Tourism

For the cruise industry, scrubbers are a way to save money by allowing ships to burn cheaper, dirtier fuels. But the toxic chemicals removed from smokestack exhaust don’t just disappear.

Some of the highest case rates and sharpest increases were in communities — like Skagway, Petersburg, and Sitka — that will see a lot of visits from cruise ships.

After two summers of little to no business, Juneau’s tourist shops, tour operators and other local businesses are eager for visitors.

Last year, COVID-19 restrictions meant that cruise ship workers more often than not couldn’t get off the ships in port at all, so businesses in Juneau that cater to crewmembers, did practically zero business.

Written public testimony has been overwhelmingly in support of keeping or even expanding independent oversight by the marine engineers.

A slumping section of the Denali National Park road dropped an unprecedented amount over the winter, leaving a 40-foot drop in the road near Polychrome Pass.

Officials in Ketchikan are expecting a soft start to the cruise season despite industry projections that passenger numbers could be nearly as high as pre-pandemic seasons.

The first large cruise ship of the 2022 season arrives in Juneau on Monday afternoon. 

The town is experiencing one of its largest outbreaks of the pandemic, with upwards of 30 residents testing positive since the first week of April.

Federal COVID-19 protocols that were mandatory for last year’s cruise season are optional now, but cruise lines visiting Alaska are still expected to follow them this year.