PORT ANGELES — It was party time.
Under sunny skies, passengers and crew from the Holland America cruise ship Zuiderdam filled downtown Port Angeles sidewalks for most of Friday afternoon, providing an instant boost to sales for many merchants.
While not all left with shopping bags in hand, many found themselves content with simply stretching their legs and getting a taste of the North Olympic Peninsula.
A popular stop for the cruise ship shoppers — the local “Twilight” souvenir store.
A good impression appeared to have stuck to many of the passengers, who almost unanimously described Port Angeles as friendly and clean.
Asked if he’d like to come back again, Shane Manfre of Phoenix, Ariz., responded enthusiastically.
“Oh, gosh definitely,” he said while viewing Port Angeles Harbor from the waterfront.
“It’s quaint, peaceful. Everyone is friendly.”
The hard-to-miss cruise ship, which dwarfed everything near it, including an oil tanker sharing the terminal, docked in Port Angeles for nine hours as part of a 18-day repositioning cruise from the Caribbean so it can begin summer trips to Alaska.
After coming through the Panama Canal from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with stops in Costa Rica, Mexico and San Diego, the huge ship arrived in Port Angeles at about 2 p.m. Friday with 1,952 passengers and 817 crew members.
It left for Vancouver, British Columbia, at about 11 Friday night.
Port Angeles residents
A few of the passengers were Port Angeles residents who boarded the ship in Florida or San Diego.
Some went on to Vancouver or remained in their staterooms for the final leg of a spring vacation — a seven-night cruise to Alaska.
Another Holland America cruise ship, the Statendam, which stopped in Port Angeles last year, is scheduled to arrive Saturday.
The passengers and crew of the Zuiderdam were greeted at Terminal 1 on Cedar Street by buses — for pre-arranged trips to Hurricane Ridge and local wineries — and by shuttles to tribal casinos and stops around Port Angeles.
Many just walked downtown, about a 15-minute jaunt.
About a dozen volunteers on the wharf were eager to provide brochures — and their own knowledge of the Peninsula — in hopes of giving the passengers a reason to make another trip to Port Angeles.
While there are no estimates as to how many got off the 11-deck, 936-foot-long ship, a steady stream of passengers was still going ashore more than an hour after it docked.
Pleasantly surprised
Many passengers said they were pleasantly surprised by Port Angeles.
“It’s tiny, but it’s neat and clean,” said Christa Grimm, 67, of Prince George, British Columbia.
“No complaints.”
“People are very nice and friendly,” said Ann Freitas, 63, of Vancouver Island.
“I’m actually surprised it [the ship] had a place to stop.”
“We didn’t know anything was here,” said Jackee Holbrook of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Black-shirted crew members, many from Indonesia, thronged the stores and downtown restaurants.
Barb Frederick, Port Angeles Downtown Association executive director, said she hopes that Port Angeles’ warm welcome will encourage passengers to return.
“Several of the people indicated that they would be back,” she said.
“Of course, we showed them a beautiful day.”
Too many vacancies
Elizabeth Hook of Calgary said she also appreciated the warm greeting — but was frank about her observation that downtown has too many vacant storefronts.
“I see a dying town,” she said of her first impression.
“But it was overshadowed by the friendliness of the people at the shuttle and on the pier,” she added.
Frederick, who said downtown business vacancies are on the decline, was surprised by the comment.
“I think overall it’s looking a lot better,” she said.
Nearly each of the 10 downtown merchants contacted by the Peninsula Daily News saw a bump in sales due to the arrival of the cruise ship.
Many reported sales increase of 20 percent and up over what they would make on any other day.
One of the most popular destinations, perhaps not too surprising, was Dazzled by Twilight.
Store manager Madison Trenerry, who estimated an increase in sales of up to 40 percent, said the store was “just completely packed” from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Most were parents buying souvenirs for their kids, she said, but a few fans were in the crowd, too.
One of them, Laurel Kouwenhoven, was picking up mementos for herself as well as her friends, who she expects will be a bit jealous that she got to go to Port Angeles.
“They definitely will be when I tell them,” said the 20-year-old from Chilliwack, British Columbia.
Bay Variety was also a favorite among the passengers.
Store manager Michelle Adolphsen said passengers bought a lot of souvenirs, but also candy and any thing small that they could take back with them.
Don Zeller, owner of Zeller’s antiques, said the influx of shoppers was welcome, even though he saw only a modest increase in sales.
“I haven’t seen downtown this busy since Halloween last year,” he said.
Port Book and News co-owner Alan Turner said his store was busy all afternoon.
Even if he didn’t have any sales, Turner said the crowd would still have a been a welcomed sight.
“For me, it’s just all the people, all the people on the street,” he said.
“If the town does well, we’ll do well.
“It doesn’t matter if we do well on this day.”
Other tours
From the pier, between 75 and100 passengers took the shuttle to the Elwha River Casino on the Lower Elwha Klallam reservation.
Shuttles were also offered to the 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn, where the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe offered tours of totem poles as well as visits to the casino.
Sequim events, such as the Art Walk and Irrigation Festival, were also advertised to the passengers.
Fifty-three passengers took a bus to Hurricane Ridge.
Another 94 went on the winery tour.
After next Saturday’s scheduled stop of the Statendam, no other cruise ships are slated to arrive in Port Angeles this year.
Holland America cruise ships have made scheduled stops in Port Angeles in 2004, 2006 and 2009.
Port of Port Angeles commission President George Schoenfeldt said it’s hard to tell if the stops are going to become an annual event.
Schoenfeldt said the Zuiderdam plans to make another stop in Port Angeles between its winter and summer tours in 2012, but he hasn’t heard if another ship will dock in the town next year.
He said Holland America likes to make Port Angeles a stop occasionally as it relocates ships to Vancouver for the summer.
The stop saves the company money since it doesn’t have to dock in Seattle or another large city in the Puget Sound.
Aboard ship
A delegation of Port Angeles representatives that included Mayor Dan Di Guilio, Schoenfeldt and another port commissioner, Jim McEnitre, went aboard the ship.
They presented the captain and hotel manager of the Zuiderdam with a gift basket and aerial photograph of the city while the ship was docked.
Joni Eades, Elwha River Casino marketing manager, said Lower Elwha Klallam tribal dancers and signers will greet the Statendam passengers on Saturday.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.