Yes, there's gold in Alaska, and to get it, they're coming from as far away as Europe to cash in. Europe is starting to cool as Americans are again preferring to vacation a little closer to home (perceived as safer) and the European economies are cooling. At the same time Carnival Corp keeps reporting that Alaska continues to be one of their highest yielding markets. That's what globalization is about, and today we saw a perfect example when Holland America confirmed that next summer (2017) they will withdraw the 82,000-ton Oosterdam from Europe and move it to Alaska.
The complete story appeared in the September 7 edition of Cruise News Daily.