PORT ANGELES — It was supposed to be a day for Port Angeles to strut its stuff for more than 1,000 cruise ship passengers.
Instead, the cancellation of Friday’s scheduled stop of the ms Zuiderdam left a community welcoming party high and dry.
The Holland America Line cruise ship bypassed a sun-splashed Port Angeles on its way to Vancouver, B.C., because of weather delays earlier in its voyage.
The scheduled stop was part of a relocation cruise, transferring the 2,272-passenger ship from its Caribbean winter schedule to its summer schedule in the Pacific Northwest.
A bevy of local activities were planned for the 11-hour stop on the North Olympic Peninsula.
“You run out of fingers when you start counting all the things you’re doing in preparation for this,” said Diane Schostak, executive director of the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau, on Friday.
“A project management plan, complete with financial implications of a canceled ship, will be available in late June from the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau,” Schostak said.
The Port of Port Angeles was informed of the Zuiderdam’s port-of-call cancellation at about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, marine terminal manager Mike Nimmo said.
Local businesses, volunteers and a community welcoming committee had planned to repeat last month’s hosting of the ms Oosterdam and its 2,000 passengers.
Schostak said word spread quickly after a Holland America representative notified the port that the cruise ship would not be docking at Terminal 1.
She said Nimmo had “a laundry list of calls to make.”
“Likewise, Barbara Frederick, executive director of the Port Angeles Downtown Association, had to break the news to downtown businesses that had been such a big part of welcoming previous visitors,” Schostak wrote in an email.
“Among her list of phone calls, she contacted Willie Nelson of All Points Charters and Tours who had arranged eight shuttle buses from three different locations for the shopping and cultural routes,” Schostak said.
“Nelson then had to contact the companies to cancel.”
“He had plans to take 24 people on board the Zuiderdam for a tour to Hurricane Ridge and lost that business,” Schostak said.
“He also made the call to [Peninsula] College to cancel the crew soccer game that had been arranged with players from the college.”
Cruise ship volunteer coordinator Louann Yager and Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce member services manager Lindsey Veenema informed the ambassadors about the change in plans at an ambassadors luncheon.
“The ambassadors had been such a big part of the volunteer welcoming committee,” Schostak said.
“Then it fell to Louann to call all the other 30 or so volunteers to let them know that ship was not coming.”
Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau staff scrambled to notify a long list of cruise ship committee members and volunteers about the cancellation.
Calls to the Lower Elwha Klallam Heritage Center, Olympic National Park, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Arthur D. Feiro Marine Life Center and Port Angeles Underground Heritage Tour “were fast and furious,” Schostak said.
Don Perry, who leads the Port Angeles underground tours, had 12 reservations from passengers.
Organizers spread the word through phone calls, emails and social media.
Boxes of information about the area and other items had to be retrieved from the dock.
Holland America contracted shuttles for tours in the region. Destinations included Lake Crescent, Hurricane Ridge and a wine tour.
Despite the cancellation, a volunteer recognition gathering for the cruise took place Saturday at the Elwha Heritage Center, where all who helped will be recognized and celebrate a job well-done or a job which would have been well-done.
“Disappointed is not the word,” said Luann Yager, who passed out thank-you bags to about 20 volunteers who attended. Yager, retired volunteer coordinator with the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce, was joined by Mary Brelsford, communications manager with the Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau.
“We did it as a labor of love,” Yager added.
Brelsford said the general reaction from volunteers upon hearing the ship would be passing them in the night was. “Are you kidding?”
Jim and Marie Moran, two of the volunteers at the event where snacks were served, also expressed disappointment, especially since the weather was good.
“I feel bad for a lot of people that put all the work into it,” he said.
“We were watching it pass by last night and said, ‘Oh, man, where have you been all day?’”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.