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Norfolk: cruise
ship destination
As more lines visit,
business picks up at downtown stores and restaurants
by
Lauren Shepherd
for
Virginia Business
April 2003
On
a recent afternoon in Norfolk, the private wooden booths
and white-clothed tables filling Todd Jurich’s
Bistro restaurant are mostly empty. But Marc Sauter,
the sommelier, is unperturbed. He’s betting that
come better weather, the days will be rich with well-to-do
tourists embarking or disembarking on the large cruise
ships calling on Hampton Roads as never before.
Indeed,
that’s one of the reasons he and chef and owner
Todd Jurich picked this spot on West Main Street for
their restaurant. It’s directly across from the
city’s Nauticus pier and maritime center —
only about a block’s walking distance for any cruise
passenger hungry for a bite of Norfolk culture. The
restaurant opened at the new location last month. “It’s
a nice spot for all of us,” Sauter says. “It’s
great exposure to us and a pre- and after-destination
for them.”
If
trends over the past two years are any indication, retailers
and hotels will see more tourists walking Norfolk’s
downtown streets than half a century ago when they were
thronged with sailors searching for bars and girls.
And with more cruise ship lines planning stops in Norfolk
this year, including the luxury Radisson Seven Seas
line, the city is in for an invasion of sorts. It expects
about 49,000 cruise-line passengers, an increase of
9,808 from last year and 46,250 from 2001.
Each
of those cruise passengers are expected to spend $104,
meaning the cruise industry will contribute about $5
million to the city’s economy this year. “This
is a great opportunity to introduce Norfolk to an even
larger audience,” says Stephen Kirkland, cruise
marketing manager for the city. “It’s a great
way to show we’re a first-class city.”
To
accommodate visitors, the city plans to build an addition
to the recently completed Nauticus facility. The new
75,000 square-foot building next to the water will include
a customs facility and bag-handling area, and is expected
to be completed by 2005 or 2006 with a price tag of
close to $30 million. City officials envision a terminal
where cruise passengers could easily embark and debark
from ships, collect baggage and make their way to the
city’s center.
The addition would be yet another sonnet in the city’s
courting of the cruise industry. Before 2001, most cruise
ships stopped at Newport News, with only a few making
their way to Norfolk. After watching the activity 10
miles north, Norfolk officials decided to get in on
the game and added a $2 million, 50-foot addition to
Nauticus to accommodate bigger cruise ships. “We
kind of jumped feet-first into the diving end,”
Kirkland says.
The
terrorist attacks of 9/11 helped perk the ears of cruise
lines, looking to bring cruise ships closer to Americans
fearful of flying. Norfolk stood in the perfect location
to benefit, since it sits within driving distance of
most of the East Coast. That location, combined with
an aggressive marketing campaign by the city, has pushed
Norfolk onto the cruise industry’s radar. “We’ve
been up and down the coast, introducing ourselves to
the industry,” says Norfolk’s Mayor Paul Fraim.
He and others say the city’s attractive, up-and-coming
downtown and the port’s proximity to shopping including
the MacArthur Center shopping mall — which boasts
a Nordstrom’s and restaurants — have also
convinced cruise lines to schedule day stops.
The city does have competition for the heart of the
cruise industry. Baltimore, Md., Charleston, S.C., and
Savannah, Ga., all are port cities where cruise ships
call. However, city officials say Norfolk’s location
halfway down the East Coast makes it within easy driving
distance for more people than competing ports. Also,
it is much closer to the center of downtown than many
New England ports, such as Boston or Philadelphia —
popular destinations for cruise liners.
Statistics show the city’s campaign to woo the
cruise industry has worked. In 2003, cruise ships will
make 34 stops in Norfolk, up from 24 in 2002. And they’re
not small, unknown cruise lines. Carnival Victory, whose
ships hold more than 3,000 passengers, will make seven
stops in Norfolk this year. Norwegian Sea, with over
1,000 passengers per ship, will stop in Norfolk twice
beginning next month. Even so, the majority of cruise
lines don’t use Norfolk as a “home-port,”
a spot where passengers begin or end their cruise. Instead,
most ships stay in Norfolk for about eight hours and
then head back to sea.
Radisson Seven Seas Cruises is an exception. Starting
next month the luxury, five-star cruise line will have
nine sailings, picking up passengers in Norfolk and
taking them to New York and Bermuda. For passengers
who begin the trip in New York, they will be able to
come to Norfolk and take side-trips to Williamsburg
and Jamestown before heading home. A weeklong cruise
costs about $2,300 per person. “We were looking
at ways for offering something truly unique and extraordinary,”
says Andrew Poulton, director of strategic marketing
for Radisson Seven Seas.
For Radisson, the cruise is an alternative to most Bermuda
voyages, which originate in New York and stop in a New
England port on the way. But besides allowing New Yorkers
to see the historic sites around Norfolk, the schedule
also hooks into a market for Norfolk, eager to visit
the Big Apple and Bermuda. “We anticipated and
have been proved correct that there’s a local market
in Norfolk,” says Poulton. “I think we made
the right decision.”
Hosting a cruise ship like the Radisson Seven Seas Navigator
overnight could have a real effect on hotel occupancy
rates in Norfolk, since many passengers may want to
stay over before or after a cruise. “With the size
of the ships, all the downtown hotels are going to reap
the rewards from that,” says Jeff Roike, general
manager of the Sheraton Norfolk Waterside.
Roike and other hotel managers have been somewhat isolated
from the tourism boom so far. Since most cruise ships
merely stop in the city for several hours, area hotels
have yet to see drastic differences in hotel bookings
that stem directly from cruise line passengers. Cruise
industry executives have been booking rooms, though,
eager to get a glimpse of the town.
The city’s retail industry, however, is already
reaping benefits from the cruise industry. With passengers
and ship crews keen to see the city, buy a souvenir
and spend some cash, Norfolk’s malls have seen
big increases in business in the past few years. In
2002, the retail industry grew 0.8 percent — a
deceptively small number since the city led the nation
in retail growth and was one of only two localities
to post positive numbers. City officials and mall managers
explain the success of the retail economy with one word
— cruise. “From a port of call perspective,
you can disembark on a cruise ship and walk to Nordstrom’s,”
says Fraim.
At the downtown MacArthur Center mall, store personnel
know cruise ship schedules and use it as a barometer
for sales and hiring. Besides Nordstrom’s, the
mall has a Dillard’s, specialty stores, a movie
theater and food court. “We can tell [when ships
come in] because of the increased bodies in the center,”
says Karen Winters, the mall’s marketing director.
“We think it’s had a very positive impact
on our business.” The mall does not release sales
figures, but both Winters and General Manager Ed Ladd
hear anecdotal stories from merchants suggesting cruise
ship passengers have had a direct impact on increased
sales. “We had a very good 2002,” says Ladd.
With more money making its way into Norfolk coffers,
the city stands to grow and become a more attractive
place to visit and to live. Tony DiFilippo, president
and CEO of the Norfolk Convention and Visitor’s
Bureau, cautions that “there’s only limited
land available to grow downtown.” Still, he thinks
the city will stay ahead of national growth trends.
To cruise passengers the old Navy town, with its funky
restaurants, hip bars and waterside charm, is already
looking like the “New Norfolk” city officials
have promised for years.
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to Virginia Business - April 2003
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