alaska cruise ship with covid

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Alaska breaks cruise ship passenger record as tourism rebounds from the COVID pandemic

The state of Alaska broke its 2019 record for cruise ship tourism this summer, with Alaska’s capital city recording 1.65 million passengers this year, according to figures released Thursday at a meeting of the Juneau Chamber of Commerce.

Most Alaska tourists arrive via cruise ship, and Juneau sees all but a handful of the cruise ships that visit Alaska each summer, making the city’s figures a proxy for the industry as a whole.

The newly published figures mark a rebound — and then some — from the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

Juneau recorded 1.2 million cruise ship tourists in 2022, 124,600 in 2021, 48 in 2020, and 1.33 million in 2019. The 2019 figure was the previous record.

“This is a 23% increase from our best season ever before,” said Meilani Schijvens, director of Rain Coast Data, the economics firm that published the numbers.

“It ended up being a really, really strong season here in Southeast Alaska,” Schijvens said.

The figures, based on per-passenger head tax figures calculated by the City and Borough of Juneau, were released as part of an annual report commissioned by Southeast Conference, the regional economic development organization for Southeast Alaska.

They include only “manifested passenger numbers,” said Juneau Port Director Carl Uchytil, so they don’t include the thousands of crew aboard ship. The figures also don’t differentiate between passengers who disembark in the city and those who stay aboard ship.

Brian Holst, director of the Juneau Economic Development Council, said the figures are “absolutely” good news for his community “because economic sectors like tourism have come back solid” since the pandemic emergency.

“Businesses are reporting either a good year or a great year,” he said.

An annual panel survey of 370 Southeast Alaska business owners found 73% had a positive view of the region’s economy, the highest mark since the survey began in 2010.

Almost 80% of survey participants said they have positive expectations for 2024 as well.

Tourism accounts for 15% of Southeast Alaska’s jobs but only 9% of its wages; most tourism jobs are seasonal, occurring during the cruise ship season that runs from April through October.

Government work — state, federal, local and tribal — accounts for more than a third of the region’s jobs and wages and is the leading economic sector.

While the number of visiting tourists is above what it was in 2019, the number of tourism-related jobs in Southeast Alaska remains below what it was in the prior record year, as do wages. Tourism-related employment accounted for 12% of all wages in Southeast Alaska in 2019 before declining during the pandemic.

Employers across the region continue to report a workforce shortage, with construction workers in particular being hard to come by.

“Really, we could use a lot more foreign workers coming into the United States and coming into Alaska to bolster our economy,” Schijvens said.

According to her firm’s survey, more than half of the region’s business leaders said a lack of housing has cost them employees. 

Survey respondents also said the cost and availability of child care was a major factor in their inability to hire and retain workers.

Over the past 12 years, the price of an average single family home in Juneau has risen 52%, 22 percentage points above inflation during that period, Schjivens said. Average wages in the city rose 38%, 8 points above inflation, during the same period.

Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon said of the 2023 cruise ship season, “We are happy with the numbers for the tourism numbers, but at the same time, we understand that the community has felt a little tension this year.”

Concerns about traffic and overcrowding have risen along with passenger volume, and the city has reached a voluntary agreement with the cruise industry to cap the number of ships per day.

No more than five large ships will be permitted on any given day, starting next year. According to preliminary data shared by Schjivens, 50 ships have planned a combined 660 voyages to Southeast Alaska in 2024, with the first ship due in Juneau April 8, and the last on Oct. 26.

That’s an extension of this year’s record-long cruise ship season, which began in mid-April, and Schjivens expects 1.7 million tourists in the capital city next year, another record.

James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Alaska Beacon  is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: [email protected] . Follow Alaska Beacon on  Facebook and X .

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2 vaccinated guests aboard an Alaska cruise have tested positive for COVID-19

•  Two vaccinated passengers and one unvaccinated crew member tested positive aboard an Alaska cruise.
• All 162 guests and the majority of the 62 crew members on the American Constellation were vaccinated.
• The cruise ship's next sailing has already been canceled.

Two vaccinated passengers and one unvaccinated crew member tested positive for COVID-19 aboard an American Cruise Lines Alaska cruise.

The 162-guest, 62-crew American Constellation — which was one of the first ships to resume cruising in the Alaska — initially departed on a 10-night sailing from Juneau, Alaska on July 4, USA Today reported. The positive COVID-19 cases were recorded five days later while the cruise was in Petersburg, Alaska.

The three COVID-19-positive passengers and their "close contacts" stayed in Petersburg to quarantine — according to a press release from Juneau, Alaska's government — while the ship then returned to its homeport on July 10, four days early.

Related stories

All guests and the majority of the crew aboard the ship were vaccinated. Unvaccinated crew must stay quarantined on the ship as it continues to stay in Juneau until July 20.

American Cruise Lines "strongly recommends the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible guests," but vaccination is required for its 2021 Alaska cruises, according to the cruise line's website . All guests must also be tested for the virus as part of the cruise line's boarding process.

The " small-ship " cruise line has since canceled what would've been the ship's next cruise on July 14 "out of an abundance of caution," the cruise line told Insider in an email statement on Monday.

"American Cruise Lines has implemented its COVID-19 Response Plan in Alaska and is coordinating with state and local health officials following the detection of COVID-19 on board," the cruise line said.

So far, American Cruise Lines has shuttled over 10,000 passengers on 130 sailings since it resumed sailings in March. The three positive cases aboard the American Constellation are the cruise line's first COVID-19 incidents since its resumption of operations.

Cruise lines like Celebrity Cruises and MSC Cruises have also recently reported positive COVID-19 cases amid the worldwide resumption of cruising.

Watch: How one Native American tribe is protecting itself from the coronavirus amid legal threats and funding delays from the US government

• Main content

Royal Caribbean Canceled Alaska Cruise With People Already On The Ship

Can you imagine this situation.

