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High wind warning prompts cruise ship cancellations, schedule changes in Juneau
Three Princess ships cancel local sailings here Wednesday; Caribbean Princess will remain overnight Tuesday and Viking Orion will make unscheduled stop
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Cruise ships are cancelling port stops and making other schedule adjustments due to a high wind warning for the outer coastal areas of Southeast Alaska from late Tuesday until Wednesday night.
All three ships scheduled to arrive in Juneau on Wednesday — the Sapphire Princess, Ruby Princess and Discovery Princess — have cancelled their stops, according to an email from Travel Juneau sent to members on Tuesday afternoon.
A ship already in Juneau on Tuesday, the Caribbean Princess, is now scheduled to remain overnight at the Franklin Dock and depart at 6 p.m. Wednesday rather than its originally scheduled departure of 9:15 p.m. Tuesday. The Viking Orion — which was scheduled to sail from Ketchikan to Sitka on Tuesday and then to Glacier Bay on Wednesday — will instead arrive in Juneau on Wednesday morning and depart at 8 p.m.
The warning issued by the National Weather Service Juneau calls for gale-force winds up to 60 miles per hour along the outer coast and islands of South Alaska, including Annette Island, Prince of Wales Island, Baranof Island and Western Kupreanof Island.
Similar cancellations and rescheduling occurred last year due to an Oct. 1 storm that resulted in winds peaking at more than 80 miles per hour near Ketchikan. Two cruise ships remained in Juneau overnight as a result and a third made an unscheduled stop instead of continuing its voyage to Skagway.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
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