A record 31 cruise ships will call on Kodiak next year, a 40 percent increase over this year.
The ships include the Queen Elizabeth, at 2,547 passengers, “the largest vessel that Kodiak has ever seen,” said Aimee Williams, Discover Kodiak executive director. This will be Cunard’s first trip to Alaska since 1994.
As new lines begin to call on Alaska, they are looking to alternatives to Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway, Williams said. “People on those ships like the fact that they get to walk into a city that’s not a city. Visitors get to experience a city that looks how it does when they’re not here.”
Ten new ships will visit in 2019, including two brand-new vessels: the 530-passenger Roald Amundsen and Viking Orion, which carries 930 visitors. Hurtigruten’s Roald Amundsen is the first ship to use a new and environmentally sustainable hybrid technology.
Other first-timers include Maasdam, 1,250 passengers; Azamara Quest, 686; Silver Muse, 596; Regatta, 684; Crystal Symphony, 922; Amsterdam, 1,380; and Silver Explorer, 132.