Say you’re scheduled for a 7-day cruise of Alaska on Royal Caribbean’s Radiance of the Seas .

Ports of call include:

April 26: Day 1 – Embarkation in Vancouver April 27: Day 2 – Juneau April 28: Day 3 – Icy Strait Point April 29: Day 4 – Sitka April 30: Day 5 – Skagway May 1: Day 6 – Hubbard Glacier May 2: Day 7 – Disembarkation in Seward

Your plans are to fly to Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and stay in Vancouver overnight, so you can board the ship the next morning.

And then you get an email from Royal Caribbean – the ship has a “technical issue with its propulsion system.” However, they expect the problem to be fixed quickly enough, and passengers can still board on April 26th, as planned.

You get to the ship and finally board. You’re so excited! You’ve been waiting for this cruise for TWO YEARS!

While you’re milling about the ship, still at the port in Vancouver, one of the managers made an announcement that the repairs were taking longer than intended and might not be finished that day. Hmmm…

Two-day delay

And then the announcement comes – the ship wouldn’t be leaving yet and would remain in Vancouver for 2 days. You wouldn’t leave port until the 28th.

“While repairs for the technical issue that we encountered on our previous sailing are still underway, we discovered that we’re going to need some extra time to get the ship in tip-top shape for you,” the cruise line shared with passengers in letters in their staterooms. “Although we’ll conduct our boarding as planned for our April 26th, 2024, Radiance of the Seas sailing, we’ll now set sail on April 28, 2024.”

“We’re terrible sorry for this last-minute change,” the letter continued. “We understand this news is disappointing, but we hope you’ll join us on the alternate itinerary planned.” (because Juneau now wasn’t going to happen).

And worse yet? Even though the ship would remain in Vancouver for two days, no one could leave because of customs regulations.

According to USA Today , this is exactly what happened to a ship full of unlucky passengers late last month.

True, Royal Caribbean did their best – they gave passengers onboard credit worth the two days of their fare, a future cruise credit of the same amount, free bar and Wi-Fi, and other compensations. But still…

Only kidding!

On Saturday the 27th, the ship managed to sail towards the nearby cargo port. But then the captain announced that afternoon that the sail couldn’t proceed. The cruise was canceled and everyone would need to disembark by Sunday the 28th at 4 pm.

“As you are aware, our teams have been vigorously working to have Radiance of the Seas prepared to set sail on our shortened April 26th sailing,” said the letter given to passengers in their staterooms read.

“Despite our best efforts, circumstances beyond our control have delayed our sailing further. As a result, we’ll regrettably have to cancel our April 26th, 2024 cruise.

“We understand the disappointment due to this unfortunate turn of events.” the letter continued. “We truly extend our sincerest apologies for the continued unforeseen disruptions to your vacation.”

Compensation up the ying yang

Joe and I have been on 2 cruises that were canceled – both on Virgin Voyages, both due to Covid. Our July 2020 cruise was canceled and rescheduled to July 2021. That one was also canceled and was rescheduled to July, 2022 (we were able to go on that one). So we can tell you from experience that canceled cruises are sad and frustrating and annoying, but to their credit, cruise companies make good – VERY good – when they happen.

Passengers scheduled for the April 26th cruise will receive:

• A 100% refund for the cost of the cruise (including any taxes and fees incurred for the cruise).
• A Future Cruise Credit (FCC) worth 100% of what they paid for their cruise. This can be used towards a future sailing. (Royal Caribbean has stated guests will receive this FCC by May 10th).
• Anyone who booked their flights through the cruise line will have their flight arrangements automatically re-scheduled.
• Royal Caribbean will reimburse any travel change fees (up to $250 for domestic travel and $400 for international travel).
• The cruise line will also reimburse up to $250 for hotel costs, per stateroom, per night, for two nights.

No offense to all involved, but I’m glad I wasn’t on that cruise. It’s one thing to be told X number of weeks or months ahead of time that the cruise is canceled…but to be told “She’s broken; get off the ship?” Ugh. Especially when airfare reimbursement may or may not cover what you paid (and definitely won’t cover last-minute airfare home), and your PTO is already used.

According to CruiseMapper, the ship resumed service on May 3rd .

Feature Photo: RCI

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There's COVID-19 on nearly every cruise ship right now: Here's what cruisers need to know

Things are getting iffy again for cruisers -- at least for those with near-term bookings.

The ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases around the world is causing a growing number of disruptions to itineraries and even some last-minute cancellations of entire voyages.

The number of passengers being quarantined on ships (after testing positive for COVID-19) also is on the rise. And passengers who aren't COVID-19 positive are getting caught up in short-term quarantines for being "close contacts" of shipmates who are.

For more cruise guides, tips and news, sign up for TPG's cruise newsletter .

Meanwhile, just getting to ships is becoming increasingly stressful, as getting the pre-cruise COVID-19 test that's often required before cruising is getting more difficult . Plus, a "perfect storm" of soaring COVID-19 cases and rough winter weather has wreaked havoc with airline operations for weeks.

Still, the situation isn't anywhere near as dramatic or disruptive as what we saw at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, when whole ships were being quarantined due to outbreaks of the illness and, eventually, the entire industry shut down.

As I saw myself during a cruise to Antarctica in recent weeks, many sailings are operating relatively normally, even when there are COVID-19 cases on board.

Here's a look at everything you need to know if you've got a cruise booked in the coming weeks -- or further out.

COVID-19 cases on ships are up a lot

While cruise ships have recorded relatively few cases of COVID-19 over the past year, in part due to unusually strict health protocols , the number of passengers and crew testing positive on ships has been rising sharply in recent weeks along with the greater surge on land.

At the end of December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 5,013 COVID-19 cases had been reported on cruise vessels operating in U.S. waters during the last two weeks of the month, up from just 162 cases during the first two weeks of the month.

That's a 3,094% increase.

