Four RCI ships docked weekly downtown in ’25, three scheduled in ’26 and two in ’27 in wake of disputes with city; company set to be primary user of private port in ’28

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Royal Caribbean International is reducing its sailings to Juneau during the next couple of years, with an eye on being the primary user of Goldbelt Inc.’s proposed private cruise port on the west coast of Douglas Island, scheduled to open in 2028.

The cruise line’s parent group, Royal Caribbean Group, signed a partnership agreement with Goldbelt in October of 2024 "to explore co-developing a new port." The proposed Goldbelt Aaní port would have two docks capable of accommodating the biggest ships currently visiting Alaska — and thus several hundred thousand people a year — a recreated 1800s Alaska Native Tlingit village, and other visitor facilities.

The announcement was criticized by city leaders who said they were caught off guard by a proposal that could drastically affect the community, prompting the cruise line to issue an official apology. The company has, in subsequent months, sought a lower profile in its involvement with the project.

However, the original memorandum of understanding "to explore development on ANCSA lands on Douglas Island" remains in effect, Goldbelt President and CEO McHugh Pierre stated in an email to the Juneau Independent on Wednesday.

"Goldbelt’s position has always remained that it will be the sole owner of the project and Royal will be a customer," he wrote. "Nothing has changed."

Meanwhile, RCI is reducing the number of ships arriving in downtown Juneau from four this year to three in 2026 and two in 2027, according to the company’s website. The company will still be sending four ships to Alaska, but two of them will bypass Juneau and stop at ports such as Icy Point in Hoonah (a private port similar to the one proposed by Goldbelt), Sitka and Skagway.

Royal Caribbean declined to respond to emailed questions this week from the Juneau Independent about whether RCI ships will bypass Juneau altogether when Goldbelt’s port opens in 2028 and other aspects of the company’s involvement.

Other ships operated by Royal Caribbean’s parent company — whose subsidiaries include Celebrity Cruises and Silversea Cruises — are scheduled to continue docking in Juneau, according to schedules that extend until 2027. Juneau tourism officials have said they expect next year’s cruise passenger traffic to be about the same as the 1.6 million to 1.7 million visitors who arrived this year.

Tensions between Royal Caribbean and the city have been evident at times in recent years.

The company was the last cruise line to sign a voluntary five-ship-a-day limit with the city that took effect in 2024 and the only one to threaten a lawsuit if a 2025 ballot measure prohibiting large cruise ships on Saturdays was approved by voters (the measure was defeated). Friction also arose during a Juneau Assembly discussion with a Royal Caribbean official in April of this year regarding Goldbelt's proposed port when the representative declined to answer questions about the project’s status.

Impacts of Royal Caribbean’s use of Goldbelt Aaní port were presented to Assembly members at a Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday, including a memo stating 500,000 passengers from the company’s ships might end up visiting the Mendenhall Glacier via a second Juneau-Douglas bridge if one is built.

Also discussed during the meeting was whether the Juneau area might see seven ships a day rather than the current voluntary limit of five once Goldbelt Aaní opens. Jill Lawhorne, community development director for the City and Borough of Juneau, stated in her presentation to the Assembly that "additional berths signal future growth" local leaders should be evaluating now.

Lawhorne said two project officials representing Royal Caribbean and Turnagain Marine Construction were "not aware of the (five-ship) limit" during an Oct. 21 meeting. However, Pierre told the Independent, "it has always been Goldbelt’s desire to create a sustainable cruise industry in Juneau that has a lower impact on resident activity."

"Moving 500,000 visitors from downtown to Douglas will leave 1.2 million people in downtown cruise traffic and alleviate congestion on Egan Highway and Auke Bay," he wrote. "The intent is to use existing infrastructure on the Auke Bay side to ferry visitors from Goldbelt Aaní. This will allow customers who call on Goldbelt Aaní to visit the Mendenhall glacier without busing people down Douglas Highway. Goldbelt Aaní will also provide water-based excursions directly from our port. This will create a total reduction of boat traffic through Auke Bay every summer. The vision is for Goldbelt Aaní to be a self-sufficient full-service hub for the visitor industry."

Questions about the extent — or lack thereof — of Royal Caribbean’s involvement in the project as a developer arose as a result of documents and discussion stemming from the Oct 21 meeting.

The draft of an application for a conditional use permit for Goldbelt Aaní was presented to Lawhorne under the name of the Port of Tomorrow Management Group at the Oct. 21 meeting, with the document stating it was a co-submission with Goldbelt as the other applicant. However, Pierre, in a Nov. 3 letter to City Manager Katie Koester, stated Goldbelt as the landowner is expected to be the sole applicant during the permitting process.

"Port of Tomorrow and Turnagain Marine Construction, work for Goldbelt, as I said in the letter (to Koester)," Pierre stated in his email to the Independent. "They do not represent Royal Caribbean for Goldbelt Aaní."

There is no company with the name Port of Tomorrow in the State of Alaska’s business license database. However, that name is affiliated with The Seward Company, which is scheduled to debut a Seward port redevelopment project in the spring of 2026.

"This public-private project, made up of the Alaska Railroad, Royal Caribbean Group and Turnagain Marine, will replace the outdated pier and completely modernize the cruise infrastructure," The Seward Company’s website states.

That website and the URL portoftomorrow.com, which redirects to Goldbelt Aaní’s homepage, have identical domain registration dates and other data with the client name withheld, according to the WhoIs lookup database.

A listed contact for Port of Tomorrow under The Seward Company did not respond to messages this week from the Juneau Independent.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.