Cruise ships in Portsmouth? City economic commission explores the idea

PORTSMOUTH — The city’s Economic Development Commission has begun discussions on whether to support the idea of trying to bring cruise ships to the Port of New Hampshire.

EDC Chair Philip Cohen brought up the idea “for a general discussion just to hear from commissioners” after the prospect of having cruise ships travel to Portsmouth was suggested by city resident James Hewitt, who serves on the Portsmouth Planning Board.

Cohen asked the commission to weigh in on whether they thought the proposal “would be a benefit to the community, retailers, restaurants, etc.”

“Historically we did have some cruise ship activity at the port,” he said during a recent EDC meeting. “I know it’s a very challenging economic model, and I think requires a fair amount of traffic.”

Cruise ships in Portsmouth have been limited in the last 20-plus years. In 2000, a 350-foot cruise ship that made other New England stops, brought 116 passengers to Portsmouth for a day before leaving for Boston. Another ship stopped in Portsmouth in 1999. The Nova Star cruise ferry stopped in Portsmouth in 2014.

Today, in 2023, commissioners’ opinions on the idea of cruise ships, along with additional research, will help determine whether they want to support it or “let it lie where it currently is, which is not necessarily anywhere,” Cohen said.

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Cohen said the EDC has invited Geno Marconi, the director of ports and harbors for the Pease Development Authority, to share his views at the commission's November meeting.

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“Given our unique geography, it’s a question worth asking, and I think once we hear from Geno next month, we’ll be in a position to move (forward) or move away from any further discussion on this,” Cohen said.

For his part, Hewitt believes the prospect of bringing cruise ships to Portsmouth’s popular tourist town is “a slam dunk idea.”

“I understand that cruise ships had come to Portsmouth in the past and I know the cruise ship business is booming around the country,” he said during an interview Monday. “What a great way to get tourists into our city without cars. They get off the boat and they spend money. It seems like a no-brainer to me."

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He acknowledged there are potential obstacles, sharing a number of them in an email he sent to the EDC.

They include the strong Piscataqua River tides, competition for dock space with other shipping interests and whether the PDA will support the cruise ship proposal.

He believes the EDC should evaluate whether issues raised now and in the past are legitimate obstacles or not.

“I think the cruise ships lines would love to come here,” Hewitt said.

He got the idea in 2022 when he received a cruise ship mailer detailing all the stops the line already made in Massachusetts and Maine.

“There’s already several stops along the Massachusetts coast and it cruises right by New Hampshire and heads up to Portland, Maine,” he said. “I’m not a retailer, I’m not a restaurant owner, I don’t have any skin the game,” he said. “But we’ve got a crazy, popular city and I think cruise ships would love to come here.”

He acknowledged that because the PDA runs the Port, “it’s not strictly a Portsmouth decision.”

“Nothing is going to happen unless it gets their blessing,” Hewitt said about the PDA.

Attempts to immediately reach Marconi for comment Monday were unsuccessful.

Hewitt said, “I really don’t see a downside to this.” But he added with a laugh, “some people worked hard at that meeting to come up with some.”

At least one commission member is skeptical

Commissioner Thomas Watson said “the fact that there are no cruise ships may be suggestive of why they haven’t come in the past.”

“Portsmouth is a classic place you’d want to stop if you’re doing tours of New York to Montreal. This is the type of place they’d want to be if they could make it work,” he said during Friday’s meeting. “I think there are logistical issues that suggest it’s hard to make it happen.

“From my perspective, I’m happy to have somebody from the public suggest something for us to look at,” he added. “It doesn’t necessarily mean we have to go and do a deep dive and spend weeks trying to flesh it out.”

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In response to a question, Ben VanCamp, president of the Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth, said the idea “has not been a subject in my time at the chamber.”

“I too have had conversations with Geno (Marconi) about this topic. He didn’t paint a real positive picture of the opportunity to bring cruise ships in,” VanCamp said. “But I think it really depends about what we’re talking about. There’s cruise ships of all shapes and sizes. There may be some opportunity there.”

He doesn't think “the opportunity exists for the large Carnival-type cruise lines” in Portsmouth.

“We have not been contacted by any cruise ships desiring to come to Portsmouth,” he added.

VanCamp said typically “part of the cruise ship model is oftentimes there’s like a somewhat inexpensive hotel stay on either end of that experience. That would be a struggle for us, at least downtown, we don’t have probably room rates that would be attractive for that."

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth NH panel explores bringing cruise ships to city