By KLAS STOLPE
Sentinel Staff Writer
Starting from a salvaged wooden boat in 1970, one of Alaska’s oldest tour companies has grown to include a fleet of aluminum vessels and crews that specialize in treating clients like house guests and the playground outside their decks as a welcoming backyard.
“Alaska is more than what we do for a living, it is our ancestral home,” Zaide Allen, granddaughter of Allen Marine founder Bob Allen, said in a video that was part of her presentation at the Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday.
Zaide Allen, Alaskan Dream Cruises manager, right, and Zakary Kirkpatrick Alaskan Dream Cruises marketing director, make a presentation at the Sitka Chamber of Commerce noon luncheon Wednesday at the Westmark Hotel. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
Zaide, who grew up in the family business and now manages its Alaskan Dream Cruises, was joined by marketing director Zakary Kirkpatrick for the Chamber talk about the growth of a tourism enterprise that’s celebrating its 50th year of operation.
Allen Marine began in 1967 as a repair yard catering to commercial fishing boats, but owners Bob and Betty Allen wanted to be busier in the summer when the boats were on the water.
They bought, stripped down and refurbished an old fishing boat named Mañana II and offered nature cruises up Silver Bay. They had 11 passengers that first summer.
Today Allen Marine Tours and their second company Alaskan Dream Cruises operate more than 25 vessels in Southeast Alaska. Alaska Dream Cruises had more than 3,000 passengers last season and Allen Marine several hundred thousand.
Alaska Dream Cruises started in 2011 to focus on small ship expeditions and the growing popularity for authentic experiences or “localization” - having interaction with locals, getting off the beaten path and getting immersion with cultures.
“When we take people to places like Kake, Metlakatla or Thorne Bay it’s a different world than most are used to,” Kirkpatrick said.
Passengers like to connect with the Allen family’s story as well, and Allen Marine Tours is starting to roll out more marketing videos pertaining to their history in the industry.
In a video Zaide tells of the family’s Alaska Native heritage, the thousands of years Tlingit ancestors carved canoes for trade and harvest.
“Our family has lived in Southeast Alaska for thousands of years, our Tlingit ancestors were boat builders who carved canoes for trade and harvest,” she said. “If you look at the totem in my grandparents’ front yard you’ll notice a figure of a man holding a canoe in his hands, which represents his family history.”
The video features Bob Allen describing the company’s first tours, saying “I was the captain and the kids were all deckhands from the time they were six years old until they were big enough to captain the boat themselves.”
Kirkpatrick said the company has two taglines: Alaska Dream Cruises - True Alaska With True Alaskans, and Allen Marine Tours - Explore With The Locals.
“Because the ships too, the larger lines, are starting to see this trend as well,” he said. “We want it to be out in front that Allen Marine is the local company.”
Over the years Allen Marine got into the business of building the big aluminum boats it uses in its own tour operations as well as for industrial use by buyers from as far away as New York City.
The company has 450 seasonal employees and supports 150 year-round jobs in positions such as welders and other skilled laborers, and operational and reservation managers.
Allen Marine Tours operates out of Sitka, Juneau and Ketchikan. Some of their contracts include Icy Strait in Hoonah and Glacier Bay Lodge. They have just purchased 160 acres of new property in William Henry Bay, half-way between Juneau and Skagway in Lynn Canal, to spread out the company’s increasing capacity.
The company revitalized an old cannery in Ketchikan and works with Cape Fox on a “fishing industry table tour,” where clients are served a type of seafood that is related to the area’s commercial fishing industry.
“It’s one of those tours in a unique location experiencing a taste of Alaska,” Kirkpatrick said. “We dubbed it the sea-to-table tour.”
Closer to home, Kirkpatrick said, the company has built Fin Island Lodge in Sitka Sound, using locally sourced lumber from Hoonah. The lodge opened last year and offers beachcombing, bonfires, wildlife viewing and local seafood to its clients.
