Alaska city puts limit on how many cruise passengers can visit after being overwhelmed by tourists last year

[navybankerteacher]

3 hours ago, K32682 said:

The limits mentioned in the article seem quite reasonable for a community 32,000. 16 thousand beds during the week and 12 thousand on the Saturdays. I've been in Key West when the boats discharge their respirating cargo and have see how comparatively fewer cruisers than Juneau is facing can disrupt a place. Some cruisers have a massive sense of entitlement and can be profoundly obnoxious. 

 

 

What it boils down to is the fact that the “success” of the cruising business  is leading to its failing in many ways.  Ports which accept too many cruisers are not worth visiting, and more ports will start restricting numbers — not many places want to accept day trippers who come with one shirt and one $20 bill, and don’t change either.  I expect that the industry will start to split: ultra large, low cost ships which offer boundless activities will continue to attract low budget cruisers and limit port calls to private islands; while smaller ships will cater to travelers interested in ports (which will become less welcoming to large ships, or even large passenger loads) - essentially returning to the way cruising was 20+ years  and more ago.

[donaldsc]

I believe that the ports should and hopefully will eventually do with all the cruise ports what many of the National Parks have done - ration the number of visitors.  Once that number of has been reached admit no more visitors.  The people who insist in cruising on the Genormous of the Seas type ships should just go out to sea somewhere and anchor or cruise slowly in circles so that the people who feel that they have to cruise on these ships can stay at sea and do whatever they wish.  The private islands in the Caribbean already partly serve this function fairly well.  Genormous of the Seas type ships just do not belong in places like AK at all.

 

DON

[oaktreerb]

On 6/18/2024 at 8:58 AM, jsn55 said:

I'm sailing Crown Princess out of San Francisco in August.  My main goal is R&R, but I do want to see something in each port.  Discovered that there will be FIVE ships in Juneau ... horrifying.  No interest in strolling around the town amid hordes of pax, so have to book ship's tours or risk a miserable day.  I guess the only way to avoid this is to check cruising schedules before booking.  Crazy!  

Juneau is a good place to go whale watching, Taku Glacier Lodge, Tracy Arm.  

[wcook]

On 6/18/2024 at 9:27 PM, navybankerteacher said:

Ports which accept too many cruisers are not worth visiting,

Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded. 

[njasmine]

On 6/18/2024 at 10:58 AM, jsn55 said:

I'm sailing Crown Princess out of San Francisco in August.  My main goal is R&R, but I do want to see something in each port.  Discovered that there will be FIVE ships in Juneau ... horrifying.  No interest in strolling around the town amid hordes of pax, so have to book ship's tours or risk a miserable day.  I guess the only way to avoid this is to check cruising schedules before booking.  Crazy!  

I'm wondering how can I check this now?  I'm in the quantum of the seas in September 

 

Thanks 

[dfilpus]

4 hours ago, njasmine said:

I'm wondering how can I check this now?  I'm in the quantum of the seas in September 

 

Thanks 

The cruise port schedules are published at https://claalaska.com/?page_id=665

Pick the port and scroll down to the date you are going to be there.

[jsn55]

4 hours ago, dfilpus said:

The cruise port schedules are published at https://claalaska.com/?page_id=665

Pick the port and scroll down to the date you are going to be there.

I also look at 'whats in port'.  An extra bonus to knowing this stuff is that I like to watch other ships come and go, so I know when they're departing or arriving.  

[Suzanne123]

On 6/19/2024 at 3:58 PM, oaktreerb said:

Juneau is a good place to go whale watching, Taku Glacier Lodge, Tracy Arm.  

 

We were in Juneau yesterday on the Westerdam with five ships in port.  There were 12 whale watch boats of all sizes surrounding one whale in Auke Bay for 20 minutes. It was awful.

[wolfie11]

On 7/17/2024 at 12:32 AM, njasmine said:

I'm wondering how can I check this now?  I'm in the quantum of the seas in September 

 

Thanks 

Nothing personal jasmine, but I find it somewhat ironic that passengers on Quantum, which is by far the biggest ship sailing in Alaska at 5000 passengers are worried about how crowded the port is going to be.

[Glaciers]

With the demand in Alaska cruising I do wonder if this will entice other communities to open their doors to cruise ships. It appears Klawock just started this year.

