Tourism

The cruise industry and several Pacific Northwest ports announced Tuesday that they are working together to try to eventually eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from cruising in the region.

Lots of partners are signing onto the effort to develop the world’s first “green corridor” for cruise ships. It’s an early first step toward a goal they want to achieve by 2050. The idea is to work together to develop technology, infrastructure and best practices so that cruises no longer pump greenhouse gases that cause global climate change into the atmosphere.

Partners so far include the City and Borough of Juneau, the port authorities in Seattle and Vancouver, international shipping organizations and the operators of almost every big cruise ship in the region.

“When Port of Seattle first reached out to us about this concept, we were very excited and quite frankly, a little surprised,” said Jesse Fahnestock with the Global Maritime Forum, which works on maritime sustainability issues. “We didn’t anticipate as we were working on this that cruises would be one of the first mover segments on green corridors. But we very much agree that, having looked at the concept presented, that this is a really promising opportunity. If it can be done anywhere, it can be done here, in the Pacific Northwest.”

A single cruise ship can burn thousands of gallons of fuel a day.

Kelly Craighead leads the industry group Cruise Lines International Association. She said CLIA and many other stakeholders want the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization to develop a massive, $5 billion research and development fund.

“Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, MSC Cruises and many others are willing to invest deeply into these types of collaborative R&D funds, because it is going to take that level of investment to be able to develop the technologies that don’t currently exist,” Craighead said.

Jan Swartz is the president of the Holland America Group, a subsidiary of Carnival. She said her company already has its own R&D team working on new technologies to make cruise ships more efficient and to use alternatives to fossil fuels.

“We’re really excited to bring to the table our learnings … to share with others in the maritime sector and seek similar ideas from them so that we can accelerate our collective progress faster,” she said.

She shared some examples of technologies being researched or piloted:

• Air lubrication systems that create a carpet of bubbles under a ship’s hull, reducing resistance and improving energy efficiency.
• Using electric battery packs on cruise ships.
• Dual-fuel systems that can burn liquefied natural gas.

The structure and scope of how the partners will work on this green corridor still has to be worked out. An official with the Port of Seattle Executive Director Stephen Metruck said he expects to get all of the partners together in the next 30 days to begin work on a charter for the group.

Alexandra Pierce is Juneau’s tourism manager. She said this partnership can be a model for the rest of the world.

“We were the first port in the world to have shore power, and I think it’s really appropriate that we lead the world in this, too, and continue to push the envelope on environmental policy and practice in the cruise world,” Pierce said. “Someone, somewhere needs to figure out what the roadmap looks like to get industry there.”

The green corridor partners announced their collaboration during a conference on ports and harbors in Vancouver.

There are around 1,500 participants signed up for the Ironman Alaska race in Juneau this August. Racers usually bring a few three to five support people, and so for about a week this summer, there will be few thousand people in need of housing.

The city has about 1,300 rooms in its hotels, inns and bed & breakfasts. So, to add capacity, TravelJuneau, the destination marketing organization for the city, came up with a plan to incentivize Juneau residents to go on vacation and rent their homes to athletes for a week. 

One athlete, Michael Bissell, says that he was late to the game when looking for a place to stay, but he got something arranged fairly painlessly. 

“I was looking at hotels for about two weeks,” Bissell said. “And after no luck there — like, seriously, none — I started on a Facebook page.”

The Facebook page for Ironman Alaska has an accommodation thread with over 700 comments.

“And then within 30 seconds, 30 minutes, I had two people who have messaged me already,” Bissell said. “It just took a couple of days to see what was best for me and my crew that was coming out.”

His crew is his mom, his brother and a friend. They’re paying $1,000 a night for four nights, and he’s still hoping his crew will help him with that. 

The comments on the Facebook thread started back in October, with people mostly looking for housing in Juneau during the race. 

In January, there were a lot of discouraged commenters saying that they were really struggling to find a place to stay. Shortly after, more and more renters began commenting on those comments, offering places to stay. 

Since then, there have been more comments posting places to stay than those seeking.  However, there are still some complaining about prices.

One comment reads: “Very frustrated that the only places I’ve found so far are 5 to 6 times more expensive than they are the week before or after… Figures people would cash in, but I can’t afford to pay $5,000 a week for an Airbnb studio…”

One of the Ironman Alaska Facebook page’s admins replied: “There’s making the most of a situation and then basically ripping people off. Sounds like that falls into the latter.”

