AMSTERDAM: Carnival Corp. won’t be bringing any of its cruise ships to Alaska this season. That’s following Wednesday’s announcement that its subsidiaries Princess Cruises and Holland America Line have canceled all remaining Alaska voyages for 2020.
Carnival Cruise Line also canceled its brand of cruises earlier this week. The absence of Carnival-owned cruise lines removes the largest industry player from Alaska this year.
Nearly 80% of sailings to Alaska for the 2020 season have been called off, according to Tourism Management Best Practices, a Juneau-based trade group.
That’s a loss of 955,574 cruise passengers to the state, the group said.
Coastal communities will bear the brunt of the economic impact. Rain Coast Data says cruise ship passengers are 90% of visitors to Southeast Alaska.
The path forward for cruise lines that have not canceled sailings is unclear. A federal “no sail” order currently remains in effect for large cruise ships through July 24.
Critical ports in the region are also closed to large cruise ships. Canada’s ports are closed to large ships until at least July. And Seattle’s cruise port remains shuttered until Washington state’s emergency declaration is lifted.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Alaska had expected to shatter previous records by receiving 1.44 million cruise passengers.
