ASTORIA VICTORIANA

[HostDave]

Do you know how to read brochure copy? As a company that produces brochures, we know a few of the tricks of the trade to make it emotional, experiential and interesting. If we’re doing our job, then you’re hopefully drawn to the idea of making reservations for one of our upcoming river cruises in America’s Heartland or the Pacific Northwest.

When we first tackled the task of describing our new 9-day journeys on our just-added American Empress on the Columbia and Snake rivers, we found ourselves a bit overwhelmed with the possibilities. Believe it or not, the easiest brochure copy to write is when you don’t have much to write about. That’s when you can pull in loads of flowery language to stretch the copy. Fortunately, we don’t ever run into that problem with our cruises, our riverboats, our cuisine, service or destinations.

But the blessing of having too much to choose from to highlight in brochure copy also means that it’s tough to make those very decisions. What do we include and what do we leave out, allowing our guests to discover on their own once aboard?

For example, just take a look at our general description of our Pacific Northwest cruises:

“Nowhere is the timelessness of rivers more apparent than here in the pristine Pacific Northwest where the Columbia and Snake Rivers wind through gentle hills, impressive mountains, vertical canyons and fertile fields. The land appears in 2014 just as it did to Lewis and Clark in 1805 – majestic, unspoiled and unimaginably glorious. Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark’s faithful Native American guide, knew how to read these lands and soon you will too thanks to the legacy of the expedition that opened the West to settlement. Pioneering reminders range from Fort Clatsop outside Astoria, Oregon where they survived the harsh winter, to the sister cities of Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho 400 miles to the east. The explorers overcame the formidable Celilo Falls and currents near The Dalles, Oregon, a struggle brought to light at Rock Fort Campsite. The role of Sacajawea in the expedition’s success is interpreted at the state park in Washington’s Tri-Cities Region.”

“As you relive the daring exploits of frontiersmen and adventurers, you are treated to the very same natural wonders. Columbia Gorge cuts through the Cascade Mountains thanks to the Missoula Floods of the last Ice Age. At Multnomah Falls, snowmelt streams plunge over 600 feet in two tiered cascades down a sheer cliff face. Deeper than the Grand Canyon, Idaho’s Hell’s Canyon is a dramatic crack in the earth with raging waters best explored on an exciting jet boat ride. Near Portland, understand the raw power of nature in the collapsed volcanic crater of Mount St. Helens. Along the Columbia River, fish ladders help salmon swim upstream and bison, deer and elk graze freely.”

“With the American Empress serving as a floating boutique hotel for your journey, travel into the heart of Washington’s wine country. The acclaimed Maryhill Winery overlooking the Columbia River has made its mark among wine connoisseurs while the celebrated Walla Walla Wine Trail in the “Napa of the North” offers the tastes of Canoe Ridge, Cayuse, Leonetti and Five Star Cellars, among others.”

“From Portland’s lovely International Rose Test Garden to the hallowed artifacts on the Nez Perce Reservation, the region comes to life. Tour a millionaire’s Victorian home in Astoria, Oregon and marvel at the engineering achievement of the Bonneville Dam. Whether you choose to take in the scenery from Mt. Hood’s Timberline Lodge nestled among the pines or climb a lighthouse to view the expansive Pacific, a voyage on the Columbia and Snake Rivers will show you the world from a new perspective.”

Even as we wrote the copy above, we wanted to get up from our desk and go there. But we were constrained by having to limit what we could say about each destination. When you read brochure copy, it’s important to note that what’s mentioned is just the tip of the iceberg.

For example, the copy above mentions Fort Clatsop outside Astoria, Oregon and hints than you can “tour a millionaire’s Victorian home” there as well. If you research your vacations in-depth, then you can certainly check to find out about the history of Fort Clatsop online or in a book. But our brochure description of a “millionaire’s Victorian home” is deliberately vague. We use those words to give you a sense of what you’ll see since there’s not enough room in a quick description to provide the details.

However, if you want to know more, here’s a secret: On our website, be sure to review the Itinerary tab for each cruise description. Behind that tab, we provide more details of what can be seen in each port of call, highlighting what’s available on our complimentary Hop-on, Hop-off shore excursions. Under the listing for Astoria, we provide more information about the “millionaire’s Victorian home.”

“Next stop, the Flavel House and Carriage House Museum,” the webstie says. “The Flavel House stands proudly as a monument of national significance. As a perfectly preserved example of Queen Anne architecture, this historic abode was once the home of Captain George Flavel, one of Astoria’s most influential citizens in the late 1800s. Guests can tour this 11,000 square foot elegant mansion as well as the detached Carriage House Museum and Visitor’s Center.”

Brochure copy has many layers and to learn about a trip, you have to peel back the layers like the petals of a rose. In this case, we hope the hint of a description in the general copy, followed by a few more details behind the Itinerary tab online, peak your curiosity. Our guests tell us that they love to visit restored and preserved homes in the places we call because it gives a true sense of history and life from long ago. Captain George Flavel was a Columbia River bar pilot, meaning that he traveled out in a small boat to meet incoming ships where he then steered them into port across the infamous shoals and bars of the area, avoiding shipwreck. When ships departed, he performed the same function, guiding them safely out to sea before being picked up by a small pilot boat and returned to Astoria. Ships are not cheap and back in the late 1800s carried a great deal of valuable cargo, ranging from shipments of gold to cargo holds laden with furs caught by trappers and destined for the East Coat and incorporation into popular hats of the day. The cost of an accidental shipwreck was prohibitive and the series of bar pilots, who kept vessels safe and cure, was highly rewarded. As such, Captain Flavel became one of Astoria’s first millionaires. And he did it not through inheritance, but through his own hard work – a testament to the type of people that still live in Astoria today.

However, Captain Flavel was also a bit vain as it was clearly important to him to build a large mansion in the then-popular Victorian style. The house’s beauty is so profound that it survived successive periods of redevelopment over the last 130 years and appears much as it did during Flavel’s financial zenith. If it looks vaguely familiar, there’s a good reason: it was featured as the museum workplace of one of the main character’s fathers in the 1985 movie The Goonies, which was filmed in Astoria.

Of course, a visit to the Flavel House as part of a complimentary Hop-on, Hop-off tour is just one of the many ports of call on our 9-day Pacific Northwest cruises. If all this awaits behind a brochure’s description of “tour a millionaire’s Victorian home,” you can only imagine the wealth of sights to be unveiled throughout a cruise on the American Empress. Better yet, don’t imagine it at all; experience it for yourself by reserving the suite or stateroom of your choice and discover the glorious vacation behind the colorful language of a brochure.