In the fifth and last part of our KarryOn’s Guide To River Cruising – series we are exploring the USA and Canada river cruising.
After discovering river cruising in Europe, Asia and South America we are now looking into cruising in North America.
What North America lacks in choice (with only two cruisable rivers), it more than compensates for with scenery and evocative sights and authentic experiences en route. The best-known river is the Mississippi, while America’s other river cruise destination is in the Pacific Northwest where cruises on the Columbia and Snake Rivers follow the epic route pioneered by the explorers Lewis and Clark more than 200 years ago.
USA & Canada
The Mississippi
With visits to antebellum plantations, historic battlefields, quaint southern towns and iconic cities like Baton Rouge the route between New Orleans in the south and Memphis in the north offers plenty in the way of Deep South history, culture and flavour.
When we speak of the Mississippi however, we must include the partly navigable Arkansas, Atchafalaya, Cumberland, Illinois, Kanawha, Ouachita, and Tennessee rivers, collectively known as the Western Rivers because they formed part of the original American West.
Key stops
A Mississippi river cruise will include port calls at New Orleans, Natchez, Baton Rouge, Memphis, St Louis, Hannibal, Burlington, Dubuque, Davenport, Memphis, Wabasha, Minneapolis/St Paul, Chattanooga, Nashville, Paducah, Louisville, Madison, Cincinnati, Gallipolis, Marietta and Pittsburgh, among others.
The Columbia River
The 2,000-km (1,240-mile) Columbia River and its main tributaries, the Snake and the Willamette, recall the history of the pioneers of the rugged Pacific Northwest region and its Native American culture and traditions.
The river begins in Canada as a trickle in the high alpine meadows of British Columbia and flows in a north-westerly direction through the Rocky Mountain Trench, before heading south to join the Snake River just south of Pasco in Washington State. The combined flows then cut through the Cascade Range to empty into the Pacific.
The Season
You can find North America river cruises from March to December, but sail dates and seasons will vary, depending on the particular river you’d like to sail.
Challenges
One big difference between European and American river cruising is that most of the latter’s cosmopolitan cities grew up around coastal ports, rather than rivers. So while you may visit the Mississippi’s St. Louis, the Chesapeake Bay’s Baltimore or the Hudson’s New York, these trips definitely are for slower-paced travellers.
