The Majestic Princess in front of a glacier in Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Princess Cruise Lines)

The cruise industry says Alaska can expect about 1.5 million ship passengers to visit this season, which opens in under two weeks. Meanwhile, questions remain about the vaccination rates of visitors and the extra hurdles required to enter Canada. On Wednesday, KHNS’ Mike Swasey talked with cruise lines representative Brian Salerno for an industry perspective.

Swasey – Brian, thanks so much for being here. I’m just going to ask you this straight out how many people are coming to Skagway this summer?

Salerno – You know, I don’t have it broken down. But overall, for Alaska, we’re estimating about 1.5 million passengers, that’s on 600 voyages by 40 individual ships. So the season will probably start out a little bit slower and will gradually build, but that’s the guesstimate right now.

Swasey – And how does that compare to let’s say 2018 to 2019?

Salerno – Well, I think it’s roughly comparable, to you know, pre-pandemic levels.

Swasey – I’ve had a lot of questions, Brian, about the ArriveCan app and, you know, specifically in Skagway, a lot of tours will emanate from Skagway and go up into Canada. And so one of the questions I’m getting from tour companies is, will everyone that gets on a cruise ship be required to fill out an ArriveCan app before they depart on their cruise ship?

Salerno – That’s my understanding. Yes, if the ship is going to call in Canada, and virtually all of them will; other than potentially the rare US-flagged vessel that has no need to stop in Canada; there would be a need to complete the ArriveCan app as a condition of entry into Canada. And the cruise lines are prepared to you to check that upon embarkation so that it doesn’t become an issue, you know, during the course of the trip.

Swasey – Okay, and then I’m told by Canadian officials that once they have filled out that ArriveCan app it’s good for the duration of their cruise. So they don’t have to update it throughout the cruise. And then they can utilize that to let’s say, leave from Skagway and go up to the Yukon. Is that similar with the information that you’ve gotten?

Salerno – That’s my understanding as well.

Swasey – Okay. Another question a lot of people have asked Is will everybody on board the cruise ships be vaccinated?

Salerno – Sure, well, most people will be. You know, there may be a few exceptions, obviously, children under five aren’t required to be. There’s some question about whether, you know, children under 12 would be. But overall, the cruises that are operating to Alaska and certainly into Canada are going to have extremely high vaccination rates. 

Most will operate at 95% crew and passengers. Even those where it’s just below the 95% threshold, which would characterize them as highly vaccinated, still above 90%, in virtually every case. Plus everybody getting on board the cruise ship needs to be tested. And there’s very limited time windows for obtaining that test. So everybody that you’re on a ship with is vaccinated and recently tested. And then, of course, there’s other layers of protection that are in place, you know, new sanitation procedures and air filtration, and plus the ability to respond if somebody does in fact come down, you know, with symptoms. So it’s a highly protected environment.

Swasey – Brian, throughout the years, we’ve had a lot of international travelers come to Skagway. Will the cruise season this year look similar? Will there be an international flair, or will it be mostly folks from, you know, the Western Hemisphere?

Salerno – Good question. You know, we’re seeing more interest in international travel now that many of the travel restrictions have been lowered. I think we’re still going to see a lot of international visitors to Alaska because it’s on a lot of people’s bucket lists. But predominantly, I think, you know, probably Western Hemisphere, at least to start.

Swasey – Okay. Brian, thanks so much for the call, I appreciate it.

Salerno – You’re very welcome. Take care Mike.

Brian Salerno is Cruise Lines International Association’s Senior Vice President for Maritime Policy.  The first cruise ship of the season is expected to arrive in Skagway on Tuesday, April 26.