Norwegian Cruise Line has decided to give up on bringing its ships to Alaska even in late September and early October, putting an end to any chance of a large cruise ship season in the state.

The other major cruises serving Alaska — Holland America, Carnival, Princess, Disney and Royal Caribbean — had already canceled all their summer 2020 sailings to Alaska. Norwegian had held off canceling the end of its season before becoming the last operator to admit defeat to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Your safety is our #1 priority — both on and off our ships,” the cruise line said in its June 30 announcement, attributing the cancellations to “the current global environment.”

Before the new coronavirus forced the shutdown of ports, drove people to shelter at home to avoid infections and decimated tourist travel worldwide, Alaska had anticipated about 1.4 million cruise ship visitors this summer.

Though Haines had expected just eight visits by large cruise ships — a drop from last year after Holland America took the community off its itineraries — tour operators in town will feel the lost summer the same as Skagway, which had been scheduled to receive about 1 million cruise ship travelers.

Haines has averaged about 120,000 visitors each summer the past few years, with about one-third coming here aboard the Haines-Skagway Fast Ferry, said Steven Auch, tourism director for the Haines Borough. Most of the Fast Ferry riders were passengers off the large cruise ships that fill Skagway’s harbor all summer. The largest can accommodate 5,000 passengers.

The passengers would book Haines tours, such as rafting trips, and could board the private fast ferry in Skagway, come to Haines for their adventure, and make it back to Skagway in time for the cruise ship’s departure.

“There are quite a few companies in town that depend on tourists from Skagway,” Auch said Tuesday. He said about 85% of passengers who came to Haines aboard the fast ferry, which is not running this year, had booked tours here as part of a package.

Of the rest of the 120,000 past summer guests in Haines, about one-third arrived aboard cruise ships and one-third arrived by state ferry, drove the highway or flew into town, Auch said.

Still unknown is whether any smaller ships will come to Southeast Alaska this summer. All have canceled except for UnCruise Adventures, Auch said. The company has not announced any change to its plans to start sailing Aug. 1. Haines is not on the itinerary for the company’s small ships, which can accommodate fewer than 100 passengers.

Haines was supposed to be a port call for American Cruise Lines, which had planned to run a 175-passenger ship in Southeast. But the company announced Tuesday that it was canceling all sailings this year, Auch said.

Not that it mattered much, since the Haines Borough Assembly decided last month to ban even the smaller ships until further notice. Skagway and Wrangell have made similar decisions to protect their communities from the risk of infected travelers.

One piece of good news, Auch said, is that Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line have teamed up to hire a panel of high-profile health advisers to help the companies figure out how to safely return to operations. And they plan to share with other cruise lines whatever they come up with.

The two cruise companies are splitting the costs for the “brain trust” of health experts, as Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain described the team on a CNBC news program July 7.

The panel began meeting in June and will present their recommendations by August.

“We’re looking to establish protocols that protect the health of our guests and crew and do so without undermining what makes the cruising so special,” Fain said on CNBC. “It will be different.”