Nineteen cruise ships are scheduled to call on Unalaska this year — up from 10 last season, but down from the 20 originally booked.
The nearly 600-passenger Silver Muse was expected to arrive Monday and stay in port for about six hours. But it canceled Friday morning due to a lack of dock availability, according to the Unalaska Visitors Bureau.
“Our hang-up is always: Where are they going to dock?” said Katherine McGlashan, executive director of the UVB. “The city dock … those slots are always taken. But with good planning, hopefully we can get everybody [else] in.”
The Viking Orion is now slated to be Unalaska’s first cruise ship of the season, said UVB cruise ship coordinator Trevona McGowan. The 930-passenger vessel is scheduled to arrive the morning of Wednesday, May 10, and stay in port for about nine hours.
McGowan said Unalaska’s cruise ship season will run through October 17. September is slated to be the busiest month, with the island expecting seven vessels.
The schedule is subject to change due to weather, mechanical problems, or other issues, said McGlashan. But Alaska’s cruise industry is predicting the 2023 season will be a good one, following a number of challenges in recent years. More than 40 cruise ships canceled stops in Unalaska during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I just returned from a heritage and cultural tourism conference in Sitka, and they said they’re having a great season — everybody is going to have a great season this year,” said McGlashan. “Of course, last year, we had the typhoon that affected all the cruise ships, and then the Russian tensions, with the war [in Ukraine] going on.
“So we’re very optimistic, and we’re looking forward to this cruise ship season.”
The UVB is working to coordinate plans with cruise companies, recruit local tour guides, and arrange for buses that’ll show visitors around the island. The UVB program takes visitors to the Museum of the Aleutians, the Holy Ascension Cathedral, the Grand Aleutian Hotel, and the Aleutian World War II National Historic Area Visitor Center.
“A lot of cruise ships love to come here because we’re kind of a unique community,” said McGlashan. “We’re logistically out here. A lot of people want to see the whiskered auklet or our humpback whales. Or just experience World War II history.”
McGlashan also said she wants improve the ways the UVB shares the history, culture, and environmental stewardship of the Unangan people, who’ve lived in Unalaska for more than 9,000 years.
“My vision is to educate more tourists on our Indigenous culture, and I think that’s really missing from the program,” she said. “So we’re looking at facts and what we can add to the program to educate the tourists as they come in.
“I am Unangan,” she added. “To me, it’s very important in the program, because without us, we wouldn’t be here … And I think it’s just an amazing culture.”
Beyond cruise ships, the UVB is also preparing for six sailings by the M/V Tustumena, the state ferry that serves the Aleutian communities of Unalaska, Akutan, Sand Point, King Cove, Cold Bay, and False Pass, as well as the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak on its way to Homer.
This season, the Tustumena’s first call in Unalaska is scheduled for May 20.
