Alaska 2021

[masscruiser2010]

If the House passes, and the President signs, the Senate-passed waiver to the foreign port requirement, what are the chances of Silversea scheduling a couple of round-trips out of Seattle in either August or September?

[Stumblefoot]

I think you would get a more authoritative response if you were to post your subject in the Barbara Muckermann special event topic. 

 

Do you know when the U.S. house is scheduled to take up the senate legislation?

[jollyjones]

The ships aren’t exactly positioned for it. The Origin will be doing Galapagos and all the rest except the Muse are in the Med. 

Maybe they could reposition the Muse to Alaska rather than SE Asia? Who knows, with Aus/NZ  shut I suppose it just might be possible but I wouldn’t hold my breath. 

[nowornever]

https://www.portseattle.org/page/covid-19-updates-2021-cruise-season

 

That would be so nice but probably won't happen.  We're not exactly an easy place to get ships to/from & then resume other itineraries. Silversea is normally based in Vancouver rather than here in the summer which presents other issues (suspect the Port would move mountains right now to have that happen though.)  We would WALK the 20'ish miles to the port to get on an Alaska cruise right now...or any cruise.🙏

[carefreecruise]

8 hours ago, masscruiser2010 said:

If the House passes, and the President signs, the Senate-passed waiver to the foreign port requirement, what are the chances of Silversea scheduling a couple of round-trips out of Seattle in either August or September?

Could happen. They are keeping the Muse on the schedule this summer in Alaska. Right now they are showing all the voyages as Waitlisted. So if it happens all they have to do is remove the Waitlisted sign. 

[Stumblefoot]

House passed the bill.  Awaiting Biden’s signature and CDC clearance.  Looks like they are going to start up in July!

[nowornever]

FYI: 

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/seattle-alaska-cruises-to-resume-in-july-says-holland-america/

[dawntrdr]

According to the new "Information on the Commencement of Travel" posted May 20, SS is expecting to start its Alaska season on July 8 with the Muse.  Looks like a pretty confident statement.

[nowornever]

I don't really understand how it can go to/from Vancouver when Canada announced they are closed until 2022 to cruise ships with over 100 pax?  Any Canadian have any information on exceptions?  Very interesting.

[jollyjones]

The whole point of the temporary PVSA waiver is to get around the Canadian cruise ship ban, so the Muse could sail from Seattle like HAL et al, but not Vancouver. 
I wonder if they will?

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, nowornever said:

FYI: 

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/seattle-alaska-cruises-to-resume-in-july-says-holland-america/

 

I appreciate you posting this link to the Seattle Times  article.  Thank you.  

[Randyk47]

As I posted in another thread here Silversea would have to light up a significant fire in the “boiler room” to get either the Muse or the Shadow in Seattle or an Alaskan port by early July.  Both ships are at the best 30-40+ days, more likely 50+ days,  sailing away from the Pacific Northwest.   It literally would have to be a full out non-stop race to get them positioned.  August to September sailings are much more reasonable but again they have to start in at least the general direction sooner than later.   

[TLCOhio]

Appreciate these great comments and follow-ups.  As background, I have a good friend who manages one of the major tourism operations in Juneau and they are super happy that things will be re-opening  in Alaska.  As she summarized to me: "What a relief to see all the HOPE again!"  

 

BUT, however, it will not be quickly a back to "normal" as we super loved and enjoyed in the summer of 2019.  

 

Why?  During what is left of the summer of 2021, it would only involve a limited number of the larger and medium ships.  Maybe Silversea only operates one ship?  Not two?  For her firm, when they talked with their insurance company and analyzed the financial balance sheets, it does not make sense (and cents/dollars) for them to open up this summer, bring in the full staff required, etc.  It's Economics 101 to operate during only a two-month-season in their business. The overall news is good, but they do not expect the big, BIG numbers doing these sailings along this key part of the SE Alaska coast.  That might not happen until 2022.  