Anecdotal reports are that the number of cases on ships is up even more in the first 10 days of the new year.

Notably, all 92 cruise vessels currently operating in U.S. waters have recorded at least a handful of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, according to CDC data.

Still, it's important to note that most of these "cases" of COVID-19 are asymptomatic or mild, only discovered during routine testing. While some ships only are testing passengers who report feeling ill for COVID-19 (and close contacts of those who subsequently test positive), other ships are testing every single passenger at least once per voyage, sometimes more. One line, Viking , is testing every single passenger for COVID-19 every day.

Cruise lines also are testing all crew members regularly.

The result is the detection of many asymptomatic cases that otherwise would have gone undetected. This is a level of surveillance that is much greater than what is the norm for other travel venues such as land-based resorts or theme parks, and it can give the false impression that the positivity rate for COVID-19 on ships is unusually high as compared to other places.

If anything, the positivity rate is far lower on ships than on land, thanks to much stricter health protocols (more on that in a moment).

It's also important to note that the detection of COVID-19-positive passengers or crew on board your ship won't necessarily impact your sailing (unless you are among those testing positive).

Health authorities no longer are quarantining whole ships when a few -- or even a lot -- of passengers and crew test positive for COVID-19. The current protocol on most ships is to isolate COVID-19-positive passengers and crew but otherwise continue on with voyages as planned.

Your itinerary could change

While health authorities no longer are quarantining whole ships when a few passengers or crew test positive for COVID-19, the presence of the illness on board a vessel still could result in notable disruptions to your itinerary.

Cruise lines in recent weeks have faced a growing number of ports that are balking at allowing ships with COVID-19-positive passengers or crew to dock.

Several ships recently had to skip port calls in Mexico , for instance, after passengers and crew on board the vessels tested positive for COVID-19. The ports have since reopened after Mexico's Health Department overruled the decisions of local port officials.

Cruise ships also have had to cancel stops recently at the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, and at San Juan, Puerto Rico, due to local worries about COVID-19-positive passengers and crew on board and/or tighter COVID-19-related entry requirements.

Lines also are dealing with a small but growing number of destinations -- India and Hong Kong, for example -- that are at least temporarily closing to cruising completely, even for ships where no one has tested positive for COVID-19.

Viking on Sunday was forced to announce a major revision of its soon-to-begin, 120-day world cruise after India notified the line it was closing to cruise ships. Viking's 930-passenger Viking Star will begin its world cruise this week by heading south from Los Angeles to Central America and South America instead of sailing westward toward Asia, where it was scheduled to spend a significant amount of time in India.

Your cruise could be canceled on short notice

A growing number of cruise lines are canceling sailings on short notice, citing the disruptions caused by COVID-19. The world's largest cruise operator Royal Caribbean on Friday canceled soon-to-depart sailings on four of its 25 ships, including the next three departures of the world's largest ship, Symphony of the Seas .

Norwegian Cruise Line on Wednesday canceled soon-to-depart voyages on eight of its 17 ships.

Other lines canceling one or more sailings in recent days include Holland America , Silversea , Atlas Ocean Voyages, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, MSC Cruises , Costa Cruises and Oceania Cruises .

The cancellations come as lines struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels on some ships due to crew members testing positive. When crew test positive, they and their close contacts must stop working and isolate, even if asymptomatic, leaving shipboard venues short-staffed.

You probably won't be quarantined, stranded or stuck

As noted above, health authorities no longer are quarantining whole ships when a few -- or even a lot -- of passengers and crew test positive for COVID-19.

The current protocol on most ships is to quickly isolate COVID-19-positive passengers and their close contacts. But only the COVID-19-positive passengers are being isolated long term.

As my colleague Ashley Kosciolek experienced first-hand on a cruise in 2021, close contacts only are being isolated for a short period while they are tested for COVID-19. If they test negative, they typically are allowed out of their rooms to rejoin the rest of their fellow cruisers on board.

This means that many sailings are going ahead as planned, with little disruption, even when some passengers and crew on the trips test positive for COVID-19. I experienced this myself in late December when on a Silversea vessel where four passengers tested positive for COVID-19. Some passengers who were deemed close contacts of the passengers who tested positive were isolated for a short period while being tested for COVID-19. But the positive cases had little impact on most of the passengers on board the vessel, and the voyage went ahead as planned.

Such a protocol comes at the recommendation of the CDC, which has set guidelines for how cruise lines should respond to COVID-19-positive cases on board ships, and it has worked well for the past year .

Of course, if you do test positive for COVID-19 on a ship, you will, unfortunately, face what could be several days of isolation in a cabin on a ship or on land. If you are an American cruising overseas, you also won't be able to return to the U.S. until you have tested negative for COVID-19 (or until you recover from the illness and are cleared in writing to travel by a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official).

This is one of the biggest risks of taking a cruise right now, and one reason you may consider canceling a sailing scheduled in the short term (see the section on more-flexible cancellation policies below).

Most COVID-19 cases on ships aren't serious

Cruise lines are reporting that the vast majority of passengers testing positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.

All major cruise lines currently are requiring all or nearly all passengers to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, with some also starting to require booster shots , to boot. This creates an onboard population that is far less likely to experience serious symptoms of COVID-19 than a cross-section of people on land, according to CDC data.

For all adults ages 18 years and older, the cumulative COVID-19-associated hospitalization rate is about eight times higher in unvaccinated persons than in vaccinated persons, according to the latest CDC data.

You'll face lots of new health protocols

If you haven't cruised since before the pandemic, you might be surprised by how many new health- and safety-related policies cruise lines have implemented to keep COVID-19 off ships.

For starters, there are the vaccine mandates noted above. No other segment of the travel industry has been as uniform in requiring almost every customer to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Related: Will I need a COVID-19 vaccine to cruise? A line-by-line guide

As noted above, cruise lines also are requiring passengers to undergo COVID-19 tests before boarding ships -- a screening process that is keeping many COVID-19 positive people from ever stepping on board a vessel.

