Cruise ship companies serving Southeast Alaska are taking reservations for the summer season after losing all of last year to the pandemic - but not all cruise lines will return this year.
Windstar Cruises, which brought a 208-passenger ship to Wrangell about 10 times in 2019, had originally planned its first 2021 cruise out of Vancouver on May 20, an 11-day voyage scheduled to stop in Wrangell, Ketchikan, Juneau and Haines. The sailings would have continued throughout the summer with a larger ship than 2019, carrying 312 passengers.
Instead, U.S. Centers for Disease Control restrictions limiting cruises to no more than seven days has caused the company to cancel its entire 2021 Alaska season, a company spokesperson in Seattle said Tuesday.
Windstar is taking bookings for 2022, however.
In 2020, Wrangell originally expected cruise ships to make 94 visits, with a carrying capacity of more than 17,000 passengers between the last week of May and Oct. 1. Statewide, Alaska anticipated 1.4 million visitors on cruise ships, up slightly from the year before. The COVID-19 pandemic and CDC orders halted all of the industry's 2020 summer season.
No other cruise lines have yet announced complete cancellations of their summer 2021 season, though several have announced delays in the start of their sailings or shorter voyages.
Seabourn has shortened its season but still plans 18 seven-day Alaska sailings, shortening the length of the cruise to meet current CDC guidelines. The first Seabourn Odyssey cruise will leave Vancouver on May 28 and the ship's final trip of the season will leave Juneau on Sept. 10.
The Odyssey, which holds 468 passengers, plans to stop in Wrangell on two southbound trips from Juneau, the first on June 6 and then again on Sept. 12. It will spend the day in port each time.
Holland America and Princess Cruises have postponed the start of their 2021 cruise seasons to Alaska, in response to health guidelines imposed for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Princess on Jan. 6 canceled six Alaska trips scheduled through May 14. Holland America canceled sailings on three Alaska-bound ships through the first week of June and on three others through mid-May.
Carnival Cruise Line, which owns Princess and Holland America, announced Jan. 6 it was suspending all sailings until at least April 30.
Princess and Holland America said in statements that health rules imposed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and "uncertainty around travel restrictions" prompted the cancellations.
The CDC warns against sailing on cruise ships with its highest risk rating, but will give local ports the authority this year to approve COVID-19 mitigation plans drawn up by individual cruise lines before they unload passengers.
Other cruise lines have also pulled back as well this year. Celebrity Cruise Lines was expected to announce similar postponements.
None of those larger cruise ship operators are scheduled to send their ships to Wrangell this summer. The community's schedule includes ships that can accommodate dozens or hundreds of passengers, not the largest cruise liners that can carry thousands of travelers.
Among the smaller ships on Wrangell's port-of-call schedule this summer is National Geographic Expedition's Sea Lion, which still plans to run six-day cruises in Southeast, starting in late May. The ship holds 62 passengers and is scheduled to make its stop in Wrangell on May 25; then again on May 29; four times in June; and then again twice in July and August.
The start of the cruise season also may be determined by Canadian government decisions. On Monday, the Canadian government announced that the border will remain closed until at least Feb. 21. The country has banned cruise ships until Feb. 28.
While the CDC has lifted its total no-sail order from last March, ships bound for Alaska must contend with Canadian restrictions when they are registered outside the United States. Federal law requires foreign-flagged ships sailing between U.S. ports to stop at a foreign port. For Alaska cruises, a Canadian stop satisfies the requirement, but only if the border is open.
The CDC's current conditional sailing order allows a resumption of service based on a number of requirements. They include:
● Testing passengers and crew for COVID-19 and screening for symptoms or known exposure to people who are infected. Testing must be done at departure and on arrival at the final destination.
● Procedures must be in place for social distancing onboard.
● Procedures must be in place for quarantining passengers who fall ill. Medical care agreements also need be in place with onshore hospitals for evacuations of ill passengers or crew.
The CDC is also requiring cruise operators to perform a simulated trip with volunteers to test boarding at terminals, social distancing for onboard activities, and management of sick passengers or crew. Following the simulation, a ship can receive a conditional sailing certificate that will allow cruises to start.
In Alaska, the state is talking about a working group "to address health and safety protocols for the cruise ship industry to make sure that we can actually ... get people to come to Alaska how to enjoy it safely to make sure that we have a successful cruise ship season," Alaska Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum reported during a Jan. 5 online town hall meeting called by the governor's office to discuss COVID issues.
"We're patiently hoping to see some movement there," Skagway Mayor Andrew Cremata said during the town hall, as reported by Haines-Skagway public radio station KHNS. Skagway is dependent on cruise ship travelers for most of its economy.
The Department of Health and Social Services said Jan. 7 it had not yet formed the cruise travel working group.
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