Kara Tetley, with Travel Juneau, said that Ironman considered a lot of variables before settling on Juneau as its first Alaska race location, including hotel capacity.

“They came and they visited a couple of times,” Tetley said. “Different members of the Ironman staff would come in and kind of look at things.”

Travel Juneau has a page on their Ironman site telling Juneau residents how to register their businesses and how to qualify for a discount with Alaska Airlines for that week if they do.

Tetley said that the demand for housing during the event seems to have been quelled.

“From what we can understand, there was some concern in the beginning, just because they kind of wanted to get everything settled right away,” Tetley said. “But it’s really quieted down, and it seems like a lot of athletes are set up or not as concerned about that anymore.”

City and Borough of Juneau finance director Jeff Rogers says the city doesn’t track the number of rental units. They only have the number of businesses registered in the short-term rentals category, which is 170. 

“I’m not even sure I’d have a good way to know how many of those are people who may just be registering for, you know, the sole purpose of a week for Ironman,” Rogers said. “Even if we had seen, and I mean, I would guess we’ve seen a lot of new registrations this spring. But they may or may not have anything to do with Iron Man.”

Neither Tetley nor Rogers have any way to tell if some of the people who are registering businesses as short-term rentals will continue to rent out their places after the Ironman. 

It’s also still uncertain that everyone coming into town will have a place to stay, though the accommodation thread bodes well for those still looking. 

In the meantime, Bissell will be training and preparing for some of the race obstacles that are more unique to Alaska.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll be running with some bear spray,” Bissell said.

The first paragraph of this story has been modified to clarify how many people are coming to Juneau for the race. The number of hotel rooms available in Juneau has been corrected. And finally, a previous version of this story had Kara Tetley’s name misspelled. 

The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a 40-year-old woman who reportedly fell overboard from the Celebrity Solstice cruise ship early Tuesday morning near Eldred Rock in the upper Lynn Canal.

Petty Officer Ally Blackburn said the captain of the ship reported the incident after a cruise ship camera showed the woman going overboard at approximately 3 a.m. Tuesday as the ship sailed from Juneau to Skagway.

The search included a helicopter from Sitka, a response boat from Juneau and the crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Chandeleur based in Valdez.

“Because of the searching that we’ve done, it has yielded negative results,” Blackburn told the Associated Press. Survival time in the cold waters of Lynn Canal is a little over 6 hours according to Blackburn.

The missing woman has not been publicly identified. The Celebrity Solstice is operated by Celebrity Cruises, can carry up to 3,400 passengers and 1,000 crew. It was on the fourth day of a week-long round-trip cruise from Seattle.

On May 12, Haines welcomed its first large cruise ship since September 2019. It marks the start of what could be a record-breaking cruise season for upper Lynn Canal communities. But with little public data about COVID-19 cases on ships, some community members worry that the ships could also bring a surge in coronavirus cases.

The town’s deputy mayor Cheryl Stickler welcomed passengers as they got off the Serenade of the Seas.

“You’re the first large cruise ship we’ve been able to host since September 18, 2019. That’s only 967 days,” she said laughing. “Or two years, seven months and 27 days.”

The ship’s captain, Kjell Nordmo thanked borough officials as they exchanged gifts: a model of the ship and a plaque commemorating the Serenade’s first-ever visit to Haines.

“Thank you for your warm welcome and hospitality, during this inaugural call to Haines,” he said.

Haines book store owner Amy Kane says after two years of pandemic and no large cruise ships it’s a much needed boost to small businesses like hers.

“So, it was challenging to build up for it and to find staff for it. But I’m glad I made it. I feel like I just made it to the starting line really after two years,” she said.

But Kane says she’s concerned that cruise passengers could bring a surge in COVID-19 cases to small communities like Haines.

“It’s definitely nerve-racking,” she said. “Because, yeah, people I mean, just travelers in general, pose a higher risk. Having more people here, having the town size, or population double in one day or whatever, depending on how full the ships are, is a lot. I do feel like we’re gonna see a spike in numbers.”

A Royal Caribbean spokesperson said in an email that the cruise line requires passengers ages 12 and older to be vaccinated, and show a negative PCR test before sailing. Children younger than 12 are required to test twice. And all crew are required to be vaccinated.

But that doesn’t mean the ships are COVID-free.

Jim Goettler of Washington state was on the Serenade of the Seas. His son and daughter-in-law tested positive for COVID-19 during their trip. He and his wife tested positive after the trip.

