Cruise line: Don’t give up the ship … or the lake

By Mike Trask

Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Out at Lake Mead, where the water line keeps receding and signs beg people to double check that zebra mussels have been kicked off boats, one woman is simply trying to sell some cruises.

But that mission keeps getting harder, blown back by bad news about the lake, the stagnant Las Vegas economy and skyrocketing gas costs.

Lake Mead Cruises is a small business, tucked into Hemenway Harbor where what’s now a dirt parking lot was once deep under blue water. It has a little shop on a barge, about 100 feet from the ever-changing shoreline, where they will sell you a bag of popcorn for $1.62 or a 20-ounce Bloody Mary for $8.

Every couple of hours the Desert Princess takes off for another tour.

Ginny Gottfredson, the sales manager, thinks the nonstop talk about the shrinking lake is translating into a loss of revenue. One woman called and asked how boat tours were possible when all the water was gone from Lake Mead.

The nine-year drought has left Lake Mead half-empty, the water line about 100 feet lower than it should be. It’s expected to drop another 100 feet in the next two years.

But there still is water — a lot of it. Maybe not enough to sustain 2 million valley residents forever, but certainly enough for the Desert Princess to motor down to the Hoover Dam for a spectacular view. The price: $22 for a midafternoon jaunt.

Gottfredson says many people don’t realize Lake Mead is even here. Not the tourists whose only voyage is from McCarran to the Strip and back again after a few long nights. Nor many locals, who she says see Lake Mead as a world away.

Lake Mead Cruises places its fliers in hotels and advertises in the local paper. But marketing becomes a bigger struggle each year.

Drawing gambling-hungry tourists to a calm lake, she says, is a bigger problem than the falling water line. She admits the number of passengers on the cruises has decreased recently but refused to give any figures. “That’s private,” she said.

In 2003 the company had to move the barge more than three miles to continue operations as the lake played its tricks. Since then it has had to pull the barge to and from the shoreline — using the Princess and its sister, Desert Princess Too — innumerable times.

Soon it may be time for another move, this time back toward the parking lot as snow caps from the Rockies melt, flowing into the Colorado River and eventually coming to rest in Lake Mead.

Gottfredson hates talking about the declining water line. It’s rarely mentioned on the cruises even though it’s obvious to anyone who so much as peeks at the lake.

“We want to emphasize the positive,” she said. “There’s still almost 500 miles of shoreline. There’s plenty of water” for people to enjoy.

But Lake Mead Cruises needs people who want to have fun on the water. Its business is driven by Las Vegas tourism. With gaming revenue down in 2008 and tourism expected to be stagnant this summer, that’s more bad news for Gottfredson and her business.

Not to mention rising gas prices. Both Princesses run on diesel. So far the business hasn’t raised rates.

“It’s a struggle,” Gottfredson said.

Though it might be wishful thinking, she suggests higher gas prices could help business. Maybe people won’t want to spend the money to drive across California to the ocean. Instead, they could head to Lake Mead to frolic in the water.

So with the summer peak coming, maybe things will get better. Plus, a few weddings are planned.

Gottfredson has to go now. The Desert Princess is coming back to the barge. And that’s a lot better than moving the barge.