 

From USA Today and the Arizona Republic yesterday, they had this headline: “Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival cruise lines announce plans to resume cruising this summer in Alaska, Florida, Texas” with these highlights: “Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival Corp. lines Princess Cruises, Holland America Line and Carnival Cruise Line announced plans to resume cruising this summer, including some voyages to Alaska after the U.S. Senate passed a bill last week that could help save the state's upcoming cruise season.  Congress has voted to let large cruise ships sail directly from Washington state to Alaska without stopping in Canada, a step that could clear the way for cruises later this year.  The legislation approved by the House on Thursday goes to President Joe Biden, who is expected to sign it.   A longstanding federal law prohibits foreign-flagged ships — typically the big cruise liners — from carrying passengers between two U.S. ports without stopping in another country. With Canada forbidding any cruise operations through next February, the law threatened to eliminate Alaskan voyages on large ships this year.  'This legislation is literally a lifeline for so many of Alaska’s small businesses that were struggling, and it means jobs for more Alaskans this summer,' said Sarah Leonard, president of the Alaska Travel Industry Association.”

 

More below on the live/blog as to why we super loved the Silver Muse and our first sailing in this scenic and fun part of the world.

 

Full story at:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/cruises/2021/05/19/norwegian-cruise-line-resumes-alaska-cruise-bookings/5167889001/

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Completed 2019 summer with Calgary, Jasper/Banff National Parks, Western Canada Rocky Mountaineer rail adventure, Vancouver, sailing up to Alaska on Silver Muse, post-cruise excursion to Denali, etc.  Many visuals and details from our first in these scenic areas!  Live/blog: 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2682584-live-terryohio-silver-muse-alaska-canadarockies-pix’s/

[cruiseej]

5 hours ago, Randyk47 said:

As I posted in another thread here Silversea would have to light up a significant fire in the “boiler room” to get either the Muse or the Shadow in Seattle or an Alaskan port by early July.  Both ships are at the best 30-40+ days, more likely 50+ days,  sailing away from the Pacific Northwest.   It literally would have to be a full out non-stop race to get them positioned.  

 

I'm just curious about the math here. Muse is the ship scheduled to be in Alaska this summer. Muse is in Singapore currently. Singapore is about 5,800 nautical miles from Anchorage. The Muse can get up to 21 knots going all out, but let's use a more moderate 18 knot speed for the math. So it would take the Muse 5,800 ÷ 18 = 322 hours to make that transit, which is about 13.5 days. You could slow the speed further to conserve fuel and deal with any stormy weather, and still do it in well under three weeks. How did you calculate 30-40 or more days, @Randyk47?

 

It seems they could take the next few weeks onboarding crew members in Singapore (and possibly Indonesia and/or the Philippines), depart from southeast Asia by mid-June, and make it to Anchorage for the first scheduled cruise on July 8.

 

This assumes all CDC and other regulatory hurdles can be resolved in the weeks ahead. And that they can get the crew members vaccinated as they leave southeast Asia, so they will have their two weeks to reach full immunity prior to reaching the US. If they need to adjust the schedule and start a week later from Seattle, Singapore-Seattle is about 7,000 nautical miles, so that transit time would take a couple more days. But it all still seems quite do-able.

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by cruiseej
Typo

[Randyk47]

1 hour ago, cruiseej said:

 

I'm just curious about the math here. Muse is the ship scheduled to be in Alaska this summer. Muse is in Singapore currently. Singapore is about 5,800 nautical miles from Anchorage. The Muse can get up to 21 knots going all out, but let's use a more moderate 18 knot speed for the math. So it would take the Muse 5,800 ÷ 18 = 322 hours to make that transit, which is about 13.5 days. You could slow the speed further to conserve fuel and deal with any stormy weather, and still do it in well under three weeks. How did you calculate 30-40 or more days, @Randyk47?

