Astoria Excursions Navigator 2010

[Gmeg]

We had planned to take the Willamette Valley Wine Excursion on the San Fransico - Alaska Navigator Cruise Code AST 012. This is no longer showing as an option. We will probably now go for the Seaside Sights and Sounds instead. Does anyone have other suggestions for Astoria?

[Travelcat2]

This is a bit hard to answer. We did a similar itinerary in 2008 that included Astoria and will be on the same cruise as you will be on next May. We, too, noticed that many of the Alaska excursions offered in 2009 will not be offered in 2010. So, although I cannot answer your question, just wanted to remind you that you can book excursions beginning November 27th!

[colomom]

Ahhhh Astoria, we were there for my son's Tae Kwon Do tournament (in Kelso) this past May. It is a pretty little town. If I was going on this trip I would definitely pay the extra $79 per person to go see Mt. St. Helens. The fog/clouds can be tricky and hopefully you will get a good view because it is so amazing. When we rounded the corner and saw it for the first time it took our breath away. We all hollered/screamed in unison. It is one of my favorite memories of the trip. The visitor center (Johnston Ridge Observatory) is very cool with a neat movie of the eruption with curtains parting at the end to a fantastic view of the crater.

 

The free excursion I would chose would be the Kite & Cranberry because both things interest me. The mouth of the Columbia River is also amazing. If you do this, make a kite (maybe they will let you fly it off the boat?) because downtown Long Beach is, well, it just is (IMHO, of course).

[Gmeg]

Thanks for your help here. I am thinking we will enjoy the Kite and Cranberry tour so looks like this will be it. But is Mt Helens a must not miss that we shoud do instead and if so is there interesting scenery on the way to make the long journey worth while apart from the finale of Mt Helens itself?

[colomom]

Nothing but forest, forest, forest and many areas of clear cutting, which I found to be heartbreaking but then there were the signs indicating that the logging companies had planted new trees, 2 years ago, 5 years, 10 years, that was interesting. Oh, there were a couple of little bitty communities too. One little pit stop that was all about Sasquatch, the mythical ape-man.

 

From Astoria over to Kelso (across a really cool bridge) has more to see but again, so many cut trees (hundreds of thousands) stacked up along the river waiting to be transported. That's what I remember.

 

I read more about the Seaside Sights & Sounds Tour and that sounds like fun too although we did not visit Seaside while we were there so I can't tell you much.