The final cruise ship sailed out of Juneau on Wednesday, marking the end of a tourism season that almost didn’t happen.<\/p>\n
The last ship of the year, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Encore, brought 2,238 visitors to Juneau Wednesday, according to Carl Uchytil, port director for the City and Borough of Juneau Docks and Harbors Department.<\/p>\n
“There were fits and starts, we didn’t really know until June,” Uchytil said. “We struggled to find people on short notice to maintain the facilities. It certainly was not a normal year by any metric.”<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down cruise ship sailing entirely in 2020, and this year, the industry pushed back against regulations imposed on cruise ships by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But even once ships were able to sail again, Alaska’s cruise ship season faced another hurdle when the Canadian government announced its borders would remain closed to cruises.<\/p>\n
That created a problem for the larger ships, most of which are flagged from Caribbean nations, and U.S. law that places certain requirements on foreign ships. Cruise ships were previously able to fulfill those requirements by stopping in Vancouver, British Columbia, but with that option closed, Alaska’s congressional delegation had to work quickly to allow ships to sail to Alaska.<\/p>\n