Final weekend beckons for 2017 Prince Rupert Cruise season

The 2017 Cruise season for Prince Rupert ends this weekend, wrapping
a port call from the 2,376 passenger cruise ship Norwegian Jewel
(photo from NCL cruise lines website)

The last visitors for the 2017 Cruise season will make their tour of the city and region this weekend, as two ships pull into town for the final visits of the year.

Saturday the Sojourn will tie up at the Northland Cruise Terminal, sending a potential 450 guests to tour the city.

Sunday, brings the curtain down on the 2017 season and we do it with an impressive flourish with the arrival of the Norwegian Jewel at Northland Terminal, the vessel plays host to a potential 2,376 passengers.

A volume which will give those in support of the Cruise industry one final chance for the year to put the city's best foot forward as it looks to continue to build its footprint in the West Coast and Alaska cruise industry.

Currently docked in the Alaska port of Skagway, the vessel will soon be making its final leg of its journey and its return to Vancouver, with Prince Rupert one of the final stops for its passengers. 

All's quiet at Northland Terminal today,
That won't be the case this weekend
with two vessels coming to town to
bring an end to the 2017 Cruise season

Once the Norwegian Jewel brings and end to its eight hour visit and casts its lines for further down for southern destinations it will put the book end to a season which started back on May 19th.

According to Port of Prince Rupert estimates the 23 port calls from the year were to bring 17,002 passengers to the city to explore both the urban area and some of the outlying destinations that have proven popular over the last few years.

And while the bump in port calls and visitors makes for a good foundation to help put Prince Rupert on the cruise industry map, we certainly still have a fair ways to go.

To the north, on Monday our sister city of Ketchikan just celebrated the one millionth cruise visitor to that community this year, coming aboard the same Norwegian Jewel that will be arriving in Prince Rupert on Sunday.

That was a history making event for Ketchikan, marking the first time that the summer cruise season has topped the 1 million guest mark, with community officials making for a pretty impressive reception for the lucky passenger tagged as number 1 million.

The success of the Kethcikan efforts come from a combination of engagement with the cruise lines and an extensive infrastructure in port that allows for multiple vessel visits in a day.

As the 2017 season comes to an end, those involved with the Prince Rupert industry will be reviewing how things went this year, making modifications to their plans for the year ahead and continuing to put forward the message of a welcome port on the North Coast.

More notes on the cruise industry can be found here.