The MS Eurodam tied up downtown Monday with more than 2,000 passengers aboard, opening a cruise season that will look different from the ones before it.

For the first time, Juneau is operating under a daily passenger cap. The city and the Cruise Lines International Association agreed to hold arrivals to 16,000 people most days and 12,000 on Saturdays, on top of the existing limit of five large ships per day. Peak days in recent seasons brought as many as 21,000 passengers into a city of about 31,200 residents.

City tourism manager Alix Pierce expects roughly 1.69 million passengers between now and the season’s close on October 6, slightly above last year’s record. The point of the cap is not to shrink the season but to flatten it, spreading arrivals more evenly across the week. The first five-ship day falls on May 5.

Resident opinion is split but leans toward the arrangement. A recent survey found 60 percent support for the five-ship daily limit. Critics say the caps count only lower berths, leaving out the third and fourth berths ships routinely sell and the crew, who can number 1,500 on a large vessel.

The rest of Southeast is absorbing the growth. Pierce noted that Ketchikan is running nearly as busy as Juneau this season, close enough that early schedules suggested it might pass the capital, which would have been a first.

The gateway ports are projecting records. Seattle expects 2.1 million passengers across 330 calls and Vancouver about 1.4 million across nearly 360, as Virgin Voyages, MSC and the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection add capacity to the Alaska market. Statewide, cruise passenger volume has more than tripled since 1995.

At the Mendenhall Glacier, staffing at the visitor center has rebounded after recent shortfalls.