Port of Astoria to host cruise ship this summer
Jun. 23—The Pride of America is planning to spend the summer in Astoria.
The Port of Astoria announced it has signed an agreement with Norwegian Cruise Line to host the vessel for 69 days, from July to September.
Will Isom, the Port's executive director, said it's a fairly significant deal for the Port.
"In rough financial terms it's $4,000 per day in dockage plus another approximately $900 in security fees, so all told gross it's right around $350,000 in revenue to the Port to host them," he said.
Isom added the timing is fortunate. Depending on what happens with the late summer and fall cruise ship season, the Port is not scheduled to host any other vessels until later in September, at which point the Pride of America would be gone.
Norwegian Cruise Line originally sent the vessel berth request to the Port in May.
The Pride of America is much larger than the Regatta, the cruise ship that docked in Astoria from October to April as cruises were on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. While the Regatta is about 600 feet long, the Pride of America is 920 feet.
"I think this is exciting news for the Port," Isom said. "In particular at a time when there's so much question — even going through the budget committee meetings — of what the cruise ship revenue is going to look like, this is a huge development for us."
Isom thanked terminal services manager Sue Transue and deputy director Matt McGrath for their work in setting up the agreement.
The cruise ship will not have any passengers aboard. It will be crew-only and the cruise line has its own list of approved safety measures for how it operates. As of Monday, there have been no cases of COVID-19 on board the cruise ship. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allows crew members to disembark from cruise ships in U.S. waters if the ships meet its safety criteria.
