Cruise line will be a more regular visitor to Bremerton's waterfront in 2023

Just five years after adding Kitsap County to its Puget Sound itinerary, American Cruise Lines will significantly increase its presence on the Bremerton waterfront this spring and summer.

Two ships will make 45 stops combined at the Harborside Marina, starting next Friday, April 14, through mid-November. One, the American Constellation, has been coming to Bremerton since 2018, when it made a one-night stop, and regularly since 2019, other than a year off in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic. In 2022 the American Constellation made seven dockings. This spring the vessel is joined by the American Spirit, two of the Connecticut-based tour company's vessels that run trips around Puget Sound for a vacation that's tailored to non-Northwesterners, according to CEO Jim Rothlin from the Port of Bremerton, which announced the expansion.

"Hardly anybody was from the state of Washington," Rothlin said of the visitors American Cruise Lines brings to the region. "They came from outside the state, even outside the country... For the demographic they get, they like the activities we have here, they like things that are unique."

Rothlin pointed to the Navy Museum in downtown Bremerton, Port Orchard's Elandan Gardens, and the USS Turner Joy Naval Destroyer Museum, located just down the boardwalk from where the cruise ships will dock, as the most popular excursions offered on tour itineraries. This year the Port of Bremerton has purchased a golf carts to offer rides to cruise visitors up the hill from the marina into downtown Bremerton, and John Hansen of the Turner Joy said his organization has done the same. Hansen said the ships, which hold from 90 to 180 passengers, have been helpful to museum attendance and at times send as many as 70 visitors to the museum on a single stop and the Turner Joy has catered to the visitors by offering discounts or custom souvenirs.

And now, there's potential for that nearly every weekend of the next eight months. According to an itinerary from American Cruise Lines, the majority of dockings will take place on Friday mornings, with occasional arrivals on a Saturday or Sunday, in April (4 visits), May (8), June (5), July (4), August (4), September (7), October (7), and November (6).

Alexa Paolella of American Cruise Lines said the vessels will no longer dock in Liberty Bay for a Poulsbo stop, which had been part of the company's two Puget Sound tours in the past. But Poulsbo remains a destination on the advertised itinerary, and during the longer dockings in Bremerton passengers will be bused from the Harborside Marina to North Kitsap attractions like Front Street or the Suquamish Museum.

The two tours in Puget Sound range from a seven-night visit, with prices that start at around $4,000, to a 11-night trip that starts at about $5,700, according to American Cruise Lines. Paolella said the majority of visitors are not from the Northwest, and often chose to explore the area as repeat customers who've taken a trip to Alaska or another of American Cruise Lines' domestic trips on waterways like the Mississippi River or Columbia River, or harbors along the New England coast.

"We're thrilled the cruise ships are substantially increasing their port visits to Bremerton," Hansen said. "The economic impact to downtown businesses is exciting."