“What we would like to do is open that up, summer and winter, to locals for a dining venue as well,” Kirkpatrick said.
He said the company is also offering new tours to Hubbard Glacier near Yakutat. Specially fitted Allen Marine boats rendezvous with large cruise ships in Disenchantment Bay to take passengers for glacier views, similar to what they do with large-vessel ones in Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm.
Kirkpatrick said they expect to add up to five Allen Marine vessels at Hoonah as Icy Strait Point and Hoonah Totem Corporation expands its cruise ship dock.
On Tuesday, he said, Allen Marine’s Sitka shipyard started work on a new 78-foot mono-hull design vessel that will carry 100 passengers. Two more new boats will be based in Juneau and one in Ketchikan.
A month ago the Allen shipyard launched the 150-passenger St. Theodosius. The company has also tracked down the original M/V Alaska Dream, which had been used to service the Greens Creek Mine on Admiralty Island, and is refitting it in the Sitka shipyard for return to the tour fleet.
“So this year we will gain 600 new seats,” Kirkpatrick said. “These additional assets also mean additional year round employees… mechanics, plumbers… we are proud of the year-round opportunities this is creating.”
Zaide Allen spoke to the Chamber audience about the growth at Alaska Dream Cruises.
Their five vessels include the 207-foot M/V Chichagof Dream (76 passenger, 38 staterooms), just renovated in Sitka to include four new deluxe staterooms; the 143-foot Admiralty Dream (58 passengers, 27 staterooms) the 143-foot Baranof Dream (49 passengers, 25 staterooms), the 104-foot Alaskan Dream (40 passengers, 20 staterooms, and the 60-foot Misty Fjord (10 passengers, 5 staterooms).
“What we get a lot of on our comment cards is that people enjoy the ports,” Allen said. “But they want more kayaking and hiking, or just exploring out in the wilderness. So we made a new itinerary and divided into a Signature and an Adventure series.”
These trips are 5- to 11-day Inside Passage sojourns. They can include multiple stops at original Native villages, getting out on a Zodiac, hiking, exploring, and kayaking.
To make the tours a step more Alaskan, the company has added “The Last Frontier Adventure,” a trip between Sitka and Juneau which includes higher levels of activity each day while exploring rainforests, visiting glacial fjords and trekking to glaciers.
“More kayaking, more skiff adventures,” Allen said. “Pretty much every day is more hiking and adventures. Just bringing people closer to nature. Getting them out and exploring.”
New this year are Glacier Bay permits for the 10-passenger M/V Misty Fjord, which will spend two days there and at Tracy Arm. Activities will be decided by what the passengers want to do when they get on board.
Allen Marine also offers early “shoulder season” discounts for locals in May and September. They have March sailings to try to coincide with the herring fishery.
The speakers also mentioned Allen Marine’s support of youth organizations and nonprofits across Southeast, with monetary donations and transportation. They have also started giving $5 from every Alaska Dream Cruise booking to the small communities and villages their boats visit.
They noted that Tuesday was the 10-year anniversary of a historic rescue in which Allen Marine boats played a part. When Capt. Chesley Sullenberger crash-landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, 2009, many of the rescue boats were New York Waterways passenger ferries built by Allen Marine in Sitka.
“We are especially proud of that,” Kirkpatrick said. “A little bit of Sitka on the Hudson.”
The company is also proud of its jobs for locals, including accounting, welding, mechanics, naturalists, marketing, crew and navigation.
Zaide Allen said she’s especially pleased with their new “True Alaska Guide” position.
It’s based on when she went out on the boats and told passengers about the old canneries, shipwrecks, and historical facts about the places they saw, and personal stories about exploring or growing up in the area.
“I found that was something we were missing,” she said. “A big part of being Alaskan is knowing where you are and going exploring. We want to tell the story of Southeast Alaska with enthusiasm and connect people with people.”
