The streets of downtown Juneau are about to get much busier starting Monday as passengers from the first cruise ship of the season are slated to spill into shops and businesses to begin what is expected to be a record season.
City and industry officials are anticipating 1.67 million visitors to arrive during the course of the summer, following three years where traffic was reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This will be the busiest season we’ve ever had or have ever seen by 30%,” said Alexandra Pierce, the City and Borough of Juneau’s tourism manager. “It’s going to feel like a busy summer and I think we’re all kind of holding our breath to try to see what it’s going to be like.”
According to the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska’s 2023 schedule, the season will start relatively slow with Monday’s ship being the only one to berth in Juneau for the week. The first ship to arrive, the Norwegian Bliss, has a capacity of 3,004 and will be in Juneau from 1:30-11 p.m.
The following week residents can expect one ship per day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The following week after that, which is the beginning of May, Juneau will begin seeing at least two ships per day at a minimum and the number of ships will continue to increase up to six per day by the end of the month.
In late January the city Assembly committed to a series of goals addressing hot-button cruise ship tourism concerns originally recommended by a special task force in 2020, one of which included placing a limit on cruise ships berthed in Juneau to five ships per day downtown.
Though the commitment was made this year, the limit to five ships per day won’t go into effect until the 2024 season.
With the record-breaking amount of tourists expected in Juneau, local businesses will need to be able to accommodate the influx. Pierce said that’s “truly a wait and see thing.”
“Last year we had a lot of staffing challenges with tour companies not being able to hire enough employees to keep things running smoothly,” she said. “I’ve heard good reports of hiring, and everybody is gearing up and getting ready for it.”
According to Serene Hutchinson, general manager of Juneau Tour Inc., she feels confident going into the season.
“We actually do feel prepared and are ready to start on day one,” she told the Empire. “We had a really successful hiring season, and I feel so thrilled because we were able to bring back so many long-term employees and invite a whole bunch of new employees — I’m just really, really excited.”
Hutchinson said her business is already doing extra training with its staff to be able to operate more efficiently and “have the least amount of impact on the community” in preparation for the expected record-breaking amount of passengers coming to Juneau.
“We are well staffed, and there has been much enthusiasm and positivity going around in our company and in other businesses as well,” she said.
Another local downtown business, Goldbelt Inc., an urban Alaska Native corporation which owns the Goldbelt Mount Roberts Tramway, is also gearing up for the start of the season, according to President and CEO McHugh Pierre.
“We’re very excited about the season,” he told the Empire. “We’re looking forward to the record number of visitors and excited to host them, and show off Juneau and Tlingit culture.”
Pierre said in preparation for the increased passengers Goldbelt moved up its timeline of hiring and training employees to ensure that it would be ready by the start of the season.
“Starting on day one we will have hired as many people as we hired all year last year,” he said.
Despite the increase compared to last year, Pierre said the company is still actively hiring.
“We are just excited to host people, and a lot of businesses have suffered through the pandemic, so having the opportunity for businesses to bounce back we want to make sure we can take full advantage of this time,” he said.
As for how the influx in tourists might affect residents, Pierce said it’s likely going to be a few weeks before Juneau really starts to see the impact of the increased numbers.
“I think everybody is taking a wait-and-see approach — it could feel really heavy and busy, but it could also feel like a normal tourism season,” she said. “I think residents should pay attention to the schedule if they’re interested in doing things that tend to be a bit busier and look for a time when there are lighter cruise ships in town.”
• Contact reporter Clarise Larson at clarise.larson@juneauempire.com or (651)-528-1807. Follow her on Twitter at @clariselarson.
