Cruise Line Drops Popular Port – 10,000 Guests Affected

(KMDL-FM) Louisiana and Texas fans of cruise vacations, I have some shocking news for you. One of the world's most popular cruise lines is dropping a stop at a major port from its summer itineraries. It's estimated that this decision could affect some 10,000 cruise guests, some of them might be you, if you have booked passage this summer.

It is cruise season, and vessels are sailing in and out of the Port of New Orleans and the Port of Galveston on a daily basis. And the reason why so many Texas and Louisiana families and travelers book these cruises is not because they love a good boat ride, but because of where the "boat" stops.

I had to put "boat" in quotes because my cruise captain friends don't sail boats, they sail ships. Do you know what the difference is? Yep, size does matter when you're a man in charge at sea, or a woman, for that matter. A ship is usually a larger vessel that is designed for ocean travel, and a boat is smaller and is usually used on lakes, ponds, and bayous.

Royal Caribbean Drops Popular Port Stop From Cruise Itineraries

If you have booked an Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas, you probably won't be stopping in Juneau, Alaska. The reason? Money. And I would not be surprised if other cruise lines don't follow suit and begin "adjusting" their travels as port costs in Alaska are rising quickly.

Before you start pointing fingers at Juneau, you have to understand this simple math. Juneau is a town of about 32,000 people. For reference terms that's about the size of Slidell in Louisiana and Nacogdoches in Texas. During cruise season, that community will see some 1.6 million guests.

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On some cruise days, the city sees an influx of some 20,000 guests. That's like having the entire town of Terrell, Texas, or Sulphur, Louisiana, drop by for lunch and then leave. I can only imagine the chaos and confusion.

Why is Royal Caribbean No Longer Stopping in Juneau, Alaska?

Sure, the city's merchants make money, and the town makes money, but the cruise line wants to make money too. That's why they are building a new cruise terminal on Douglas Island, about ten miles from downtown Juneau. That's another item that has city fathers in Juneau perturbed with Royal Caribbean, and maybe why they are suddenly raising the rent for dock space.

If you do have a passage booked on Ovation of the Seas on an Alaskan adventure, the Juneau stops will be replaced by stops in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Icy Strait Point. Royal Caribbean will make it quite clear which of those stops you'll be visiting instead of Juneau.

As cruise ships get larger, cruise ports are having to make tough decisions on just how many guests they can handle. I recently visited the Geiranger Fjord in Norway. They only allow one large ship in port per day. Other ports in Norway, Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark are considering similar limits, especially in the smaller ports of call.

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The new Douglas Island Terminal near Juneau is expected to open in 2027. Perhaps that's when Royal Caribbean will be stopping there again regularly, but in the near term, if you want to visit Juneau, you might need to choose another vessel or another cruise line because Ovation of the Seas doesn't appear to be stopping there.