When COVID-19 is detected on a ship, cruise lines sometimes then test passengers multiple times to ensure it isn't spreading. On my recent trip to Antarctica, I underwent six COVID-19 tests in just eight days -- three in advance of stepping on board the vessel (including a PCR test required by Chile, where my trip began) and three while on board.

In addition, most cruise lines now are requiring passengers to wear masks at all times while in interior spaces of vessels, and they have stepped up cleaning regimens, improved air filtration systems on ships and made other onboard changes.

The CDC says to avoid cruising for now

On Dec. 30, the CDC added cruise ships to its list of "Level 4" destinations you should avoid visiting for now due to high levels of COVID-19.

For what it's worth, more than 80 countries around the world -- including a good chunk of all the places you might want to travel -- are on this list. So, the CDC is basically telling you that now isn't a good time to travel. Fair enough. But the warning shouldn't be seen as a call-out on any elevated risk to cruising as opposed to visiting other places, per se.

Places on the Level 4 list currently include Canada, much of Europe and nearly every country in the Caribbean.

The cruise industry has been highly critical of the designation, arguing that cruise ships are far safer places to be right now than almost anywhere else, given their strict health protocols.

"The decision by the CDC to raise the travel level for cruise is particularly perplexing considering that cases identified on cruise ships consistently make up a very slim minority of the total population onboard — far fewer than on land — and the majority of those cases are asymptomatic or mild in nature, posing little to no burden on medical resources onboard or onshore," the main trade group for the industry, the Cruise Lines International Association, said in a statement to TPG.

You can cancel if you're worried (in many cases)

If you're booked on a cruise in the coming weeks, and you're having second thoughts, there's a good chance you can get out of your trip. Many lines continue to be far more flexible than normal about cancellations.

Take cruise giant Carnival Cruise Line . Its current flexible cancellation policy allows passengers to cancel as long as a public health emergency remains in effect and receive 100% of the cruise fare paid in the form of a future cruise credit. Passengers are also able to cancel if they test positive for COVID-19. (Proof of a positive test result is required.)

Another large line, Norwegian, just last week extended its pandemic-era Peace of Mind policy to allow passengers to cancel any sailing taking place between now and May 31. For now, the cancellation needs to be done by Jan. 31, and the refund would come in the form of a future cruise credit to be used on any sailing that embarks through Dec. 31.

That means you could call the line right now to back out of a cruise that is just days away. In normal times, you'd lose all your money if you backed out of a seven-night Norwegian cruise with fewer than 31 days' notice.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

• A beginners guide to picking a cruise line
• The 5 most desirable cabin locations on any cruise ship
• The 8 worst cabin locations on any cruise ship
• A quick guide to the most popular cruise lines
• 21 tips and tricks that will make your cruise go smoothly
• 15 ways cruisers waste money
• What to pack for your first cruise

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Cruise Ship Travel

CDC Respiratory Virus Guidance has been updated. The content of this page will be updated soon.

While cruising is a popular way to travel, there are some health concerns to be aware of. Find out more about health issues on cruises and steps you can take to stay safe and healthy during your trip.

If you are feeling sick before your voyage, do not travel and ask your cruise line about rescheduling or reimbursement options. If you feel sick during your voyage, report your symptoms to the ship’s medical center and follow their recommendations.

Common Health Concerns During Cruise Travel and what You Can Do to Prevent Illness

• Respiratory illnesses like influenza , COVID-19 , and the common cold. Get your annual flu shot and get up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines . Check directly with your cruise line about their COVID-19 testing or vaccination protocols before travel. If you have a weakened immune system , talk with your healthcare provider about your cruise travel plans. Wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer . When you cough or sneeze, cover your nose and mouth with a tissue to prevent spreading germs. Consider wearing a mask in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor areas.
• Norovirus. Symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, primarily caused by outbreaks of norovirus, have been reported. To prevent norovirus , wash your hands with soap and water before eating and after using the bathroom, changing diapers, or touching things that other people have touched, such as stair railings. Avoid touching your face. For more information, visit CDC’s  Vessel Sanitation Program  website.
• Seasickness. Cruise ship passengers may experience seasickness or motion sickness. If you know you get seasick or think you may be likely to get seasick, talk to your healthcare provider about medicine to reduce your symptoms. Some common medications, including some antidepressants, painkillers, and birth control pills, can make seasickness worse.
• Sunburns. Apply sunscreen with SPF 15 or higher when traveling. Protecting yourself from the sun isn’t just for tropical beaches—you can get a sunburn even if it’s cloudy or cold.
• Bug bites. On your trip, use insect repellent and take other steps to avoid bug bites. Bugs, including mosquitoes and ticks, can spread diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and Lyme. Many ships visit ports where these diseases are a concern.

Before Your Trip

Check CDC’s destination pages for travel health information . Check CDC’s webpage for your destination to see what vaccines or medicines you may need and what diseases or health risks are a concern at your destination.

Make sure you are up to date with all of your routine vaccines . Routine vaccinations protect you from infectious diseases  that can spread quickly in groups of people. Outbreaks of chickenpox, influenza, and COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships.

Many diseases prevented by routine vaccination are not common in the United States but are still common in other countries. Crew members and fellow travelers often board a cruise ship from destinations where some diseases are more common than in the United States or where vaccination is not routine.

Make an appointment with your healthcare provider or a travel health specialist  that takes place at least one month before you leave. They can help you get destination-specific vaccines, medicines, and information. Discussing your health concerns, itinerary, and planned activities with your provider allows them to give more specific advice and recommendations.

