Huge Alaska Cruise News

Royal Dutch Lines has announced news of their new vessel for the 2019 cruise season in Alaska with a staggering new passenger capacity of 20,000 guests. This is a dramatic increase from the largest vessel in Alaska’s fleet for 2018, which has sent port cities in Southeast Alaska scrambling to accommodate the massive ship. 2018 will see Norwegian Cruise Line’s Bliss carrying 4,000 passengers, but this will be dwarfed by RDL’s new vessel, Dhaka, for 2019.

“Some have asked why the name ‘Dhaka‘? We at RDL, wanted to pay homage to the most densely populated city on earth and found the name fit perfectly with the traveler experience aboard the vessel,” stated an RDL spokesperson.

Alaska Cruise Organization’s chair, Brink Johnson, was asked about how the enormous vessel would fit into the current Alaska fleet. “Why merely look at the mountains when traveling through the fjords, when you can look over them? This towering vessel will give unobstructed views over the 5000 foot tall, snow-capped peaks of the Inside Passage from the upper 20 levels. Look, 1.3 million travelers will be cruising through Alaskan waters in 2018 and our goal here at ACO is to have all of those passengers on a single voyage by 2025.”

Haines Borough Facilities Director, Brad Ryan, expressed some concerns as to what an additional 20,000 people would do to the local waste water infrastructure, but mentioned it would be a boon to the Portage Cove dungeness crab fishery that thrive on the effluent.

Greg Schlachter, owner of Expedition Broker, shared his enthusiasm for the new vessel, “Our focus typically is on Alaska charter yachts and small ships with capacity of 4 to 30 passengers per trip. But we’re super excited to be working with a vessel like Dhaka. Why take just your family along on an Alaskan cruise when you can bring your whole city with you!!”

The 20,000 passenger Dhaka will be sailing starting April 1st, 2018. Contact Expedition Broker for further details!