The city of Eureka announced today that fledgling efforts to bring cruise ships to Humboldt Bay have been successful, with the first such ship arriving Monday, May 21.
According to its press release, the city, in association with the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, formed a partnership with Eureka Main Street, the Eureka Visitor Center and former city council candidate Chet Albin “to strategically recruit cruise ships to Humboldt Bay.”
The team — dubbed the Humboldt Bay Cruise Ship Partnership — has been on the road a lot, visiting Astoria, Oregon, to witness its thriving cruise ship tourism and traveling to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to talk up Humboldt Bay to attendees at an international cruise ship trade show. They also have plans to go to Seattle later this year.
In the meantime, plans are underway to make sure cruise ship patrons have a good experience when they dock in Eureka. Along with guided tours of the redwoods, a walking tour of Old Town is on the itinerary. The small upscale ship that is visiting only accommodates about 120 passengers. Charlotte McDonald, director of Eureka Main Street, has been busy notifying business owners about the potential influx of tourists, sending an email to ask if they can open at 8 a.m. that day.
“It’s a big thing to ask,” she told the Journal. “Many places have finite staff. But I think many of our businesses will take advantage of it.”
McDonald, who is on the partnership committee, says that a community cleanup has been planned and business owners will coordinate with police and community groups to make sure visitors have a pleasant experience.
“We need to make a good impression, not just on passengers,” she said. “We want to encourage more cruise ships to make Humboldt a destination port. We have some things that no other ports have, the uniqueness of our coast and redwoods.”
The press release echoes this, saying: “Because cruise ships rely on recommendations from one another, the best way to recruit additional ships in the coming years is to ensure that the passengers and crew of this year’s ship have a phenomenal experience.”
The release adds that the cruise patrons will be greeted with a dock-side party.
Jennifer Kalt, director of Humboldt Baykeeper, told the Journal that cruise ships can provide some environmental challenges because they are not subject to local or state laws regarding the dumping of wastewater, although more commonly they discharge wastewater in the open ocean. Humboldt County also prohibits the dumping of ballast water in the bay as it may carry invasive invertebrates that can threaten local water health. But Kalt adds that Baykeeper does not have an official position on the marketing strategy of attracting cruise ships to the region, and what — if any — environmental impacts becoming a cruise ship destination might have.
Previous attempts to bring in cruising tourists have been stymied by sediment buildup along our harbor’s narrow mouth, and the city’s press release says that dredging will be “significant on‐going efforts to ensure our Bay is dredged.”
Press release from the city of Eureka:
The Humboldt Bay Harbor District and the City of Eureka have formed a partnership with the Eureka Visitor Center, Eureka Main Street, and community volunteer Chet Albin to strategically recruit cruise ships to Humboldt Bay. The Tourism Committee of the Greater Eureka Area Chamber of Commerce has also recently joined the team. The Humboldt Bay Cruise Ship Partnership (HBCSP) consists of jointly‐staffed teams that focus on: Infrastructure and Logistics, Cruise Ship Coordination and Marketing, Passenger Fulfillment, and Long‐term Strategic Planning. The marketing campaign is well underway, with the tag line “Cruise Humboldt’s Redwood Coast.” Several weeks ago, team members of the partnership
attended an international cruise ship trade show in Fort Lauderdale to promote and market Humboldt Bay and our redwood coast. Later this year, team members will attend another cruise ship industry meeting in Seattle to recruit
additional ships.Earlier this month, members of the team traveled to Astoria, Oregon to witness the arrival of a 2,600 passenger cruise ship and to learn from our neighbor to the north. While Astoria’s population consists of less than 10,000 people, the city
has had remarkable success in attracting cruise ships over the past several years. While very few ships stopped in Astoria 10 years ago, over 20 ships now stop by the port each year. In 2018, twenty‐five ships are scheduled to visit Astoria, with
a collective total of more than 46,000 passengers. While Humboldt Bay’s channel depth and dock capacity does not quite match Astoria’s, 16 of the 25 ships scheduled for Astoria could easily be accommodated in Humboldt Bay, which shows Humboldt Bay’s great potential. Those 16 ships (and dozens of others) cruise past Humboldt Bay each year without stopping here. The purpose of the Humboldt Bay Cruise Ship Partnership is to begin actively attracting cruise ships to our port.
