American Cruise Lines 'definitely interested' in bringing ships to Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH — Two senior representatives of American Cruise Lines met with Geno Marconi Friday to talk about the possibility of bringing the cruise line to Portsmouth as soon as summer 2024.

Marconi, the director of Ports and Harbors for the Pease Development Authority, confirmed late Friday he met with the cruise line representatives and showed them around the 12-acre Market Street Marine Terminal, which is adjacent to the Piscataqua River.

“I wanted them to see what the facility looked like and I showed them around and talked about how things worked here,” Marconi said. “They’re going to talk to their team and evaluate their options.”

The American Cruise Lines representatives are familiar with the Portsmouth and Seacoast area, Marconi said. Its website currently advertises New England stops like Bangor and Portland in Maine, as well as Boston and Providence.

American Cruise Lines 'definitely interested' in Portsmouth

“They’re definitely interested in coming here. I think they’ve got a schedule on their website with them coming here in July,” he said. “We had a nice chat. They’re going to go back to their team and they’ll get back to us and hopefully we can work something out."

Marconi stressed he wants to “make sure people understand that when we’re talking cruise ships, we’re not talking about the huge ships like Celebrity or Carnival. They’re simply too big to get them under the bridge.”

Marconi, who used to work in the cruise ship industry, said American Cruise Lines have “been around for a long time” and are respected in the business.

“They’re U.S. flag coastal cruise vessels, they’ve got a number of boats, about 16 boats operating around the country,” he said. “They’re on the Mississippi River, too, and they’ve got a fleet of boats.”

“They’re very nice, intimate boats,” he added about the American Cruise Lines experience.

If the Port of New Hampshire is able to reach a deal to bring the cruise ships into the Market Street terminal, “it’s certainly more exposure for the city and the Seacoast community,” he said.

“Again, that’s part of what we do, that’s part of our job at the port is to promote its use for economic development, and people want to come to Portsmouth,” Marconi said.

Cruise line touts 'simple sophistication'

American Cruise Lines states its cruising experiences are about “simple sophistication,” according to their website.

“As we travel to the most amazing destinations across the United States, we offer our guests an elevated cruise experience - not expressed through black tie affairs and formal gatherings, but rather through personalized exploration, well-designed enrichment programs on board and ashore, and all the comforts that come with cruising on the newest fleet in the country,” the company states on its website.

“American Cruise Lines delivers culture, history, and enlightenment, without the distractions of buffets, casinos and wave pools,” they added.

American Cruise Lines already offers a variety of cruises along the New England coast, according to the company website, and their “small ship design” offers customers “an intimate environment.”

Marconi’s meeting with the American Cruise Line representatives came after he appeared Friday morning to talk to the city’s Economic Development Commission about the history of the port and the possibility to bring cruise ships into Portsmouth.

“It just fell together, we didn’t plan it that way,” he said about the visit by American Cruise Lines representatives to Portsmouth.

Port in the midst of major renovations

The cruise line discussion comes as the Port is finishing up one major renovation project and is soon to start another, Marconi said.

A project is close to finished to renovate and upgrade the existing pier at the Market Street terminal, which was built in 1964, Marconi told the EDC.

Since then, he added, it’s had “very little to no work done on it to maintain it.”

In addition, the port recently received bids on a project to extend the dock so its 800 feet long, Marconi said.

That includes adding 145 feet on the North End and about 60 feet on the South End, he told the EDC.

“The navigation channel can now handle 750-foot ships,” Marconi said.

The dock project will give the Port “the capacity to bring those vessels in,” he said.

He estimated after the bid is awarded – and it came in under budget - the project will take about two and a half years to complete.

But he stressed that even with the project going on, the port can now accommodate ships in the American Cruise Lines fleet.

“We are doing this project while keeping in mind that we don’t want to have any interruptions to our regular business,” he said. “We’re pretty confident we can do that.”

The biggest customers the Port has now is cargo ships bringing in road salt, Marconi said.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: American Cruise Lines 'definitely interested' in Portsmouth NH