Tagged: Alaska

The cruise industry just can’t catch a break. Today Canada extended its cruise ban through February 2022, effectively putting the kibosh on both the upcoming Alaska cruise season and popular “leaf-peeping” sailings from New England up to the Maritime provinces in the fall. (forbes.com)

A working group to reboot the cruise industry in Alaska is in the works, says Alaska’s commissioner for health and social services. But those working closest with the cruise industry say they’re not in the loop. (khns.org)

Across Southeast Alaska, industry representatives and local officials are cautiously optimistic about the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s lifting of the no-sail order on cruise ships. (ktoo.org)

If cruise ship passengers stop in Ketchikan next year, they’re likely to pay an extra $2 in head taxes. Last year, the Ketchikan City Council decided to raise its local cruise ship head taxes, effective next April. (ktoo.org)

More than 1.3 million expected cruise ship passengers did not arrive in Alaska in 2020 due to the industry-wide shutdown that began in March and largely continues to this day. Don Young, the U.S. Representative for Alaska’s at-large congressional district since 1973, doesn’t want to see the situation repeated in 2021. (cruiseradio.net)

New cruise ship health protocols would limit passengers’ shore experience to only cruise line approved tours, stores and restaurants. The municipality of Skagway doesn’t want to see any local businesses left behind. (khns.org)

As the non-cruise ship season comes to a close, Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata is looking towards next year. How the 2021 season will look may depend on the coronavirus pandemic as well as how each port and member of the tourism industry plans to get back to business. (skagwaynews.com)

Skagway says “no” to American Cruise Lines for now, municipal leases are deferred, and the public safety building gets some new radio equipment. American Cruise Lines plans to sail their small boat cruises through Southeast Alaska at the end of the month. (khns.org)

Visit Sitka today announced the cancellation of the few stops still on the larger cruise ships’ schedule for this season. “It’s just unfortunate that more of the cruise operators won’t be able to come this year,” said Rachel Roy, executive director of Visit Sitka and the Chamber of Commerce. (sitkasentinel.com)

The Haines Borough Assembly voted to ask cruise lines to suspend visits to Haines until further notice. The decision comes after the community discovered its first confirmed case of COVID-19 this week. (khns.org)

Large cruise ships operated by companies like Norwegian and Carnival are unlikely to visit Haines and Skagway this summer due to federal restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, some smaller cruise lines are hoping to sail the Lynn Canal as early as June. (khns.org)

The City of Wrangell does not want cruise ships to dock in town until it knows how the industry plans to prevent potentially bringing COVID-19 into the community. The Southeast Alaska city is coordinating with a regional effort seeking assurances from operators of small cruise ships seeking to sail this summer. (kstk.org)

Southeast Alaska port communities are working on a set of criteria to allow cruising to resume in the region in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. But it’s not clear when or how exactly that will happen. (krbd.org)

It’s quiet on the docks in Ketchikan. In this Southeast Alaska town that depends on cruise ships to make ends meet, that’s worrisome. Patti Mackey is the head of the Ketchikan Visitors Bureau. Any other May, she said, these docks would be abuzz. (npr.org)

A few weeks after reducing their Alaska cruise fleet by 75%, two major cruise lines pulled the plug on the rest of the season in Alaska. (skagwaynews.com)

From Alaska to Washington State and British Columbia in Canada, ports in the Pacific Northwest are facing significant financial challenges as the already-short Alaska cruise season confronts delays and cancellations from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. (cruisecritic.co.uk)

Cruise ships are slowly being redeployed to other areas following cancellations of itineraries in Alaska for the 2020 season as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the fate of many cruise ships scheduled to sail to Alaska still hangs in the balance — with many expected to enter some sort of short-term layup scenario — a few cruise lines have begun redeploying these vessels to different regions. (cruisecritic.co.uk)

Despite a federal “no sail” order, Carnival Cruise Line is offering a seven-day sailing through Southeast Alaska in early July. That was news to Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata, whose small town is virtually shut down in hopes of avoiding a spike in coronavirus cases. (alaskapublic.org)