It's Just Movies: Review of Cruise Boom by Bev Questad

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Know anyone who has gone on an Alaskan cruise this past year?

The new Klondike Gold Rush (1896-189) is The Alaskan Tourist Rush. With the recent opening of a private dock in Sitka, the inhabitants say, “Welcome!” But quietly they wonder, “At what point do we lose a lot of our spirit?” One thing is for sure, they have lost significant control of their city.

Here’s what happened. With a population around 8,400, the people in Sitka voted against establishing a public dock for cruise ships. However, someone owning the local shipyard contacted Royal Caribbean and partnered with them to build a private terminal. It was a good deal for the landowner but has proven to be a challenging ordeal for the community.

Now, without public control of the dock, the City and Borough of Sitka, which is governed by a Unified Home Rule system, realized they could not control how many ships or passengers came to Sitka, a two-island community accessible only by plane or boat. Plus, the town had no right to the docking fees.

As the baby-boomers have retired and taken to traveling around the world, Alaska offers a unique American experience. But the environmental effects of these mammoth ships and an influx of tourists in a minimum of 180 days on these tiny towns is an overwhelming challenge for the people living there. Over 379.000 cruise ship tourists visited Sitka the first year of their post-Covid cruise boom. Approx 560,000 passengers visited the second year.

Though there is some gratitude for the summer onslaught of tourist business in restaurants and souvenir shops, the Sitka people soon realized they needed to create a more robust infrastructure for electricity, waste management and accommodations for out-of-town seasonal workers. How could such a tiny town afford all this?

A PBS film, “Cruise Boom” investigates the many pros and cons besetting the Sitka residents. “Cruise Boom” is also now available online for free viewing (watch in below). Perhaps you will be motivated to get onboard for observing glaciers calving and wild animals treated well at sanctuaries. Your attendance at indigenous performances and cultural centers will hopefully re-invigorate the indigenous Alaskan heritage.

But the downside is also presented, and it may make you pause. “From Bar Harbor, Maine to Tahiti, French Polynesia, a global conversation is happening with communities working to decide what kind of tourism they want to see.” Whatever your point of view, directors Ellen Frankenstein and Atman Mehta have created a powerful film for you to ponder.

Link to It’s Just Movies Review of Cruise Boom

Sneak Peak of ‘Cruise Boom’ documentary showing in Sitka this weekend→

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Sneak Peak of ‘Cruise Boom’ documentary showing in Sitka this weekend

Sitkans are reflecting on the biggest cruise season to-date on the silver screen. Throughout the summer, filmmakers Ellen Frankenstein and Atman Mehta were documenting the record-breaking year. Now they’re presenting a rough-cut of the film Cruise Boom, this Sunday, November 20 at the Coliseum Theater.

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Sitka Reckons with a Cruise Boom→

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Sitka Reckons with a Cruise Boom

SITKA — On a recent weekday morning, the weather forecast was looking pretty good for Sitka. The breeze was light, and what people in Southeast Alaska call a sucker hole — a patch of blue sky in an otherwise overcast sky — had developed.

The tourist forecast, however, was “orange,” meaning that on this particular Tuesday, cruise ships were expected to deliver between 3,000 and 5,999 humans to this Southeast Alaska town for the day, where they would be shuttled into the historic downtown to wander among charming shops and amble through an old-growth forest dotted with totem poles. The main drag of downtown would be closed to vehicles to accommodate the surge.

Sitka, a city of about 8,300 people known for arts and fishing and hemmed in by ocean and towering forest, has been a cruise ship destination for years. Owing to its isolated location on Baranof Island on Southeast Alaska’s outer coast, it has historically attracted smaller, high-end adventure cruises as well as independent travelers arriving by air and ferry.

Now, that’s changing.

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Documentary Focuses on Cruise Issues→

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Documentary Focuses on Cruise Issues

How will next year’s expected 478,000 cruise ship visitors affect Sitka? What are the potential benefits and negative impacts? How can Sitka prepare? Filmmaker Ellen Frankenstein doesn’t know the answers – and maybe no one else does – but that’s not really the point of the new Artchange documentary “Cruise Boom.”

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