Balmoral Cruises into Salem

The city of Salem has a long history as an important seaport known for its maritime trade in the 18th and 19th centuries.

In the 21st century, Salem is now building itself a reputation as a stop for cruise ships.

On Thursday, the 1,300 passengers on board the Fred Olsen cruise liner the Balmoral spent the day in Salem.

The 750-foot cruise ship came into Footprint Wharf, the former coal dock at the Salem power plant near Salem Wharf, in the early morning hours on Thursday.

The Balmoral is touring the east coast from Nova Scotia to Miami before heading to Bermuda and the Azores and then to its home port in Southampton in the United Kingdom.

With a short lull before peak activity for the Salem tourist industry (also known as the Halloween season and Haunted Happenings), Destination Salem Executive Director Kate Fox said having the cruise ships in the city is an extra boost for the city.

“I am very excited that Salem welcomed its second major cruise ship, with today’s visit of the Balmoral,” said Mayor Kim Driscoll. “As we continue our effort to revitalize and transform our historic waterfront, trading coal ships for cruise ships and creating new public access to the harbor, the positive economic impact from these visits is a major component of that effort. Not only are we bringing several hundred visitors to Salem for the day, without the traffic impact that comes from visitors who drive, we also know that cruise visitors have a high likelihood of returning on their own to a port of call for a repeat visit at a later date. This helps increase future visits, further helping our local economy, supporting local jobs and small businesses.”

At Salem Wharf, several local volunteers, including Beth Williams from the Peabody Essex Museum, were staffing an information booth touting some of the highlights of Salem as passengers debarked from the ship.

“There have been a lot of people getting off the ship,” said Williams. “This morning, there were about 10 tour buses plus the trolleys. The visitors are very excited and it’s a beautiful day.”

The cruise passengers did bring even more of an international feel than usual to Salem. Williams said she spoke to a number of passengers from Scotland and Australia, and even some from Slovenia.

A number of local attractions and shops, including the nearby The House of the Seven Gables, opened early to accommodate the cruise passengers, a number of whom began exploring Salem as early as 7:30 a.m.

House of the Seven Gables visitor services manager Daniel Marshall said the House opened at 7 a.m., and a number of cruise passengers did stop in for an early tour.

Because of the proximity of the cruise ship to The House of the Seven Gables, a number of passengers said they were going to stop back in after exploring the city.