Celebrity Cruises sailing away from Seattle

Celebrity Cruises, one of the major cruise lines sailing from Seattle on Alaska cruises, is jumping ports. Next year its ship Mercury will sail out of Vancouver, B.C., instead of Seattle on seven-night Alaska cruises.

The upscale cruise line said the shift to Vancouver will give passengers more time in some Alaska ports and a better arrival time for Hubbard Glacier viewing. Its ship Mercury had been sailing once a week, on Fridays, from Seattle to Alaska on seven-night cruises. In Vancouver, it will join two other Celebrity ships, the Infinity and Summit, that already homeport there for Alaska cruises.

Celebrity, which announced the change Thursday, will give a $100 per stateroom onboard credit to those who already have made deposits for next year on Mercury cruises from Seattle. For passengers who have already made their own air-travel arrangements and will need to change flights (and incur fees), the cruise line will reimburse up to $100 per person. For passengers who booked their flights through Celebrity, the cruise company will handle the airline changes.

From Seattle, four other major cruise lines sail out of Seattle on Alaska cruises: Royal Caribbean (a sister company of Celebrity); Holland America; Princess and Norwegian.

Kristin Jackson: kjackson@seattletimes.com