Each night when we get the next day’s Cruise Compass, I start by reading the description of our next port of call. When I saw the description of Astoria, I was a little taken aback. In fact, I had to read it aloud to my husband to make sure I wasn’t overthinking (as an academic, I’m prone to doing that).
“Tell me if this doesn’t sound like the most depressing thing you’ve heard,” I said, before reading the description of Astoria:
“Astoria has served as a port of entry for over a century and remains the trading center for the lower Columbia basin, although it has long since been eclipsed by Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington as an economic hub of the Pacific Northwest. Astoria’s economy centered on fishing, fish processing, and lumber. IN 1945, about 30 canneries could be found along the Columbia; however, in 1974 Bumblebee Seafood moved its headquarters out of Astoria, and gradually reduced its presence until 1980 when the company closed its last Astoria cannery. The timber industry likewise declined; Astoria Plywood Mill, the city’s largest employer, closed in 1989, and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway discontinued service in 1996.”
Perhaps I’m a bit sensitive, but I thought this description of Astoria as a has-been canning and lumber town was a little too bleak. It’s not inaccurate by any means, and the city has had a hard way to go for many years. In fact, the introduction of cruise ship tourism, along with the push to get land-based visitors, has played a major role in Astoria’s economy in the last few years. (Maybe that’s part of the reason why we found everyone to be so friendly and helpful! Although from my years of living in Oregon, I think the people there are just generally nice.)
One thing I did notice, however, was that the small town of Astoria (pop. 9800) did have a bit of a logistics problem with the arrival of a fairly large cruise ship like Explorer of the Seas (3100 passengers). The port is off-set slightly from the downtown, necessitating that passengers either walk a mile along a waterfront pathway or take a shuttle bus ($6 roundtrip). Since the hubby’s bad back limits us from walking long distances, the shuttle bus it was.
However, there were over 3000 of us – and not nearly enough shuttle buses; though I give the town props for trying earnestly, the system in place just couldn’t accommodate the demand. (In fact, Astoria has set up an extensive “cruise host” program to assist passengers in touring the city, and we found these folks to be wonderfully helpful.) But when we disembarked the ship first thing in the morning, we found long lines for the shuttle buses and decided to re-board the ship and try again later (we eventually wound up taking the bus around noon with very little wait).
As cruise lines expand their itineraries and port in more towns like Astoria, it’s increasingly likely that this situation – big ship in a little town – will be a part of your cruise experience. My advice is to plan your day accordingly to avoid the logjam of passengers at the beginning of the day: Have a late, leisurely breakfast; use the opportunity to sleep in; maybe even hit the fitness center in the morning. If you shift your shore time to the second half of the day, you’ll have far less competition for the resources like shuttle buses that can be a bit pinched in these kind of ports.