Royal Caribbean Owes Anthem’s Alaska Guests a Clearer Explanation for a Lost Port

Anthem of the Seas is losing Icy Strait Point from its May 7, 2027 Alaska cruise, and passengers are being told the reason is “speed restrictions.” Which restrictions? Royal Caribbean has not said.

That is too thin an explanation for removing a destination from a seven-night itinerary, particularly when the same revision also takes two hours out of Ketchikan. I’d expect the cruise line to identify the restriction behind that much lost time ashore.

The affected voyage departs Vancouver and opens Anthem’s 2027 Alaska season. Its scheduled May 9 visit to Icy Strait Point will become a sea day. Guests received notice on October 21, 2026, more than six months before departure, giving them time to adjust their arrangements.

In the notice shared by a booked passenger on Facebook, Royal Caribbean said the adjustment was needed “to comply with speed restrictions and maintain a comfortable sailing experience.” The first part needs specifics. The second does little to explain why a port has disappeared.

What changes for booked passengers

Ketchikan’s departure moves from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Scenic cruising at Hubbard Glacier, the call at Sitka and the return to Vancouver on May 14 remain unchanged.

A replacement sea day still provides a full day aboard the ship. It does not replace the opportunity to visit Icy Strait Point, which is owned and operated by Huna Totem Corporation, an Alaska Native village corporation representing shareholders with Tlingit ties to Hoonah and the Glacier Bay region. For anyone who chose this sailing partly for that destination, the itinerary now offers less of what they booked it to do.

Royal Caribbean will automatically cancel all prepaid shore excursions purchased through the line for Icy Strait Point. In Ketchikan, affected tours will either be rescheduled around the earlier departure or cancelled. Refunds for cancelled excursions will go to the original payment method within 14 business days.

Passengers who booked directly with independent operators must handle cancellations and refund requests with those providers. The cruise line’s automatic refund process does not cover those arrangements.

Earlier incidents do not explain this change

There are previous speed-related events involving Royal Caribbean ships in Alaska, but none supplies the missing explanation for Anthem.

In 2025, Serenade of the Seas skipped Icy Strait Point after an onboard technical issue forced it to sail more slowly. That incident had an identified technical cause. No such cause has been publicly identified for Anthem’s revised itinerary.

A separate incident occurred in June 2026, when Ovation of the Seas arrived in Seward with a dead, pregnant fin whale on its bow. The Center for Biological Diversity subsequently urged Royal Caribbean to adopt a mandatory company policy reducing speeds in known whale habitats.

That request sought voluntary action by the cruise line. It did not create a legal requirement, and it came several months after the 2027 deployment was announced. No official connection has been established between the request and Anthem’s itinerary change. Other speed restrictions apply in Alaska and can change after cruises go on sale.

Filling the gap with either a mechanical explanation or a whale-protection explanation would give passengers an answer no one has confirmed.

Anthem, a Quantum Class ship with a listed maximum speed of 22 knots, is scheduled to follow this opening round-trip voyage with seven-night, one-way sailings between Vancouver and Seward through late September.

Nothing in the explanation provided establishes what, if anything, this revision means for those later departures. The immediate issue is the cruise that has already changed. Royal Caribbean can specify a 5:00 p.m. departure and a 14-business-day refund window. It should be equally specific about the restriction that removed an entire port.

See current Anthem of the Seas fares and itineraries on Cruise Lookup.