Cruise lines are altering Alaska itineraries weeks before the region's cruise season begins, swapping out visits to Tracy Arm Fjord for nearby Endicott Arm Fjord.
A landslide above the toe of the South Sawyer Glacier in the Tracy Arm Fjord caused a tsunami last Aug. 10, and the U.S. Geological Survey warns it is still a hazardous area.
"Steep, mountainous landslide areas are inherently unstable and will continue to change for years following an initial landslide," the Geological Survey said on its website. "Continued rockfall and smaller-scale landslide events from the exposed landslide scar are expected and could impact the water, potentially causing future local tsunamis. As such, this area remains hazardous."
At least seven cruise lines have said they will not sail in Tracy Arm this year: Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Virgin Voyages, MSC, Oceania, Holland America Line and Windstar. Tracy Arm is a popular area for scenic cruising and glacier viewing.
All seven cruise lines will instead visit Endicott Arm Fjord, which features Dawes Glacier. The two neighboring fjords are about 50 miles south of Juneau.
Endicott Arm is a wider waterway, and Dawes Glacier sits at the end of it. Tracy Arm is narrower and features the North and South Sawyer Glaciers.
The Southeast Alaska Pilots' Association, which helps cruise ships navigate the region, did not respond to a request for comment, but a spokesperson for Oceania Cruises said the association feels "that it's not safe to transit Tracy Arm."
Several cruise lines, including National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions, have not made itinerary adjustments.
A spokesperson for National Geographic-Lindblad said, "We are currently monitoring conditions but have no plans to deviate from current calls at this time."
If clients ask about the itinerary change, advisors can point to the Geological Survey's recommendation and that the cruise lines are "putting the passengers and their safety first," said Allison Roth, a travel consultant with Brentwood Travel in St. Louis.
Many first-time cruisers to Alaska don't know how the Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm glacier-viewing experiences compare, said Nancy Winter, a Maple Grove, Minn.-based advisor with Travel Leaders Market Square. That may mean that when itinerary swaps happen, "they don't really know they're having a different experience" than what they originally booked, she said.
Advisors can communicate the Endicott switch as an opportunity to see a different Alaskan landscape, she suggested.
Winter recalled sailing Endicott Arm last year with Celebrity Cruises and said her fjord visit was about four and a half hours. The scenery included waterfalls cascading down the cliffs.
"It's pretty, and then you get to the end, where the glacier is," she said. "It's kind of like a hallway that you're cruising down."
Though Endicott Arm is now serving as an alternative for Tracy Arm, the latter was already an alternative for Glacier Bay National Park.
The park features multiple glacier viewings and a wider waterway than the fjords. But the National Park Service limits how many cruise lines can visit seasonally and how many cruise ships can enter daily.
As more cruise lines sail Alaska, more cruise guests are naturally being funneled to alternative scenic-cruising destinations.
MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages, for example, are sailing Alaska for the first time this year and both had planned to sail Tracy Arm Fjord but are now headed to Endicott.
According to CLIA, there will be six more ships in Alaska this year compared to last year.