American Empress

For those who have done the trip on the Columbia River, is there any advantage to sailing east to west or vice-versa?

Last October, we took the AE east to west so I cant directly compare the other direction. I didn't really take a close look at the details of times between the two directions. If we did this again (which we would, if it not for now wanting to cruise the Mississippi!), we might try the other direction.

I selected east to west which was a better fit with our Amtrak travel from Los Angeles (we no longer fly). We took the train up to Spokane and back from Vancouver. We really enjoyed the Historic Davenport Hotel in Spokane which is where you stay the night before the cruise. The bus trip from Spokane to Clarkston was out of the way at the beginning rather than the end of the cruise.