Plan for the Unexpected

Prepare for any unexpected issues during your cruise ship travels with the following steps:

Prepare a  travel health kit  with items you may need, especially those items that may be difficult to find at your destination. Include your prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines in your travel health kit and take enough to last your entire trip, plus extra in case of travel delays. Depending on your destination you may also want to pack a mask ,  insect repellent , sunscreen (SPF15 or higher), aloe, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, water disinfection tablets, and your health insurance card.

Get travel insurance.  Find out if your health insurance covers medical care abroad. Travelers are usually responsible for paying hospital and other medical expenses out of pocket at most destinations. Make sure you have a plan to  get care overseas , in case you need it. Consider buying  additional insurance  that covers health care and emergency evacuation, especially if you will be traveling to remote areas.

If you need medical care abroad, see Getting Health Care During Travel .

After Travel

If you traveled and feel sick, particularly if you have a fever, talk to a healthcare provider and tell them about your travel. Avoid contact with other people while you are sick.

More Information

• Cruise Ship Travel in CDC Yellow Book
• Information for Cruise Ship Travelers
• Maritime Guidance

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Southeast  | Tourism

Alaska’s cruise tourism industry has recovered, but not fully, from COVID-19

September 15, 2022 by James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Southeast Alaska, home to the core of Alaska’s tourism industry, has largely recovered from the economic disaster caused by COVID-19, but the region still has fewer jobs than it did before the start of the pandemic.

Complete recovery may happen in 2023, attendees of Southeast Conference, a regional economic and local government conference,  were told Tuesday in Ketchikan .

“We’re building back, but we’re not entirely there yet,” said Meilani Schijvens of Rain Coast Data, an economic firm that focuses on Southeast Alaska.

Scott Habberstad, chair of the Alaska Travel Industry Association Board of Directors, was cautiously optimistic.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for complete recovery and growth. But are we at the beginning of a recession and are we going to go into a recession?” he said, referring to the possibility of  Federal Reserve interest rate increases .

“If we’re going into a recession, are people going to put their money into their pocket, or are they going to travel?” he said.

Southeast Alaska is heavily reliant on the tourism industry, and tourists who arrive in Southeast Alaska by cruise ship  frequently travel to other parts of the state . The summer seasonal tourism industry employs thousands of Alaskans, some of whom rely on summer earnings to support themselves for the rest of the year.

Between 2019 and 2020, the number of tourists coming to Alaska  fell by 82% . The number of cruise ship passengers arriving in the state dropped from more than 1.3 million to 48.

Southeast Alaska was among the hardest-hit places in the country by the resulting economic recession, Schjivens said. Businesses had spent millions of dollars preparing for the 2020 tourism season only to see it evaporate.

The regional fishing industry — another economic mainstay — also suffered in 2020 from poor salmon returns and low prices.

As a result, employment in Southeast Alaska dropped by 9,800 jobs — 24% of all jobs in the region — between June 2019 and June 2020.

Federal aid prevented many businesses from permanently closing, Schijvens said.

“The significant federal investments into the region in the form of COVID relief dollars worked as intended. Businesses, workers, and communities were able to continue in a stasis-like existence throughout the economically-impoverished early pandemic period, giving Southeast Alaska an economy to come back to in 2022,” she wrote in Southeast by the Numbers, an annual economic report card for the region.

As of June 2022, employment in Southeast Alaska remains 12% lower — down by 5,200 — than it was in June 2019.

Statewide, employment is down by 6%. For context, national employment was higher in June 2022 than it was in June 2019.

Business owners say conditions are better

Though the region hasn’t fully recovered, surveys conducted by Schijvens found business owners more optimistic about the future than at any point since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Of 440 surveyed in 2021, 80% said the business climate was “poor” or “very poor,” and that was an improvement from 2020. This year, that proportion has dropped to 36%.

More than three-quarters of the businesses surveyed said they expect conditions to be better next year than this year.

Some of that optimism has been driven by the cruise ship industry’s rebound from COVID-19.

After the 48 passengers recorded in 2020, Southeast Alaska counted 124,600 cruise ship passengers in 2021. This year, Schijvens forecasts about 1 million tourists by cruise ship.

Optimism for 2023 but unknowns remain

Next year, based on the number of sailings and projected interest, she expects about 1.3 million — roughly the same amount that sailed to Alaska in 2019, the last year before the pandemic.

Air travel has also rebounded, with the number of passengers this year running only slightly below what it was in 2019.

“Tourism is back, and it is thriving,” she said.

Habberstad, who also works for Alaska Airlines, is more cautious. He said there’s several unanswered questions when looking ahead to 2023.

During the pandemic, Alaska was a convenient destination for Americans who couldn’t vacation internationally. Will that change? Will economic pressures force people to curtail spending? Will the war in Ukraine, COVID lockdowns in Asia and a strong dollar discourage international visitors from coming to Alaska?

Fall and winter are traditionally the times when tourists book trips for the next season. There’s a lot of opportunity but a lot of uncertainty, Habberstad said.

“I think we’ll have a better idea in December,” he said.

Alaska Beacon

Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: [email protected]. Follow Alaska Beacon on Facebook and Twitter .

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Experienced cruise travelers say staff shortages and COVID-19 outbreaks are disrupting their Alaska trips

Cruise passengers on the Norwegian Bliss on April 25, 2022 in Juneau. The ship was the first large cruise ship to dock in Juneau this season. (Photo by Paige Sparks / KTOO)

This story originally appeared on KTOO and is republished here with permission.

JUNEAU — Mohammad Palwala went on his first cruise last year. The cybersecurity engineer from Dallas sailed through Southeast Alaska aboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas.

“And I told my family, ‘It’s like, the best thing ever. You get a full-on vacation on the cruise,’” he said.

There was lots of entertainment on board and amazing experiences in Southeast Alaska communities. And, as far as COVID-19, it felt safe. Everyone had to test negative before boarding, just about everyone was vaccinated, and the ship was only at 30% capacity. That was in September.

