By JASON ARMSTRONG
Tribune-Herald staff writer
The building where Hilo’s cruise ship passengers receive a welcoming ceremony and assemble before boarding land tours is being closed for the next year.
Starting March 7, the Pier 1 shed will be shuttered while the building’s roof is removed and replaced, Jeff Hood, harbors district manager for the state Department of Transportation, wrote in a recent email to tour operators.
“During this time, all passenger disembarkations and embarkations will take place under the covered walkways outside the shed,” he told operators. “Please plan accordingly.”
When reached for comment Tuesday, Hood said all media questions should be directed to the DOT’s public information officer, Dan Meisenzahl.
“We’re going to do everything we can so that it doesn’t affect cruise ship operations,” Meisenzahl said of the construction expected to last approximately a year.
The DOT understands how important the cruise ship industry is to the Big Island’s economy, which is why covered areas will be provided and attempts made to make people as comfortable as possible during the construction phase, he said.
Asked late Tuesday afternoon for the project’s cost, Meisenzahl said he was unable to verify that number before the close of business.
Currently, the thousands of passengers who arrive in Hilo each month enter the large, warehouse-type building after leaving their ship. That’s where they can link up with various tour operators and pass through security before returning to the ship.
Part of the building is called the Aloha Room, where the nonprofit Destination Hilo welcomes visitors with hula dancing, live music and informational services.
“Well, we’ll be outside under a tent,” Destination Hilo President Dinnie Kysar said.
The stage is inside, “so the entertainment is on hold until we see whether we’ll be able to do it,” she said of the traditional serenades.
“Although it’s going to be a very confused area, we hope we can still provide our service,” Kysar said.
According to state records, more than 27,000 cruise ship passengers are scheduled to arrive in Hilo during March.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” said Doug Arnott, owner of Arnott’s Lodge and Hiking Adventures, who has been taking Hilo cruise ship passengers on van tours for more than a decade.
The lack of a staging area and too little parking space will make it difficult to transfer thousands of people quickly from a boat to tour vans, he said.
“I would imagine that the first day or two will be ‘fun’ and they’ll be some confusion,” Arnott said. “They’ll be a big impact to begin with.”
He predicted tour operators will sort out the new process within a few days.
“Everybody works together down there,” Arnott said, adding there’s been “really nasty, political backstabbing going on down there, and they managed to work through that.”
Arnott, who brings all six of his vans and uses two or three owned by associates when the big ships arrive, said the best solution involves a process that some cruise lines already use.
Rather than have passengers disembark and then try to find their chosen tour operator, it will be better to do that sorting and staging aboard the ship, he said.
“It virtually has to be done at the gangway, and they have to come off the ship organized,” he said. “I don’t see any other way.”
Email Jason Armstrong at jarmstrong@hawaiitribune-
herald.com.
