Alaska
This major cruise line will launch Alaska sailings for the first time
How to find the best price, perks when booking a cruise
Find the cruise that works for your budget with these tips.
Problem Solved
There’s a new player in the Alaska cruise game.
MSC Cruises will launch sailings to the Last Frontier for the first time in 2026, the cruise line announced Monday. The sailings on the MSC Poesia ship will depart from Seattle, Washington.
“Guests from all over the world tell us they want to see Alaska’s beauty firsthand, which makes these itineraries the perfect addition to MSC Cruises’ global portfolio of bucket-list destinations,” Lynn Torrent, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer at MSC Cruises USA, said in a news release. “Seattle will be our fifth U.S. homeport, bringing our signature mix of European style and American comforts to the west coast as we continue to expand our offerings in the North American market.”
The news marks the latest growth of MSC’s stateside footprint. The line also announced plans earlier this year to add a Galveston, Texas, homeport in 2025.
When are MSC’s Alaska cruises?
The line’s first Alaska cruise will set sail on May 11, 2026, with the season running through September. MSC Poesia can accommodate 2,550 passengers based on double occupancy.
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Where will the cruises go?
Passengers will visit destinations such as Vancouver, Canada; Juneau; Ketchikan; Icy Strait Point and more as part of the seven-night itineraries, featuring snow-capped mountain views and sightings of wildlife like bald eagles. They will also be able to choose from a range of shore excursions, including whale-watching, ziplining and ATV rides.
How much do MSC’s Alaska cruises cost?
Pricing info was not available ahead of publishing. Travelers can book on MSC’s website.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
Alaska
Outage forces Alaska Airlines ground stop
Alaska
Trump issues disaster declarations for Alaska and other states but denies Illinois and Maryland
President Donald Trump approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe late Wednesday, while denying requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland and leaving other states still waiting for answers.
The decisions fell mostly along party lines, with Trump touting on social media Wednesday that he had “won BIG” in Alaska in the last three presidential elections and that it was his “honor” to deliver for the “incredible Patriots” of Missouri, a state he also won three times.
The disaster declarations authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support recipients with federal financial assistance to repair public infrastructure damaged by disasters and, in some cases, provide survivors money for repairs and temporary housing.
While Trump has approved more disaster declarations than he’s denied this year, he has also repeatedly floated the idea of “ phasing out ” FEMA, saying he wants states to take more responsibility for disaster response and recovery. States already take the lead in disasters, but depend on federal assistance when the needs exceed what they can manage alone.
Trump has also taken longer to approve disaster declaration requests than in any previous administration, including his first, according to an Associated Press analysis.
The states approved for disaster declarations include Alaska, which filed an expedited request after experiencing back-to-back storms this month that wrecked coastal villages, displaced 2,000 residents and killed at least one person. Trump approved a 100% cost share of disaster-related expenses for 90 days.
North Dakota and Nebraska will also receive public assistance for August severe weather, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota was approved for both public and individual assistance for a June storm that felled thousands of trees across its tribal lands.
Trump denied four requests, including Maryland’s appeal for reconsideration after the state was denied a disaster declaration for May flooding that severely impacted the state’s two westernmost counties.
Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, denounced the decision in a statement Thursday, calling the final denial “deeply frustrating.”
“President Trump and his Administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price,” said Moore. The state has been supporting impacted individuals itself, deploying over $450,000 for the first time from its State Disaster Recovery Fund.
Maryland met the conditions necessary to qualify for public assistance, according to a preliminary damage assessment, but Trump, who has the final decision on the declarations, denied the state’s July request. Maryland appealed in August with further data showing the counties experienced $33.7 million in damage, according to the state, more than three times its threshold for federal assistance.
Trump also denied Vermont a major disaster declaration for July 10 floods after the state waited over nine weeks for a decision. The damages far exceed what some of the small towns impacted can afford on their own, said Eric Forand, Vermont’s emergency management director.
“It’s well over the annual budget or two years’ budget (of some towns), to fix those roads,” Forand said.
The other denials included an application from Illinois for individual assistance for three counties impacted in July by severe storms and flooding, and one from Alaska to rebuild a public safety building that burned in a July electrical fire.
Asked why the states were denied, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him.” She said Trump was “ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”
Several states and one tribe still await decisions on their requests.
Not knowing whether public assistance is coming can delay crucial projects, especially for small jurisdictions with tight budgets, and sometimes leaves survivors without any help to secure temporary housing or repair homes now too dangerous to live in.
Before its approval Wednesday, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe was straining to cover the costs of clearing thousands of trees felled across its reservation by a June thunderstorm. As a tribe, it is entitled to apply for assistance independently of the state where it is located.
The tribe had spent about $1.5 million of its own funds so far, said Duane Oothoudt, emergency operations manager for the Leech Lake Police Department.
The tribe was “doing a lot of juggling, using reserve funding to operate and continue paying our contractors,” Oothoudt said just hours before being notified of the disaster declaration, nine weeks after submitting the request.
With federal funding approved for both public and individual assistance, Oothoudt said Thursday his one-man emergency management department would focus on helping survivors first.
“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “People were hurt by the storm.”
___
Associated Press writer Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed.
Alaska
Trump administration approves disaster declaration for Western Alaska storm
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