"cruise ship"

The first ship of the year — the Norwegian Bliss — arrived early Tuesday morning.

With little public data about COVID-19 cases on ships, some community members in Haines worry that the ships could also bring a surge in coronavirus cases.

When the short cruise season was over and done with, a total of 125,000 passengers came to town, which is less than 10% of the passengers from 2019.

Juneau residents have mixed feelings about the ship’s arrival amid an uptick an COVID-19 cases, but for the most part, the feeling at the dock and inside downtown businesses on Friday was one of hope. 

Canadian authorities say they’ll lift a pandemic-era ban on cruise ships in the country’s waters, but it won’t happen until after the end of Alaska’s 2021 cruise season.

Skagway officials are preparing for nearly 100,000 cruise ship passengers to visit this summer, and are taking steps to make sure the same sort of outbreak doesn’t happen on their side of the border.

The bill temporarily lifts the requirement that foreign cruise ships – nearly the entire fleet – stop in Canada on their way to and from Alaska ports.

City Administrator John Leach told the Sitka Assembly that Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. is offering the city $1 million to ease the economic effects of the ongoing cruise suspension in Alaska. 

It’s an incremental step in the solution to a complicated issue, but it shows the state legislature supports communities that are hurting without cruise tourism this summer.

The Petersburg Economic Development Council released its final version of a community plan for responding to growth in the visitor industry. That plan presents a range of recommendations for managing more tourists and cruise ships.