Monday welcomed in the first real summer weather of the year, and the first real summer crowds: more than 2,000 passengers off Cunard Cruise Line’s Queen Elizabeth. 

Currently, there are just a handful of those high-volume, 2000-plus passenger days each year in the Chilkat Valley. That could change, as the community draws closer to a decision on a deal to lease the municipal cruise dock to an outside port-management company. According to preliminary talks, the company, Global Ports Holding, would attempt to quadruple the valley’s annual cruise-passenger visitation. 

There’s no simple answer, yet, on whether locals want such an increase, with plenty of voices on each side. 

But what do cruise passengers think?

On Monday, Chilkat Valley News reporters Will Steinfeld and Lizzy Hahn spoke to Queen Elizabeth passengers, some on shore excursions, some exploring town on their own. We asked how the stop in the Chilkat Valley compared with other Southeast ports, and what they thought about Haines’ attractions. Here’s what they said:

Michele Johnson, Barbara Murphy and Fred Murphy

Johnson, a Chicagoan, and the Murphys, Texans but near-year-round RV travelers, had just returned from a bus trip to the Haines Highway summit. 

When the prospect of increased cruise numbers came up, Johnson immediately interrupted: “Oh no. Absolutely not.” 

“This is Alaska,” she said. “I have no interest in going to the places that are touristy. I would go to 10 of these places in the place of one Disneyland. I want to see how people live in Alaska, to talk to people, ask how they survive the winter.” 

The Queen Elizabeth, which departed from  Seattle, had previously stopped in Ketchikan, and Johnson drew a sharp distinction between Haines and Southeast’s southern port. 

“In Ketchikan, I didn’t even care if I got off the ship. I can buy things anywhere,” Johnson said. “I think you guys should preserve the resources you have — the scenery and the sense of community.”

“Start a GoFundMe instead,” she added, after acknowledging the potential economic boost of increased tourism. “I’d donate monthly to that.”

The Murphys, in agreement with Johnson, highlighted the sense of community their friend spoke about. 

Talking about their day trip out to the pass, Barbara Murphy brought up a specific moment from their guide: 

“When our tour guide heard we were going on the shuttle, she said, ‘say hello to my friend Jack driving the shuttle, go into this place and tell my friend so-and-so hello.’ It’s very cool that it works that way. You really get a feel for the town, how friendly people are.” 

“When I opened my window and looked out this morning, I thought, ‘oh my, I’m in Alaska,” she added. “It’s my understanding that Skagway sees something like 12,000 people at one time. I no longer have an interest in going to Skagway now that I’ve heard that.”

Said Fred Murphy, “Ketchikan is just excursion after excursion. I can see that anywhere in the country. This stays plain. This is what we want.” 

Gang Hou, Jemmy Lo and Dinna Lo

Gang Hou, Jemmy Lo, and Dinna Lo were eating lunch at a picnic bench by Fort Seward. They had split off from their larger group of friends after their scheduled tour to Chilkoot Lake failed to arrive. 

They were less focused on the local details than Johnson and the Murphys had been. In fact, Hou and the Los weren’t entirely sure the name of the town they were eating lunch in. 

The way it worked, they said, was as the ship approached port, staff handed out a Haines brochure and briefed passengers on the stop. 

“They compared the different cities, saying, ‘maybe it’s not as modern as Skagway, but it’s more peaceful,’” Dinna Lo said. 

When the Chilkoot excursion fell through, they had opted for a walk around downtown. 

“Downtown is very boring, to be honest with you,” Lo added. “If there were some more activities, or more transportation to go to Chilkoot Lake, it would be better.”

Gang Hou had a slightly different perspective. The friends were coming from Houston, where they had lived for decades after immigrating from Taiwan, and Hou said he was glad to have something different. 

“We come from Houston,” Hou said. “That’s a modern city. We don’t need to make everything like a Houston. If I wanted that I would have stayed in Houston. So I like this. It’s different.”

Like the previous group, the Los and Hou were also very interested in how locals survived winter. 

Kristin and Rich Snoddy

The Queen Elizabeth, the Snoddys said, was the first cruise they had been on where shore excursions could be scheduled ahead of time, before the cruise even started. 

By the time they got around to looking at Haines excursions, they were all sold out. Instead, the Snoddys, from the Detroit area, spent the morning walking around town, impressed by skunk cabbage in a ditch by Mountain Market. 

“For me, your scenery here is killing it,” Kristin Snoddy said. “I’m not here to shop, although I’ve bought some interesting things today. Just being able to walk around and (look at the scenery) is enough for me.” 

Gill and Paul Anderson

After a morning whale-watching excursion, the Andersons, from Southern England, rented e-bikes from Sockeye Cycle and made it out to Chilkoot by mid-afternoon 

“We saw eagles, whales, dolphins — our minds were blown,” Paul Anderson said. 

Unlike the passengers in town, they saw less of a difference between Haines and Ketchikan — the ship’s other port call outside of a trip through Glacier Bay. 

“I feel like Ketchikan offered similar sorts of things,” Gill Anderson said. “Walking tours, learning about the history. We were supposed to do the Klondike in Skagway, but it got canceled late last night. But we managed to get on the whale watching this morning, so it worked out for the best.”

Christina Mitchell and Jennifer Allen

Mitchell and Allen were in a similar boat, though actually, technically, a different boat. The two, from Arizona and Washington, were on a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship docked in Skagway, and had taken the fast ferry Monday morning down the canal. 

But like the Andersons, they said they were glad they opted for Chilkoot kayaking rather than Skagway attractions.

“It’s smaller crowds here, it’s a different feel,” Mitchell said. “More laid back.”

“I think Haines has a good number of options,” she added. “It’s different than what you’d see at other ports. It’s nicer because it’s smaller and fewer people.”