First large cruise ship due in Ketchikan on trial voyage

It’s not like old times of 1.3 million cruise ship visitors to Southeast Alaska, but it’s the start of the best it’s going to be this summer.

The first large cruise ship to stop at an Alaska port since 2019 is scheduled to tie up in Ketchikan on Friday, though Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas will not be anywhere close to its 2,476-passenger capacity. It’s a trial voyage, at a roughly 10% passenger load, intended to test out COVID-19 protocols and show federal health regulators that the company can deal with any infections should they occur.

“They will run through all their protocols,” s...