This is a developing story.
A storm expected to bring strong winds to some parts of Southeast Alaska has resulted in the cancellation of cruise ship stops in Sitka and other ports, with two of the three ships arriving in Juneau on Monday scheduled to remain overnight until Tuesday evening, according to officials.
The storm is expected to hit the outer coast of the Southeast Panhandle the hardest, with winds up to 60 miles per hour starting Monday morning, while Juneau’s winds are expected to peak at about 45 mph Monday night, said Spencer Fielding, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service Juneau. He said Sitka and Ketchikan will be the port stops most affected by the storm that is expected to continue through Tuesday morning.
The 2,650-passenger Koningsdam arrived early in Juneau at about 9:30 a.m. Monday — instead of its originally scheduled 1:30 p.m. — after skipping its Monday stop in Skagway, according to Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska. The ship is scheduled to depart at 7 p.m. Tuesday instead of 10:30 p.m. Monday.
The other ship scheduled to remain overnight is the 2,104-passenger Eurodam, which will arrive as planned at 12:30 p.m. Monday and depart at 6 p.m. Tuesday instead of 10 p.m. Monday.
Also scheduled to dock in Juneau on Monday is the 4,004-passenger Norwegian Bliss from 2:30-10 p.m. Drew Green, port director for Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska in Juneau, said it was not known at midday Monday if there would be changes to that ship’s schedule.
“They may not come in, but nothing’s been confirmed yet,” he said.
Among the schedule changes due to the storm, Ovation of the Seas, which was in Juneau on Sunday, canceled its scheduled Monday in Skagway due to the storm forecast. Green said the ship is also skipping a stop in Ketchikan as it heads south.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
