A park ranger’s voice comes over the ship’s speakers as the glacier fronts of Glacier Bay slide into view, and passengers drift out to the rail with coffee in hand. That moment is the heart of a Princess sailing in Alaska. The line runs round-trip cruises from four West Coast ports, one-way voyages out of Whittier near Anchorage, and cruisetours that add a glass-domed train and five wilderness lodges to the week at sea.
What do Princess Alaska cruises offer?
Princess offers glacier-focused sailings with a strong tradition behind them: Travel Weekly readers have voted it Best Cruise Line in Alaska 22 times. The ships spend the week moving between ice, forest towns and old gold-rush and fishing harbors, and the line also lets you extend the trip over land into the Interior. What follows is the experience on board and ashore, from the ice to the harbor towns.
Glaciers and the park rangers on board
Princess is among the few cruise lines authorized to enter Glacier Bay National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Park rangers come aboard to provide commentary, so the slow passage past the ice comes with explanations of how the bay opened up, what lives along its shores and why the glaciers look the way they do.
Beyond Glacier Bay, the Voyage of the Glaciers cruise also includes Hubbard Glacier and College Fjord. Days like these are about standing on deck, in layers, watching blue ice and rock walls pass. Wildlife can appear along the way, such as whales, seabirds or sea otters, but these are chances and never promises.
Ketchikan and its totem poles
Ketchikan is built along the water, with houses on stilts and boardwalk streets climbing a steep, wet hillside. Visitors can see a state historical park with ancient totem poles that teach about Alaskan culture. The poles carry the crests and stories of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian peoples of this coast, and they reward a slow look at the carving and the figures stacked on each pole.
The town itself is easy to wander on foot between the creek, the shops and the working harbor. Rain is part of the Southeast Alaska picture, so a waterproof jacket suits the day better than an umbrella.
Haines and the eagle gathering
In Haines, the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve sees thousands of bald eagles gather along the riverbanks each fall. It is a seasonal gathering, so what you may see depends on when the ship calls. Haines is a small, quiet town with a long waterfront and mountains close behind it, a different mood from the busier ports.
Princess lists Haines among the ports it serves, alongside Icy Strait Point and Valdez. Icy Strait Point is a former cannery site tied to Tlingit communities in the area, and Valdez sits in a fjord ringed by mountains, so each call gives a distinct taste of coastal Alaska.
Skagway and Juneau
Skagway keeps its gold-rush look, with wooden storefronts and false fronts along the main street, a reminder of the Klondike stampede that gave the town its start. Juneau is the state capital, reached only by sea or air, with mountains rising straight behind the downtown streets and glacier country close by.
These two towns, along with Ketchikan, are stops on the Voyage of the Glaciers route. Each rewards a few hours on foot with a museum, a historic building or a bakery, and each looks different depending on whether the clouds have lifted off the peaks.
Which routes does Princess sail?
Princess sails round-trip Alaska cruises from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver, and one-way cruises from the Whittier (Anchorage) cruise port. That gives travelers a choice between starting and ending at the same West Coast city or finishing the trip in Alaska itself, often with land time added.
| Departure port | Type of cruise |
|---|---|
| San Francisco | Round-trip |
| Los Angeles | Round-trip |
| Seattle | Round-trip |
| Vancouver | Round-trip |
| Whittier (Anchorage) | One-way |
The Voyage of the Glaciers
The signature itinerary is the 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers, which travels between Anchorage (Whittier) and Vancouver, B.C. Princess also describes the itinerary as running seven days or longer. Along the way it stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, and it includes Glacier Bay National Park, Hubbard Glacier and College Fjord.
Because it is one-way, it can be sailed in either sense of the word: as a cruise that ends in Alaska and feeds into a land trip, or as the sea half of a longer journey. The mix of three harbor towns and three glacier days gives it a balance of walking and watching.
