the cruise. Highlights include a raptor rehabilitation center, ride the historic White Pass & Yukon Railroad, and witness special performances by Native storytellers and Russian New Archangel folk dancers.
Following her seasons in Alaska, the Empress of the North repositions to Portland, Oregon, where she operates 8-night cruises between October and May on the Columbia, Snake and Willamette Rivers, with rates ranging from $1,859 to $5,309, depending on cabin category and cruise date and include shore excursions, fine dining and live showboat-type entertainment. Since 1995, American West Steamboat Company has operated the 163-passenger Queen of the West year round on the Columbia, Willamette and Snake Rivers, along the Lewis & Clark route, Oregon Trail, and Columbia River Gorge. Highlights of the nearly 1,000 mile long cruise include traversing eight locks and dams, a close up view of 620-foot high Multnomah Falls, visits to the Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument, Lewis & Clark’s Fort Clatsop, a jet boat ride into Hells Canyon, a rodeo demonstration in Pendleton and excursions to Astoria and Cannon Beach, Oregon. 2004 7-night cruise rates range from $1,239 to $5,039, depending on cabin category and cruise date, with included shore excursions, fine dining and live showboat-type entertainment. For reservations, more information or to request a free, full-color brochure, call 1-800-434-1232, write to 2101 4th Avenue, Suite 1150, Seattle, WA 98121 or visit www.americanweststeamboat.com. Edited by Dave Shultz |
TM
Guests
travel for free along Alaska’s Inside Passage aboard American West Steamboat
Company’s new luxury sternwheeler Empress of the North. That is, they
travel three nights free when they book an 11-night cruise or two nights
free when they book an 8-night cruise. Plus, the company is picking up the
tab on airfare between Seattle, WA and Sitka, Alaska. Not including the
free air, the savings adds up to $3,000 per couple, depending on cabin
category and cruise length.
Launched
in 2003, the 235-passenger Empress of the North is not only American West
Steamboat Company’s newest sternwheeler, but also the first overnight
sternwheeler plying Alaska’s Inside Passage in over 100 years. Throughout
the cruise, the region’s history comes alive in song and dance, from the
Gold Rush Follies, to Russian American Cossack Dances, to the legends,
crafts, songs and dances of the Native Americans. A historian/naturalist
delivers an ongoing interpretive program and is curator for the vessel’s
gallery of paintings, sculptures, pictures and historic artifacts featuring
the heritage, cultures and natural history of Alaska and the Pacific
Northwest. Over 700 pieces of exquisite art and artifacts line each of the
ship’s corridors including a rare collection of Russian nesting dolls,
Fabergé eggs and Alaska Native masks and carvings in addition to photographs
and paintings depicting Gold Rush history, frontier exploration, Alaska
wildlife and 19th century paddle wheelers.