Historic port calling likely to pay long-term economic dividends

By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

The maiden call of the Queen Mary 2 to the Port of Charleston is expected to pay dividends to the region’s convention and hotel industries above and beyond the estimated $230,000 the ship’s passengers and crew spent during their 10 hours in the historic city.

The world’s second largest cruise ship docked at Union Pier on June 7, during a voyage chartered by investment giant Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith to reward its top-performing brokers.

Also on board where representatives of the Carlson Marketing Group, which does meeting and event planning for large companies like Merrill Lynch, General Motors and DaimlerChrysler, as were the British Cunard Line’s hospitality planners.

“In terms of a private event that had the added benefit of promoting the city of Charleston, the call couldn’t have gone better,” said Chris Greenslade, marketing director for Mount Pleasant-based Planning the Globe LLC, which handled the ship’s land-based itinerary while it was in town.

“In fact, as the ship’s visit wound down, a gentleman with Carlson told us he found Charleston to be such a great city that he would suggest it to his clients at every opportunity.”

The ship, which left New York and visited the Bahamas before turning toward Charleston, arrived ahead of schedule at the South Carolina State Ports Authority cruise line terminal, a turn of events that worked in the city favor, Greenslade said.

Approximately 1,400 tourists were expected to disembark for the day, but as they began to come off the ship to enjoy the varied itineraries set by Planning the Globe, company employees were still getting into position to receive them.

Instead of becoming a problem, however, Greenslade said their slight wait actually gave them a chance to get a first taste of Charleston’s Market Street area.

“For us, the Queen Mary 2’s early arrival meant we had to jump to our feet and react, but the one thing we heard consistently from passengers is they couldn’t get over how close the market area was to the ship,” Greenslade said.

After a first go-round of shopping, most passengers were engaged in planned activities ran, operated or provided by at least a dozen small businesses, ranging from carriage ride operators to bus lines to local antiques shops.

Christine Fischer, director of communications for the International Council of Cruise Lines, said the potential economic impact of the one-day visit for Charleston could be as high as $230,000, basing on statistic her organization keeps regarding passenger and crew spending.

“And the actual number could be a bit higher than that because we don’t know whether the ship will be taking on provisions and fuel while in port, and we’re not factoring in port fees,” Fischer said.

But even if those dollars were factored in, there’s no telling how much was spent by Charleston area residents who were swept up in Queen Mary 2 fever while the ship was in town. Many locals retired to area restaurants and businesses after stopping by the beaches of Sullivan’s Island and other waterfront locations to catch a glimpse of the daylong attraction.

Nothing but praise

According to representatives of the Cunard Line on board the ship, programs intended to get nearly everyone off and back on the ship in such a short period of time are a true rarity.

Again and again, however, it was the logistics and proximity of a wide variety of activities that impressed the event planners on board.

“I think the visit opened up a lot of people’s eyes on board, both to how easy a port Charleston is to get into, and how accessible its activities and charms are,” Greenslade said. “A number of people mentioned how well Charleston would lend itself to their future business meetings. I think it really got a buzz going for the city.”

Planning the Globe worked with about a dozen vendors on the daylong event, including carriage and walking tour providers, Lancaster Tours, Absolutely Charleston, Tristan restaurant—which closed off half its seating area to host a lecture on the history of Charleston silverware—and a number of local caterers.

Tours of the Boone Hall and Magnolia plantations were arranged, and in the end, Greenslade said, Planning the Globe called on a number of sedan-for-hire companies in the city for passengers who said they’d like to forego a planned event to tour the city for themselves.

A “bike the bridge” event afforded passengers the opportunity to visit the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America, complete with an escort provided by the Charleston police department.

An important part of the planning was ensuring that Charleston was shown to the visiting passengers by real Charlestonians.

“We wanted to share the experience with other local companies and wanted our one-day guests to get a real taste of Charleston both in a culinary sense and in terms of the characters who live here,” Greenslade said. “Our carriage tour guides and walking tour guides, they’re really living encyclopedias of the city of Charleston.

“And judging by all the shopping bags passengers returned to the ship with, a number of retailers made a lot of money over the course of the day,” he added.

A great visit, but …

Perrin Lawson, deputy director of the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, also said the visit by the Queen Mary 2 went extremely well.

“The passengers had a wonderful time in our community, and from what we observed, many of them enjoyed taking tours and shopping during their port of call,” Lawson continued. “Having a ship from the Cunard Line, particularly the Queen Mary 2, visit our port makes a strong statement about the appeal of the Charleston area to affluent travelers.”

But Lawson stopped far short of sharing Greenslade’s assessment that the visit would have a direct correlation to a rise in future convention business.

“Other than exposing first-time visitors to the area—many of whom are certainly business owners, CEOs, and the like—I don’t believe there really is a direct tie-in to meeting and convention business,” he said. “Cruises, whether they originate in Charleston or are simply here for a port of call, are essentially catering to either the leisure or incentive travel markets.”

Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.

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