Volunteers who greet cruise ship passengers on Astoria’s waterfront are accustomed to answering most questions posed by the arrivals.
“What island is that?,” they often ask, gesturing to the Washington shoreline. Or, “Where can I get some good clam chowder?”
But Clatsop Cruise Host ambassador Zona Nelson got a new one last fall, from an elderly Canadian man who, along with his wife, was traveling with the ashes of a dear, deceased friend who had asked to have his ashes scattered in the Pacific. Did she know where he could get an appropriate urn for dropping his ashes into the ocean?
Another cruise host had referred the man to Nelson, knowing she is friends with the owners of a funeral home. She placed a phone call; a biodegradable urn was brought; the man paid for it, and he and his wife reboarded the ship, ready to give their friend the scattering he had requested.
“I didn’t ask too many questions,” Nelson said. “It was none of my business.”
But as far as cruise ship passengers, Nelson said, “I would say that’s probably at the top of the unusual list.”
Oceangoing cruise ships are about to start calling at the Port of Astoria, formally opening the new cruise season. The first one, Holland America’s 2,650-passenger Koningsdam, is scheduled to call 8 a.m. on Thursday, according to the schedule posted on the Port of Astoria website, which is subject to change.
On that day, the first wave of 2025 cruise visitors will spill into the streets and sidewalks of Astoria, venturing into a town that will be unfamiliar to most. Many will hop on buses operated by Astoria’s Sundial Tours, which will ferry them to such local attractions as the Columbia River Maritime Museum, the Astoria Column, the Flavel House Museum, Fort Stevens and the Tillamook Creamery.
The Koningsdam will be followed in April, May and early June by 10 other ships, most carrying 2,000 passengers or more. Astoria will be a stop as the vessels reposition themselves for the season from warm southern waters to the colder waters of Alaska and British Columbia. The Koningsdam, for example, bills its current tour as seven days in California’s wine country and the Pacific Northwest. It sailed from San Diego on March 29 and planned calls at San Francisco, Astoria, Victoria, British Columbia, before arriving in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday.
The repositioning reverses in the fall, when the cruise ships forsake the cold northern waters to return to Southern California and other ports. The port’s posted schedule currently shows four ships calling at Astoria in September and October.
At the same time oceangoing ships are calling at the port near the Astoria Riverwalk Inn, smaller Columbia River passenger ships will berth near the Columbia River Maritime Museum, spilling up to another 180 passengers into Astoria. The riverboat cruise season is already under way and is scheduled to continue through October.
Bruce Conner, the owner of Sundial Travel, who’s been welcoming cruise ship passengers to Astoria for around 30 years, said the return of cruise season means a lot of behind-the-scenes work for Sundial and for the Clatsop Cruise Hosts, but is still exciting.
“It never isn’t,” he said.
This year, Conner’s company is introducing a new element: a green, rubber-wheeled bus that invites passengers to hop on and hop off at seven local attractions, from Pier 39 and the Goonies House to the Flavel House Museum. One $10 ticket serves for an entire day.
“This town has been crying for it,” he said, of the hop-on, hop-off system, which frees passengers to spend more time at preferred attractions. Such tours are available in destinations all over the world.
Sundial buses also ferry many passengers from the dock to destinations in downtown Astoria at $15 per ticket. Its first stop is on Commercial Street near Ninth Street, right in front of Lucy’s Books and Port Hopper.
Port Hopper owners Adrin and Eric Morrison say cruise season brings a lot of foot traffic into the store, but not as many sales as might be expected.
“They’re looking for things to do,” Adrin Morrison said. Passengers ask about the Astoria Column, the maritime museum, the Astoria Nordic Heritage Park and other attractions. The Morrisons have tinkered with their retail mix a little, adding more local souvenirs.
They have shipped purchases to destinations in Europe, Scandinavia and Canada, and they say they’ve also talked with passengers who are interested in relocating to the lower Columbia region.
That confirms the observations of David Reid, the executive director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, who said “countless people” come from cruise ships to the visitor center on Marine Drive with questions about vacationing or moving here. Those are “fun days here at the visitor center,” he said.
Cruise ship days are definitely fun, agreed Sue Howard, who coordinates the volunteer cruise host ambassadors for a series of three-hour shifts. She said she has papers scattered all over her desk and bed as she makes the schedules. There used to be 200 cruise hosts, she said. Now there are about a third that number.
Said Howard: “Be sure to say we need more ambassadors.”