He said he and his family were vaccinated and completed a proctored antigen test prior to sailing but no one from the cruise line checked their results before boarding. He says he saw very few COVID mitigation measures like masks on the ship, and there was crowding, such as in elevators. He says the cruise line should offer rapid testing before disembarking to avoid spreading COVID to small Southeast communities.

“You’re having people walk around town, who are probably, large numbers are infected. And even if you have a minor case, we all know, you’re still very contagious,” he said. “So it’s like, come on, guys. Let’s get this together. Let’s test before we get off the ship. It only takes a few minutes.”

Royal Caribbean did not respond to inquiries about how many passengers tested positive on this Serenade sailing. Cruise lines are required to report COVID data to state authorities, but little data is publicly available.

Goettler says his son reported his positive results to the cruise line and Royal Caribbean offered to reimburse COVID positive passengers for meals after their cruise up to $100 dollars per day, not exceeding ten days. Royal Caribbean did not respond to requests for comment.

Haines tourism director Steven Auch says the cruise lines have agreements with port communities that includes COVID protocols, sanitation requirements, and a commitment that if there is an outbreak, passengers would be medevaced to Seattle.

Auch says Haines does not have COVID requirements but local businesses and residents can take precautionary measures.

“If you look at tour operators, a lot of them require masking on the buses for transportation. So, you know, every business has its own opportunity to take whatever steps it feels is necessary,” he said.

Auch echoed state public health officials who recommend COVID vaccinations, masking indoors, and social distancing where possible.

One passenger on a recent Carnival cruise bound for Seattle claimed there were about 200 people sick with COVID-19 on board, and that the crew were overwhelmed. Carnival downplayed the situation with Seattle press, but wouldn’t disclose the case count.

That ship, the Carnival Spirit, is now cruising between Seattle and Southeast Alaska for the summer. If its crew are following protocol, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services should all have good data about the COVID situation on board on any given day. But very little of that information is available to the public for the Spirit, or any of the ships operating in Alaska this summer.

This year, the cruise lines operating all of the big ships in Alaska committed to regularly report illness data by opting into the CDC’s COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships. They’ve agreed to fill out and send a form every day for every ship so the CDC can track COVID-19 cases on board.

Individuals’ health information is protected. That hasn’t stopped state health authorities from publishing individual communities’ overall case counts, hospitalization figures, hospital capacity, deaths or other stats helpful for gauging COVID-19 risk. But the CDC isn’t doing that for cruise ships.

The CDC does publish and update daily a color-coded cruise ship status on its website for each ship. Green means they have no cases of COVID-19 or COVID-like illnesses.

The Carnival Spirit has been in the orange category. That could mean as few as seven passengers are sick — or it could be hundreds. The majority of the ships sailing right now are in that category.

“To be expected, I would say. COVID is kind of prevalent everywhere right now,” said Juneau Deputy City Manager Robert Barr. Nowadays, hospitalization rates are a key metric he’s keeping an eye on. “And thankfully, we’re not seeing hospital impact significantly, locally or more broadly.”

Over 90% of the passengers and crew on cruise ships are vaccinated. That’s higher than the populations of the communities they’re visiting. The CDC says that scientists monitoring the effectiveness of the vaccines have seen protection against infection wane over time, but protection from severe cases that lead to hospitalizations persists.

The CDC’s most severe category for cruise ships is red, which indicates the medical capacity onboard is overwhelmed. Some of the Spirit’s recent passengers described a poorly managed COVID-19 outbreak that did overwhelm the crew. However, Carnival told Seattle press that there were no serious health issues and that it maintained its health and safety protocols.

The CDC has not made anyone available for an interview about its cruise ship program.

Like last year, the cruise lines have made a lot of commitments to Alaska port communities to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and to manage cases themselves. Cruise passengers and crew aren’t supposed to burden local health care systems. Barr said the agreements this year say that medical facilities in the bigger ports like Juneau, Ketchikan and Whittier could help out if the need arises.

“But occasionally, occasionally we can assist,” Barr said. “In the event that we can’t, then each line is required in the agreement to transport impacted passengers and/or crew to Seattle.”

The CDC’s description of its cruise ship program also says the Coast Guard is supposed to get the most timely information about illness before ships arrive in a port. The Coast Guard has not made anyone available for an interview about this.

That leaves the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. It’s been regularly publishing COVID-19 data statewide on online dashboards of its own since the pandemic began. The data can be narrowed to specific Alaska regions and communities. But it’s not helpful for teasing out cruise ships.

