The first large cruise ship of the season arrived in Sitka on Wednesday (7-21-21), the first port call in the community by a big ship since September of 2019.

The arrival of the Serenade of the Seas coincided with a major coronavirus outbreak in Sitka, but that didn’t seem to affect the number of passengers visiting town — all of whom were vaccinated, except for children.   There simply weren’t that many of them.

It’s mid-afternoon, at the Back Door Cafe just down the street from the Cable House. This is the urban center, the heartbeat of Sitka, and you can barely feel a pulse. The chairs are on the tables and two or three folks are getting coffee to go. 

There’s a couple of shoppers in the bookstore, one in the Artists Cooperative. The day is breezy and gray — not bad for Southeast Alaska actually. Maybe the action is a couple of blocks away at centennial hall, where cruise passengers catch their shuttles to the dock.

KCAW – I’m walking around Sitka at about 2 p.m. on the 21st of July, the first day of the cruise season in Sitka. Royal Carribean’s Serenade of the Seas is in and Sitka is very quiet. Two hours until folks have to reboard the bus here at Harrigan Centennial Hall, and just a few scattered people here and there, walking around town. All in all much more quiet than I expected. Here are some folks who have some fish & chips. Let’s see what they have to say.

McDaniels – Pam and Patrick McDaniels from Layton, Utah.

KCAW – How’s your cruise going?

McDaniels – It’s awesome. A lot of precautions, which is good.

KCAW – Everybody’s vaccinated on the boat?

McDaniels – Except for children who are not old enough to be vaccinated. But everyone else is required, and they make us wear a white wristband to verify that we’ve been vaccinated.

The McDaniels are enjoying the low density on the Serenade of the Seas. The ship has a capacity of 2,476 passengers, but this inaugural cruise has one-quarter of that load, with just 632 guests and 804 crew. (This is by design — Royal Carribean’s start up plan — according to Fred Reeder, the Sitka port director for the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska.)

So the McDaniels feel safe on the ship — but what about in Sitka? The community is experiencing the biggest coronavirus surge of the pandemic, with over 200 active cases. 

 “We’ve heard that. So is every place. So is Utah where we’re at,” said Pam McDaniels. “There were 800 new cases in Salt Lake, just in the last 24 hours.”

The arrival of the Serenade of the Seas is the first of around two dozen cruise ship calls scheduled for Sitka between now and the end of September, although many late season ships cancel when the weather worsens on the outer coast. It did not take the non-existent 2020 cruise season to refocus the strategies of Sitka’s downtown merchants. 

Across from Harrigan Centennial Hall, in prime cruise passenger turf, Shirley Robards is staffing the desk at Stereo North. She says she hasn’t seen much traffic today, but that’s not really her market anymore.

“We were not dependent on cruise passengers,” said Robards. “We used to be, but that was before Amazon. When Amazon came in it kind of took off. And Tuffy (Shirley’s son) thought about it and thought about it, and said I think we’re going to do furniture.”

And just because she’s not tethered to the cruise trade doesn’t mean that Robards doesn’t care. She’s an advocate — at the highest levels — for a visitor industry rebound that benefits everyone.

“I think it’s going to work out, I really do,” she said. “I really believe in God and I think that the people of Sitka just have to hang on and do what you can do and hope for the best.”

The Serenade of the Seas is scheduled to call again in Sitka on Wednesday, July 28. Holland America’s  Nieuw Amsterdam is scheduled at the same time, giving Sitka it’s first two-ship day of short — and quiet — 2021 season.

The news that a bill allowing cruise ships to sail to Alaska later this summer is both a welcome surprise and unexpected challenge for the people who run Sitka’s port.

The problem? The number of ships and the number of passengers coming in July remain big question marks, and the summer season is already under way.

It was only just a short while ago — May 4 — that Sen. Dan Sullivan was in Sitka bearing bad news: The Alaska Tourism Restoration Act had failed to win unanimous consent in the United States Senate, and there was no telling when it might return for another vote.

