ASTORIA — After bookings for a record cruise ship season, the Port of Astoria has seen nearly half of the reservations canceled.

At a Port Commission meeting in February, Bruce Conner, who manages cruise ship marketing for the port, said 42 oceangoing vessels planned to dock in Astoria.

But over the past several weeks, a number of cruise lines delayed arrival dates or canceled altogether. The port schedule now lists 22 ships set to visit, with the first planning to dock in early April.

“For our community, absolutely, it just saddened me,” Conner said. Cruise ships deliver thousands of day-visitors to Astoria, with economic benefits rippling outward to other communities in Clatsop and south Pacific counties.

The coronavirus pandemic has made it difficult for cruise lines to staff vessels and ensure virus protocols, Conner said.

After speaking with representatives from other ports along the coast, Conner said the wave of cancellations has not been unique to Astoria.

While he expects the port schedule to remain steady moving forward, with the possibility of adding a few ships back, Conner called the situation “fluid.”

“This industry, it changes daily … it’s one thing and the next day it’s another thing,” he said.

Will Isom, port executive director, said he viewed the initial 42 visits as “more so on paper” rather than a reasonable expectation.

In a typical year, cruise ships are an important source of revenue for the port, oftentimes bringing in upward of $1 million.

“If we’re able to get 30 ships in here, you’re looking at a million dollars in revenue, and that’s just a small piece of it, because the overall impact of the community is longer when you start looking at the onshore excursions that take place, and the amount of traffic that comes downtown,” Isom said. “There is a huge economic benefit to the entire region.”

With the cruise ship industry taking a hit during the pandemic and Astoria only seeing two cruise ship visits — both crew-only vessels waiting out virus restrictions — since the end of 2019, the financial impact has been big for the port.

“It’s definitely been a struggle,” Isom said. “There have been a number of ways that we’ve tried to mitigate some of the negative effects.”

As the cruise ship industry slowly returns, the port is also working through a number of logistical challenges.

“In some ways, it feels like we are starting new and even as we, hopefully, get on the back end of covid, there are some considerations that we haven’t really had in the past,” Isom said at the port’s recent finance meeting.

In the past, the port has relied on the Sunset Empire Transportation District to provide buses and drivers for cruise ship passengers that flow into Astoria. But the transit district, which is working through a bus driver shortage, does not have the capacity this year.

Isom added that the port has also heavily depended on Clatsop Cruise Hosts, a volunteer group dedicated to welcoming cruise ship passengers into the community. But many of the volunteers are retired or older, so he is unsure of their plans amid the pandemic.

“We’re doing our best to proceed as if it’s best-case scenario, but we also understand that we may not completely be out of the woods and of all industries, I think the cruise industry could be one of the slowest to get back to whatever normal is,” he said.

Conner reiterated his assurances about safety as thousands of cruise ship passengers are set to enter the community, noting that cruise lines have high vaccination rates and virus protocols.

Looking ahead, even with this year’s cancellations, Conner has faith that 2023 could be as strong as ever, with people eager to go on cruises again.