NCL Invests in Alaska: Christens Icy Strait Pier and New Ward Cove Docking Facility in Ketchikan

After 17 months, Norwegian Cruise Line marked its return to U.S. cruising on August 7 with a Norwegian Encore sailing to Alaska round trip from Seattle.

But like Harry Sommer, president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line said, the company did not take the year off. Instead, it welcomed guests back to Alaska with all-new facilities in not one but two ports, one on Aug. 10 and the other a couple of days after on Aug. 12.

Icy Strait Point’s Wilderness Landing and Gondola
“When we met with Frank Del Rio [president and CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings] back in 2018, he asked about our plans for a new pier at Icy Strait and said, ‘Done,’” according to Mickey Richardson, head of marketing for Icy Strait Point.

“Then he asked about our vision for the future of the port and when we told him our five-year plan to build out a gondola system, he said, ‘Also done — if you can complete it by 2020.’”

And so despite pandemic delays, that’s what the team at Huna Totem Corporation, native Tlingit owners and operators of Icy Strait Point did, a dozen years after building the port’s very first pier. With an investment of about $80 million, they constructed Wilderness Landing, a new pier to accommodate the increasing size of cruise ships, like the 169, 116 GRT Norwegian Encore.

The new visitors’ area is a half-mile to the west of the current Adventure Landing dock, which equates to a 15-minute walk by trail or a 5-minute gondola ride, courtesy of the Transporter Gondola system. Anyone who might be familiar with the Disney Skyliner will recognize a virtually identical experience. There are 38 cars on the current green gondola system, and they are wheelchair accessible, as are most of the port’s facilities.

A second gondola system, scheduled to open to guests in May 2022, will climb 1,600 feet to the mountaintop for spectacular views and to accommodate visitors interested in the ZipRider. The 53 red cars of the Mountain Top Gondola will take about 7 to 8 minutes to reach the peak, as compared with the current bus time of 45 minutes to get there. This will create a lag at the ZipRider, which the port is aiming to work out with the attraction operators when the gondola is scheduled to open.

“It would have been cheaper just to have ships dockside by side at Adventure Landing, but that would mean a choke point of about 12,000 guests entering the port,” said Richardson. He estimates that 250,000 people will visit Icy Strait in 2022.

Guests will also notice a new sculpture before the Adventure Landing boardwalk. The massive orca is a gift from Del Rio to the Huna Totem Corporation, made by artist and conservationist Wyland who also designed the hull art for Norwegian Bliss.

At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, port officials and members of the Huna Totem Corporation spoke about the importance of the expansion. “With every decision the Huna Totem Corporation makes, we ask, ‘Are we building value, are we building respect, are we building community?’” said Russell Dick, CEO of Huna Totem.

The ceremony concluded with a Tlingit tradition of passing a paddle to visitors, “so Norwegian Cruise Line can paddle their way back to us again,” according to Johan Dybdhal, director of administration and special projects at Icy Strait, who took part in the ceremony. In exchange, a plaque was presented by Sommer and Norwegian Encore Captain Martin Holmqvist. The festivities ended with a series of traditional Tlingit dances.

Masks are optional outdoors in Icy Strait but are required onboard the gondola and all transport systems, including buses. Icy Strait Point is only accessible to guests who are fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated cruise ship guests will not be allowed to disembark in the port.

Ketchikan’s The Mill at Ward Cove
What do you do when you want to grow your Alaska port sustainably, and give the city’s 15,000 residents some peace of mind? You reinvent a former pulp mill and superfund site to become a gorgeous docking facility outside the city center. We are talking about Ward Cove, Norwegian’s newest docking facility located 7 miles north of downtown Ketchikan.

At the dedication ceremony, it was clear that the project was very personal to many local families, including the Spokelys of Ward Cove Group LLC, and especially John Binkley, former president of CLIA Alaska, who left his role to invest time in the project through his company Godspeed, Inc. At the ribbon-cutting, Binkley shared that the cove near the former mill went from being untenable to receiving a proclamation from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation in recognizing the environmentally friendly manner in which the port was constructed (in addition to a national award for the same).

“Somebody asked me as the ship was coming in…what I was feeling,” said Binkley. “And I thought about it for a minute and there was just one word that came to mind, and that was ‘gratitude.’ I just felt so thankful. To pull a project like this off, it takes hundreds of people, literally, all pulling in the same direction to actually make it happen.”

Guests will find an industrial-looking brick building to enter through, which warehouses a wealth of souvenirs, snacks, and even restroom facilities in an old train car that used to service the pulp mill. Lots of attention has been paid to retaining the authenticity of the place, and upcoming plans for The Mill at Ward Cove include an installation that will welcome passengers into the facility with the sights and sounds of the surrounding Tongass National Rain Forest.

The future is an enticing one for Ward Cove, a place where cruisers can sail right into Alaska’s wilderness and choose to kayak, hike, or take an electric bike or cart to nearby facilities on Connell Lake. Plans also include cabins with amenities to spend a day with your family or friends in the rain forest, and experience what we’ve dubbed as “wilderness cabanas.”

The vision is a strong one and feels almost as if Ward Cove is being developed as a private port, which has pros and cons. For guests who have experienced Ketchikan many times, this new perspective on the port has lots to offer, especially for active cruisers. However, we found the transportation between Ward Cove and Ketchikan proper still needs to be streamlined.

The line for shuttles — $8 round trip, so not complimentary — extended far across the spacious warehouse in the morning and ended with a hot and un-air-conditioned ride back to port that takes 12 to 15 minutes. Plans are in place for a 30-minute water taxi tour offering from the ship into Ketchikan. As walking is not an option, we feel that a free shuttle would be more appropriate to offer guests a choice of activities. Shore excursions booked through the cruise line include transportation.

Concluding the ribbon-cutting at Ward Cove, the ground was blessed by Tlingit elders from the Saxon region and members of the Cape Fox Corporation, followed by traditional dances.

“I have to be honest, if you would have asked me on April 1 if we were going to be here on a beautiful sunny day in August, I would have said no,” said Sommer during his remarks. “It was nothing short of miraculous that all of these things came together. One of the miracles being that despite COVID-19 in the last year and a half…the pier was here ready for us, and what a beautiful facility the two families have created.”

NCLH has a 30-year preferential berthing agreement with Ward Cove Dock Group.