 

It seems they could take the next few weeks onboarding crew members in Singapore (and possibly Indonesia and/or the Philippines), depart from southeast Asia by mid-June, and make it to Anchorage for the first scheduled cruise on July 8.

 

This assumes all CDC and other regulatory hurdles can be resolved in the weeks ahead. And that they can get the crew members vaccinated as they leave southeast Asia, so they will have their two weeks to reach full immunity prior to reaching the US. If they need to adjust the schedule and start a week later from Seattle, Singapore-Seattle is about 7,000 nautical miles, so that transit time would take a couple more days. But it all still seems quite do-able.

 

The website I used routed the Muse west through the Suez which is ridiculous.  I found a site that is more reasonable and is close to your calculation.  https://sea-distances.org/

[cruiseej]

Interesting website... probably better than me using Google Maps for sea distances. 😉

 

What's odd is that I punched in Singapore to Anchorage on that website, and it reported a distance of 6,100 nature mile, and 14 days at 18 knots. I'm not sure how you can control the route or direction, but it just picked the correct one for me: 

 

[Lois R]

The 2021 Alaska cruises have been removed from the website. Everything on there now is 2022.  From what has been offered out there, Muse will be sailing from Seattle this summer and it looks like those sailings are not uploaded yet.  I believe they should be on there sometime this week. 

[Lois R]

Well, I just this on the front of the website:

https://www.silversea.com/lp-silver-muse-return-to-sailing.html

 

Alaska is starting in July 2021.

[LouChamp]

i will not be a guinea pig and risk my wife safety. not this year. let’s see what happens 

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, Lois R said:

Well, I just this on the front of the website:

https://www.silversea.com/lp-silver-muse-return-to-sailing.html

 

Alaska is starting in July 2021.

 

But, what is the itinerary?  Where are the details?  I don't find Silverseas website easy to use and to get the information that I am seeking.  

[Lois R]

20 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

But, what is the itinerary?  Where are the details?  I don't find Silverseas website easy to use and to get the information that I am seeking.  

They have not posted the itinerary or the prices yet.  It is quite easy to use but the information isn't there yet.........that is why you can't find it.  I think it will be updated again sometime this week.

[zelker]

The Points Guy website posted about it - it says they can be booked starting June 7th and they'll be 10 and 11 night cruises out of Seattle but I don't understand how they are going to be allowed to do longer than 7 nights since the other lines can't even book B2Bs on 7 night cruises.  Will be interesting to see how this plays out.  

[Lois R]

28 minutes ago, zelker said:

The Points Guy website posted about it - it says they can be booked starting June 7th and they'll be 10 and 11 night cruises out of Seattle but I don't understand how they are going to be allowed to do longer than 7 nights since the other lines can't even book B2Bs on 7 night cruises.  Will be interesting to see how this plays out.  

It is all wait and see.  Does the Points Guy have an inside track or something?  I heard the b2b thing has changed but who knows.  I am sure they are not going to offer 10/11 nights if is prohibited.

[zelker]

1 hour ago, Lois R said:

It is all wait and see.  Does the Points Guy have an inside track or something?  I heard the b2b thing has changed but who knows.  I am sure they are not going to offer 10/11 nights if is prohibited.

Here's the article -  Another major cruise line unveils plans to restart in Alaska (thepointsguy.com)

 

Also, Muse shows up on the Alaska Port Authority Calendar for 2021 (just updated yesterday) - I have always found the information there to be accurate and often updated even before the cruise lines update their sites - 2021 Schedules | Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska (claalaska.com)

 

Last my TA and I checked with HAL (about 10 days ago), B2Bs were not being allowed.  What have you heard?

Edited June 2, 2021 by zelker

[Lois R]

Hi🙂.......wow, I have never seen that cruise line schedule before!  But I counted the dates...from Seattle to Seattle example in Sept.......shows 10 nights.

 

Thanks for posting that🙂

 

As for the b2b, I thought I read it had changed but I could be wrong.