Royal Princess Drops Two Major Alaska Ports After Engine Problem

Image: Princess Cruises

Passengers aboard Royal Princess have lost two of the ship’s major Alaska port calls after an engine problem left the cruise ship unable to maintain the speed required for its original itinerary.

The seven-night cruise departed Seattle on Saturday, 12 September 2026, for an itinerary originally scheduled to include Juneau, Skagway, scenic cruising in Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and Victoria.

But passengers were advised the following day that a technical issue affecting the ship’s engines was restricting its operating speed.

Princess Cruises subsequently cancelled visits to Juneau and Ketchikan, leaving Skagway as the only scheduled Alaska port call on the voyage.

Royal Princess had been due to arrive in Juneau on Monday, 14 September.

Instead, passengers spent the day at sea as the ship continued towards Skagway, where it was scheduled to arrive at 6:00am on Tuesday.

The ship’s planned visit to Ketchikan on Thursday, 17 September has also been cancelled. Royal Princess will instead continue towards Victoria, British Columbia.

The revised itinerary leaves passengers with calls at Skagway and Victoria, with the ship scheduled to return to Seattle on Saturday, 19 September.

Princess told passengers that the technical problem does not affect the safety of guests or crew, but prevents Royal Princess from travelling at the speed required to maintain the original itinerary.

The cruise line said its technical teams were working to resolve the issue, although it has not provided further details about the nature of the engine problem or how long repairs are expected to take.

Losing Juneau and Ketchikan is a substantial change to a seven-night Alaska cruise, and Princess is offering affected passengers significant compensation.

Guests will receive a 50% refund of their cruise fare, returned to their original form of payment. Princess has advised that refunds may take between 10 and 15 business days to process.

Shore excursions booked through Princess for both cancelled ports are also being automatically cancelled and refunded.

Passengers with independently booked excursions will need to contact their tour operators directly regarding cancellations or refunds.

The original Royal Princess itinerary was marketed by Princess as a seven-day Inside Passage cruise featuring four ports and Glacier Bay, sailing from Seattle to Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay National Park, Ketchikan and Victoria before returning to Seattle.

With Juneau and Ketchikan removed, passengers are now left with one scheduled Alaska port visit in Skagway, plus Victoria in Canada.

The planned scenic cruising through Glacier Bay National Park on Wednesday, 16 September has not been announced as cancelled at the time of publication.

That will be one part of the itinerary passengers will no doubt be particularly keen to retain, given the loss of two of the cruise’s three Alaska port stops.

Image: Princess Cruises

Royal Princess is a 142,229-tonne Princess Cruises ship carrying up to 3,560 guests. The ship entered service in 2013 and has been operating round-trip Alaska cruises from Seattle throughout the 2026 season.

The 12 September departure is the final Royal Princess sailing listed in Princess Cruises’ 2026 Alaska program for its regular seven-day Seattle itinerary.

Royal Princess is then scheduled to operate a longer voyage from Seattle to Tokyo.

As of the latest information provided to passengers, Princess has not announced changes to that following cruise.

For passengers currently onboard, however, what was meant to be a fairly port-heavy week in Alaska has suddenly become a cruise with considerably more time at sea.

And while a 50% refund is significant compensation, Juneau and Ketchikan are two of Alaska’s best-known cruise destinations. For passengers who may have travelled a long way specifically to experience them, there are some parts of an itinerary change that a refund simply can’t replace.