As the 2024 Alaska season comes to an end, Norwegian Jewel is one of the final ships still sailing in the region. But even the Jewel-class ship will be redeployed to Tampa, Florida, to pivot to Caribbean cruises at the end of October.
Unfortunately, one of her final two cruises of the season isn’t quite going to plan. The 2,376-guest ship only embarked from Seattle, Washington, yesterday, on October 10, 2024, but she has already had a last-minute change to the itinerary.
The first port call of the 9-night sailing, which was supposed to be on Sitka, Alaska, on Saturday, October 12, will be skipped due to inclement weather.
“Due to expected adverse weather conditions, the Norwegian Jewel will be canceling its port call to Sitka this Saturday, October 12th. With this cancellation, there will be no ships porting this Saturday,” Sitka Tourism announced.
According to the local weather forecast, the city, which is situated in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean, will experience rain and high winds with gusts of up to 60 mph on Saturday.
A high wind advisory will be in effect from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. that day – which conflicts with when the 93,502-gross ton vessel would have arrived in port at 11 a.m., likely creating unsafe docking conditions.
While cruise ships are built to safely navigate rough seas, docking is often a little harder in choppy waters because of shallow depths and close proximity to other ships.
But while adverse weather leading to early cancellations may worry current passengers, the weather appears to be limited to Sitka.
The rest of the itinerary – which includes calls on Glacier Bay, Skagway, Juneau, Icy Strait Point, and Ketchikan in Alaska, as well as Victoria, Canada – is expected to go ahead as planned.
The Final Cruise Call of the Season
Luckily, Norwegian Jewel will get one final chance to call on Sitka on October 21, 2024 – assuming the weather allows. This visit is particularly significant, as she will be the final cruise ship to visit the Alaskan port for this season.
“The Norwegian Jewel is still set at this time to arrive in Sitka on Monday, October 21st as the final cruise ship of the season. Updates regarding this port call will be provided if any changes occur,” said Sitka Tourism.
Read Also: The Best Time to Cruise Alaska: Months to Choose
With Alaska cruising officially concluding until next summer, it’s a good time to look back on the particularly busy season.
The cruise lines knew early on that demand for these sailings was at an all time high – with multiple cruise lines achieving new booking records and deploying more ships to the chilly region than ever before.
Sitka specifically was expecting a record number of cruise guests in 2024 – although the final numbers for this year have not yet been released.
In 2023, the port also broke a record with more than 550,000 guests visiting the island – which more than doubles the number of tourists in pre-pandemic years and surpasses the 2022 record of 383,000 cruise visitors.
In the height of Summer, there were days when the number of cruise visitors exceeded Sitka’s own population of around 8,300.
It’s actually become so crowded in the port during the peak season that local residents have been pushing for restrictions on the number of cruise passengers due to concerns about safety and quality of life.
Their initial initiative was denied in July of 2024, but locals – guided by Small Town SOUL, a nonprofit advocacy organization – plan to make a new request for a partial cruise ban in the near future.
