Okay, so it’s not exactly the Love Boat, but close enough!

photo of M/V American Spirit – courtesy of American Cruise Lines

It was recently announced that starting in early May of 2013, the M/V American Spirit with American Cruise Lines, will be making Liberty Bay & Downtown Poulsbo one of their regularly scheduled cruise tour stops. The smaller 205 ft. cruise ship will arrive in Liberty Bay on Friday mornings, and its passengers will be ferried to the public marina from anchored moorage.

I don’t know about you, but I personally think this is a HUGE benefit to our beloved city and presents some incredible opportunities to further grow & expand the long-term health and viability of our downtown area.

I don’t know who was responsible for making this happen, but whoever it was, it’s nothing short of brilliant, and I’d like to buy them lunch sometime!

Now for some of you concerned locals, the M/V American Spirit only has a passenger capacity of 100, so we’re not talking about a mass tourist take-over of Little Norway every Friday. This is going to be very manageable and will no doubt provide local businesses with a welcomed boost to sales.

Supposedly, a big welcome extravaganza for the inaugural visit is in the works by local residents and merchants. I am hoping that some enterprising individuals are planning on having some locals decked out in full Scandanavian attire? Mr. & Mrs. Kris Kringle were a huge hit during the Christmas Holidays. I wonder if we could get them to done bunad?