Holland America Alaska Cruises: Routes, Glaciers, Denali Cruisetours and Land Tours

Picture a deck rail at the head of a fjord, a hot drink in your hand, and a wall of blue ice ahead while a ranger’s voice carries over the loudspeaker. That is the kind of morning Holland America Line builds its Alaska season around. The company is a major operator of cruises and overland tours in the state, and it pairs ship itineraries with glaciers, Denali and the Yukon.

What do Holland America Alaska cruises offer?

Holland America Alaska cruises offer a ship-based way into the coast’s glaciers, fjords and small harbor towns, backed by a company that also owns hotels and railroads in the state. Holland America Line is an American cruise line with its headquarters in Seattle, Washington, and it operates as a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. That Seattle connection shows in the Alaska program, which is one of its best-developed.

The company is a major operator of cruises and overland tours in Alaska. It owns several hotels across the state, including the Westmark Hotels that operate in Alaska and Yukon, and two railroads.

One of them is the White Pass and Yukon Route between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon, which the line acquired in 2018. In practice this means a cruise can be linked to lodging and rail on land, and the cruisetours described later lean on exactly that network.

Glaciers and Glacier Bay

Glacier viewing is the heart of the product. Holland America Alaska cruises offer privileged access to Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, with onboard National Park Service Rangers and Wildlife Experts. On a day in the bay, the commentary tends to turn the scenery into something you can read: why the ice sits where it does, which birds and animals might be on the shoreline, and what the park protects.

The line also stands behind the promise of ice. If your Alaska cruise does not include a glacier visit, you receive a Future Cruise Credit equal to 15% of your fare. That is the company’s own guarantee, so it is worth knowing it exists when you compare itineraries.

Wildlife and the orca window

Holland America points travelers who want orcas toward the start of the season: book a cruise between early May and early June for the best chance to see orcas at play. It is a chance, never a promise, and the same rail that gives you glaciers may also give you whales, seabirds or nothing at all on a given afternoon.

Wildlife Experts on board in Glacier Bay are there to help you spot and understand what appears. Binoculars and patience do the rest, and the commentary fills the quiet stretches between sightings.

The ships

The smaller pair, MS Volendam (in service since 1999) and MS Zaandam (since 2000), each carry 1,432 passengers. The larger group carries more: MS Zuiderdam (2002), MS Oosterdam (2003) and MS Westerdam (2004) each hold 1,916, and MS Noordam (2006) holds 1,924.

Which routes does Holland America sail?

Holland America’s Alaska cruises run from 7 to 28 days and depart from Seattle, Vancouver, Whittier or San Diego, so the route you pick is largely a choice of starting port and length. A week gives you the core of the coast, while the longest sailings stretch well beyond it.

Departure ports and a new California route

Seattle and Vancouver are the two ports most people think of for the Inside Passage, and Whittier connects the cruise to the Alaska side of the trip. San Diego is the newest addition: for 2028, Holland America offers an 11-day California-to-Alaska itinerary departing from there. It suits travelers who want a longer approach by sea instead of a flight to the usual gateway.

The company also runs sailings well beyond Alaska, with cruises throughout the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Asia and Antarctica, plus an annual world cruise. For an Alaska traveler the point is simply that the same line moves its ships between very different parts of the globe.

Glaciers along the way

Several named glaciers anchor the itineraries. Hubbard Glacier, called the Galloping Glacier for advancing while others recede, is the longest tidewater glacier in North America. College Fjord is home to tidewater and valley glaciers named for Ivy League schools, and it is a spot where you can see eight glaciers at once.

The North and South Sawyer Glaciers sit at the ends of the Tracy Arm and Endicott Fjords and are reachable only by small ship.

Ports of call

In Ketchikan, visitors can shop Creek Street for local art, smoked salmon and souvenirs, and see traditional dances at Saxman Native Village. It is a town that rewards wandering, with the boardwalk street giving way to Native culture a little way out.

Juneau offers Mendenhall Glacier, which is just 12 miles from the town. Sitka brings sportfishing excursions for salmon, the Alaska Raptor Center to see bald eagles, and Sitka National Historical Park. Together the three towns give a mix of shopping, ice, wildlife and history across a single sailing.

What are the land tours?

Holland America’s land tours are cruisetours, which combine a cruise with days on land in the Alaska interior and sometimes the Yukon. They run from 9 to 17 days and depart from Seattle, Vancouver, Anchorage or Fairbanks, so you can begin on the water and finish inland, or the other way around.

Denali stay and park tour

Every Holland America Alaska cruisetour includes a stay of one to three nights at the privately owned Holland America Denali Lodge, plus a complimentary tour of Denali National Park. That makes Denali the fixed point of the program, whichever itinerary you choose.

The lodge is part of the company’s network of hotels in the state, which is why the stay can be built into the package. What you see on the park tour depends on the day, and wildlife and mountain views are chances rather than guarantees.

Dawson City and the Klondike

Some cruisetours go further, with exclusive access to Dawson City, Yukon, and a Klondike Gold Tour. It is a different kind of Alaska trip, one that follows the gold-rush story across the border rather than staying on the coast.

The railroad link helps explain how that works. Holland America owns the White Pass and Yukon Route between Skagway, Alaska and Whitehorse, Yukon, and operates Westmark Hotels in Alaska and Yukon, giving the line a presence on both sides of the border.

Good to know before you go

The details that shape a Holland America trip are the departure port, the length and whether you want to add Denali or the Yukon on land. Glacier Bay and the glacier guarantee apply to the cruise side, while the Denali Lodge stay and park tour belong to the cruisetours. Choosing between a cruise and a cruisetour is mostly a question of how much of the interior you want to see.