Eastport looking to lure ships City touted in Miami as stop for cruises

EASTPORT – Cruise ships soon could grace this picturesque harbor, now that the city has promoted what it has to offer at a cruise ship convention held earlier this month in Miami.

“Lots of times, people think of Eastport as the end of the world,” said Tess Ftorek of Robbinston. “Our mantra over and over again – Eastport is the beginning of the world – this is where it all starts.”

Ftorek, who owns an outdoor adventure company, and Christopher Brown, who owns S.L. Wadsworth and Son, the oldest ship chandlery in the state, were in the City of Sun cruising for business. The two volunteers went on behalf of the Eastport Port Authority and as part of a statewide team promoting all Maine ports.

And it was a successful trip because the two are raring to turn their contacts into some positive business for the city.

Ftorek and Jett Peterson, who owns the Westin House in Eastport, Monday sat down to talk about the marketing effort. Brown, who was still in Florida, answered questions by telephone the same day.

Ftorek said she was impressed with the size of the convention, which included people from all over the world. “We went down and our mission was twofold – one was to gather information about what other people might be doing and which cruise lines might be of interest to us, and also to go down and talk about what we do have to offer in this area,” she said. “I feel we were very, very successful. We made some wonderful contacts and came back with some great ideas.”

“It was quite an awesome convention of people.” Brown added. “We were there representing 13 ports in the state, but there were countries there with elaborate booths representing their nation and all their ports of call.”

A cruise ship owner and operator, who had previously visited Eastport, is interested. “We do have one cruise line that has verbally committed to sending ships here in 2008,” Ftorek said. “We have a few executives visiting Eastport this summer and talking about Eastport as a port of call. We also will be meeting with an agency that puts together itineraries for the ships that are coming in.”

Brown said it was up to the city to make the visits a success. “Let Eastport sell itself during those visits, but be there to help make that happen in the right way and show them the right way and be prepared to give them the right offering to make it work,” he said. “I am pretty confident it can.”

In 2000, the state hosted 74 cruise ship visits, most of which were in the coastal resort community of Bar Harbor. Right now there are 202 ship calls expected this season.

Eastport knows that with two ports – one downtown and two berths at nearby Estes Head – they need to tap into the cruise ship industry.

The city is interested in 50- to 100-passenger ships and megayachts that include between six and 12 people. Many of those smaller ships are geared toward young and active passengers interested in adventure and ecotourism.

Ftorek said the average cruise ship passenger spends upwards of $125 in port, while the average crew member spends $48. “In addition, when these cruise ships come in, I think we’re going to find people from the local and surrounding communities who will come to Eastport just to see the ships,” she said.

Peterson said it was up to her group to create daylong excursion packages as well as make the downtown a place where tourists want to spend money. She said she could see a three-prong attack built around a three-nation concept that would include the Passamaquoddy tribe, along with communities in Canada, Calais and Lubec.

“We have all of these places around the bay. We can offer many activities that expand from one place to the other including hiking, art and museums,” she added.