Palwala wanted to share the experience with his extended family of 12. He booked another Alaska cruise on the same ship with almost the same itinerary. They sailed in May. This time, the ship was closer to full, with about 4,000 passengers. It wasn’t like before.

“Very understaffed,” he said. “We did not have shows on — we only had like, two shows on the whole of the cruise. Lack of entertainment, lack of entertainment for kids.”

There were long lines to disembark, facilities on board that were shuttered — even eating became disappointing. His whole family is vegetarian, and he was told the kitchen was too short-staffed to cook up proper meals for them.

Day after day, “the SAME thing. I mean, yeah, not even a few things, the same things. So whatever we ate in lunch, we ate in dinner,” he said.

His family ate a lot of lentil soup with rice.

Immediately after the cruise, 10 out of 12 people in his party tested positive for COVID. They were far from alone.

Experienced cruisers say staff shortages mean they’re having less fun. But they were also surprised by how widely COVID-19 seemed to spread. They want the public to know that lots of passengers are getting infected, and that on board, they’re left in the dark as the risk level changes.

[ Tourists and cruise ships are ready to return to Seward. But is Seward ready for them? ]

Palwala said there was a Facebook group with hundreds of passengers from that same sailing. At first, it was a fun space where people posted what to do in port and shared photos. After the cruise, it turned into an informal COVID tracking site with tips for dealing with Royal Caribbean customer service.

Lorna Bradley from Monterey, California, was on that same cruise, and in that same Facebook group.

“Somebody finally just posted a poll because so many people were reporting COVID,” Bradley said. “So, of the 400 passengers who happened to see the poll, 25% of those, 100 people, came in and said, ‘I’ve got COVID.’ … I would have had no idea if I weren’t in that Facebook group since I didn’t get sick. I would’ve had no idea there was that much COVID on board.”

She later learned through the group that she’d been in close contact with a cabin steward who had gotten COVID. She was never formally notified of it. Even general information about the ship’s COVID status was noticeably absent.

“And it would have been so easy for the captain’s morning announcements to just remind us, you know, ‘Oh, we have 20 passengers on board, you know, currently having COVID symptoms and you know, just a reminder, you might want to wear a mask,’” she said. “I mean, none of that happened at all, which I found surprising.”

Bradley is extra COVID-conscious because she has a medical condition that puts her at higher risk of complications. She also takes care of an elderly parent who’s at even higher risk.

“When there are COVID cases (on) board, on your floor, down the hall, with your cabin steward, passengers need to know so that they can make better choices for themselves,” she said.

Palwala said he wouldn’t have taken his family if he’d known more in advance.

“Definitely not, because of my wife mostly, because she is pregnant. … If I had known, I would have not gone,” he said.

Conditions vary from ship to ship, and from sailing to sailing.

For example, the Carnival Spirit made headlines for a badly managed outbreak when it was coming to Seattle to begin its season in Alaska this year.

Bruce Hogarth had booked the Spirit’s second Alaska sailing this season. He almost canceled his cruise when he heard about the outbreak. He had travel insurance, but it wouldn’t cover a cancellation for fear of COVID. He rolled the dice.

“And for the first four days, it was a wonderful time,” Hogarth said. “We enjoyed it. The service was good. The food was good. It was up to par in my mind. And then I came down with COVID, then three days later my wife came down with COVID.”

[ A Southeast Alaska village wants to build a tourism industry from scratch as logging fades ]

He thinks the cruise line could have done more to avoid people getting sick. His isolation went better than passengers’ on the earlier Spirit sailing.

“It was the opposite,” he said. “I had lost my appetite and I wasn’t eating a lot. They would check in and say, ‘Did you want to order anything? You haven’t ordered in a while.’ So they were very gracious that way.”

Hogarth lives near Victoria, British Columbia, one of the stops on the cruise. He was able to arrange to disembark there and finish his isolation period at home, instead of at a hotel in Seattle. He said a Canadian government official who walked him through his isolation obligations told him 127 customers and 42 crew from the cruise were infected.

Passengers are relying on secondhand information like this or Facebook polls because the cruise lines and public health authorities aren’t sharing the information they already have about COVID on cruise ships.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to questions about its COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships and data reporting .

The government of Canada addresses the risk with direct language on its cruise ship travel page : “The virus can spread easily between people in close quarters, such as on cruise ships. The chance of being infected with COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you’re fully vaccinated.”

5 Things I Wish I’d Known Before I Caught COVID on a Cruise

Many countries are dropping covid entry requirements and ships are sailing in full force once again. covid-19, however, still lingers in the air—literally..

• Copy Link copied

Here’s everything you need to know about protecting yourself from COVID on your next cruise.

Photo by Steve Heap/Shutterstock

With COVID cases continuing to fall across the United States, many people are feeling much less apprehensive about travel, including about a mode of transportation that was off-limits during much of the pandemic: cruising. But as Murphy’s Law states, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong”—so it’s best to be prepared when things do go south.

In 2019, my dad lucked out on a raffle and won an Alaskan cruise for four. My mother, father, husband, and I planned to sail in the fall of 2020, but obviously, that didn’t quite work out—cruising had been fully halted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at that point—and we postponed the trip.

After bumping back the cruise a few more times ( Things will look better in the spring! Maybe next fall! Maybe next year! ), we finally decided we were going to set sail in August 2022—infection rates were dropping and we were all vaccinated and boosted. Worryingly, the CDC stopped monitoring COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships just a month before our excursion, a move that allowed cruise lines to set their own policies of how they would handle cases aboard their vessels. Prior to that, there were more exacting requirements. Passengers and crew were previously required to be up-to-date on vaccines (or show proof of a negative COVID-19 test) before embarkation, and there were also stringent plans outlined for ships to follow in response to any cases that might occur onboard.