Giving a break to foreign-flagged cruise companies has never been an especially popular idea in Washington DC.

“I think your point about not having a lot of friends is a pretty good description of what goes on in Congress,” Sullivan said in an interview with Sitka media during his visit.

What may have changed in the meantime is that Sullivan, his senate colleague Lisa Murkowski, and Congressman Don Young somehow succeeded in making this a bill more about helping Alaskans, rather than helping cruise lines, and it won passage. Once Pres. Biden puts his pen to it, the ships will be able to sail directly between Seattle and Alaska, without an interim stop in Canada to comply with the 135-year old Passenger Vessel Services Act.

(Update 5-24-21: President Biden signed the bill on Monday, May 24, 2021.)

The question is, now what?

“Until I see the bow of the ship, I don’t know,” said Fred Reeder.

Fred Reeder is the Sitka port manager for the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy on May 21 issued a news release announcing the return of Princess (July 25-Sep 26), Carnival (July 27-Sep 14), and Holland America (July 24-Oct 2) cruise lines to the Alaska market beginning near the end of July.

Although Reeder may be just a little bit skeptical that the cruise lines will be able to sell berths and staff their huge ships in less than two month’s time, he doesn’t see any reason not to share Gov. Dunleavy’s outlook.

“I guess I’m as optimistic as the governor,” said Reeder. “If he says we’re going to have cruise ships, it gives me some hope that we might have some.”

Reeder’s staff for the summer is already in place: In Sitka it’s himself and one other person in the office, and two security guards. This is how many he needs to manage the smaller ships calling in Sitka, those with fewer than 200 passengers which were never affected by Canada’s port closures. In a non-pandemic year, he might have 2-3 times that number, to transport crew members boarding or leaving ships in Sitka. But he doesn’t see the need this year.

“I think once they get their crew on board and they’ve all been tested, I would assume that they’re not going to do a lot of switching of crew around.”

Reeder’s flexibility isn’t shared by the Sitka Cruise Terminal, Sitka’s privately-owned cruise ship dock. Owner Chris McGraw launched a major expansion of his facility a couple of years ago, but slowed work down when 2021 looked like it was going to be another summer without ships.

The passage of the bill has caused him to step up the pace.

“We’re not quite done yet, but now we’re going to make sure and put the manpower on it and have everything wrapped up here in the next few weeks,” said McGraw.

McGraw says that cruise lines began booking passengers shortly after the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act passed both houses of Congress, and that he’s confident Sitka will see ships this summer. What he’s not so confident about, is what those passengers will see when they land at his terminal. The mall-like structure will be done, but all the vendors and attractions won’t be there yet.

“As far as our development complex out here, a lot of the spaces won’t be finished on the inside,” said McGraw. “The restaurant won’t be open, so passengers will see an empty space. And they’ll realize that it’s probably because of (delays due to) covid.”

McGraw says industry officials have been unable to tell him how many guests they’ll be bringing to his port. Nevertheless, he’ll be trying to increase his staff to accommodate them — a hiring process that normally takes place in the winter.

Despite the challenges, shore agent Fred Reeder is upbeat that cruise ships appear likely to make a comeback in Sitka this summer. It’s a sign that “we’re getting through all this,” and he likens it to the feeling of getting vaccinated: “A burden was lifted that I didn’t know I had.”

And, as a former mayor and school board president, Reeder is excited to share his town.

“Seeing visitor, people enjoying what we see every day is a good thing,” he said.

Sitka’s industrial park may see its first cruise ship calls in 2021, if the season pans out as planned.

Park board members recently reviewed a request for moorage of a 300-foot ship at least seven times next summer.

The new floating dock at Sitka’s Gary Paxton Industrial Park isn’t really set up for mooring a cruise ship — even a small one — but it was designed to accommodate bigger vessels if needed.

It was put into service in 2018 with fishing vessels and tenders in mind — up to 150-feet in length.

