Day 2 – 7/9/25 (Wednesday) Camas

 After breakfast at the hotel, we (180 passengers) were organized into 4 groups for ship embarkation. Each group had a separate bus and buses left in 15 minutes increments. Our luggage was picked up earlier and taken to the ship separately and was supposed to be in our cabin when we arrived.  The bus ride to the ship was about 20 minutes. Upon arrival, our nametags were scanned and we were instructed to go to our cabins. The cabin turned out to be very nice, spacious and bright, with a comfortable bathroom with sink and shower. Each cabin on this ship had a balcony with a little table and two patio chairs. After lunch in the big dining room (no assigned seating, tables are for 4 or 6), there was a short meeting – introduction of the crew and then a safety drill. What’s interesting about the crew (in contrast to other cruises we’ve been on) is that they are all Americans (no detectable immigrants), from all over the United States, almost all young, and many black. In comparison, all the 180 but 4 passengers were white (4 were Oriental and none black or Latino!) and mostly on the older side, some quite old… The cruise line is called American for a reason, it seems.

This was an all-inclusive cruise (meaning that all the food, drinks and tips and most of the excursions were included). It shouldn’t be surprising the that as soon as the bars opened, people started guzzling their drinks. The crowd was happy. We unpacked, settled in, admired the views and sipped our drinks slowly. 

In the afternoon, we had our first lecture about the expedition of Lewis and Clark, which covered the first part of their journey from St. Louis to Fort Mandan. It was very interesting, but not much new information for us. We had done our homework – watched  “Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery” a 4-hour 1997 television documentary about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and were in the process of reading “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose on the same topic.


We decided we were going to have meals with different people each time so it was like a lottery – sometimes a win, sometimes a loss. Lunch was a loss – a rather unpleasant, conservative and very talkative couple from Houston + almost mute couple from Colorado. Dinner was a win – a pleasant chat with a couple from Jacksonville. We had a lot to talk about since we know the Jacksonville area well. Every day, there is an after-dinner entertainment in the lounge on deck 4. Tonight was a country/cowboy singer – not bad. There are many Texans on the ship, and they loved it and sang along. 










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