2016 American Encore Columbia & Snake River Cruise This ship was so new that I got to attend her christening ceremony

In May of 2026, it was my total pleasure to sail down the Columbia and Snake rivers on American Cruise Lines' newest ship, American Encore.  This ship was so new that I got to attend her christening ceremony.  The highlight of the ceremony was seeing the ship's Godmother break a bottle of champagne against the railing of the ship.

The ship was all decked out in red, white and blue for christening ceremony.  They even hung a huge American Flag off the side of the ship!

This new ship will spend her time sailing up and down the Columbia and Snake rivers over and over again...  between Astoria, Oregon on the Pacific coast and Lewiston, Idaho on the border of Washington and Idaho.

The christening ceremony was held in Lewiston.  Executives from American Cruise Lines flew all the way out to Lewiston from their company headquarters in Connecticut to be at the christening.  Here's a photo of the President and CEO of American Cruise Lines, Charlie Robertson, making a speech at the christening ceremony:

I'm a licensed commercial drone pilot and professional photographer.  American Cruise Lines has been sending me all around the country to shoot photos and videos of their ships and itineraries.  It's been the best retirement gig for me that I could imagine!  They reimburse me for my airfare to get back and forth...  but other than that, no money changes hands.  So, it's a great deal for both sides:  I get a free cruise and a fun, creative assignment...  they get high-quality photos they can use in their brochures, and video they can use for TV ads or other video projects.  Also, I generate great publicity for them by making very high-quality YouTube travel videos about their cruises...  and by posting photos, videos, and stories of my cruise to an American Cruise Lines Facebook group.

Here's a few aerial photos that I shot of their new ship using my drone...

American Encore sailing on the Columbia River a few minutes before docking in Richland, Washington.

American Encore docked in Kalama, Washington.

American Encore docked in The Dalles, Oregon.

American Encore docked in Richland, Washington.
You can see a crew member standing at the outdoor controls for the engines.
(Although that's not actually the captain we see in this photo)
Using those outdoor controls while docking makes it easy for the captain to see the dock.

I shot this a few minutes after the ship went through the locks at the dam you see in the background.

That was an extremely tricky shot to get!  First off, it takes a licensed, commercial drone pilot to make sure the flight is legal.  Second, it takes a pilot with the ability and experience to safely launch the drone from a ship that's in motion, and to safely land it back on that ship later.  That's very tricky to do!  It's one thing to launch and land a drone on land.  Fairly easy.  Quite another thing to do so on a ship in motion!  For example, you can't just land by using the drone's "return to home" feature.  "Home" is a mile or more behind you by the time you want to land the drone!  Plus, the thing you want to land on is moving.  Really tricky!!!   I've mastered the technique through trial and error on twelve different cruises shooting photos and videos for American Cruise Lines.  It also happened to be extremely windy when I took that shot, and that created even more of a challenge in flying the drone than usual.

I hope ACL likes the photo enough that they use it on the cover of one of their brochures sometime.  That's the ultimate compliment to a photographer.  So far, three different photos I've shot on previous cruises have made it on to the covers of ACL brochures.

Of course, during a cruise, there's more to shoot photos of than just the ship.  Along the Columbia River, there were a lot of gorgeous nature scenes to shoot.  One of my favorite scenic photos from this cruise was this shot of Multnomah Falls, which is located near Portland, Oregon...
 

I always gain a pound or two when I cruise with American Cruise Lines because of the sweets they serve.  Twice a day, they bake fresh cookies.  In the afternoons, there are ice cream novelties such as drumsticks and ice cream sandwiches.  But the thing that really blows my diet is the delicious ice cream sundaes they serve every evening!
 

Here's a document with deck plans and some basic information about American Encore:

If you would like to take an even closer look at that document,
so that you can zoom in on some of the things in the deck plans,
just click on it...  and a much larger version will open up in a new browser tab.
This will allow you to zoom in on small details.

Videos

Still photos are great, but videos are so much better!

American Cruise Lines decided to try something with American Encore that they've never done with any of their ships before:  they built a huge suite at the front of the ship that's about five times the size of their typical staterooms.  Rather than designing this big suite to sleep an entire family, they've set it up to just be for two affluent people who want to have a super-comfortable large space to spend the cruise in.  It's called the Signature Suite, and you've to see it to appreciate it!  So, here's a video tour I shot of it:

To start the video playing, click the triangle in the middle of the video screen
To make the video fill the screen (recommended) click the little symbol in the lower right corner of the video player

 

If you're curious to see the rest of the ship, have a look at this ship tour video that I made:

I'm also making a series of videos about where the ship visited each day of the cruise, and what I did in each of those places.  This is a work in progress, so I've only completed two episodes of this series, so far.  The rest will be coming in the weeks ahead.  Here's the first episode, which covers the christening ceremony, and the first day of the cruise:

Here's the second episode, which is about the ship's visit to Richland, Washington.  I happen to live about one mile from where the ship docks, so this episode is kind of a love letter to my hometown.  It's probably a lot longer than it needs to be, but I wanted to show off some pretty drone shots of the area I've come to love, and to tell a few stories about interesting things here in my hometown:

I recommend that you watch these videos full-screen, to best enjoy the big scenic views.  And if you have a high-speed Internet connection, you might also want to double-check that the video player is set to show them to you in 4K resolution.

Need A Travel Agent?

Booking a cruise can be confusing, especially if you haven't been on many cruises before.  There are lots of first-time cruiser mistakes that a travel agent can keep you from making.

If you're interested in booking a cruise with any cruise line...  please feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher.  She's extremely pleasant to deal with, easy to talk to since she lives in the United States and speaks without any kind of an accent, and quite experienced and knowledgeable about different types of cruising.  Caitlin is the owner of Ambren Travel.  Visit her web site, check out the Ambren Travel Facebook page, or contact her using the information below.

The Cruise Ships We've Been On

If you've enjoyed this page, you would probably also enjoy reading the stories about some of the other cruise ships I've traveled on.  Click here to see the complete chronology of all the cruises we've ever taken, and to read the full story of any that look interesting to you.

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