[wolfie11]

1 hour ago, Glaciers said:

With the demand in Alaska cruising I do wonder if this will entice other communities to open their doors to cruise ships. It appears Klawock just started this year.

Klawock is a project started by Huna Totem.  They bought a sawmill and are going to develop it along the lines of Icy Strait Point. Norwegian is opening a dock in Whittier that can take two large ships (and you thought Ward Cove was bad) in addition to the HAL and Princess ships.  Otherwise there aren’t any towns in Alaska that have docks big enough for cruise ships.  

[zqvol]

3 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

. . .  Otherwise there aren’t any towns in Alaska that have docks big enough for cruise ships.  

Do you mean other than the usual suspects?

[wolfie11]

4 hours ago, zqvol said:

Do you mean other than the usual suspects?

Yes, and the usual towns are full.  I saw one day next summer when Ketchikan is scheduling to have 8 ships including two 4000 pax ships!

[jsn55]

13 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

Yes, and the usual towns are full.  I saw one day next summer when Ketchikan is scheduling to have 8 ships including two 4000 pax ships!

I am guessing that the cruiselines could do a better job of cooperating and not overwhelming ports on certain days.  If not, we get bans and inconvenience.  Kinda sad.

[Coral]

Having larger ships has definitely not helped the situation.

[Aquahound]

On 6/18/2024 at 4:43 AM, ontheweb said:

Juneau, Alaska

 

Alaska city puts limit on how many cruise passengers can visit after being overwhelmed by tourists last year (msn.com)

 

And note many residents do not feel this goes far enough as they want to effectively ban all cruise ships on Saturdays and on July 4th.

 

I have an office in Juneau, so I'm up there about 4 times a year.  This means I've seen the cruise ship invasion from the other side and have had conversations about it with my folks who live and work there permanently.  This is long overdue.  Most locals know to stay away from the pier area, but many do not have a choice.  That, along with cheapskate cruisers filling the local commuter busses in order to get to Mendenhall, has led to locals getting fed up.  The bubble was bound to burst at some point, and it looks like it finally has. 

[oaktreerb]

On 7/22/2024 at 2:59 PM, Aquahound said:

 

I have an office in Juneau, so I'm up there about 4 times a year.  This means I've seen the cruise ship invasion from the other side and have had conversations about it with my folks who live and work there permanently.  This is long overdue.  Most locals know to stay away from the pier area, but many do not have a choice.  That, along with cheapskate cruisers filling the local commuter busses in order to get to Mendenhall, has led to locals getting fed up.  The bubble was bound to burst at some point, and it looks like it finally has. 

I think it has burst.  I am not recommending anyone take a cruise to Alaska.  Too many tourists.  Something has to be done.  Sitka closed the tourist area to traffic so it’s just a gaggle of tourists wandering around.  Ketchikan is packed with people taking pictures and selfies.  

Cruisers in Haines are taking the ferry to Skagway (like Skagway doesn’t have enough tourists).  Ships now have many more cruisers than they had 20 years ago.  Bigger ships, more ships, too few ports accepting ships, Icy Strait as a created cruise port now busses people to Hoonah so even Hoonah is overrun.  What a mess.

[oaktreerb]

On 6/18/2024 at 5:27 PM, navybankerteacher said:

What it boils down to is the fact that the “success” of the cruising business  is leading to its failing in many ways.  Ports which accept too many cruisers are not worth visiting, and more ports will start restricting numbers — not many places want to accept day trippers who come with one shirt and one $20 bill, and don’t change either.  I expect that the industry will start to split: ultra large, low cost ships which offer boundless activities will continue to attract low budget cruisers and limit port calls to private islands; while smaller ships will cater to travelers interested in ports (which will become less welcoming to large ships, or even large passenger loads) - essentially returning to the way cruising was 20+ years  and more ago.

Our first Alaska cruise was 20 years ago on one of the smaller HAL ships.  Those 4 ships were sold during covid.   After 20 years of various Alaska itineraries we took our last Alaska cruise in June 2024.  It’s not fun anymore.

[wolfie11]

I will be forgoing Alaska for the first time in many years and cruising Iceland and Northern Europe next year.