Guests aboard the September 12, 2026 departure of Royal Princess are not getting the Alaskan itinerary that was originally scheduled, as the ship has developed engine difficulties and must skip two ports of call.
The ship departed Seattle, Washington, as planned on Saturday, but on Sunday, September 13, guests received letters (now posted to the sailing’s Facebook page) outlining the change.
“We are currently experiencing a technical issue with our engines that does not affect the safety of our guests or crew but does restrict our ability to proceed at the required speed to maintain our itinerary as planned,” the letter explained.
“Due to these circumstances, we will no longer call to Juneau, Alaska tomorrow, September 14. Instead we will spend the day at sea and head directly toward Skagway, Alaska, for our call at 6:00 AM on Tuesday, September 15 as planned. Additionally, as a result of our reduced operational speed, we will no longer be able to call to Ketchikan, Alaska, on Thursday, September 17, and will proceed directly to Victoria, Canada.”
With Juneau and Ketchikan now cancelled from the 7-night cruise, Skagway and Victoria are the only ports remaining on the itinerary.
If there are no further changes, the 3,560-guest Royal Princess will visit Skagway from 6 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday and will be in Victoria from 9 p.m. until midnight on Friday, September 18.
The cruise line has not yet commented on whether the sailing will still include the planned visit to Glacier Bay on Tuesday, September 15.
Princess Cruises has confirmed that if guests had booked shore tours through the cruise line for either Juneau or Ketchikan, those tours will be automatically cancelled and credited to guests’ onboard accounts. Guests do not need to visit either the Shore Excursions or Guest Services desks (both on Deck 5, Plaza Deck, just forward of The Piazza) to cancel tours.
Furthermore, the letter notes that all guests will now receive a 50% refund of their cruise fare. That refund will be processed back to the original form of payment, but may take 10-15 business days to process.
What Is the Difficulty?
Princess Cruises has not yet released any details of the “technical issue” impacting Royal Princess, only noting that the ship’s safety is not impacted.
“Our technical teams are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible,” the cruise line noted.
There is no confirmation that the issue can be resolved before the end of this sailing on Saturday, September 19, but at this time, there is no impact to the next sailing, a 14-night one-way cruise that includes Alaska and crosses the Pacific Ocean to Tokyo, Japan.
Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas cancelled an Alaska sailing that was supposed to depart Vancouver on August 30 because urgent repairs were needed and the ship had to remain docked. While no technical details on those repairs were officially released, propulsion difficulties are often the cause of such delays and cancellations.
This is not the first time a Princess Cruises’ ship has experienced propulsion difficulties while sailing in the Last Frontier. In July 2025, Ruby Princess had multiple ports rearranged and scenic cruising lost due to propulsion issues.
