A president with Royal Caribbean Group said Tuesday discussions about a private cruise ship port on west Douglas are just starting with local officials, but some of those officials said those discussions need to start with a public apology for last week’s surprise announcement of the project.
The apology didn’t occur during the executive’s speech to a large tourism convention audience. However, a formal apology was offered in a statement from a Royal Caribbean spokesperson emailed to the Empire a couple of hours later.
A two-ship floating dock and “a recreated 1800s Alaska Native Tlingit village” are proposed on land owned by Goldbelt Inc., which last Wednesday announced the signing of a cooperative agreement for the project.
That announcement, coming the day after the certification of the municipal election in which a question about limiting cruise ship visits was the biggest item on the ballot, prompted angry responses from city officials who said they had no knowledge of the project until the day before the public announcement.
Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon (right) and city Tourism Manager Alexandra Pierce exchange words in response to a speech by Celebrity Cruises President Laura Hodges Bethge during the Alaska Travel Industry Association convention Tuesday at Centennial Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
The port was mentioned Tuesday during a keynote speech by Laura Hodges Bethge, president of Royal Caribbean subsidiary Celebrity Cruises, during the opening day of the Alaska Travel Industry Association convention at Centennial Hall.
“We’ve just begun conversations with Mayor (Beth) Weldon, and other local stakeholders and residents, and we deeply value the input,” Bethge said. “We know we have a lot of steps to take to move this project forward and we look forward to doing it with all of you as a part of our ongoing dedication to Alaska.”
But Weldon, in the audience, stated in a text message she was “not pleased how (Bethge) put it.”
“We are not working together,” Weldon wrote. “We are still extremely unhappy with their blow to the community and they need to prove that they are thinking of the community.”
More specifically, “that they can start with a public apology and none of that has happened,” said Alexandra Pierce, tourism manager for the City and Borough of Juneau, who also was present during the speech, in an interview afterward.
Bethge, after her speech, declined to respond to questions by the Empire about the response to her remarks by Weldon and Pierce. The email containing the apology was sent a couple of hours later by a company spokesperson.
“We formally apologize to the City and Borough of Juneau that we did not communicate with their team earlier on the planned port project,” the email states. “During today’s Alaska Travel Industry Association conference, keynote speaker Laura Hodges Bethge used her speaking time to reiterate that conversations have just begun with local stakeholders and residents. We deeply value the input and look forward to the ongoing dialogue on this project.”
Pierce said the apology is a step in the right direction, but a broader effort should be made by Royal Caribbean — via a public forum or similar action — to address community concerns raised by the surprise announcement.
“I truly appreciate that they made the effort to issue a formal apology,” she said. “I think they have a long way to go to repair their relationship with the public in Juneau and I hope that their next steps are to focus on that.”
Weldon declined to comment about the emailed apology.
Goldbelt President and CEO McHugh Pierre, who participated in a panel discussion about cultural tourism after Bethge’s speech, declined to respond afterward to the critical remarks by Weldon and Pierce beyond reiterating he did tell local leaders about the planned project the day before it was publicly announced.
The planned west Douglas dock, which according to the official announcement could be completed by 2027, “will celebrate the rich Native Tlingit culture with a destination’s growth while addressing the challenges of some of the destination’s growth such as downtown traffic,” Bethge said in her speech.
“This project is an example of how we work with destinations to help disperse visitors across the geography,” she said. “We have seen similar successes with port development projects in the Caribbean and Europe which have made significant improvement in tourism management.”
Goldbelt owns about 1,700 acres between Outer Point and Point Hilda on Douglas Island, and development projects in that vicinity ranging from housing to an 18-hole golf course have been discussed for decades. Pierre, when the private port was announced last week, said many specifics for the project are still being developed, but the hope is to include features such as employee housing, helipads to launch flightseeing tours from and facilities to support dayboat sightseeing tours.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
