THE DEVIL’S MOUTHPIECE

[HostDave]

If you’re a seasoned cruise traveler, one thing that you’ve probably noticed is that it is never fun to arrive on the same day your vessel departs. More people than ever before are taking to the skies and with airlines merging and cutting capacity to increase their load factors, it’s also never been more crowded. As consumers, we benefit from myriad connection opportunities and can often tailor flight times to match any time of day we wish to travel. But there are downsides as well.

The problem with traveling the same day you sail is that it can be a stressful experience. Although it doesn’t happen nearly as often as portrayed in the media, flights are delayed for hours now and then and sometimes luggage can be misplaced. If you’re counting on arriving in your embarkation city before your steamboat or cruise ship departs later that day, that can create a lot of anxiety. Many years ago, the parents of one of our Memphis staff members were traveling to Miami for a 10-day Caribbean cruise. This was back in the early 1980s before companies used bankruptcy declarations as a means of reducing costs while they continued operating. Back in the “good old days” if you declared bankruptcy, you shut your doors. And it turns out that’s exactly what Braniff Airlines did. As they stood in the check-in line at the airport, the poor couple watched their airline turn off the lights right in front of them. Their travel agent managed to get them on a flight the next day, but they’d literally missed the boat. They connected in Miami to San Juan, the ship’s first port of call, where they had to stay in a hotel for two nights at their own expense waiting for their ship to come in. While on board, they met a charming woman with a limited wardrobe who kept wearing the same gown to formal night dinners. It turns out that another, non-bankrupt airline had lost her luggage and she spent the entire cruise going down to the dock each day to see if her bags had caught up with the ship yet.

One of our mandates when we created the American Queen Steamboat Company in 2011 was to create a travel experience that was as seamless and hassle-free as possible. One of our goals was to eliminate the anxiety that can be created by traveling the same day the American Queen or American Empress departs so we decided to include a complimentary one-night pre-cruise deluxe hotel stay in the embarkation city on every voyage. Simply put, that means that our guests can fly in the day before departure with no worries about the consequences of a delayed arrival time or misplaced bag.

That also means that our guests have the chance to explore their embarkation city in depth and we have found that once enticed with a single complimentary night, our guests often book one or two additional nights on their own to provide a mini-vacation prior to the beginning of their cruise. We’ve tailored special Premium Experience shore excursion for our earliest arrivals and those choosing to stay an extra night or two in their debarkation city.

If you read our blogs with any regularity, you’ve heard us tout the appeal and attractions of cities such as New Orleans, Memphis and St. Louis, to name just three. But with the introduction two months ago of our new 9-day American Empress voyages in the Pacific Northwest between Vancouver, Washington (just across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon) and Clarkston, Washington, we have a lot more to talk about.

From Portland, one of our most popular and talked about Premium Experience tours is a day tour of Mount St. Helens, the famed stratovolcano that blew apart in 1980, killing dozens in a catastrophic event that few will ever forget. Just 50 miles northeast of Portland, Mount St. Helens’ landscape tells a story of the unimaginable and unstoppable power of Mother Nature.

Named after Lord St. Helens, a pal of the surveyor and explorer George Vancouver who traversed the Pacific Northwest over 100 years ago, Mount St. Helens once had the classic conical shape of the other volcanoes in the Cascades such as Mount Rainier and Mount Hood. Snowcapped even in summer, these volcanoes were so beautiful it was easy to forget that they were, indeed, volcanoes and not just spectacular postcard-perfect mountains. And Mount St. Helens most definitely was not an extinct volcano; it was merely dormant. But it had been so long since an eruption that it was treated as extinct, with remote log cabins built on its flanks and lodges perched along the alpine waters of Spirit Lake at its base. That all changed dramatically on May 18, 1980 when the face and summit of the mountain blew apart in what has been described as “the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States.”

In the hellish chaos, 57 people died, nearly four dozen bridges were wiped out and roughly 185 miles of highway annihilated. Volcanoes, sometimes called the Devil’s Mouthpieces for their fire-spewing horrors, can create destruction unmatched anywhere else on earth by virtue of the fact that they completely transform the earth itself. The avalanche of debris that cascaded out of Mount St. Helens’ collapsed north face completely filled Spirit Lake and the force of the blast leveled trees for miles in all directions. For many years after the eruption, you knew you were approaching Mount St. Helens many miles before having it in sight because there was not a single living thing to be found. Trees were knocked down, all pointing in the same direction away from the blast, and ash several feet thick covered everything as far as the eye could see.

Today, greenery has begun to return to the landscape, something that scientists in the 1980s felt would take far longer. But the resilience of Mother Nature is just as awesome in its own way as the power of volcanism. Our tour to the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center (and if conditions permit to a closer viewing area), gives an awe-inspiring glimpse into the events of May 18, 1980. If we didn’t provide a complimentary one night pre-cruise hotel stay in Portland before our eastbound 9-day departures, many of our guests wouldn’t have the opportunity to choose this extraordinary Premium Choice shore excursion. It is an experience you won’t want to miss and will certainly never forget.

You also won’t want to miss a fantastic offer as well. If you reserve the suite or stateroom of your choice before June 20, 2014 and pay in full at the time of booking, you can save 50% on June 2014 Pacific Northwest cruises aboard the American Empress.*

*Offer expires June 20, 2014 and is valid on new, paid-in-full bookings only. Space cannot be held – full payment is required at time of booking to redeem this offer. This offer is based on cabin availability and only while inventory lasts. Offer of 50% savings applies to regular cruise fare only, regardless of cabin category, and is only valid on these 2014 American Empress voyage dates: 6/07, 6/14, 6/21 and 6/28. Offer valid on U.S. and Canada resident bookings only. Offer is not valid on Group bookings or existing reservations and cannot be combined with other offers, promotions or discounts. Cruise fare does not include taxes, port charges, insurance, gratuities, or airfare. Additional terms and conditions may apply - call for details.