ASTORIA, Ore. — Friday was a big day in Astoria. For the first time since the fall of 2019, a cruise ship made a stop at the Port of Astoria on its way up to Canada. The Koningsdam made its inaugural call into the Port of Astoria on Friday morning.
"We are so excited to come to your town here, because I just finished reading the memoirs of Lewis and Clark and we’re going to go visit your fort here," said Robert Petkau, who is on a cruise with his wife Deb.
Visitors weren't the only ones thrilled about this visit to Astoria.
“This is tremendous for the town, [we're] excited — we've been waiting for this day for long time," said Bruce Conner with the Port of Astoria. “They suggest on any given ship arrival on U.S ports, a couple spends $150 in that local town."
Multiply that by the thousands on board and it’s good news for the local economy.
“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, $900,000, and then if we have 22 ships this year, times ... we’re going to get close to $16-17 million. It's an economic impact to the port, to the community and to the state," said Conner.
Some local businesses said that the lack of cruises over the last two and a half years has caused a substantial drop in income.
Jennifer Holen co-owns Nekst Event restaurant downtown, and she says the return of cruise ships is a lifeline.
“We’ve been in Astoria for 22 years and we’ve seen the whole start of the cruise ships and it’s really impactful,” said Holen.
Locals hope the impact will last, and that this inaugural visit will pave the way for more people to visit Astoria. While the Koningsdam is the first cruise in town since 2019, the Port of Astoria expects 21 more cruises to stop by this season — bringing along a big boost to the town and local economy.