Vendors will not be allowed to solicit visitors on the City Dock this cruise-ship season, which begins this month, according to the Port and Harbor Department.
Only vendors with existing contracts or agreements with the cruise ships that arrive in Wrangell will be allowed on the actual dock. Harbormaster Greg Meissner said any other vendors or guides will have to wait until the travelers come off the dock to approach them.
The city has decided to enforce these new policies this season because of the complaints it received last year. Meissner said, following the 2011 cruise-ship season, the city had been told by the cruise lines its employees and travelers felt there were some vendors on the dock aggressively trying to solicit business.
“What we’re trying to accomplish is people walking off that cruise ship and being hit…making them feel like they are just being slammed,” Meissner told a small group of local jet boat operators and tour guides at a public meeting last week.
Construction on the dock is set to begin sometime early this month, which will create extra congestion for the cruise ship passengers.
The new policies will hopefully help to alleviate some of that added congestion at City Dock.
“The less people on the dock, the better,” Meissner said.
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