However, I was (perhaps naively) feeling pretty good—I’d gotten the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, two doses of the Moderna vaccine, and a booster (not the newer, recently released bivalent booster which targets omicron). I also habitually wore a mask in public places and hadn’t gotten sick yet. What could go wrong?

Three days into our seven-night Alaskan cruise, which began in Seattle and sailed up to Juneau with several stops on the way, things were going according to plan—we’d left the port of Seattle, tramped around Sitka National Historical Park , and rode the White Pass Railroad in Skagway . But on the fourth day, I awoke with the dreaded dry cough and the chills. The at-home rapid tests that I’d brought with me confirmed what I suspected: I had COVID-19. After a quick visit to the ship’s infirmary, I soon found myself in a new quarantine room—away from my family, who all tested negative—where I would remain for the rest of the cruise until all other passengers had disembarked from the vessel.

Here are five tips to keep in mind prior to any upcoming cruise so that you can be prepared should COVID come a-knockin’. (Hopefully, it doesn’t, of course—but knowledge and good planning are power.)

Staying up to date on COVID boosters is one of the best ways to stay safe on a cruise.

Photo by LookerStudio/Shutterstock

Stay up to date on your vaccinations—and wear a mask if you’re worried

Before considering a cruise, infectious disease experts recommend that travelers make sure they are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.

“COVID-19 vaccines have consistently shown that they reduce the chance of severe infection and death,” Amira Roess , professor of global health and epidemiology at George Mason University, explained in an email. “The new bivalent booster is expected to be even better at reducing the chance of infection and, if you do get infected, the duration and severity of COVID-19. Getting the booster about two to three weeks before you travel will give your body a chance to develop antibodies and increase your protection against infection and severe disease.”

For those who are concerned about getting sick, it’s also smart to wear a mask in certain settings since there’s still a chance you can get sick even if you are vaccinated and boosted.

“It is a good idea to wear a mask when you are in crowded indoor settings with people you don’t know, especially if you are vulnerable to severe infection,” wrote Roess. “Those who are vulnerable to severe infection could also modify their behavior while traveling to protect themselves. They could wear good-quality masks, travel during less popular times, avoid crowds particularly when eating or doing things we know increase exposure.”

There’s almost no way to avoid being in tight quarters with strangers on a cruise ship unless you decide to take all your meals in your room and greatly inconvenience yourself during any port stops. And if you’re going to a cold-weather destination like Alaska or Antarctica, you’ll likely be spending most of your time inside.

Of course, wearing a mask isn’t a guarantee that you won’t get infected either. But since most people are probably not willing to wear a mask for a week during a vacation (especially as COVID cases continue to fall), it might be wise to keep one handy just in case—especially if you’re at higher risk of developing severe complications .

For those who want the utmost protection, the CDC and infectious disease experts recommend an N95 or KN95-grade mask.

For extra peace of mind throughout your trip, bring a few at-home rapid test kits.

Photo by Helen Sushitskaya/Shutterstock

Be prepared—and don’t expect the ship to have everything you will need if you get sick

Don’t be surprised if the ship’s infirmary is woefully incapable of handling a COVID outbreak. At the nurse’s station, I was given another rapid test, and I tested positive again. Afterwards, I was whisked away to quarantine and given a six-ounce container of generic Mucinex, a box of acetaminophen, and some cherry cough drops. Even though I was vaccinated and boosted, I got pretty sick—that dry cough evolved into a feverish, phlegmy hack (which ended up lingering for more than a month) and I had trouble breathing, especially when lying down. But when I called to inform the doctor on board that I was having trouble breathing, I was told there wasn’t much they could do for me.

Given my experience, there are several things that I wish I had brought with me:

• Thermometer . My temperature was only taken once on board during my one and only visit to the nurse’s station. But my fever actually lasted for a few days, and it would have been helpful to continue to track it myself.
• Pulse oximeter . Pulse oximeters monitor blood oxygen levels. If you’re COVID positive and having trouble breathing, this can be a vital piece of equipment to have— any reading below 90 percent is considered concerning and could bring about bouts of confusion and dizziness, according to the CDC.
• Extra rapid tests . When I went to the infirmary to confirm that I was positive, I was told that if I tested negative, I would have to pay $150 for the appointment. (If I was positive, all my COVID-related expenses would be covered by the cruise line.) Though it was necessary to have the positive test to be admitted into quarantine, it’s good to have a few of your own on hand to double-check if you’re infected without incurring a huge bill at the nurse’s station.
• Additional cough medicine . More than likely, the ship’s infirmary will not have antiviral drugs like Paxlovid on board (which require a prescription), so be prepared with over the counter meds like fever reducer ibuprofen and cough suppressants like dextromethorphan.
• Extra clothes . I’m usually a big fan of traveling with just one carry-on bag , but since the CDC recommends a five-day quarantine, I opted to continue my isolation on land in Seattle. Usually, I don’t mind washing my underthings in the bathtub or sink, but I didn’t enjoy doing that when I was at my sickest. It might be a good move to pack a little extra—just in case.

Passengers who test positive will likely be asked to quarantine from other guests.

Photo by Belinda Fewings/Unsplash

Get ready for some alone time

After I tested positive in the infirmary, I was asked to quickly pack my things in the stateroom (within 15 minutes) that I shared with my husband and was promptly moved to a separate cabin on the third deck of the ship in a hall where other COVID patients were kept behind a water-tight door. (There was a pretty sizable outbreak onboard, so nearly all the approximately 30 rooms in the corridor were occupied.)

Unlike my previous stateroom, this room didn’t have a balcony (thankfully, there was at least a porthole window so I could take in some of the scenery) and I was not allowed to leave—and no one was allowed to visit me—until the ship was ready to disembark COVID patients at the end of the cruise in Seattle, which only occurred after all other guests had left the vessel. In Juneau, on the fifth day of the cruise, my husband was able to find my room’s porthole window and we had a conversation on the phone while he ate a takeaway dinner on the dock. But that would be the last I would see of him until I flew home by myself five days later (he went home on the flight we had originally booked).

