PETERSBURG, ALASKA It will be a shortened 2008 cruise season for one of the more unusual ships that visits Southeast Alaska. The 360-foot Empress of the North paddlewheel cruise ship is cancelling seven Southeast Alaska sailings in August and September. Majestic America Line, the company that owns the Empress, is also cancelling Columbia and Snake River sailings on the Empress and Mississippi River sailings on another of its ships, the American Queen.