Round-trip sailings from the West Coast
The round-trip cruises begin and end at the same port, which suits travelers who prefer to drive or fly to a single city and back. Vancouver is the one Princess names specifically for round-trip Alaska sailings in its cruise tips, and Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles are also listed as round-trip ports.
These itineraries reach Alaska ports such as Juneau, Ketchikan and Skagway, which Princess lists among its stops. The wider list of ports Princess serves in the state also includes Valdez, Icy Strait Point, Haines and College Fjord, so the exact mix depends on the sailing you pick.
Ships and ports of call
The Star Princess sails in Alaska. Princess does not run one single route for every ship, and the ports on each itinerary can differ, which is why the departure city and the list of calls are worth reading together before you choose.
Haines, with its eagle preserve, and Ketchikan, with its totem park, give shore days a theme, while Skagway and Juneau offer the mountain-backed streets and history. College Fjord and Hubbard Glacier are the days when the ship itself is the destination and the view from the deck replaces the excursion.
What are the Princess land tours and lodges?
Princess land tours are cruisetours that join a cruise to a stay inland, with rail travel and nights at Princess-owned wilderness lodges. The company has five private wilderness lodges as part of its Alaska cruisetours, and each one sits near a major landscape: Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias, the Kenai Peninsula and the Fairbanks area.
A cruisetour combines the 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise with an overland experience that includes stays at the lodges and travel on a glass-domed wilderness train. It includes three or more nights on land, at lodges in Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula, Copper River and two in the Denali area. Princess’s exclusive Direct-to-the-Wilderness rail service takes guests from the ship directly to a Denali-area lodge.
| Cruisetour | Length (nights) | Land highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Denali Explorer | 10 to 15 | Overnight in Denali, rail travel, Denali Natural History Tour |
| Denali Escorted | 12 to 17 | Overnight in Denali, rail travel, Tundra Wilderness Tour |
| Denali Essentials | 10 to 12 | Overnight in Denali, rail travel in Alaska |
The Denali-area lodges
Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is located 1 mile from the entrance of Denali National Park and overlooks the Nenana River. It puts you next to the park’s gateway, which is handy for the park tours that the cruisetours include.
Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge is within Denali State Park near the Chulitna River and offers views of Denali. It is 40 miles from Mt. McKinley and two hours south of the entrance to Denali National Park. Whether the mountain shows itself depends on the clouds, so a view is a chance, never a certainty.
Copper River, Kenai and Fairbanks
Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge sits on the edge of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which is the largest national park in the United States. It gives the cruisetour a stop in a very different Alaska from the coastal towns, with big mountains and river country.
Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge was named one of the Top 12 Resorts in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest by Condé Nast Traveler readers. The cruisetours also include a night at a Princess lodge in Fairbanks, which rounds out the five properties.
Three Denali cruisetours compared
All three Denali cruisetours include the Voyage of the Glaciers cruise, an overnight in Denali and rail travel. The Explorer adds the Denali Natural History Tour in Denali National Park, while the Escorted version adds the Tundra Wilderness Tour. The Essentials keeps to the cruise, the overnight in Denali and the train.
The main difference is how much time you want on land. The Essentials is the shortest of the three, and the Escorted is the longest, with the Explorer in between.
Good to know before you go
For Alaska cruisetours, pre-paid meal packages are available for purchase from Princess, which can simplify the land portion when the lodges are far from other places to eat. Glacier Bay is a national park with rangers on board, and the glacier days are the ones to keep your layers and camera ready. Haines and its eagles are tied to the fall season, so a ship’s call there depends on when you sail.
Sources
- Princess Cruises, Alaska cruises (https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises), checked October 11, 2026
- Princess Cruises, Alaska cruise tips (https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises/alaska-cruise-tips), checked October 11, 2026
- Princess Cruises, Alaska wilderness lodges (https://www.princess.com/en-us/lodges), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikipedia, Princess Cruises (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Cruises), 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