NCL Sun will NOT sail to Alaska next summer.
Reasons cited by NCL:
"After carefully weighing the rising costs of deploying three ships in Alaska and taking into account the recently enacted legislation, in particular the $50 head tax, we felt it was necessary to redeploy Norwegian Sun," said Kevin Sheehan, Norwegian Cruise Line's chief executive officer
Some excerpts from an article in the Anchorage Daiily News...
So, why is it that tourism in Alaska is declining by double digits? . . .
. . . an even bigger decline in tourism is expected next year . . . the cruise industry -- the biggest player in Alaska tourism -- is sending fewer ships to Alaska next year due to the taxes and environmental restrictions approved by voters three years ago. That will mean roughly 140,000 fewer cruise ship passengers for Alaska.
. . . That means big financial losses for tour operators, hotels and retail businesses in Alaska.
FEWER PORT CALLS
For some Alaska port communities, next year's reduction in cruise ship visits will be drastic:
• Whittier is expected to get 40 percent fewer cruise passengers.
• Seward will lose roughly 17 percent of its cruise visitors.
It will be interesting to see how stable the pricing is next season. This year has seen some amazing price reductions for Alaska but that has also been true of other destinations.
Of course, you also have to consider the explosive growth of the market the last few years. Reducing the number of passengers will still keep numbers much higher than they were in the 90's, right?
True Neal, true.
However, you might think this is an absolutely crazy thought . . . but somehow, if I were an alaskan losing income or a job because of heavy cruise taxes, I am not sure what difference it would make to me that the job I was losing didn't exist a decade or two ago.
In an interesting twist, however, Disney is moving one of its ships TO Alaska in 2011. So they don't seem to be *too* worried about the head tax. Or maybe they thought it was a good idea to pick up the slack being created by the other lines...
They also run a land tour to Alaska with their new-ish venture, Adventures by Disney, and there are rumors of them offering deals for them together as a "cruisetour". (FYI, I just got back from the Adventures by Disney land tour of Alaska, and it was FABULOUS) Neither portion is cheap, though!
In an interesting twist, however, Disney is moving one of its ships TO Alaska in 2011. So they don't seem to be *too* worried about the head tax. Or maybe they thought it was a good idea to pick up the slack being created by the other lines...
They also run a land tour to Alaska with their new-ish venture, Adventures by Disney, and there are rumors of them offering deals for them together as a "cruisetour". (FYI, I just got back from the Adventures by Disney land tour of Alaska, and it was FABULOUS) Neither portion is cheap, though!
Sayhello
Sounds like Disney. They really do things well (and they do have some excellent nature videos) but it never comes cheap.
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