Alaskan tourist hotspot fed up with cruise ships considers drastic move to give locals a break from pesky visitors

Voters living in Alaska’s capital city could pass a measure that would severely restrict cruise ship access, a potential victory for locals who have long been angry about the steady flow of tourists.

If the measure passes on Oct. 1, cruise ships carrying 250 or more passengers would no longer be allowed to dock in Juneau on Saturdays, denying large crowds of tourists the chance to see wonders such as the rapidly melting Mendenhall Glacier.

Ships would also no longer be allowed to sail on July 4, a day when locals flock to a popular parade in the city center.

The ‘Saturdays without ships’ initiative was up for a vote this week, but there is a slim chance that the local assembly will adopt the proposal before it is put to the vote.

Many of the 32,000 residents of Juneau, a city accessible only by water or air, have grown tired of increasing traffic, crowded hiking trails and the frequent buzz of flying sightseeing helicopters ferrying visitors to Mendenhall and other glaciers.

Deborah Craig, a long-time resident of the area, supports the Shipless Saturdays because she finds the tourist crowds particularly difficult, as she lives across the canal from where the ships dock.

Almost every morning she hears the foghorns and the passenger announcements.

She said the “overwhelming” number of visitors diminishes what she and others who have lived in Juneau for decades love about the city.

“It’s about preserving the lifestyle that keeps us in Juneau, which is clean air, clean water, a pristine environment and easy access to hiking trails, water sports and nature,” she said of the initiative.

“There is a perception that some people are not welcoming to tourists, but that is not true at all,” Craig adds.

“It’s about volume. It’s about too much — too much in a short period of time that overwhelms a small community.”

The current cruise season runs from early April to late October.

Opponents of the measure say that restricting tourism on a peak day like Saturday will hurt local businesses due to the decline in visitors, and they say the city could be sued if the measure passes.

They pointed to when a voter-imposed limit on the number of cruise passengers in Bar Harbor, Maine, was challenged in federal court last year.

Laura McDonnell, owner of the Caribou Crossings gift shop in downtown Juneau, says she makes 98 percent of her sales in the summer.

Tourism is about all the “local businesses that rely on cruise passengers and our place in the community,” said McDonnell, who is involved with Protect Juneau’s Future, an organization opposing the initiative.

At a time when regional economic challenges are dire and schools are closing due to declining enrollment, McDonnell said voters in favor of the measure should seriously reconsider their position.

“I think as a community we really need to look at what’s at stake for our economy,” she said. “We’re not in a position to let our economy shrink.”

According to a report prepared for the city by McKinley Research Group LLC, the cruise industry will account for $375 million in direct spending in Juneau in 2023, most of which will be attributable to passenger spending.

After a two-year pandemic, Juneau saw a surge in cruise passenger numbers, reaching a record of more than 1.6 million in 2023.

According to this year’s schedule, September 21 will be the first day since early May that there are no large ships in the city.

The debate between people like Craig, who want to preserve Juneau’s tranquil beauty, and people like McDonnell, who care about their businesses, is likely to rage on in the months leading up to the vote.

The city has therefore tried to find a middle ground, said Alexandra Pierce, Juneau’s director of visitor industries.

She added that a regional solution needs to be found, not just one that is Juneau-specific.

She explained that if the Juneau resolution passes, it will impact smaller cities and towns in Southeast Alaska, as ships that typically depart from Seattle or Vancouver, Canada, will have somewhere to go if they can’t dock in Juneau on Saturday.

But some smaller communities, such as Sitka, south of Juneau and home to a volcano, have also expressed support for limiting the number of cruise ships.

The middle ground Juneau is trying to find is to make deals with the big cruise ships to reduce the number of boats.

The city and Carnival, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Group agreed to operate up to five large ships per day.

This limit came into effect this year.

They also recently signed an agreement, set to take effect in 2026, that limits the number of cruise passengers to 16,000 on Fridays and 12,000 on Saturdays.

Pierce said the overall goal is to keep the total number of cruise passengers for the summer at about 1.6 million and evenly distribute the number of daily visitors, which can reach about 18,000 on the busiest days.

She said peak days in the past felt “a bit suffocating.”

Renée Limoge Reeve, vice president of government and community relations for the trade association Cruise Lines International Association Alaska, said the agreements signed by the city and the cruise lines are the first of their kind in Alaska.

Protect Juneau’s Future, led by local business owners, said the vote’s success would mean lost sales tax revenue and millions of dollars in direct spending for cruise passengers.

The group was confident that voters would reject the measure, the steering committee said in a statement.

Karla Hart, one of the initiative’s sponsors and a fierce critic of the cruise industry, said the threat of lawsuits has historically deterred communities from taking steps to limit cruising.

She pointed out that the defendants have won several key legal victories this year in the companies’ ongoing lawsuit over a similar measure passed in Bar Harbor, a popular destination near Maine’s Acadia National Park.

Hart believes the initiative will pass in Juneau.

“Every person who votes has firsthand experience and knowledge of the impact the cruise industry has on their lives,” she said.