Big-ship cruising could return midsummer

CRUISING ALASKA On May 24, President Biden signed into law the Alaska Tourism Restoration Act, increasing the probability that cruise lines will be sailing in Alaska sometime this summer.

The bill temporarily suspends the longtime requirement that foreign-registered ships starting and ending a cruise in the U.S. stop in another country. The suspension applies only to large

cruise ships sailing between Washington state and Alaska. This is a pivotal step because Canada has banned all cruising in its waters through February 2022, when the suspension would expire.

One caveat: The CDC still must give the big-ship cruise lines the green light to sail, but the companies are so confident they’ll get the go-ahead that they started selling 2021 Alaska

cruises again last week, even before the bill passed. These cruises, mostly weeklong voyages, will leave out of Seattle between July and October. The Carnival Corp. announced that Holland

America will offer the cruises beginning July 24; Princess Cruises, July 25; and Carnival Cruise Lines, July 27. Norwegian Cruise Lines begins its sailings on Aug. 7. All of these voyages

will initially require that passengers and crew be fully vaccinated, which will allow the cruise lines to bypass the CDC-mandated test cruises. (Carnival has not yet decided whether it will

require vaccinations on cruises to other destinations, while Norwegian has committed to do so at least initially.) Royal Caribbean International will begin its cruises on July 19; Celebrity

Cruises, on July 23. These two brands, owned by the Royal Caribbean Group, will initially require that Alaska passengers 16 and older be fully vaccinated, and beginning Aug. 1, all

passengers 12 and older. Despite the CDC hurdle the cruise lines still face, some industry insiders are optimistic big ships will ply Alaskan waters this season. “Given that Alaska’s tourism

industry has suffered disproportionately from the lack of cruising — and the cruise lines sailing out of Seattle are adopting the vaccine requirements encouraged by the CDC — the chances of

the newly announced Alaska sailings going ahead look very positive,” says Chris Gray Faust, managing editor of Cruise Critic, a cruise news and review site. Fee with Cruise Planners agrees:

“We are extremely optimistic. It’s a little early to tell what new 2021 Alaska cruise booking volume is, since the news just broke. However, our 2022 Alaska cruise season is off the charts,

so the pent-up demand to cruise Alaska is certainly there.” Others are more skeptical. “It remains to be seen if the ships can meet the CDC requirements. I tend to be cautious, so I haven’t

encouraged [clients to book these] earlier Alaska sailings, and frankly, have not had any calls for them,” says Linda Allen, with Cruises by Linda, an independent affiliate of Brownell

Travel, a Virtuoso agency. “Until there is more clarity on the CDC requirements, I’m still in wait-and-see mode.”  Meanwhile, small-ship operators not affected by the legal restrictions on

large ships, such as American Cruise Lines and UnCruise Adventures, are sailing in Alaskan waters. (Read our story for more on how to visit Alaska this summer.)