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St. Petersburg wants to woo major cruise lines
By BRYAN GILMER, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- It wasn't sung to the tune of the theme from The Love Boat, but city leaders delivered a message to the cruise industry Thursday. St. Petersburg wants major cruise lines to use the city as a port of call. "They were more than interested, and you could tell from their reaction and their comments that we are definitely on their radar screen now," said City Council member John Bryan just after the meeting. Bryan, Mayor Rick Baker and tourism and commerce leaders flew a small chartered plane to Fort Lauderdale on Thursday afternoon to meet with representatives of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association. The trade association represents 13 cruise lines, including heavy hitters such as Royal Caribbean, Princess, Norwegian, Disney, Carnival and Celebrity, whose executives attended the meeting. The St. Petersburg officials touted the city's museums and the shops at the Pier and BayWalk, all within walking distance. They said the large ships could enter Tampa Bay, anchor a mile off downtown St. Petersburg, then send passengers to the Pier in small boats. After a few hours, the boats would return passengers to their ship. Cities such as Key West receive hundreds of thousands of visitors each year as regular ports of call for cruises, Bryan noted. Many of them use small boats to bring passengers ashore. Those cities collect a fee of $8 or $9 a person. Cruise line officials could not be reached Thursday evening. But Baker said he left feeling good. "I think it's going to require a consistent effort to keep talking with them, but I would say that for a first sit-down, it was very positive," he said. Baker said he will try to get cruise line officials to visit St. Petersburg on a scouting trip. Travel agents around the country said St. Petersburg has selling points as a port of call. Linda Manea, manager of LNM Cruise Agency in Houston, said St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront shopping is its most attractive feature. She was less enthusiastic about its restaurants and museums. "There is so much food on the cruise ship that unless there's something exceptional, I don't think they want to go out and spend $70 on a restaurant bill," she said. "Museums, maybe people will do it on their own. But as far as selling it for tours, I'm not sure there is a big market for it. I think they pretty much come on the cruise ship for fun, and that is more educational." Harold Schultz, owner of Cruise Discovery in Cincinnati, said fresh ports of call help sell cruises. Some passengers "have been on many cruises and they like to have a new port to travel to," he said. "So the cruise lines have been doing that, offering new cities." St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership executive vice president Don Shea said, "We think we're playing right into that timing."
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