CruiseNews Article: American Encore Begins Panama Canal Delivery Voyage to Columbia River
American Cruise Lines’ newest riverboat, American Encore, officially launched its inaugural season today — May 5, 2026 — departing Portland, Oregon on an eight-night Columbia and Snake Rivers cruise bound for Clarkston, Washington. The 180-passenger vessel is the seventh in American Cruise Lines’ modern riverboat series and the most spacious per passenger of any riverboat operating anywhere in the world. Its sold-out inaugural season will run through mid-November, with itineraries ranging from nine to sixteen days and including National Parks cruises featuring guided excursions to Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Teton National Parks.
Built at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Maryland, American Encore made the journey to the Pacific Northwest the hard way — under its own power, helmed by Captain Andrew Gillilan, cruising down the Eastern Seaboard, through the Caribbean Sea, transiting the Panama Canal at the end of March, and traveling north along the Pacific Coast before entering the Columbia River at Astoria. The delivery voyage, monitored daily by American’s shoreside fleet operations center in Connecticut, underscored the logistical complexity — and ambition — behind bringing a purpose-built American river vessel from the mid-Atlantic coast to one of the country’s most scenic inland waterway systems. The ship features 94 outside staterooms, all with private step-out balconies, a multi-story glass atrium, restaurant and café, main lounge, chart room, fitness center, and elevator access to all decks. Its flagship Signature Suite, spanning more than 1,000 square feet with a wrap-around balcony, is the largest accommodation in the American Cruise Lines fleet.
American Encore is the eighth vessel American Cruise Lines now operates on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, joining a fleet that has expanded steadily since the company introduced its first modern riverboat on the system in 2018. Sister ships American Anthem and American Grace are slated to join the Pacific Northwest fleet in 2027 and 2028. The Columbia and Snake Rivers corridor — stretching from the Pacific Ocean at Astoria through the Columbia Gorge, Walla Walla wine country, and into the Snake River canyon at Hells Canyon — has become one of the most in-demand river cruise routes in North America, driving tourism revenue to small ports and communities along the river from Astoria and Kalama to The Dalles, Richland, and Clarkston.
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Original Article from CruiseNews | Written by CruiseNews Staff
