Seattle cruising for ships

SEATTLE – It’s not the most glamorous introduction to Seattle for passengers stepping off the Star Princess cruise ship at Terminal 30.

Instead of souvenir shops surrounding a quaint dock, visitors are greeted with enormous cranes, barges stacked high with containers and the sights and sounds of an industrial zone. The converted container terminal offers little in tourist comforts beyond the red, white and blue building that the Port of Seattle had built as part of a $16.5 million renovation to prepare the area for cruise ship passengers.

“My heart goes out to passengers who end up at Terminal 30 and land in an industrial neighborhood,” joked Benjamin Nicholls, program manager of the Pioneer Square Community Association, a business and neighborhood group. “They look for Pike Place Market and they get container yards.”

But the setting, rough as it is, doubles as something else: the starting point of an aggressive bid to secure a portion of the booming business of cruising to Alaska. Even in its fledgling stage, the cruise industry is lining up its share of backers and critics who worry the industry will pollute the waters off Seattle.

“Cruise ships have a tremendous credibility gap in the eyes of the public,” said Fred Felleman, Northwest director of Seattle-based Ocean Advocates, referring to several incidents in recent years in which cruise ships have dumped sewage, toxic chemicals and other substances – at times falsifying records to cover up illegal dumping. Until there’s change on the federal level, “the states have to protect their own interests … to make sure that our waters are not used as dumping grounds.”

The growth has been fast. In 1999, the Port of Seattle played host only six times to cruise ships, carrying a total of 6,615 people, said Port of Seattle spokesman Mick Shultz. This year, the port expects cruise ships to visit 100 times over the summer, bringing nearly 400,000 people to Seattle.

It’s big money. According to Princess Cruises, which runs the Star Princess out of Terminal 30, the ship pumps about $550,000 into the Seattle economy, including purchases by passengers and crew, terminal fees, security and other expenses, each time it docks.

Collectively, the port estimates the industry will bring $70 million in revenue this season to businesses providing fuel, groceries, flowers and other services for the ships and to hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops catering to the cruise passengers.

The industry also generates about $4.5 million a year in state and local taxes, the port said.

Historically, most seven-day cruises to Alaska have left out of Vancouver, B.C., and that region remains the dominant hub for Alaska routes, although its sailings this year are expected to decline for the first time in 20 years.

But a combination of faster ships, logistical pressures and an initial $38 million investment in a cruise ship terminal – part of a larger Pier 66 project – helped Seattle curry cruise companies’ interest.

It started with Norwegian Cruise Line, which made Seattle the home port for its new Norwegian Sky in 2000. Although the company has a ship operating out of Vancouver, it seemed to make more sense to try it from Seattle, said Andy Stuart, Norwegian Cruise Line senior vice president of marketing and sales.

Many passengers arrive in Seattle but are bused a few hours north to Vancouver before boarding the ship. Leaving from Seattle would drastically reduce the bus ride, costs and eliminate the Canadian border crossing.

With its new, faster ship, the company was able to offer a trip that left Seattle, went up to Alaska, hit Canada to meet federal requirements regarding foreign stops between U.S. ports ,and return to Seattle within seven days.

Initially, he said, “there was all sorts of criticism from the industry that this would never work.”Now, he sees Princess Cruises and Holland-America following suit.

Princess, which operates the Star Princess out of Terminal 30, is already looking ahead to next year when it will run two ships from Seattle to Alaska, said Tom Dow, a vice president with Princess Cruises.