The port forecasts 275 sailings between Saturday and late October, bringing more than 800,000 individual passengers to and from the city. Those numbers are a slight dropoff from last year, which saw a record-setting 291 cruises and more than 900,000 visitors. By comparison, there were 211 sailings in 2019.
“It’s going to be a really strong year,” Port Director of Cruise and Maritime Marketing Linda Springmann told the Business Journal. “(Two hundred and seventy-five) calls for us is really good. We’ve never really seen anything like that pre-pandemic.”
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The strong cruise turnout last year generated nearly $900 million in economic impact, per the port. It’s unclear how much the drop in sailings will affect the industry’s impact this summer, officials said.
That dip can be attributed to the annual fluctuation of ships in transit that pass through Seattle, typically at the beginning and end of the season, transitioning to and from their winter deployments. While there are fewer sailings, there’s optimism that the industry will continue to see growth for occupancies per ship.
Additionally, early forecasts suggest the 2025 season could return to 2023 levels, Springmann added.
“In fact, it could grow because I haven’t captured all of those in-transit calls, yet,” she said.
Part of the growth next year comes from a new brand coming to the city, with the first Seattle sailing of Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth. What differentiates that ship is that it has a higher portion of international guests than most other ships.
“Our history shows us that international guests usually stay longer, they might spend a week pre and post as opposed to a couple of days,” Springmann said. “So we’re looking forward to watching that business evolve.”