Cruise West
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Cruise West is an independent, destination focused small-ship cruise operator based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The line is the largest operator of U.S. flagged cruise vessels (by number of vessels) with seven currently operating. They are best known for their Alaska cruises but their reach includes destinations all around the Pacific Ocean.
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[edit] History
Founded in 1973 by Chuck West, Cruise West started out as an Alaska tour operator [1]. It wasn't until 1990 that the company purchased its first overnight vessel, the now retired 52-passenger Spirit of Glacier Bay. Through the 1990s the company increasingly focused on cruising and expanded it's fleet and added new non-Alaskan destinations such as the Columbia & Snake Rivers, British Columbia, California's wine country, and into Mexico's Sea of Cortes.[2]
In 2001 the line acquired it's first ocean going and foreign flagged vessel, the 114-passenger Spirit of Oceanus, a former Renaissance Cruises vessel. The company had planned to use the vessel to operate cruises in Japan and the South Pacific but the terrorist attacks on September 11th, which caused a devastating blow to the travel industry, forced the line to delay those plans and instead lay the vessel up in Seattle when she wasn't operating Alaska cruises. Several of the line's competitors declared bankruptcy and went out of business during this time.[3] [4] [5]
Cruise West expanded to Central America when they joined forces with Temptress Cruise Lines of Costa Rica to offer cruises on the 110-passenger M/V Pacific Explorer in Costa Rica and Panama.
In January of 2006 Cruise West purchased the U.S. flagged half of Clipper Cruise Line's fleet, the 102-passenger Nantucket Clipper and the 138-passenger Yorktown Clipper. The line renamed the vessels "Spirit of Nantucket" and Spirit of Yorktown, respectively.[6] The Spirit of Nantucket operated on the U.S. east coast and the Great Lakes for two seasons before the line decided that it would join the rest of the fleet on the Pacific coast and be rechristened Spirit of Glacier Bay. Clipper Cruise lines has since sold off it's remaining vessels and went out of business.
The Spirit of Oceanus finally began operating year round in 2006 when the line added cruise departures in Japan and the South Pacific. In 2007 this expanded to include China and Vietnam.
The line remains family owned and operated.
[edit] Fleet
- Spirit of Oceanus - 120 guests
- Spirit of Yorktown - 138 guests
- Spirit of Endeavour - 102 guests
- Spirit of Glacier Bay - 102 guests
- Spirit of '98 - 98 guests
- Spirit of Discovery - 84 guests
- Spirit of Alaska - 78 guests
- Spirit of Columbia - 78 guests
- Pacific Explorer - 100 guests
[edit] Destinations
- Alaska - Including the Bering Sea with stops on Russia's Chukchi Peninsula.
- British Columbia
- Columbia and Snake Rivers
- California Wine Country
- Mexico's Sea of Cortes
- Central America - Including Costa Rica and Panama
- South Pacific - Including French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Micronesia, and Guam.
- Asia - Including Japan, Vietnam, China, and Russia's Kuril Islands and Kamchatka Peninsula.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ West, Chuck, Mr Alaska, Weslee Pub, ISBN 978-0933319110
- ^ Chuck West Story. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ New York Times Business News. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ American Classic Voyages. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ CNN.com - Renaissance Cruises closes. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
- ^ Cruise Critic - About Cruise West. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
