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Homeport: Seattle |
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Written On: May/June 2006 |
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Written By: by Paul Schlienz |
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Seattle's cruise ship industry is a major presence on the city's famous waterfront. It also has tremendous impact on the Puget Sound region's economy.
The statistics speak for themselves. In 2004:
• Washington was 6th in the nation for cruise-industry expenditures, accounting for $562 million in direct spending.
• With five cruise lines — Holland America, Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean — operating out of Seattle, the cruise industry generated 14,312 jobs and wages totaling $589 million in income for Washington workers.
• Cruise ship passenger embarkation from Seattle is growing rapidly, increasing by 18.6 percent over the previous year to 285,000.
• Seventy-three percent of all cruise ship passengers spend an average of 1.6 nights at an average rate of $63 per night per person in Seattle area hotels.
• On an average, each passenger spends $24 on restaurants, $26 on retail purchases, $34 on local transportation and rental cars, and $30 on entertainment and landside tours.
• Seventy-four percent of the cruise passengers arrive via airline from other parts of the United States, while the remainder are within driving distance of Seattle’s docks.
• On an average, each crew member (There are 1,000 to 2,000 crew members on each cruise ship.) spends $120 per vessel call in Seattle, primarily on restaurants and retail purchases.
• Other businesses in Washington that have benefited from direct expenditures related to the cruise industry include air transportation, travel agencies, food processors, ship repair companies, advertising and marketing agencies, legal services, engineering and design companies, and insurance carriers.
"We think the cruise industry is a great addition to Seattle's economy," the Port of Seattle's Mick Shultz commented. "It helps create work for employees of restaurants, hotels, taxi and bus companies, not to mention longshore workers and other people with well-paying jobs in the maritime industry. The cruise industry really helps bolster and strengthen the impact of the maritime economy on the Puget Sound region."
Alaska Beckons
Seattle has risen to such prominence as a cruise shipping homeport thanks to its close proximity to Alaska. Following the same route as the ships that ferried prospectors and provisions during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, which began Washington’s long and profitable relationship with Alaska, the cruise lines sail through the spectacularly beautiful Inside Passage through British Columbia and southeastern Alaska.
Once in Alaskan waters, passengers are treated to a marvelous array of ports of call, including Sitka, the old capital of Russian Alaska; Juneau, the modern capital of Alaska, surrounded by spectacular mountains and glaciers; Skagway, the well preserved Klondike Gold Rush town where train and bus excursions into Canada are easily accessible; and Glacier Bay National Park, where enormous rivers of glacial ice, dwarfing even the largest cruise ships, meet the sea.
Some cruise ships go far beyond southeast Alaska to Whittier or Seward on southcentral Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, where passengers may access the great Alaskan interior by transferring to the Alaska Railroad.
With such scenic riches at its doorstep, it is surprising to discover that Seattle has only recently become the major center for cruise shipping that it is today. Indeed, only a few years ago, the Northwest's premier port of embarkation for Alaska cruises was Vancouver, British Columbia.
Cruise ships to Alaska did not begin their journeys in Seattle due to an arcane federal law known as the Passenger Services Act. Enacted in 1886, this statute prohibits foreign vessels from directly transporting passengers between U.S. ports. A penalty of $200 is levied on the owners of the ship for each passenger that is transported and landed under these circumstances.
Because the cruise lines all use foreign flagged ships, the Passenger Services Act stood as a barrier to Seattle to Alaska cruise shipping even though Alaska had been growing in popularity as a cruise destination since the 1970s.
A New Era
A new era began in 1999 when the Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Sky made its maiden voyage. Significantly, the Norwegian Sky, an 853 foot long 2,002 passenger vessel, which traveled at 23 knots and was said to be the world's fastest cruise ship, was able to make the long haul from Seattle to Skagway within seven days, including a mandatory stop in Vancouver. Finally, Seattle to Alaska cruises were feasible.
The Port of Seattle welcomed cruise lines with open arms. In 2000, the port opened the Bell Street Cruise Terminal at Pier 66 on Seattle's central waterfront. By 2003, Seattle had grown so rapidly as a point of embarkation for Alaska cruises that more capacity to handle the luxury cruise liners was necessary. That same year the port completed a $16 million two-berth facility for cruise ships at Pier 30, just south of downtown.
Seattle's cruise industry appears likely to continue its growth. In general, the travel industry has largely recovered since the shock it took from the September 11 attacks in 2001.
One possible cloud on the horizon is related to both the Passenger Services Act and September 11’s aftermath. Because the Passenger Services Act requires Alaska bound foreign flagged cruise ships to stop in Canada (Vancouver and Prince Rupert, British Columbia, are the usual ports of call.), all passengers will be required to carry passports after December 31, 2007, due to Congress' passage of Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which was inspired by recommendations from the 9/11 Commission.
Exactly how the end of passport free travel between the United States and Canada will impact the Seattle to Alaska cruise industry is unclear. Currently, only one-third of all U.S. citizens have passports. At a minimum of $97 per adult, a U.S. passport can add substantial expenses to a trip, particularly if multiple passports are purchased for an entire family.
Echoing questions raised by the International Council of Cruise Lines, Shultz remarked that, "There's some concern that the new passport requirement may dampen tourism. It lessens the mobility of people and their wallets."
In contrast, Holland America is publicly supportive of the new policy, and is already urging its passengers to carry passports even though the new requirement will not be in place until the end of 2007.
"Holland America Line's highest priority is the safety and security of our passengers and crew, and we clearly understand that the government has a legitimate need to enhance the security at the borders," Chris Geickel, of Holland America, said. "Requiring a standardized identification document in the form of a passport is an important aspect of that effort, and it simplifies the process of border crossings to have a single recognized document in place."
Clearly, the jury is still out on the new passport policy and its affect on the cruise industry.
What is certain, however, is that Seattle's newfound prominence as a center of the cruise industry is a goose that's continually laying golden eggs for the entire region’s economy. In spite of a history of governmental interference that retarded its natural potential as a point of embarkation for Alaskan cruises, Seattle has overcome every obstacle in its way and greatly benefited from a truly desirable industry that sprang up almost overnight.
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