Unalaska’s summer tourism season began this month with the state ferry M/V Tustumena’s first port call of the year on June 6, kicking off the Aleutian Island’s ferry and cruise ship season.
Katherine McGlashan, director of the Unalaska Visitors Bureau, said the cruise ship season started later than last year’s, with the first cruise ship stops in June rather than May. She said the late start worked out well.
“It's kind of a late spring for us. So I'm kind of glad,” McGlashan said, noting the island’s lingering winter weather.
Despite the delayed arrival of the island’s first cruise ship, McGlashan said the season hasn’t been a slow one. She said the largest cruise ship, the Noordam, arrived on June 16 with almost 2,000 passengers. The visit went well, despite some hiccups, according to McGlashan. She said the bureau had some mechanical issues and only had four vans available for visitors.
“While we did our best to accommodate everyone, the lack of infrastructure for 2,000 guests unfortunately left many visitors walking,” McGlashan said in an email to KUCB. “Despite this, all the visitors we spoke with were friendly and pleased to be here.”
She said a couple local organizations stepped up to help, providing additional transportation.
The Noordam is scheduled to return for another port call in mid-September. McGlashan said that visit will also be a challenge as many of the organization’s seasonal employees return to their regular jobs by then.
The visitors bureau has 19 total arrivals on the books this summer, with fewer cruise visits than last summer, according to McGlashan.
McGlashan and her team will also be trialing a new approach with one of the cruise lines this summer. The Safari Explorer with UnCruise Adventures will be switching out passengers in Unalaska. The bureau tested the approach out last year, and McGlashan said it went well, so they’ll try it again this summer.
“The hiccup is always the passengers flying in and flying out, hoping for good weather, and [that] all the stars align to be on schedule,” she said.
Welcoming thousands of guests from all over the world to a small island can cause some anxiety or hesitation for locals, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic. But McGlashan said the Unalaska community is generally very welcoming and excited to help visitors.
Earlier this spring, an outbreak of hantavirus on a cruise ship caused some fear around hosting visiting ships as well as traveling via cruise liners. The outbreak on the ship heading from Argentina to the South Atlantic infected about a dozen people and killed three to date, but medical professionals say the risk to the public is low.
McGlashan said she and her staff are not highly concerned about the virus, but the bureau is taking precautions just in case and reaching out to vessels before they come into port.
“We are going to email the expedition leader or manager before the vessel arrives, and have them update us and just make sure everybody's healthy,” she said.
There are a dozen cruise visits left on the schedule for this summer. The last cruise liner of the season is set to arrive Sept. 29.
McGlashan said any locals interested in becoming tour guides can stop by the Visitors Bureau office to fill out an application.
