Yorktown pulls into Saugatuck Harbor

SAUGATUCK, Mich. (WOOD) - The 247-foot Yorktown docked Friday in this harbor town with an important cargo -- tourists.

And the town went overboard.

"Our ship has come in," said Meg Owen, of Douglas, who watched the cruise ship dock at Wicks Park.

The ship -- the first cruise ship to dock here since 2001 -- carried 87 passengers who paid $4,500 to $8,000 per ticket, depending on their accommodations.

They spent the day in Saugatuck, checking out shops, coffee houses and restaurants.

But Felicia Fairchild, executive director of the Saugatuck-Douglas Convention & Visitors Bureau, said it doesn't matter how much money they spent this day.

She said the passengers, from all over the country, are high-end customers that include alumni from Harvard, Yale and Princeton, and some with connections to the Smithsonian Institution and the Chicago Institute of Arts. She hopes they'll spread the word about Saugatuck.

"It's wonderful to see, especially after we lost the Keewatin," said Owen. The S.S. Keewatin recently left Saugatuck-Douglas for Ontario. "It's great for our economy."

"The community likes to come out and welcome, get new people to come visit. That's what we thrive on, of course."

The ship entered Saugatuck through the Kalamazoo River, welcomed by residents running out of their homes, and even cannon blasts. A band played in a gazebo; and the mayor read a proclamation.

"I never really expected the whole town to turn out," said  passenger Helen Miller, of Eugene, Ore. "It's really wonderful to be so welcomed; it's exciting, exciting that these ships are going again."

The Yorktown is the first U.S. flagged cruise ship in Saugatuck since Labor Day 1929, when the Goodrich Line left for good.

The last time a cruise ship stopped in Saugatuck was in 2001 -- the French-owned Le Levant.

For the Yorktown, Saugatuck is the second-to-last stop on an eight-day Great Lakes cruise that started in Detroit and ends Saturday in Chicago. The ship is expected to return three times in July and twice in August.

"I've been on the Lakes for five years doing this, every summer," said Capt. Jim Abbruzzi. "I've got to say, Saugatuck's reception was the biggest we've had, with the dignitaries that showed up, with the residents."

The captain says the New York-based cruise line, Travel Dynamics International , expects to make Saugatuck a regular summer stop.