Less is More – we have often heard that phrase to show quality. In the past years cruise ships capacity and sailings have increased to record numbers. Several reasons for this was that Alaska has always had a short cruising season, May through early October at the most. It has also been a destination people have wanted to cruise to to experience the profound beauty of the wildlife and the glaciers.
Alaska Cruise Traffic Jam
Recently many cruise lines, such a Holland America, Princess and Carnival have announced that they will be restructuring their schedules and reducing their sailings plus the number of ships that they have cruising for the 2010 and 2011 Alaska season. The cruise lines site several reasons, one being the new Alaska tax being charged by the State of Alaska on cruise passengers, environmental groups raising awareness to the possible harm that the total number of ships could be causing the wildlife issues in their own habitat plus the cost of travel to get to and from Alaska has increased greatly adding on a significant amount to the overall cost to the people wishing to cruise Alaska.
With fewer ships will also renew the allure of cruising through Alaska as someplace special, not just another destination. Cruisers were aware that an Alaska cruise was always more costly that a Mexican or Caribbean Cruise. There had been a limited inventory when combined with it’s short cruising season, people would often have to plan a year in advance to cruise Alaska. Over the past several years there was an increase in ships to the region, sailing from Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia so the cruise passengers had more options, more sailing dates and lower prices. That also then meant that with 2-3 ships (many carrying over 2000 passengers) in a single port in one day, there would be 5000 to 6000 people arriving at one time, so the Alaska cruise ports were overwhelmed with visitors. With cruise companies building bigger ships meant more people in these ports as well. Many of these ports are really small rural cities that have depended on the cruise tourist but have also been overwhelmed by the mere volumes of tourist.
For business, this is not a bad thing but for the environment and having such large numbers of people descend on small areas does have its own impact on the wildlife and the surrounding areas. People go to Alaska because it is so open and underpopulated but with the influx of such large numbers of tourists, growth and expansion had to happen. Hence the tug of war to see Alaska as an unspoiled beautiful, natural habitat but accommodating vast numbers of people. Somewhere, somehow, something had to give.
I think personally, it is a wise decision to have less ships, to protect the environment and for to better take care of the people who live in Alaska and it’s natural environment after the cruise season is over and all the tourist go home. This will also make cruising to and through Alaska again a special opportunity to experience what grandeur there is to be seen there.
So keep your plans to cruise to Alaska, just make sure you plan ahead and enjoy it to it’s fullest once you get there! So you see less is more…
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