The Norwegian Encore departs Juneau Tuesday night. It’s the last cruise ship of 2025, and it marks the end of a nearly 200-day tourism season.
This year’s cruise season kicked off amid a lot of uncertainty. It began as the Trump Administration’s tariffs shook the global economy and dozens of residents in Juneau lost their jobs in waves of federal firings, leaving the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center with reduced staffing.
The glacier is Juneau’s most popular tourist attraction, drawing more than 1 million people last year. The layoffs left the center barebones. But, Juneau’s Tourism Director Alix Pierce said other organizations stepped up to help U.S. Forest Service staff keep visitors safe this summer.
“The situation at the glacier out there was really a testament to community collaboration and also how important that asset is to our community and visitor industry,” she said.
The final tally of passengers who stepped off cruise ships into Juneau this year hasn’t been released yet, but Pierce said it’s expected to be between 1.6 and 1.7 million. Next year will be about the same, she said, but new measures are going into place to curb future growth.
The 2026 season will be the first time that the city’s negotiated daily cap on passengers is in place. That will limit cruise ship visitors to 16,000 people on most days and 12,000 people on Saturdays. Right now, Juneau sees up to 21,000 visitors on the busiest days. Cruise ship companies also agreed to shorten Juneau’s season to exclude most of April and October.
Pierce said the conversation on how to best manage cruise tourism in Juneau is far from over.
“I think not having to brace for year-over-year growth and kind of understanding what the season is going to look like as we go into it has been helpful,” she said.
Votes are still being counted for this year’s municipal election, which included a ballot question to create a seasonal sales tax starting next year. In preliminary results, voters appear to be rejecting the proposed increase during the summer months.
The first ship of the 2026 season is slated to arrive on April 27 and the last is scheduled on Oct. 6.
