Juneau, the Alaskan capital and home to just 31,000 people, expects about 900,000 cruise-ship passengers to visit this year.
Juneau’s old-fashioned downtown – a dozen square blocks wedged between the mountains and sea – will be invaded by tourists some summer days. On a peak day, four or five big cruise ships will nose through the narrow waterways to Juneau, turning about 10,000 passengers, plus crew, loose for a day on the town.
They’ll stroll and shop on the narrow downtown streets; ogle the Mendenhall Glacier at the edge of town; and climb aboard the Mount Roberts Tramway, swooping from the waterfront up a mountainside for panoramic views. The more adventurous will take flight-seeing or kayak tours.
Some Alaskans, especially tourism-dependent businesspeople in Juneau, Ketchikan and other small Southeast Alaskan ports where the cruise ships flock, love the crowds. In Juneau alone, cruise passengers will spend about $160 million this year, estimates Lorene Palmer, president of the Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Other Alaskans aren’t so sure about the booming industry. A Juneau-based group, Responsible Cruising in Alaska, concerned about overcrowding and ships’ wastewater pollution (a concern echoed by environmental groups in Washington), in December succeeded in placing an initiative on the 2006 state ballot that would toughen regulations and raise money for state coffers.
The initiative would impose a $50 per passenger tax. It would toughen environmental regulations on cruise ships’ wastewater dumping in Alaska. And it would give the state a cut of the profits from shipboard casinos.
Industry supporters filed a lawsuit against the initiative in January in Alaska, arguing that some of its signatures are invalid.
The Northwest Cruise Ship Association, a Vancouver, B.C., group leading the fight, has warned that the initiative could undermine Alaska’s tourist industry, the state’s second biggest moneymaker after the oil-and-gas industry. The Alaska Travel Industry Association and a dozen other organizations and individuals have joined in the lawsuit.
Alaska cruises have surged in popularity in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and the continuing decline of the U.S. dollar, which makes foreign travel more expensive. Along the way, Seattle has grown into a major home port for Alaska-bound ships, with four big cruise lines basing ships at its two downtown terminals this summer.
Cruising is growing nationally, and the demographic of cruise passengers is changing, said David Blandford of Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. “You get more families traveling, grandparents paying for the entire family, and more first-timers. It’s good news for all cruise ports, including Seattle.”
This year’s May-September cruise season is expected to bring about 170 ship visits and 350,000 people to town. That would break last year’s record of 150 ship calls and 281,000 people.
Ten years ago, when cruising from Seattle was just starting, only about 6,900 people set sail from the city. Now Seattle rivals Vancouver, long the traditional home port for Alaska cruises.
Flights to Seattle are cheaper and easier for U.S. passengers, and there’s no border crossing to contend with before and after the cruise.
The Port of Seattle is trying to spread departures and arrivals onto weekdays to lessen the congestion at its two downtown cruise-ship docks. But this summer, continue to expect the cruise-ship crowds on the weekends, when the gleaming white pleasure palaces shuttle to and from Alaska.
