Tagged: Alaska

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)