Demand for Alaska cruises and Seattle stays robust, so the port expects one other strong 12 months in 2023. While barely fewer ships will sail this 12 months, in comparison with final 12 months, ship occupancy is anticipated to be up, with forecasts calling for 1.3 million passengers.
The preliminary 2023 cruise schedule begins with the Norwegian Bliss crusing on April 14 and ends with the Norwegian Sun on October 30.
Seattle posted a file 12 months in 2022 with passenger numbers up 6 p.c over 2019 at 1.28 million.
“We saw a significant increase in ship calls,” mentioned Linda Springmann, director of cruise and maritime advertising and marketing for the Port of Seattle. “We had some weekday capability and the cruise traces labored to fill that in. Also, we benefited from world delivery not being open so a few of the ships that might have gone to Asia and Australia got here to Alaska as a substitute. Alaska is a powerful, worthwhile market.
“Seattle also benefits from being a drive-to market in addition to having good domestic, North American airlift.”
With two cruise terminals, Smith Cove at Pier 91, and Bell Street at Pier 66, Holland America and Princess have the weekend departures at Smith Cove, and Norwegian sails solely from Bell Street, the place sister firm Oceania has weekday departures.
Carnival, Celebrity and Royal Caribbean sail weekdays from Smith Cove.
“Royal Caribbean and Celebrity, for example, depart on Mondays and Fridays, and I am a strong believer that it is a shame to fly into Seattle on a Saturday and sail the same day and then fly out the following Saturday. I think Mondays and Fridays are great branding messages for the lines that have weekday departures because it gives their passengers a chance to spend the weekend exploring Seattle,” Springmann famous.
“We had 14 homeported ships last year, when Norwegian and Carnival brought in extra ships. Although we will have one less ship this year, we are expecting 228 calls.”
If the cruise traces wish to deliver extra ships to Seattle, she is going to discover house. “We definitely have space. I think they first need to go to Alaska and build an itinerary and then come back and see what day of the week they want to turn. They would want an itinerary that is going to give them the best availability in Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway.”
While Seattle had been planning one other terminal, that has been placed on indefinite maintain in the interim, Springmann mentioned. Meanwhile, infrastructure enhancements name for having shore energy put in at Pier 66 for the 2024 season.
“We are additionally closely concerned within the Green Corridor mission, exploring the feasibility of a decarbonated route from Seattle to Vancouver to Alaska. That is an ongoing dialog with the cruise traces and business companions.
“Our port’s goal is to be 50 percent decarbonized by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050. We may not have the answers yet, but we definitely want to be a test bed for biodiesel, for example, and engaged in various fuel testing to see what the right answers will be. The cruise lines are a seasonal business for us, so they alone are not going to help us reach these targets. We have to work with everybody and make sure we can make it economically viable,” Springmann mentioned.
Excerpt from Cruise Industry News Quarterly Magazine: Winter 2022-2023