Park director Garry White said the dock can be upgraded without much effort.

“It can accommodate a 300-foot vessel depending on its deadweight tons,” he said, “but so far with the preliminary numbers it looks like it will work, and it will require a different fendering system.”

Designs for the dock always included an overlay of a massive cruise ship tied to it, with several extra mooring dolphins extending to either side. But those dolphins conflicted with other uses in the park, and were never built. And the idea of mooring a ship in the park has always been a hot-button issue.

A board member asked White to clarify if tying up a cruise ship was even allowed under city code.

“A private entity can’t come in and build a new dock that accommodates vessels over 300 feet,” White explained. “But the city could build a dock that accommodates vessels over 300 feet. Silver Bay, for instance, couldn’t do that, or we couldn’t sell property to Company XYZ to do that, without going back and getting a vote of the people on that, or however the assembly wanted to handle that.”

Note: The City of Sitka has also zoned the industrial park to exclude several classes of retailers which cater to cruise passengers.

The ship in question is the brand new Ocean Victory, operated by Victory Cruise Lines, a subsidiary of the American Queen Steamship Company.

Fred Reeder, Sitka port manager for Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska, says the Ocean Victory will do a “turn” in Sitka — that is, exchange one load of passengers for another.

“The nice thing about the turning of a vessel is just all the other things that happen,” he said. “Provisions get loaded, and maybe they buy fuel — there’s just all that other stuff — and that’s where turning a ship you make more money than if it’s just a port of call.”

The Ocean Victory would arrive at 6 A.M. Reeder says, and unload its 165 passengers. (Note: According to the company website, the Ocean Victory can accommodate 200 passengers and 100 crew.) He says the company is working on a plan that would have them visit attractions in Sitka such as the Fortress of the Bear and the Alaska Raptor Rehabilitation Center, before being dropped off at the airport. Meanwhile, the next load of passengers arrived by air the previous evening, and is delivered to ship by around 5 P.M.

Reeder says this is turning into a good niche for Sitka, since he believes we’ll never have the capacity for the million-plus passengers seen in places like Ketchikan and Juneau.

“That niche, that small, adventure-based ship — UnCruise, Lindblad with National Geographic — that segment of the market is strong,” said Reeder. “They’re looking for places. That dock that the city built out there, it’s not going to take a big ship.”

Reeder is optimistic that the small-ship cruise lines are making the adjustments needed to safely cruise next year, once the CDC no-sail order is lifted. (Note: The CDC’s No Sail Order for Cruise Ships was lifted on October 30, 2020; a Conditional No Sail Order remains in effect until November, 2021, unless otherwise rescinded.) And he doesn’t think seven port calls in a summer will create conflict with industrial uses at the dock.

In addition to modifying the fender system to accommodate a large passenger vessel, park director Garry White said the board will have to develop a port security plan for passenger traffic at the dock, and a fee schedule.

The 5,000 passenger Ovation of the Seas, in the Port of Rotterdam. CLAA’s Fred Reeder argues that being able to dock a Quantum-class ship like the Ovation (the second-largest class of cruise ships afloat) could bring an additional 100,000 passengers to Sitka each year, and an additional $600,000 in local sales taxes. (Flickr photo/Frans Berkelaar)

After hitting a low ebb four years ago, Sitka’s cruise ship industry is bouncing back.

Fred Reeder, with Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska, told the Sitka Chamber of Commerce (5-9-18) that the outlook for large-ship cruising — around the world — was improving. He was concerned that Sitka was not ready to capitalize on the uptick.

Downloadable audio.

The economic recession which began in 2008 was clearly reflected in the decline in Sitka’s cruise ship passenger numbers.

That year, according to data presented to the chamber by Fred Reeder, Sitka hit an all-time high of almost 290,000 passengers — over one-quarter of the million or more who cruise to Alaska every summer.

By 2014, however, passenger traffic was down to only 90,000. To many that may sound like a lot, but not in an industry that depends on volume to support a range of shore-based businesses.

