When Alaska Native Corporations opened Klawock Island in 2024, they were optimistic about the port's success. But they didn't know it would come this quickly.
The port, located on Prince of Wales Island, was in a quiet, picturesque locale, and some leaders behind it shared previous experience working with local Native communities to establish successful cruise destinations. They knew that cruise lines were craving an addition to the limited number of existing ports in the region.
Now, just two years since its opening, Klawock Island is expecting 57 cruise calls, up from just six in 2024, and there are already plans in motion to build a permanent pier with shore power, said Huna Totem Corp. CEO Russell Dick.
"A lot of these things that we were thinking we weren't going to have to talk about for another three to five years, we're already talking about," he said.
His company is one of three Native corporations behind the port; Na-Dena, a joint venture Huna Totem Corp. has with Doyon Ltd., established it in partnership with Klawock Heenya Corp., based in the nearby Tlingit village of Klawock.
So far, the port has catered to smaller ships in the upper premium and luxury markets. Azamara Cruises and the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection will visit it for the first time this year.
Starting with smaller ships allowed for an easier adjustment period for the communities, Dick said. Welcoming fewer than 1,000 visitors a day is an easier starting point than if a large ships carrying thousands of cruisers was visiting, he said.
"Klawock and the island has never had tourism," Dick said. "It was very intentional to start out as this boutique opportunity where you're letting the community and the people who live there get used to having guests coming off, coming through town."
Cruise guests visit a totem park near the Klawock Island port. Photo Credit: Huna Totem Corp.
Slow development, by design
There is also little infrastructure at the port and no portside shopping district, so it's best for tourists interested in excursions that involve cultural immersion or nature. Those experiences are something the Huna Totem Corp. prides itself on and are exactly what the luxury cruise clientele is looking for, Dick said.
"They want something more authentic, more immersive," he said. "Understanding the places they're visiting, how people live."
One excursion on Klawock involves observing and engaging with a totem pole carver. As visitors watch the carver work, the artist describes the story behind the pole and their inspiration for it, Dick said.
The port offers a number of cultural excursions, such as visiting with a totem pole carver while he practices his craft. Photo Credit: Huna Totem Corp.
The port also offers nature excursions, including a kayaking excursion on Klawock Lake and a marine wildlife tour by boat to spot animals like humpback whales and sea otters.
The native corporations are considering introducing an excursion where cruisers will hike to see trumpeter swans in their natural habitat, Dick said.
As port calls increase, it will be important to build out shopping and restaurant destinations, but Huna Totem Corp. wants to do so mindfully and in connection with the native locals, Dick said.
It also hasn't wanted to invest in that development too quickly, he said. It's important to have clarity that the cruise industry will commit to the destination, though he knows that the relationship goes both ways: Some cruise lines want to see that infrastructure to know the port can truly accommodate them.
Visitors to the Klawock Island port can take nature excursions like kayaking. Photo Credit: Huna Totem Corp.
Lessons from Icy Strait Point
When the Huna Totem Corp. opened its first cruise port, Icy Strait Point, in 2004, it had a different approach than with Klawock Island.
Icy Strait Point was a destination for larger and contemporary ships from the beginning, including Royal Caribbean International's 2,000-plus passenger Vision of the Seas. That meant experiencing a larger influx of passengers from day one, when the 1,898-passenger Celebrity Mercury arrived.
"It's the first thing the community saw," Dick said. "There's 20 years of learning for us for how to make this work better for small, rural communities."
The corporation has also learned from Icy Strait Point's successes as much as from its challenges. Activity there increased significantly once it opened a dock in 2016, with more cruise lines and larger ships coming in.
By 2022, the New York Times had included Hoonah in its annual list of 52 destinations to visit, and it did so in a year where it focused on places offering solutions to global challenges like climate change and overtourism.
Now, as native corporations look to build more ports, they have the benefits of both experience and a successful reputation. That is valuable for getting cruise line buy-in.
"When you take these executives to a greenfield site that's got nothing on it, at least in their head they can see what we've done at Icy Strait Point," Dick said.
Native communities, meanwhile, benefit from the job opportunities that new Native-owned ports generate, he said.
"If you don't have the economic foundation for people to live there, they're going to leave," he said. "You see that in a lot of these rural communities as kids are just leaving, and they're not coming back."
Having Native corporations cultivating that tourist activity allows for it to be done authentically, according to Dick.
"Our goal is to get other rural communities engaged in tourism and help them do that, and to be able to tell their own stories and provide their own experiences," he said, "so that guests, when they come to Alaska, they understand that regardless of where you're at, you're on indigenous land somewhere, and there's something unique about it."
Correction: Port Klawock was renamed Klawock Island.