Ketchikan’s city council approved signing a draft memorandum of agreement between Southeast Alaska port communities and the Carnival Corporation that sets protocols needed to resume cruise ship visits to the state.
Other cruise destinations listed in the memorandum include Juneau, Sitka, Skagway and Hoonah. Several independent ports are also co-signers, along with the State Department of Health and Social Services.
The memorandum addresses conditions laid out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowing cruise ship operations to resume.
Ketchikan acting Port and Harbors Director Mark Hilson says adopting the agreement is a key step for resuming cruising, not only in Ketchikan but in all of Alaska. Among the provisions are rules for reporting, actions to take when when a passenger tests positive and a requirement that 95% of passengers and crew be vaccinated.
Hilson says that under the agreement, passengers will have free range in communities they visit.
“There’s been a lot of talk leading up to this, especially in what seems like the distant past, of ‘bubbles.’ There are no bubbles included in this,” he said.
Last fall, before COVID-19 vaccines were available, cruise lines had proposed restricting passengers to cruise-line sponsored excursions. But that idea never found traction.
Carnival Corporation also owns Princess Cruises and Holland America Line and others. Hilson says three large cruise ships scheduled to stop in Ketchikan later this summer are covered under the memorandum — the Carnival Miracle, the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Majestic Princess.
The council unanimously approved signing the memorandum. It will now be transmitted to the CDC by Carnival. Hilson says draft proposals from Celebrity Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines were received and will be brought to the council at its next regular meeting on June 15.
