Somewhere between Juneau and Skagway, a voice comes over the loudspeaker and half the ship drifts toward one rail with coffee in hand, while the other half is still looking at an empty stretch of water. Passengers choosing a cabin ask which side will get the glaciers, the whales and the forested islands. The short answer is that no single side wins the whole trip, and the route you sail matters more than the number on your cabin door.
Which side of the ship is best for an Alaska cruise?
The Alaska portion of the Inside Passage holds 1,000 islands and thousands of coves and bays, so land, channels and openings in the trees appear on both sides as the ship threads through. A cabin on either side will have its good stretches and its quiet ones.
What changes the picture is what the ship is doing at a given moment. Passing a shoreline, entering a bay and turning near a glacier all put the view on a different side, and it is the ship’s own route that decides it, not a rule of thumb you can apply from home.
The Inside Passage, a route with views on both sides
The Inside Passage is a sheltered sea route that runs for more than 1,000 miles, from Seattle to Skagway, and the Alaska stretch is a maze of islands and narrow channels. That layout is why a ship moving through it keeps showing you something on each side: a forested island close by on one rail, a mountain across the water on the other.
Passengers who like to see the whole thing often treat the cabin as a base and spend the best stretches on an open deck, where they can cross from one rail to the other as the view shifts. Between ports, with islands sliding past, that habit gives you far more than any one side.
Glacier Bay, where the ship does the choosing
Much of Glacier Bay National Park is water, with mountains rising from the shore, dense rain forest and alder thickets, and no roads or trails. Holland America Line cruises have privileged access to the park, with National Park Service rangers and wildlife experts on board. Their commentary is the most useful guide to what is coming up and where to look.
That is a habit, not a promise, and it varies by ship and conditions. If you hear the ranger point out a feature, move toward that rail rather than staying put because of the side you booked.
Ports and where the ship ends up
Alaska cruise stops include Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway, and each one brings its own look as you arrive: a town squeezed between water and mountain, a harbor lined with buildings, a long inlet at the head of the Lynn Canal. Which side of the ship faces the town depends on how the ship is positioned at that port, and that can differ from one call to the next.
For that reason, picking a cabin to face one town is a gamble. A cabin is a place to sleep and keep your jacket.
Does it depend on the direction?
Direction matters in the sense that the route and the sailing pattern decide what appears where, and not every itinerary follows the same path. A roundtrip cruise sees the passage twice, while a one-way trip sees it once, and your view shifts accordingly.
| Cruise line | Itinerary |
|---|---|
| Holland America Line | Alaska cruises |
| Holland America Line | Alaska cruisetours |
| Princess Cruises | Voyage of the Glaciers |
| Princess Cruises | Roundtrip Alaska cruises |
| Princess Cruises | Alaska Cruisetours |
Roundtrip sailings from Vancouver
Princess Cruises offers roundtrip Alaska cruises from Vancouver, which means the ship leaves and returns to the same port. On a loop like this, the ship goes up through the passage and comes back, so the places that were on one side of the ship on the way out can appear on the other side on the way home.
That is a good reason not to agonize over the cabin. A traveler on a roundtrip often gets a second look at scenery that was only half seen the first time, and the open deck gives a fresh angle at each pass. Princess also runs a Voyage of the Glaciers itinerary, built around glacier viewing, and the Star Princess sails in Alaska.
One-way cruises and cruisetours
Holland America cruises run from Seattle, Vancouver, Whittier or San Diego, and the cruisetours begin or end in Anchorage or Fairbanks as well. On these trips the ship is only part of the journey, and the land portion adds a different kind of scenery. Every Holland America cruisetour includes a stay at the Holland America Denali Lodge and a complimentary tour of Denali National Park.
On a one-way sailing you see the coast once, so there is no second pass to make up for a missed view. If seeing everything matters, that favors spending the scenic stretches out on deck rather than counting on a cabin side.
A new route from San Diego
New for 2028, Holland America offers an 11-day California-to-Alaska itinerary from San Diego. It starts with a long run up the coast before reaching Alaskan waters, and as with any other route, the ship’s course through the islands decides which rail gets which view. A cabin choice made on that detail alone is guesswork.
What about a balcony at all?
A balcony gives you a private spot to watch the water, and many Alaska passengers like having one, but it is a comfort rather than a requirement. The scenery is not reserved for balcony cabins, since open decks and lounges look out over the same water. What a balcony really changes is how you watch: in your own time, with a cup of something warm, without finding a space at a crowded rail.
What a balcony gives you
The main gain is privacy and ease. You can step out when the ship slows for a bay or a wildlife sighting, watch for a while and go back inside without losing your place. In a region where much of the water is bordered by mountains and rain forest, there is plenty to look at from a chair.
It also suits people who like to watch in the early morning or late evening, or who prefer not to share a rail with a crowd. The trade-off is that a balcony faces only one side, so you will still want to move to a deck when the view is on the other.
What you can do without one
In Glacier Bay, the draw is the park itself, and the ranger commentary on board Holland America ships helps you understand what you are looking at. Those talks and the open decks are available to everyone. For travelers who would rather skip the extra cost of a balcony, a lower-priced cabin plus time on deck is a perfectly workable plan.
Wildlife is a chance, not a promise, on any cabin type. Designated bear viewing exists at Anan Creek near Wrangell and at Pack Creek Bear Sanctuary on Admiralty Island near Juneau, but those are places you visit, not views from your cabin.
Seeing Glacier Bay another way
If the glaciers are the heart of your trip, there are other ways into the bay. Each summer the Glacier Bay Lodge operates a daily tour boat through the bay, guided by a Park Ranger Naturalist. Visitors can also kayak under their own power, and private vessels such as sailboats and skiffs are allowed in the bay.
A camper drop-off service also takes campers and their kayaks to two locations in the bay. These are different experiences from a cruise ship, closer to the water and slower, and they show how much of the park is reached by water rather than by road.
Good to know before you go
Holland America guarantees a glacier visit on its Alaska cruises: if one is not included, passengers receive a Future Cruise Credit equal to 15% of the fare. That gives glacier viewing a safety net, which is one more reason to think about the route and the open decks before the cabin side. Whichever cabin you pick, plan to spend the best scenic stretches outdoors, where you can follow the ship’s course and the rangers’ commentary.
Sources
- Princess Cruises, Alaska cruise tips (https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises/alaska-cruise-tips), checked October 11, 2026
- Holland America Line, Alaska cruises (https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikipedia, Inside Passage (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inside_Passage), checked October 11, 2026
- National Park Service, Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, plan your visit: cruising (https://www.nps.gov/glba/planyourvisit/cruising.htm), checked October 11, 2026
To plan your stay
- Alaska Cruise in May: Port Weather, Whales and Glaciers, and the Cruise Lines
- Alaska Cruise Ports: Ketchikan, Skagway, Sitka, Icy Strait Point and Where Cruises Start
- How Much Does an Alaska Cruise Cost?: Cruise Lengths, What's Included and Extras
- Alaska Cruise in June: Weather, Ports, Wildlife and Glaciers