Monday, May 4, 2015

Ketchikan's cruise season launched for 2015

The Ruby Princess launches the
Ketchikan AK cruise season on Friday
Photo from KRBD website
The photo to the left from the KRBD public radio website might bring back some fond memories for those that remember the excitement of Cruise Days in Prince Rupert from seasons past.

This week, our neighbours to the north launched the 2015 cruise season with the first large cruise ship to make the debut port call for this year, as the Ruby Princess loomed large over the Ketchikan docks on Friday, depositing some 3,000 passengers and 1,200 crew members onto the streets of Alaska's First City out to explore and spend some money in local restaurants and shops.

Prince Rupert's Northland Cruise
Terminal will see its first vessel
On Sunday May 31st
The item from the KRBD website highlights the impressions of the visitors to Ketchikan and the impact that the cruise industry has on the local economy.

Friday's visit by the Ruby Princess is the first of the twenty port calls that vessel alone will make on Ketchikan this year.

By comparison Prince Rupert's Cruise Terminal will be in use seven times this season, the vessels for the most part significantly smaller and carrying significantly fewer passengers than those tying up a few hours to the north.

Prince Rupert's season won't get underway until May 31st when the Seven Seas Navigator arrives at the Northland Terminal, bringing 490 visitors to the community.

The largest vessel of the year will be the MS Regatta which makes two port calls one in June the other in July, the Regatta carries 684 passengers on its tour of the West Coast of North America.



As we outlined in February the Cruise Industry in British Columbia launched a major advertising push earlier this year,  including segments that feature Prince Rupert as a destination, part of the industry's larger information campaign for the year.

However, the process of rebuilding Prince Rupert's Cruise industry would seem for the moment to be very much a long term project, with the scope of Ketchikan style visits still quite a way off to the future.

You can review more of our past items related to the Cruise Industry on the North Coast from our archive page here.

No comments:

Post a Comment