Department spokesperson Clinton Bennett said lots of factors affect how cases identified aboard a cruise ship operating in Alaska get published. And there is potential for cruise ship cases to cause spikes in different communities’ COVID-19 data that don’t reflect higher risk.

For example, a cruise ship passenger could spend a day in one community, get back on board, test positive at sea, then end up in the case counts for the next port of call — even though they would stay quarantined aboard the ship.

Bennett said cases caught in Alaska waters could also be geographically tagged as “at sea,” which isn’t searchable.

“Our overall takeaway,” Bennett wrote in an email, “is that the dashboard case counts announced in relation to the cruise industry shouldn’t be relied upon alone in understanding impact to local communities or the total size of an outbreak on a vessel.”

When Sue Schrader heard that, she was dismayed. She’s a longtime Juneau resident who’s been concerned about cruise ship labor practices, the industry’s impact on Juneau and the environment.

“For those of us living in the community who maybe want to avoid going into busy shops downtown when we’ve got a four or five cruise ship day because of potential exposure, you know, we don’t have the information necessary to make those decisions,” she said.

Schrader said the anecdotes she’s read suggest passengers and crew are in the dark about COVID-19 outbreaks too.

The industry group Cruise Lines International Association Alaska said its member lines are voluntarily complying with the CDC’s program and protocols.

“Much like last year, we anticipate a successful season where we do not burden shoreside facilities and ports we visit,” said Renée Limoge Reeve, vice president of government and community relations for the CLIA, in an email.

Schrader is skeptical.

“This lack of transparency — you know, I’m sorry, but for CDC to expect the cruise ships to honestly report? … These are the same ships in many cases that have polluted our waters and falsified their pollution records,” she said.

Carnival and its subsidiaries, which include Holland America and Princess, recently completed a five-year probation period for the environmental crimes Schrader mentioned.

“And we’re supposed to now believe them that they’re going to report how many potential crew and passengers have COVID?” she said.

For the state’s top health officials, the answer appears to be yes. Health Commissioner Adam Crum and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink recently described the cruise lines as good stewards in protecting public health on board and in the communities they visit. They say the industry has demonstrated its desire to be transparent, good partners.

Delta Air Lines is bringing back year-round service to Juneau, and its competition with Alaska Airlines is driving airfares down.

Delta hasn’t made an official announcement, but confirmed in an email to KTOO. There’s one Delta flight scheduled every day between Juneau and Seattle beginning June 6, and continuing past its typical summer season.

Alaska travel expert Scott McMurren shared the discovery with KTOO on Thursday. He runs the newsletter Alaska Travelgram.

“I track these fares to see how low they go, like, $200 round trip,” McMurren said. “And I was looking in October and November and the Delta flights were still in there! I’m thinking, ‘Well, usually, they’d make a big play of this.'”

In recent years, Delta’s seasonal service with a Boeing 737 has ended in September. Delta’s booking site shows flights will continue after Labor Day with a somewhat smaller, lower capacity Airbus plane.

“The fare to Seattle will stay low,” McMurren said. “And what it also means is travelers who want to fly internationally – to Paris, to Amsterdam, if we ever get to go back to Asia – then they’ll have, you know, one carrier to provide that service. It really opens up the world, particularly for off-season travel, for those folks in Juneau.”

Alaska Airlines had a unique advantage in Juneau for many years. It uses a technology it developed in the 1990s that lets its planes navigate Juneau’s tricky approach and land in weather conditions that other airlines couldn’t. However, the Federal Aviation Administration says Delta is also authorized to use a version of the technology in Juneau with Boeing 737s. Juneau Airport Manager Patty Wahto says that’s been the case since at least 2017.

Delta’s seasonal service through SkyWest Airlines to Ketchikan and Sitka will also resume on June 6 and end on Labor Day.

“I spend a lot of time checking fares,” McMurren said. “And what’s really been interesting, fares have been going up, up, up, up, all over the country; three sets of fares are going down. And that was Juneau-Seattle, Ketchikan-Seattle, and Sitka-Seattle, all starting on June 6 when Delta brings in their seasonal service.”

Delta’s service to Juneau has been on and off over the decades. In 1992, it scaled back to seasonal service. In 1996, it stopped flying to Juneau entirely. It resumed seasonal service in 2014 and tried year-round service in 2015, then went back to seasonal service in the fall of 2016.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated that Alaska Airlines had a “unique” technology advantage for navigating in and out of Juneau. It’s been updated to reflect that Delta uses a version of the same technology.