Princess and HAL have made a clever move... with the Alaska season 2021 in jeopardy it is now looking unlikely that any waiver to the PSVA/ Jones act and other limitations will be found - read more about that HERE So whilst RCI still haven’t cancelled their Alaska season, two of the other longstanding cruise lines in Alaska - Princess and Holland America - have come up with a clever idea to maintain a presence in the region for Summer 2021. 

Capitalising on their decades of experience providing land tours as an extension to Alaska cruises, Princess and Holland America are to offer shore based escorted and independent ‘explorer’ tours throughout Alaska this summer - with no cruise component at all! These tours will run throughout the season - beginning in late May and running until early September. At present they are being marketed primarily to Americans, given that travel bans are still in place in other countries, but a spokesperson for Princess said that they would will be happy to accept bookings from anyone able to travel, subject to the travel restrictions and regulations set by the State of Alaska.

 This series of hotel stay and sightseeing tour packages will utilise the extensive infrastructure that both operators have been investing in for years including hotels, lodges, tour guides, buses and even dedicated train carriages for the Denali Rail tours. 

This move comes after Canada's decision to ban cruise vessels from Canadian waters into early 2022 which has resulted in the majority of Alaskan cruises being cancelled for a second year (more HERE) - the cancellation of the 2020 cruise season in Alaska caused devastating personal and economic losses in Alaska.  

The tours will centre on the Cruise lines’ own lodges - Princess own the Wilderness Lodge at Kenai  and  Holland America the  McKinley Chalet Resort at Denali National Park as well as hotels in Anchorage and  Fairbanks. They are hoping to provide the full ‘add on’ cruise experience - just without the cruise! So guests will be able to take all the tours and sightseeing experiences that would normally be available including the Portage Glacier cruise from Anchorage, flightseeing adventures and the full day Tundra Wilderness Tour at Denali to see the Big Five -- grizzly bear, wolves, caribou, moose, and Dall sheep. The Denali tours from Anchorage into the National Park are normally six days long and include travelling in special Adventure Class Alaska Railroad sightseeing carriages.

This is an excellent initiative by the cruise lines and although it must feel very odd for them not to be actually offering cruises their continuing support will give a huge boost to the people and economy of Alaska at the time they need it the most!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this Alaskan update, I would love to know what you think about this initiative so it would be great if you added a comment below! There are also some small affiliate links there which help towards the running of the website - if you click through and buy anything from them it gives us a few pence but doesn’t cost you any extra! It’s a great help and thanks to all those who do!

Happy portExploring!

Cathy 

xx

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