The partnership is happy to announce that initial efforts are already paying off. One cruise ship is scheduled to arrive in Humboldt Bay in May of 2018, additional bookings are being considered in 2019, and there are efforts underway to
increase these numbers. Because cruise ships rely on recommendations from one another, the best way to recruit additional ships in the coming years is to ensure that the passengers and crew of this year’s ship have a phenomenal
experience. The ship is scheduled to arrive on Monday, May 21st at 6:00am and multiple efforts are underway to optimize their experience. A dock‐side party is being arranged to greet the guests as they de‐board, multiple tours are being
organized directly with the ship’s tour coordinator, Eureka Main Street is working with businesses to ensure that stores are open and ready, a community clean‐up is being arranged, and a request has been issued to NOAA for a day of great
weather.While this first ship is relatively small (approximately 120 passengers) the ships being courted for 2019 are much larger and could each carry over 1,000 passengers. The fact that the first ship in the queue is small provides an opportunity to test our community’s readiness for bigger ships. Volunteers will be a keystone of our success. While much can be done with the collective resources of the Humboldt Bay Harbor District, the City of Eureka, the Eureka Visitor Center, and Eureka Main Street, a significant number of volunteers will be needed in 2019 if the partnership is successful in recruiting bigger ships.
The future looks bright for attracting cruise ships to Humboldt Bay. The economic boost to our region could be significant and many tourism‐related businesses could be created. Not only would attracting cruise ship to Humboldt Bay provide
direct economic benefits to our region, many people on cruises tend to visit an area again if they enjoyed their experience, which means cruise ships can be an excellent marketing tool for Humboldt’s tourism economy. While there is much to be done, including significant on‐going efforts to ensure our Bay is dredged, the Humboldt Bay Cruise Ship Partnership is on the path to success.
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This article appears in The Green Issue 2018.
Here’s what’s gonna happen.
Eureka will sweep homeless cretins out of Old Town pushing them as far away from tourists as possible. This seems to be the measure any and all cities instigate when polishing their image for the fuckin’ tourists.
Hey, how about the folks that live here, pay taxes and obey societal norms? We’re here year round. We are the ones who support all local businesses not just Old Town.
These creatures contribute nothing to our community. They only siphon off resources from folks that are actually trying to live a good, productive life.
Everyone knows the homeless/street people situation is out of control only to get worse.
One way Eureka proposes to deal with such unpleasant visuals, build a ‘service center’ here in McK. That’s right, ship your scum over here to multiply all the crime, drugs and danger that comes with those thieves.
My neighborhood has been assaulted by such creatures for years.
Our delivered packages are stolen from our porches, cars rummaged, mail stolen, going through our trash looking for ID’s that can be stolen/sold.
The incidents that tipped me from being a compassionate/empathic person was when those assholes stole ALL MY FOOD that I had spent a year cultivating.
Everything…apples, blueberries, strawberries, plums, veggies of all types.
Those bastards took my spirit as well.
What’s to be done? Seems to be NOTHING. Law enforcement can’t stop them.
Property owners are allowing ‘communities/camps’ to be set up on undeveloped land. Hey, People In Charge, go after the property owners for allowing illegal, unsafe, dangerous encampments on their land. Isn’t it their responsibility to remove any and all health hazards and public nuisances?
I do agree with you somewhat. Let me tell you, yes there are a lot of homeless pieces of sh**. But the thing is too, there are some of us who aren’t. Who really are good people, who want to better their lives. But it’s not just those piece of sh** homeless people that f*** that up from happening for us. The people like you somewhat, but all these other higher class people who make it impossible for the ones who want to better their lives. I had a lady invite me into her home. She fed me, gave me some warm clothes, then told me. There are 2 types of homeless people. Ones that really are just in a bad situation, and those who aren’t, who chose to live like this and don’t care about nothing or what respect is. She said she had been watching me living in my car, down the street from her house. She said, that I was one that was just in a bad situation. And proceeded to tell me, but the girl staying in her car in front of you. She’s nothing but disrespectful. Leaving trash, causing scenes and everything else. She said but, I kept to myself, kept my area very clean. That if she hadn’t been watching the other girl cause all the problems, she wouldn’t have known I was actually living in my car right there. But what I’m getting at, is some of us are actually very good people. Shoot, most housed people, I can honestly say, are bigger pieces of sh** than me. So please, I wish people would stop making it so hard for the ones who do want change in their life, to do so. Cause with people labeling homeless people, or people with a drug addictions like they have, is wrong and very disrespectful, I might add. The people who you refer to, are people who are disrespectful pieces of sh**. Not all of the people who do what you were referring to are homeless or drug addicts. Quite a few are actually housed and somewhat well off. Yes a lot are homeless and drug addicts. But there are those disrespectful pieces of sh** in every class. Whether they are poor or we’ll to do. They are people with just no respect for nothing. I know about respect. And I’m damn tired of being disrespected just cause I’m homeless. Stop judging all the homeless like that please. Cause it makes it so much harder to get back on your feet, when you are down. Thank you