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Cruises to Alaska getting scarce

The Canadian ministry that oversees cruise ship traffic announced Friday that it will suspend all cruises in its waters until at least July 1. In response, Holland America Lines announced on its blog that it will be reevaluating its summer cruises through British Columbia waters and to Alaska. It followed that with an announcement on Monday stating a 30-plus day suspension of all cruises. If cruises are reinstated after April 12, sailings to Homer may not be affected. 

    Holland America is the main cruise company scheduled to call on Homer this year, according to the schedule published by the Homer Chamber of Commerce. The M/V Maasdam is scheduled to make 10 visits.

    Brad Anderson is the executive director of the Homer Chamber. So far, he says all cruises are still scheduled, though one ship did cancel an early visit before the coronavirus scare started.

    “So we have not seen anything being canceled now. Holland is the main cruise line that brings their ships up here we've not had any word that they're canceling things,” Anderson said. “So we're kind of waiting to see I know there's that as an area that's a lot of pressure on you know, people, you know, recommendations not to go on cruise ships if you're in a vulnerable, you know, age group or you know, any kind of health concerns up there. So, waiting to see what that impact is for us.”

    Holland America’s Maasdam is 719 feet long and can accommodate over 1,200 passengers. It is 300- to 400-feet shorter than the even larger cruise ships with 6,000 passengers that regularly call on Southeast Alaska ports.

“I think from Homer's standpoint, you know, we're not nearly as reliant on some of the cruise ship traffic as some of our neighboring communities are,” Anderson said. “But we're still concerned on what impact that will have.”

    The local cruise season is scheduled to begin -- ostensibly -- on May 12, with a total of 13 cruise ship visits through Sept. 15.

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Local News Homer Chamber of Commercecruise shipsHolland America Lines
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