In a transfer to mitigate the impression of burgeoning cruise ship site visitors, Juneau, Alaska, has reached a conceptual settlement with cruise traces to ascertain a every day passenger restrict. The choice goals to safeguard the town’s high quality of life whereas sustaining its standing as a key cruise vacation spot.
Metropolis and Cruise Traces Attain Tentative Accord
The Metropolis and Borough of Juneau and the cruise business have negotiated a conceptual framework that would set a precedent for managing cruise passenger volumes.
Alaska Public Media reported the information was introduced throughout a metropolis meeting assembly, with Tourism Supervisor Alix Pierce highlighting the significance of this preliminary step.
“We do not need a preliminary settlement on MOA [Memorandum of Agreement] with particular numbers but, however we’ve agreed to the idea of a every day restrict MOA, which is a crucial step in the correct course,” she said.
Juneau’s journey in the direction of limiting cruise ship passenger numbers is in response to the record-breaking inflow of 1.6 million guests within the earlier season, a 23% enhance over pre-pandemic highs recorded in 2019. There’s a projected enhance in passenger numbers to succeed in 1.7 million in 2024, based on Rain Coast Knowledge.
The town and Cruise Traces Worldwide Affiliation (CLIA) have voluntarily imposed a cap of 5 ships per day for 2024. Nevertheless, the negotiations haven’t pinpointed an actual every day passenger cap. Intentions are to cut back numbers beneath present figures, with a specific emphasis on making Saturdays the least-trafficked day.
The town is concurrently in dialogue with cruise traces to sort out extra points, corresponding to “sizzling berthing,” which is the observe of getting a ship use a berth for a brief interval earlier than leaving and instantly being changed by one other ship. Downtown congestion enhancements are additionally being mentioned to reinforce the customer expertise and resident life.
A Lengthy Street Forward for Juneau
Southeast Alaska at present has 660 cruises arriving within the 2024 season, which begins with the arrival of Norwegian Cruise Line’s 4,803-passenger Norwegian Bliss in Juneau on April 9. The 7-night “Dawes Glacier, Juneau & Ketchikan” roundtrip voyage from Seattle can even go to Tracy Arm/Endicott Arm, Icy Strait Level, and Ketchikan, Alaska, earlier than persevering with to British Columbia.
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Different giant cruise traces arriving throughout the season embrace a number of ships and visits from Carnival Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Silversea, Superstar Cruises, Disney Cruise Line, Viking Oceans, and Seabourn.
The final ship pulling into Juneau in 2024 would be the 2,376-passenger Norwegian Jewel from NCL on October 24.
Juneau just isn’t the primary Alaskan metropolis to try to cap passengers disembarking from cruise ships. The favored name of Sitka, which has a inhabitants of about 8,500 folks, tried to restrict passenger capability to 240,000 per 12 months.
Situated 90 miles southeast of Juneau, Sitka acquired greater than 550,000 cruise passengers throughout the 2023 season. The native authorities denied the citizen’s petition calling on the restrict.
Equally, throughout the nation, Bar Harbor, Maine, which has a inhabitants of about 5,000 folks, fought to restrict passenger disembarkation to 1,000 folks a day. Residents of the city started engaged on the cap in 2022, with native companies submitting an enchantment to cease the restrictions.
In February 2024, the U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Maine upheld the cap, which begins within the 2024 season, set to launch with the arrival of NCL’s 2,394-passenger Norwegian Gem on Could 2.
