Customers await departure on Major Marine tour boat Spirit of Matushka in Seward on May 12. The tour took visitors to Aialik Bay.
The return of cruise ships feels more novel this year than most. None came in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seventy-six dockings are scheduled for this season. “Holy cow. I forgot how big they are,” said Kat Sorensen, executive director of the Seward Chamber of Commerce, after the first one arrived.Alaska Railroad passengers disembark a train in Seward on May 12.
“I think coming into this summer, everybody’s a little hesitant, thinking about how last summer left us feeling,” Sorensen said. “It’s not for lack of getting out there,” said Zernia, who said she advertised on popular online job search sites like Indeed and Cool Works. “There’s just not a whole lot of applications coming in.”
Shops, bars and restaurants line Fourth Avenue in downtown Seward. Several posted signs in the window seeking job applicants. Faith Alderman and Fiona Crosby opened The Porthole food truck to serve early morning customers in August 2020. Last summer, they saw enough customers to stay open around the clock, but lacked the employees to grow their new business.Crosby said she, like many in Seward, held down two jobs last summer. She opened The Porthole at 4 a.m. and also worked later in the day at J-Dock Fishing Company, a sportfishing charter operation and seafood market.
“Every visitor that passed the Chamber on the Seward Highway was an independent traveler,” Sorensen said. “They’re needier, at the end of the day.” Stephanie Higgins, who owns Firebrand Barbecue with her husband, Chad, admits she’s getting a little nervous. The business bought a second commercial smoker to double its product capacity. But a lack of employees meant they couldn’t open for this season as early as they hoped. Higgins is hoping to add eight to 10 more employees to her existing staff of five.
“We’re hearing this in Denali, in Fairbanks, throughout Southcentral…,” she said. “It’s happening nationwide in the tourism and hospitality industry.” Multiple times recently, the SeaLife Center made job offers that were accepted, only later to have that acceptance rescinded when the prospective employee couldn’t find a place to live. Faith Alderman, one of the owners of The Porthole food truck, said she’s lost employees like that. She said she’s struggling to find an apartment herself and is considering living in an RV.“We actually, last summer, had some living in our spare bedroom,” she said.
Has there been reporting on how seasonal workers are treated and paid relative to the town economies they're in? It's very close to indentured servitude. And that isn't the fault of the local communties—it's how the state legislature sets up our economies. Do your job? Alaska