ESCANABA — On Sunday and Thursday, the American Queen Voyages cruise ship The Ocean Navigator docked in Escanaba with nearly 200 people onboard each time. Hundreds of community members gathered at the North Shore Marine Terminal & Logistics Dock to give the passengers and crew a hearty welcome as they disembarked.

Coordinated by the Delta County Chamber of Commerce, the welcome ceremony on Sunday was, in a word, uplifting. The Escanaba City Band played patriotic music to welcome our guests, members of Players de Noc dressed in costume portraying Delta County historical figures and handed guests hospitality gift bags filled with Delta County goodies. Guests were even given gourmet cookies decorated by Renee Kadish with the logos of the City of Escanaba and American Queen Voyages.

Nick Kobasic, president and co-owner of North Shore Marine Terminal & Logistics, and AQV Captain Wojtek Ziolkowski cut the ribbon, with Delta County Board Chairman Dave Moyle welcoming the cruise ship passengers and crew to our waterfront community.

Father Timothy Ferguson, pastor of St. Joseph & St. Patrick’s Parish, blessed the ship and Escanaba mayor Mark Ammel presented a ceremonial key to the City to AQV Captain Ziolkowski.

Most of the passengers headed off to experience all that Escanaba has to offer via their “Hop On Hop Off” tour buses (giving guests the option to hop on and hop off at various locations along the route) up and down Ludington Street, to Ludington Park, and the Webster Marble’s Inventing the Outdoors and U.P. Military Museums in the Chamber’s multi-use facility. Guests then enjoyed a cultural experience at the Potawatomi Heritage Center in Hannahville, where they were treated to an authentic dance by the Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company. Some passengers also went on a premium excursion via tour bus.

One of these premium excursions, “Hops and Vines” bus tour (tastings at wineries and flavorful flights at breweries), was coordinated by Tony Lambert, co-owner of Leigh’s Garden Winery. On Sunday’s tour, he heard many positive comments from both the passengers and crew members. “It was a great day for all of us,” he said. “I spoke to the ship’s cruise director, who said he has never seen a community so proud of where they live. He was in awe of how welcoming our community was. He even heard from a passenger that the Escanaba stop was ‘way better than Mackinac Island'” [the passengers’ previous port of call.]

Local tour guides Mark Cowman and Peggy O’Connell agreed that the comments they heard from passengers were “overwhelmingly positive.” Cowman said he also heard a lot of positive comments about how welcomed the cruise ship passengers felt while visiting Delta County, and how genuine our residents are. “The passengers were eager to meet our local residents,” he said.

While Lambert feels that our area has the potential to continue to be an excellent port for cruise ships in the future, he says there are areas where we can improve. “Our dock is perfect, and built for this,” he said. “We still don’t have a lot of places within ‘regular’ walking distance for the guests, but with bikes, scooter rentals, golf cart rentals, Uber, or better private/public transportation, it would be a phenomenal stop for cruise ships, private boating, or general aviation.”

On May 14 and May 18, the Ocean Navigator had approximately 130 cruise ship passengers and 88 crew members onboard during each visit. During visits later in the summer as the weather warms up and we enter peak travel season, the ship will have more passengers–up to 202–along with more crew members. All of these guests add up to tremendous economic value as well, both from direct spending by the passengers and crew, along with ancillary income, (for example, employees of businesses serving cruise passengers, who then go on to spend their dollars locally). The economic impact is estimated to be upwards of $1.25 million this summer.

We at the Chamber of Commerce want to thank all the residents and businesses for showing our cruise ship guests warm U.P. hospitality and encourage everyone to continue the enthusiasm all summer long during their next 26 visits.

As Lambert mentioned, one of the areas of improvement heard from passengers is that the city could have more options for transportation, including Lyft and Uber drivers for those who would like to venture out on their own. If you are interested in possibly providing transport for our cruise ship guests this summer, consider getting the Uber or Lyft app, registering, and logging on to drive during the dates that the cruise ships are in town.

Finally, to be sure our guests have access to local businesses’ hours of operation, the Downtown Development Authority is putting together a list of the local businesses that will be open between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on their visit dates.

Please call the DDA at (906) 789-8696 to let us know you will be open at 8:30 a.m. on dates that the cruise ships will be in town. This is a free service; the list of dates can be found by visiting www.deltami.org.

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Vickie LaFave is with the Delta County Chamber of Commerce