In The News

The Late Chuck West Receives NTA's First Pioneer Award

March 29, 2006

National Tour Association - Tuesday Newsletter, March 28, 2006 Volume 26: Issue 13

At Spring Meet, NTA presented its inaugural Pioneer Award to the late Charles "Chuck" West, founder of Westours and Cruise West. The award, which will honor individuals whose accomplishments have resulted in a significant change in the travel industry from which NTA and its members have benefited, was established by the Board of Directors during its November 2005 meeting in Detroit.

West's son, Dick, was on hand to accept the honor for his father and said, "On behalf of our family and everyone at Cruise West, thank you for honoring my dad as the first recipient of the Pioneer Award. Travel was dad's life, as it is for many of us. But few have had the challenges and opportunities that he had over his 60 years in the travel business. I know dad would be, and is, truly honored to receive this recognition for his trailblazing efforts."

A long-time innovator of the Alaska tourism product who was dubbed "Mr. Alaska" by his peers, West founded Alaska's first tour company, Arctic Alaska Tours, in the late 1940s and was the pioneer of marketing North Country packages. Additionally, he founded Alaska's first all-tourist hotel chain, motorcoach network and Inside Passage cruise line.

These package tour components were later consolidated under Westours, which became a dominant operator in Alaska. After he sold Westours to Holland America in 1973, he started another Alaska travel company that has become the present day Cruise West. Today, Seattle-based Cruise West owns and operates a cruising yacht, plus a fleet of 10 small cruise ships that visit 24 Alaskan and Russian ports.

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Cruise West – a second-generation, family-owned business based in Seattle – offers the opportunity to explore remote, worldwide locales by providing distinctive, one-of-a-kind, personalized itineraries not offered by the traditional larger cruise lines. Cruise West’s smaller ships – ten in all – hold between 70-138 people each, and the casual style onboard encourages relaxation and congenial interaction between guests and crew alike. The experience is personally enriching through expert Exploration Leaders providing onboard narrative and lectures, special local guests from a wide variety of backgrounds, and the library provided on each vessel. All have forward lounges and ample outdoor deck space for viewing and photographing wildlife and scenery. All vessels are also equipped with inflatable landing boats for close-up exploration of remote areas and shore landings.

Destinations served include: Alaska and the Bering Sea, British Columbia, Columbia & Snake Rivers, California Wine Country, Mexico's Sea of Cortés, Costa Rica & Panama, The U.S. eastern seaboard, the Caribbean, Japan, the South Pacific, the Kuril Islands, and the Great Lakes