NCL Jewel Skagway Alaska stop

[Anna061]

In the last week I have been hearing that the ship did not dock because of issues at the port. Unsure what the truth is but tonight I read someone say their cruise in August on the Joy has been changed and they will not be docking in Skagway. Has anyone heard what the issue is and has anyone who will be sailing go any notifications of change because of an issue?

[hypercolorsky]

:-0 I hope not. We depart on the Bliss Sunday. Losing Skagway would be a major hit to our port schedule since the others are so short, half days at most. 

[Anna061]

Look at your itinerary. See if it changed. Allegedly that is what I read from the one traveler about her August trip. Also read about the Jewel not docking there last week cause of a fuel spill at the dock and when they docked in Haines Alaska the locals told many that was not the truth, they didn't hear about any spill.

[bonvoyagie]

The Joy alternates between Icy Strait Point and Skagway most all summer but for sure in Aug. So the port choice depends on the week - could be a case of not reading the fine print.

[pbenjamin]

We're on the Jewel now and reach Skagway in two days. There has been no indication of any changes. We did have to tender in Icy Strait Point today due to the Joy's presence in port. 

[hypercolorsky]

7 hours ago, Anna061 said:

Look at your itinerary. See if it changed. Allegedly that is what I read from the one traveler about her August trip. Also read about the Jewel not docking there last week cause of a fuel spill at the dock and when they docked in Haines Alaska the locals told many that was not the truth, they didn't hear about any spill.

 

No, it has not changed on the itinerary. 

[newmexicoNita]

Hope they do stop there: it has been years but our favorite Alaskan port was Skagway. I can't say enough about it. 

[misha1]

We have both Skagway and Icy on our itinerary Sept. 2nd

 

[tulok]

Just checked my 6/15 itinerary and Skagway with excursion is still there. I hope it stays that way. Last time we sailed in Alaska we stopped at Sitka, which was my favorite stop, so I am looking forward to Skagway as many CC have stated the beauty of the area.

[JAFA13]

I was on the NCL Jewel cruise that was diverted to Haines. We were told on the ship that a barge spilled fuel in the area we were to dock and the captain decided to divert to Haines. I heard other passengers saying this wasn’t true and that there was some kind of dispute with the captain and port officials. This happened in the early morning hours and most passengers didn’t know we weren’t in Skagway until they woke up. Two other cruise ships docked that day in Skagway. I did some google searches and could find no information about a fuel spill in Skagway on May 24, 2019. 

[Anna061]

6 hours ago, pbenjamin said:

We're on the Jewel now and reach Skagway in two days. There has been no indication of any changes. We did have to tender in Icy Strait Point today due to the Joy's presence in port. 

Thank You for that update. Reassuring to know that there were no issues at this time.

[jlcloy]

We were on the Carnival Legend on the May 24th visit to Skagway.  We were told by one of the local tour operators that the Jewel would not be docking with us that day.  We had booked independently and there was supposed to be people from that cruise on with us.  He said that the passengers were told there was an oil spill in the port and that they were not docking.  Both the Carnival Legend and the Queen Elizabeth docked that morning safely at 7:00.

 

I was wondering what had happened. 

[JAFA13]

16 hours ago, jlcloy said:

We were on the Carnival Legend on the May 24th visit to Skagway.  We were told by one of the local tour operators that the Jewel would not be docking with us that day.  We had booked independently and there was supposed to be people from that cruise on with us.  He said that the passengers were told there was an oil spill in the port and that they were not docking.  Both the Carnival Legend and the Queen Elizabeth docked that morning safely at 7:00.

 

I was wondering what had happened. 

Did the tour operator have any knowledge as to whether there actually was a oil spill? Did you see any evidence of an oil spill? I was on that Jewel cruise that missed Skagway and would like to know if what we were told was true. Thanks 

[mugtech]

4 hours ago, JAFA13 said:

Did the tour operator have any knowledge as to whether there actually was a oil spill? Did you see any evidence of an oil spill? I was on that Jewel cruise that missed Skagway and would like to know if what we were told was true. Thanks 

It would appear that Carnival and the queen can dock during an oil spill but NCL Jewel cannot.  Very believable.

[jlcloy]

There was no evidence of an oil spill.  The operator said there was not on at all.  It was very beautiful there.

[bonvoyagie]

I remember a few seasons ago the ship doing the one ways diverted to ISP on the southbound trip for technical reasons. They did this for several sailings from mid to end of season. Could be they have started it again.

[Love my butler]

There was no spill of any sort.  There was a fuel barge 'in the way' so Captain Harstrom felt it was a safety concern and diverted to Haines.

[crayola1932]

On 5/30/2019 at 5:46 AM, JAFA13 said:

I was on the NCL Jewel cruise that was diverted to Haines.hWe were told on the ship that a barge spilled fuel in the area we were to dock and the captain decided to divert to Haines. I heard other passengers saying this wasn’t true and that there was some kind of dispute with the captain and port officials. 

 

I was also on the cruise that went to Haines instead of Skagway.  We were up when the ship changed direction and went back to Haines.  My husband later had a chance to talk to the Captain.  It is true that there was no spill, but there was a fuel barge next to our dock that was still off-loading jet fuel when we were due to dock.  Neither the pilot nor the Captain thought it would be safe to go into the dock.  The pilot told the Captain that he was unwilling to bring the ship in under the circumstances.  The Captain immediately got on the phone and got the berth in Haines.  He also checked it out with the NCL head office.  Some  passengers still got their tours, but other people were out of luck.  We had a lot of first-time Alaska cruisers on board and they were understandably disappointed to miss their tours.  This was our 4th Alaska cruise, however, so we were happy to see Haines instead.  It was a small simple town, beautifully situated.  The people there were very welcoming.