On Wednesday, the 4,000-passenger Norwegian Encore became the last big cruise ship to dock in Juneau for the year.
Until mid-summer, it was unclear if there were going to be any big ships visiting Southeast Alaska. The Canadian border was still closed in July and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still had restrictions on cruise ships and their passengers.
But cruising resumed in late July, and downtown Juneau sprang back to life after a virtually nonexistent 2020 season.
Most cruise ship passengers were required to be vaccinated for COVID-19 prior to the start of their trips.
More than 70 large ships and 20 small ships docked in Juneau during the shortened season, bringing over 123,000 people to town. That’s less than 10% of the number of passengers that came during 2019, the last season before the COVID-19 pandemic.
