Ketchikan is expecting a record year for cruise traffic in 2022 with over 1.4 million passengers and several cruise lines returning for the first time since 2019.

Returning business after a two year hiatus includes Hurtigruten Expeditions, Viking Cruises, Cunard Line Cruises and Disney Cruise Line while cruise companies that ran a partial season in 2021 are also expected back, including Carnival Cruise Line, Celebrity Cruises, Holland America Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruises

There are also nine new ships slated to call and two new cruise brands for Ketchikan in Victory Cruise Lines and Peace Boat. 

In other news, earlier this year passengers aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings vessel arrived in Ketchikan’s newest two-berth cruise ship dock located in Ward Cove. Designed to be a destination of its own, Ward Cove will be home to an on-site museum, restaurant, boutique shops and a transportation center to bring visitors into town or on excursions. The dock is located on the site of the historic Ketchikan Pulp Mill eight miles north of downtown. The museum will showcase the history of the mill and logging industry complete with refurbished railcars to show how pulp was transported south.