Alaska Cruise News: Empty streets? Closed shops?
Last year I reported extensively on the cruise industry’s reaction to Alaska’s cruise head tax. The industry opposed the state’s imposition of a $50 head tax on all arriving cruise passengers as well as strict and costly environmental regulations. They registered their complaint by withdrawing 20% of all ships from the destination. Though it meant a huge amount of lost revenue and jobs, Alaskans did not back down. When the 2010 schedules came out the cruise lines that promised to reposition their ships had done so. Negotiations took place to modify the law. But it was too late.
This season in Juneau, Skagway, Sitka and Seward, we - the Seven Seas Navigator - are the ONLY ship in port both north and southbound. In previous years we were in with two, three, even four other ships. The Seven Seas Navigator is a small 400 passenger ship. That means that businesses that were used to 10,000 cruise ship customers a day now have to compete for only 400.
Feeling the pinch, most shops, cafes and restaurants are closed on the day when our small ship is in port. Today I walked past store after store that was closed, all merchandise removed from the window. In some cases I could not tell if the store was empty for the day or closed permanently. The streets were empty. I saw our guests walking from door to door looking for some sign of life. It was very sad. Knowing how busy these places usually are the whole scene looked like an episode of the Twilight Zone.
I know next year some ships are coming back and new cruise lines like Disney and Oceania are giving Alaska a try. But I can’t help but wonder what kind of an affect this season will have in the long term. How many people will be turned-off by the empty streets and sour faces? I’ve overheard people say the towns are so depressing they would not come back. Were I to have come up here for the first time and seen what I have seen, I would think the same. It’s grim. It’s useless to say to someone, “it’s not always like this, really!”, especially when this may be their only chance to experience the destination. It’s sad, very sad. I am sure that next year there will be lots of deep discounts and incentives to entice the public back to Alaska.