HOONAH, ALASKA — (May 24, 2024) — It was an emotional day for the team at Icy Strait Point as the
Alaska Native-owned cruise ship destination celebrated its 20th anniversary with guests sailing aboard
Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas as well as 20 employees who have been a part of the destination since it opened on May 23, 2004.
An award-winning destination, Icy Strait Point is the single largest employer in the community of
Hoonah, with additional economic support to the city coming in through city sales tax, head taxes,
utilities and vendor purchases. Every major cruise line that sails in Alaska’s waters calls on Icy Strait
Point, and Huna Totem Corporation, the company that owns and operates Icy Strait Point, has built
business partnerships in Alaska and beyond to develop new destinations inspired by the Icy Strait Point
model. Most notably, Port Klawock, which Huna Totem is involved in developing, opened on May 6,
2024, on Prince of Wales Island.
“I am so incredibly proud of how far we’ve come, and more importantly, I am very proud of our team
and community,” said Russell Dick, president and CEO of Huna Totem Corporation. “We developed Icy
Strait Point to honor and share our culture, and we built it true to our mission and values. We respect
the land and support our community, and that is crystal clear to any guest we welcome at Icy Strait
Point.”
Reflecting on the first ship call at Icy Strait Point, Director of Special Projects Johan Dybdahl said, “We’ve come an incredibly long way since that first day. We worked and worked all through the night to be ready for the first ship call, and the next morning all the employees lined up on the boardwalk to watch the Celebrity Mercury come in. It was incredible. People were whooping and hollering. Others were in tears. And then the ship sailed right past us at the cannery and anchored in front of town instead. Guests had to tender back to us. But people in the community woke up that first day with a gigantic ship right in front of town. There was so much excitement in the air.”