Despite the CDC's no-sail order, Carnival Cruise Line is currently offering a 7-day Southeast Alaska roundtrip cruise from Seattle WA on Carnival Spirit (departure July 7).
According to Skagway AK's Mayor Andrew Cremata, the small town was virtually shut down trying to avoid a spike in Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases.
There are no confirmed Coronavirus cases in Skagway and the port town wants to keep it that way. The health clinic in Skagway has 2 ventilators. There is no hospital. However, the economy of the remote community is based on cruise tourism and planned for an all-time high number of cruisers this year. So did Ketchikan and Juneau, the other Alaska ports on the itinerary.
Cremata said they wanted the cruise liners and their passengers to come - they needed them to, but we also wanted good partners. And they wanted "to work with people and cruise ship companies that respect the people in this community and, above all else, respect their health.”
Besides Carnival, other major cruise lines -like NCL-Norwegian and RCI-Royal Caribbean, are also taking bookings for the current Alaskan season that Southeast Alaska communities are not even sure will happen.
According to Juneau City Manager Rorie Watt, Carnival’s port call in Juneau was "far from a sure thing" and "speculative at this time.” He added it was likely the cruise company was "taking the temperature of the market." Juneau had "not yet decided on future community protocols for any cruise ships."
For Coronavirus updates on cruise ship quarantines (infected passengers and crew) and top-pandemic countries (COVID-19 cases and deaths, daily updated statistics) see at CruiseMapper's Norovirus page.