Sitka-based Alaskan Dream Cruises has entered the rankings of the best small-ship cruise lines in the world, as voted by the readership of a popular travel magazine.
Travel+Leisure, with about 4.8 million readers, announced Alaskan Dream Cruises as one of the Top 10 small-ship cruise lines, from a survey conducted between Jan. 11 and May 10. Alaskan Dream Cruises placed 10th, and posted the award on Facebook.
Alaskan Dream Cruises’ six vessels each carry between 10 and 76 passengers and make frequent summer stops in Wrangell.
It’s the first time the company, which started operations in 2011, has achieved the recognition, said company spokesman Zak Kirkpatrick.
Alaskan Dream is an offshoot of Allen Marine, which was founded in 1967 by Bob and Betty Allen, of Sitka, The Allen family continues to operate the business.
“As an Alaska Native-owned company operating in a remote corner of the world, like Sitka, we recognize we’re unique in the cruise industry,” Kirkpatrick said.
Readers in the survey were asked to evaluate individual cruise ships with 249 passengers or fewer on their cabins and facilities, food, service, itineraries and destinations, excursions and activities, and value.
Allen Marine started a Sitka shipyard in 1967 and branched out into day cruises in 1970 with Allen Marine Tours. The company expanded its day cruise business throughout Southeast, operating sightseeing boats from Yakutat, Glacier Bay, Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau, as well as Sitka.
The company builds most of its own vessels for the high-speed day tours, and did extensive retrofitting on a few older cruise vessels to establish Alaskan Dream Cruises, with passenger accommodations for longer cruises in Southeast. Cruises are offered to major Southeast ports and off-the-beaten-path destinations, such as Metlakatla and Kasaan.
Alaskan Dream passengers either start or end their cruises in Sitka.
The company was not directly affected by Canada’s 2020-2021 ban on cruise ships, since its six vessels are U.S. flagged and based in Sitka. Like the major cruise lines, Alaskan Dream is seeing “strong demand” for its services next year, Kirkpatrick said.
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