With another weekend of cruise ships at Smith Cove, we are continueing to follow the concerns about the noise from the ships.  Magnolia Community Club Trustee Robert Bismuth says he heard from more than a dozen people who are unhappy with the music from the ships. He lives over a mile away and heard the music with his doors and windows closed.  He says he has not heard anyone complaining about the ships horns, just the Calypso music. Here is part of the letter he sent to the Port:  

Blasting a community with music is simply not acceptable to the people I’ve spoken with since the weekend.  People living on the western bluff of Magnolia could hear the music blaring out from the Princess cruise ship. It is beyond belief that any corporate entity could think it was fine to behave in such an intrusive way.  I personally appreciate the Port’s efforts in this and encourage the Port to completely ban the public broadcasting of all music while ships are at the piers or during docking/undocking procedures. I do not think our community will tolerate such an unnecessary type of noise pollution for very long - no matter what the apparent financial uplift is for the city.  

The port has worked hard to keep community organizations involved and informed. It would be a great shame for that work to be marred by an overly boisterous cruise operator and for people to get riled over something which I suspect is very easy for the cruise operators to deal with appropriately.

Sally del Fierro at the Port confirms there were several inquiries about music and horns from this past weekend.   She says that having conducted many years of pier reconstruction and pile driving at the terminal, they are aware that noise can travel into the neighborhoods.  She says the Port appreciates the patience and support shown by the Magnolia community over the years.  She also emphasizes that the cruise industry provides a tremendous economic boost to the region and it’s important for everyone that these activities fit well with neighbors.   Here is her response:

We wanted to share that the Port is earnestly working with the cruise lines this week to reduce excessive noise levels for future ship calls.  With regard to ship horns, the community should be aware that Coast Guard regulations require their use during the Coast Guard mandated passenger drill held at approximately 3:30 p.m.on cruise days.  Sounding the horn educates passengers to emergency signals and emergency procedures.  Coast Guard regulations also require that ships sound their horn at departure which is scheduled for approximately 4:00
pm on cruise days.

The Port has established a Cruise Seattle Community Information Line which can be used to report issues:  206-728-3337 or email at cruise-seattle@portseattle.org.