Seattle’s cruise industry projected to hit record high

SEATTLE — Like Saturday’s warm temperatures, Seattle’s cruise industry is projected to hit a record high. Many of the people who board those cruise ships spend a night or two in Seattle before they set sail. The Wetjens are two of them.

“We arrived yesterday,” said Donna and George Wetjen.

The Wetjens, from California, are two of Holland America Cruise Line’s first passengers to head to Juneau, Alaska for the season. Before they head out, they spent some time here in Seattle.

“You have to. You just need to arrive - in case you have a problem with a flight, arrive a day or two early and Seattle’s got so much to offer so, why not?” Donna said.  George added, “We like going to that Pike Place, the home of the original Starbucks. We like going around and seeing the different architecture around Seattle.”

They’re just two of the 700,000 passengers expected to board a cruise ship this 2023 season. There are eight cruise lines that run out of the city’s port. This year, Visit Seattle projects the entire cruise industry will see a record high, with $ 1.4 million from revenue passengers after the last ship docs. The first ships set sail today.

“First day, first cruise. It’s exciting because this year we have a full season,” explained Holland America Cruise Line’s Director of Public Relations Erik Elvejord. “We’ll be sailing every week on a Saturday and Sunday and through the season 48 cruises will sail.”

Holland America expects to take 97,000 passengers from Seattle to Juneau, Alaska this year. With each ship turn happening in Seattle, the ships also stock up here.

“Every week when we turn a ship it’s approximately $400,000 we spend to bring all of the food and the things on the ship we need to operate the cruise ship,” Elvejord explained.

Holland America and the other seven cruise lines also need people to load and man the ships.

“It creates security jobs. It creates check-in jobs. It creates traffic-directing jobs, all kinds of positions that need to be filled to operate not just our cruise ships but all the other cruise ships in Seattle.

Visit Seattle projects the cruise industry creates about 5,500 seasonal jobs.

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