“You get down to 90,000 and no tour operator can survive. The fact that some did survive is a testament to their fortitude.”

Reeder said that Sitka had 170,000 cruise passengers last year, will have 160,000 passengers this year, and 225,000 passengers next year. The swings are not due to economic trends, but to the repositioning of some ships, and the replacement of others.

Worldwide, over 27 million people will cruise this year. And they’ll be cruising on ever larger ships. Where they sail almost doesn’t matter. Cruising is changing.

“Here’s the Norwegian Bliss. I thought you might like this one. It’s 18 decks high, and it’s got a go-cart track on the back. You can rent the cars for $20 — or whatever. I’m not sure. And then you can see the water slides. The ships are becoming, in part, the destination. They also, with bigger ships, the infrastructure in the ports has got to change. Because the ships are not going to get smaller.”

Reeder said that Alaska would benefit from regional planning to ensure optimum itineraries for some of these newer ships. The typical cruise involves three ports of call — possibly a fourth, if they can. But you can’t park a 5,000-passenger ship just anywhere.

“Some ports have limited infrastructure and are unable to accommodate larger vessels. That would be like Sitka. We can take larger vessels — but only one at a time at a dock. The rest have to anchor. Well, if you’ve got 5,000 people on board you are not tendering. Not going to happen. It was one thing when the ships were at 1,200 passengers, they could do that. They get up there at 2,000 – 2,500 — why bother? People are going to be stacked up in the stairways for hours waiting to get off. It just doesn’t work. We need as a community to come to that realization: Tendering doesn’t work anymore, not if you want this industry.”

Reeder, who has formerly served as mayor and school board president, was clearly frustrated that Sitka never mustered the political will to build a public cruise dock downtown. But he couldn’t be happier with the success of the private dock built by the McGraw’s at Old Sitka.

Reeder explained how it’s changed his work as shore agent, when the Star Legend arrives for the first time on May 24.

“Because we have a dock now finally, we’ll be loading two 40-foot containers of frozen and produce on board that vessel, right here in Sitka. They’re being shipped in on AML, and they’ll spot the vans down on the dock in the morning. We’ve got a crew to load the ship. Those are jobs. That’s how you grow this economy.”

Reeder argued that increasing Sitka’s cruise ship capacity would create more of these types of jobs, generate substantial tax revenue, and “change the paradigm that Sitka has been stuck in for the last 20 years.”

With a 24-hour storm warming, the Eurodam has canceled its port of call to Sitka. The vessel, with a passenger count of 2104, is scheduled to dock in Sitka every Wednesday. (Holland America)

Sitka’s first cruise ship of the season canceled its port of call due to bad weather.

With over 2000 passengers aboard, the Eurodam was scheduled to tie up at the Old Sitka Dock from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, as it will every Wednesday this summer. But with a storm on the horizon, the Holland America ship will proceed directly from Skagway to Ketchikan.

Sitka’s port director Fred Reeder, said a May cancellation is rare. The storm is expected to last 24 hours. “Cape Fairweather down to Cape Ommaney, [the forecast says] maybe 70 knot winds and seas to 22 feet. Tonight and tomorrow. And then lessening Thursday, down to 15 knots and seas to 14 feet,” Reeder said.

The first cruise ship of the season will now be the Oosterdam, which arrives 8 a.m. on Thursday.

The industry estimates 160,000 cruise ship passengers will visit this summer, a volume Sitka hasn’t seen in years. In 2012, the passenger count was half that. Reeder attributes it to the construction of a deep water dock, able to accommodate bigger ships, and the health of the global cruise industry.

“Alaska is still a good destination. It’s a safe destination in people’s minds. And cruise ships have built a few more ships and they like coming to Alaska,” Reeder said.

The cancellation buys some time for local retailers and tour guides to prepare for the summer season. Between big companies – like Royal Caribbean and Celebrity – and small operations like Allen Marine and Un-Cruise Adventures, 200 ships are expected to visit Sitka between now and September 30th.

