20260606 ACL Encore Columbia-Snake River Cruise - Day 5/10 The Dalles, Oregon

American Cruise Lines Encore - Columbia and Snake River Cruise Day 5/10 – The Dalles, Oregon - Kayaks - Well, Dam

We awoke to a big bump and the room suddenly darkening as we entered the Bonneville Locks around 8:00 this morning. We stayed in bed until the room got brighter as we rose the 90 feet to continue east out of the Locks. We threw back the curtains and were greeted by a lovely rainbow over the Bonneville Dam.

Just about every large rock here seems to be covered in cormorants

As we ate breakfast, we sailed past Stevenson, Oregon, where we boarded the Encore, and the American Harmony was docked, turning over and preparing to start this same itinerary

We didn't dock in The Dalles until 1:00 today. In keeping with the interesting pronunciations here, "The Dalles" is pronounced similarly to "The Dolls". I have no idea why.

We took in the sights along the Columbia River as we made our way east

At 10:00, we attended what was billed as a celebration of American Cruise Lines' 50th anniversary. In reality, it was, of course, a sales pitch to sell more cruises. Still, it was interesting, and certainly wasn't hard-sell in any way. There is a 15% discount for booking while on a cruise, so there is some bang-for-the-buck if you're planning to sail again with ACL. Some interesting things we learned:

• ACL is a 50-year-old company
• They are 100% based in the U.S.
• They sail in 35 states, and will be sailing in 41 states within the next couple of years
• They build a new ship every 4 months
• Encore is five weeks old, is the largest in the fleet at 180 guests, and is the blueprint for a class of ships with twelve planned
• Maverick is coming out next month, 130 guests - one of four of this size
• All cruises are sold out for 2026, 70% in 2027, 30% in 2028, and ACL is the only cruise line already booking in 2029
• They plan to have 8 ships operating this Columbia Snake River itinerary, their #1 & #2 itineraries, based on direction
• They are building more docks along the Columbia to be able to add more stops
• The Lower Mississippi, Memphis to New Orleans, is next most popular itinerary
• After four cruises, all excursions, including premium ones, are included
• Every 11th cruise is complimentary

The bottom line was that ACL, as a company, seems to be pretty impressive. They are keeping all ships below 200 guests because they have figured out that is their sweet spot. Given how far they are sold out, it seems to be working. Everyone we have talked with is loving this experience.

As I mentioned before, for us, river cruising simply isn't our vibe. It is a little sleepy for us, but this itinerary was compelling, so this trip made sense for us.  It isn't perfect, but the overall experience so far has been very good.

We continued sailing east, upriver.

We grabbed another light lunch and got ready for our afternoon activities. We docked in The Dalles, Oregon, right on schedule at 1:00 pm.

In this sleepy little town, Google built a huge data center in 2006 and is looking to build more

The Dalles is kind of an odd name. So where does it come from? The name of the city comes from the French word dalle, meaning a flagstone, slab, or gutter, referring to the columnar basalt rocks carved by the river. It was coined by French-Canadian fur traders in the area.

Our planned activity for the day was a guided kayak tour on a local river. I looked at the weather forecast. It called for a high of about 62°, winds approaching 20MPH, feels-like temps in the high 50s, and a 78% chance of rain. Arlona said that she still wanted to go. Me? I said, Dam. Specifically, the Bonneville Dam.

I abandoned my kayak plans and signed up for the tour of the Bonneville Dam. Let's start with Arlona's afternoon.

The plan was to kayak on a small, calm, local river, paddling upstream and then returning downstream over a two-hour tour. There were eagles, herons, ospreys, ducks, fish, and occasional otters to see. Well, that was the plan. The weather didn't cooperate, so they wound up kayaking right on the Columbia. 

Att suited up and ready to go

Does she look a little chilly?

The view from the water

She didn't see much wildlife, but she did see this lovely dead fish

They ended about 20 minutes early, so they took a ride up to the top of an overlook

The mighty Columbia

It poured rain at the top, but they were rewarded with a nice rainbow over the river

They rode the switchbacks back down and returned to the ship

My afternoon took me to the Bonneville Lock and Dam, and the Bonneville Fish Hatchery.

The first stop was the same dam and lock that we navigated a couple of days again, and again this morning

The dam spillway

The visitor center for the dam power station #1

An original turbine blade 

Powerhouse #1 - the original power generation station

The ten turbines can generate 518 MW - a second powerhouse with eight turbines produces 532 MW

The original turbine blades have been replaced with a more efficient design

The man standing there gives you an idea of the immense size of these original blades

After touring the powerhouse, we walked to the fish ladder at the dam.

This appeared to be a variety of St. John's Wort

A portion of the fish ladder that helps the salmon swim upstream to spawn

They had viewing windows underwater to watch fish in the ladder.

The gift shop had lovely stuffed animals, like this lamprey eel - a great gift for the grandkids...not

Another view of the dam's spillway

An original fire truck used to protect the station

Next, we visited the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. It is used for adult collection, egg incubation, and rearing of Tule fall Chinook, and adult collection and spawning of coho salmon. It is also used for rearing of summer steelhead, winter steelhead, and coho.

They also care for sturgeon, including their most famous resident, Herman, the 90-year-old, 500-pound sturgeon

At the sturgeon viewing area

A mid-sized sturgeon

Sturgeon are bottom-feeders, eating only dead fish from the river bed

Herman finally made an appearance - he was huge

Not bad for a 90-year-old

They had a rainbow trout pond outside

They had several protected ponds where juvenile fish were jumping

A bronze fountain sculpture depicting leaping fish, sometimes referred to as the "Jumping Fish Water Fountain" - you could drink from the four spouts on the corners

A salmon sculpture

This guy wanted to see my photos and video of Herman the Sturgeon

You can see from his expression that I impressed him

With that, we ended our tour and rode through driving rain back to the ship.

We headed down for a happy hour drink and then met Ann and Dave in the Restaurant for dinner. Tonight's dinner was quite a disappointment. The server seemed to be struggling tonight. Dave was given the wrong entree, Ann and Dave both had to ask multiple times for drink refills, Arlona never got her appetizer, we had to ask twice for another glass of wine, my steak was barely room temperature, she missed bringing two of us dessert, and so on. We did talk to the general manager, not to get the server in trouble, but so he could do a little coaching. We're hoping that leads to a better experience for others over the next few days.

Tonight's entertainment was a magician/mentalist. He was doing some table magic at happy hour and during dinner. We opted to watch his performance on the TV. He was entertaining, and there seemed to be a lot of laughter coming from the audience.

Tomorrow is a full day of cruising on the Columbia, including passing through multiple locks..