I also had minimal contact with staff. The infirmary would occasionally call me to see how I was doing, but otherwise food (I was able to order what I wanted through a digital form I submitted daily) was left outside my door three times a day. Meals were delivered on the dot at 7:00 a.m. (no sleeping in here), 1:00 p.m., and 7:00 p.m. I was also able to request an extra comforter to keep me warm during the worst of my fever, which was a blessing since the thermostat in my room was broken.

Internet on cruise ships can be pricey, but once I tested positive, I was thankfully given free internet access. However, satellite internet access on cruise ships is notoriously spotty, so I occasionally indulged in watching the on-board television, and I must say, Hallmark comfort movies just hit different when you’re hacking up a lung and battling fatigue. Phone calls to other rooms on board the ship were also free and I was able to speak to my parents and my husband without racking up a bill. But truthfully, most of my time was spent napping until we disembarked. After we left the ship, we boarded a bus that dropped us off at the hotels of our choice where we would stay for the remainder of our quarantine.

Before booking, check if a cruise line will compensate you for a COVID-19 infection.

Photo by evan_huang/Shutterstock

Check the cruise line’s COVID compensation policies

Since the CDC is not monitoring or regulating COVID guidelines on ships any longer, ships are setting their own protocol for how they handle outbreaks on board. On the cruise that I sailed, I elected to extend my time on land to meet the CDC’s recommended five-day quarantine —my hotel stay and food expenses were all covered by the cruise line, and I should also be compensated for cruising days I lost to isolation. Check to see what your cruise line will cover in the event of COVID-19 infection.

Buy travel insurance and book with airlines that accommodate flight changes without penalty

Mercifully, my extended quarantine on land was later reimbursed by the cruise line, but if I hadn’t had that option, it would have been handy to have travel insurance. It’s a good idea to have a back-up plan in place to ensure that you have peace of mind in the event that you’re forced to quarantine in an unfamiliar place or cancel a trip—and a way to pay for that back-up plan. When buying travel insurance , you might want to look into a CFAR (which stands for “cancel for any reason”) add-on to your package since travel complications due to the pandemic are now considered to be “foreseeable events.” If you have a travel credit card , check to see what your card may cover—you could be compensated for travel delays and cancellations.

On a related note, it’s useful to make sure that your flights have a flexible rescheduling policy should you need to quarantine on land. Thankfully, I had booked a Southwest flight home ( its policy allows you to rebook your flight up to 10 minutes before your scheduled departure without a change fee), so I was easily able to change my plans. Over the course of the pandemic, all of the major U.S. airlines dropped their flight change fees , offering travelers more flexibility should something go awry.

• Traffic Lab

Cruise ship worker accused of stabbing 3 people with scissors on board vessel bound for Alaska

JUNEAU — A cruise ship worker from South Africa was arrested Tuesday in Alaska’s capital city, accused of attacking a woman and two security guards with scissors on board the vessel, according to authorities.

The U.S. attorney’s office says the man is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon within maritime and territorial jurisdiction. Online court records do not show an attorney for the 35-year-old man.

According to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Matthew Judy, the man was recently hired by a cruise line and joined the ship, the Norwegian Encore, in Seattle on Sunday. The ship set off that day for a weeklong trip with scheduled stops in Alaska ports, including the capital of Juneau, and British Columbia.

The alleged incident happened west of Vancouver Island, B.C., as the ship was sailing to Alaska. According to the affidavit, during the late evening Sunday, ship personnel saw the man trying to deploy a lifeboat, and he was taken by security to a medical center for an evaluation.

While there, he “became irrational and attempted to leave,” and “physically attacked” a guard and a nurse, the affidavit states. He ran into another room, where he grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed a woman who was being examined, as well as two guards who tried to intervene before being subdued and held in a “shipboard jail,” the affidavit says. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.

The ship arrived in Juneau on Tuesday, when he was arrested by the FBI, the U.S. attorney’s office says.

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Royal Caribbean cruise cancels voyage to Alaska after the guests already boarded

• Updated: May. 06, 2024, 11:25 a.m. |
• Published: May. 06, 2024, 11:05 a.m.

A Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska was scrapped after guests already boarded the ship. TNS

• Katherine Rodriguez | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

A Royal Caribbean cruise to Alaska was scrapped after guests had already boarded the ship.

The ship, “Radiance of the Seas,” had been experiencing some propulsion issues , causing the cruise liner to shorten and eventually cancel the weeklong itinerary through Alaska.

The cruise was initially planned to set sail from Vancouver, but the cruise liner announced it would remain in port for two days before setting sail. But then, the captain announced Saturday afternoon that guests would need to disembark the ship by Sunday at 4 p.m.

“Due to a technical issue, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the April 26 sailing,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in an emailed statement . “Guests will receive a full refund and 100% future cruise credit, and have been notified directly.”

Guests on board the cruise had mixed reactions.

“While I’m still very sad I didn’t get to see Alaska this year, I believe I’ll have another opportunity to go, and this cancellation provided an additional opportunity to get to know Vancouver, which is truly a very cool city,” one passenger wrote on the Royal Caribbean blog.

Another passenger, however, said she doesn’t think she’ll use Royal Caribbean the next time she goes to Alaska.

“I would like to go to Alaska,” passenger Charlene Chong told USA Today. “I’m not sure if I want to go with them.”

This isn’t the first time a Royal Caribbean cruise has had to change its itinerary recently.

The cruise liner stopped ships from docking at a private island port in Haiti due to ongoing violence in the region.

This decision by Royal Caribbean to change the itinerary on that cruise came after the U.S. issued a warning to tourists to avoid traveling to Haiti at this time due to an increase in gang-related violence.

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Katherine Rodriguez can be reached at [email protected] . Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips .

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