(KCAW photo)

The majority of cruise ships making stops in Sitka this summer will be docking out the road.

Holland America Line has agreed to tie all its ships up at the Old Sitka Dock, meaning 45 ships will be bringing tourists directly to shore. This is a big change from years past, where Holland America ferried their passengers to town via tender boat.

The news of the big cruise line tying up in town was music to the ears of Fred Reeder, the port director of Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska in Sitka.

“Oh, I am ecstatic,” he said. “Doing 20 years of riding tenders, I mean we’re talking in the tens of thousands of tender boats I’ve ridden, I’m happy not to get on another tender.”

He says that passengers on ships that dock in town seem to stay on land longer.

“I know the restaurant owners certainly noticed a difference when the ships are out there the people seem to stay in town during lunch rather than take the tender boat back out to have lunch on board so I suspect at the end of the summer the restaurant owners in town will be happy,” he said.

Chris McGraw is the manager of Halibut Point Marine Services, which owns the dock. This summer, Sitka will also see 17 more boats than last year and expects a total passenger count of nearly 120,000. McGraw says more ships mean more money for the city in increased sales tax revenue.

“It’s great for Sitka and we’re continuing to push for new ships,” he said. “I make a lot of sales calls each year to try and increase our cruise ships numbers which will benefit both our dock and our community.”

McGraw has been working for years to get boats to dock at his multi-million dollar cruise port, which is five miles from town on Halibut Point Road.

His dock has been in operation for four years. In its first year, he says, only one ship agreed to dock. But in recent years, he’s had better success negotiating with with companies to use his in-town cruise port. McGraw contracts with Alaska Coach Tours to drive passengers to Sitka’s downtown . This summer, passengers will be dropped off in the parking lot outside the Harrigan Centennial Hall, which is still under construction.

The first cruise ship of the season makes a call in Sitka on May 9th. A total of 119 cruise ships will be coming here this year, not including vessels from Allen Marine, Reeder says.

An architect’s rendering of the renovated Harrigan Centennial Hall (Courtesy of McCool Carlson Green)

The Sitka Assembly on Tuesday night (4-23-14) unanimously approved the latest design for the renovation of Harrigan Centennial Hall.

The assembly had two options. They could approve a more “basic” renovation, including a new roof, new plumbing and electricity, new bathrooms and a new kitchen. Or they could endorse the architects’ full plan, which includes a new space for the Sitka Historical Museum, larger meeting rooms, and a more ambitious overhaul of the building’s exterior, including new landscaping on the hall’s south side.

At a work session before the assembly’s regular meeting, the building design committee, made up of Sitka residents, joined city staff in unanimously supporting the more ambitious plan.

Committee member Fred Reeder called Centennial Hall the “crown jewel” of Sitka.

“Every Sitkan either gets married here or dies here,” Reeder said, to laughter. “Or does something in this building.”

The city estimates that the full expansion would cost about $16-million, which would come from a combination of outside grants and the commercial passenger excise tax, also known as the cruise ship “head tax.”  The city already has over $10-million on hand, and the Alaska House and Senate have both included over $3-million for the project in their proposed capital budgets. The final budget, however, has been held up in last-minute legislative wrangling.

City Finance Director Jay Sweeney said that it’s in the city’s interest to make this project happen, whether or not the state funds materialize.

“If there is one single project that I would step forward as finance director and say that we had to do, and do right, and do the best we could, it would be the centennial building,” he said. “It’s the one place everybody steps foot in.”

Sweeney said that if necessary, the city can borrow from itself – essentially taking money from an existing fund and paying it back over time with future head tax dollars.

“And if it winds up that CPET funds for some unknown reason, are found to be objectionable to be used in this way, then I’ll find you a different way to pay for it,” Sweeney said. “I’m confident that there are multiple avenues to get this funded and it’s the right thing to do.”

In the end, the assembly voted 7-0 to approve the full expansion.