Northwest riverboat cruises on tap

MEMPHIS, Tenn. » The company that resumed riverboat cruises on the Mississippi River a year ago plans to offer seven-night trips starting next year on the Columbia and Snake rivers in Oregon and Washington.

It will be the first time the cruises have been offered since 2008, when the previous operator, Majestic America, ceased operations.

The new operator, the American Queen Steamboat Co., purchased the same boat that previously sailed the rivers, the Empress of the North. The boat, built in 2002, will be renamed the American Empress. At 360 feet in length, with five decks and a capacity of 223 passengers, it will be the largest riverboat in service west of the Mississippi.

The American Empress will home-port in Portland, Ore., and will sail to Clarkston, Wash., with stops in Astoria, Ore.; Stevenson, Wash.; The Dalles, Ore.; Umatilla, Ore.; and Richland, Wash.

Trips will begin in April.

Universal Orlando ticket prices rise

ORLANDO, Fla. » Universal Orlando has raised the price of a one-day, single-park ticket to $92. The price increase, up from $89, went into effect last week. Single-day admission for both Universal parks — Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure — went to $128 from $124. Similar increases were applied to multiday passes.

Universal Orlando has a new ride based on the "Transformers" toy and film franchise set to open next month, and is expanding its Wizarding World of Harry Potter next year with a new area based on the books’ fictional scenes in Diagon Alley and London.

Mount Charleston gets upgrades

LAS VEGAS » Forest officials are marking completion of a 10-month project that expanded and renovated a popular picnic area and trail head high on Mount Charleston, about 30 miles northwest of downtown Las Vegas.

U.S. Forest Service spokes­woman Christie Kalkowski said the Cathedral Rock Picnic Area has reopened at the end of Kyle Canyon Road. Kalkowski says the $8 million project installed more than 80 individual and group picnic spots, a water system, toilet facilities and interpretive signs featuring the Civilian Conservation Corps.

She says workers also removed more than 1,000 cords of wood and undergrowth from the piney and scenic mountain site. It is about 7,600 feet above sea level.

Mount Charleston is part of the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.