At the rail of a ship slipping out of Prince William Sound, a traveler starts to wonder about the other end of the trip: the suitcase, the flight, the way back to the car left in another city. That is the question a one-way cruise raises. It means you board in one place and step off in another, usually with Alaska’s interior or its southern ports on the line between the two.
What is a one-way Alaska cruise?
A one-way Alaska cruise is a voyage that begins in one port and ends in a different one, instead of returning to where you started. The ship carries you along the coast in a single direction, and the route often ends at a town with road and rail links inland. Round-trip sailings, by contrast, loop back to the departure city.
Princess Cruises states the split plainly: it offers round-trip Alaska cruises from San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Vancouver, and one-way cruises from the Whittier (Anchorage) cruise port. Holland America Line sails Alaska cruises that range from 7 to 28 days and depart from Seattle, Vancouver, Whittier or San Diego. The mix of ports on that list is what makes a one-way trip possible, since you can start at one and finish at another.
The cruisetour variation
Some travelers add a land portion and call the whole thing a cruisetour. Holland America’s Alaska cruisetours range from 9 to 17 days and depart from Seattle, Vancouver, Anchorage or Fairbanks. Every one of them includes a stay of one to three nights at the privately owned Holland America Denali Lodge, plus a complimentary tour of Denali National Park.
The shape of the trip is simple: sea on one side, the interior on the other. You watch the coast from the deck, then trade the ship for a lodge near the mountain. Because the start and end points differ, the cruisetour is naturally one-way, and the land days replace the return voyage.
Lodges that go with the trip
Princess runs its own wilderness lodges for the land side of a one-way trip. Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is one mile from the entrance to Denali National Park. Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge is 40 miles from Mt. McKinley and two hours south of the park entrance.
Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge sits on the edge of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the United States. Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge was named one of the Top 12 Resorts in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest by Condé Nast Traveler readers. Each gives the journey a different landscape to end in, from the Denali area to the Kenai Peninsula.
A glacier on the itinerary
Glaciers are the heart of the scenery, and Holland America backs that with a promise: if an Alaska cruise does not include a glacier visit, you receive a Future Cruise Credit equal to 15% of your fare. Its Alaska cruises also offer privileged access to Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve, with National Park Service Rangers and Wildlife Experts on board.
Princess has been voted Best Cruise Line in Alaska 22 times by the readers of Travel Weekly. A one-way route lets you see the coast and a glacier without doubling back over water you have already crossed.
Where do northbound and southbound cruises start and end?
Northbound cruises generally begin in a southern port such as Vancouver or Seattle and finish in Alaska, while southbound cruises run the same way in reverse. The Alaska end is typically Whittier, which serves the Anchorage area, or Seward. Both are named in the cruise lines’ own port lists and both connect to the city by road or rail.
Whittier
Whittier sits at the head of the Passage Canal, about 58 miles southeast of Anchorage. It is nicknamed The Town Under One Roof because almost all of its residents live in the Begich Towers Condominium, and it is one of the wettest places in the state, with an average of 197.31 inches of precipitation a year. A rainy gray morning on the dock is, in other words, quite ordinary here.
Whittier is also a port for the Alaska Marine Highway, and the city operates a seaplane dock. The Glacier Discovery Train runs from Anchorage to Girdwood, Whittier, Portage, Spencer and Grandview. At Whittier the train passes through a mountain tunnel and connects to a glacier and wildlife cruise in Prince William Sound.
Seward
Seward is a pivotal port for cruises in Alaska, with many ships starting or ending their journeys there. Passengers connect to Anchorage’s Ted Stevens International Airport by the Alaska Railroad or the Seward Highway. The railroad owns about 328 acres in the town, mostly used for train operations and including the cruise ship terminal, docks and uplands.
The passenger dock has two 736-foot dock faces, each with 10 fenders, 12 mooring bollards and 2 mooring dolphins. The freight dock next to it is 620 by 320 feet, reached on the west side. Over 200,000 people and all types of cargo pass through the railroad facilities each year, so the waterfront is a working place as much as a cruise terminal. The City of Seward received a $45.7 million EPA grant to implement shore power at the Port of Seward.
Other starting points
Holland America adds San Diego to its list of departure ports, and for 2028 it offers an 11-day California-to-Alaska itinerary from there. Princess lists San Francisco and Los Angeles for its round-trip sailings. These southern ports are where a southbound trip would finish or a northbound one would begin when the route is not a loop.
| Line | Departure ports |
|---|---|
| Princess (round-trip) | San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver |
| Princess (one-way) | Whittier (Anchorage) |
| Holland America cruises | Seattle, Vancouver, Whittier, San Diego |
| Holland America cruisetours | Seattle, Vancouver, Anchorage, Fairbanks |
How do you get home?
From Whittier or Seward, you reach Anchorage by rail or road, and Anchorage’s Ted Stevens International Airport is the link named for flights onward. Seward’s connection to the airport uses either the Alaska Railroad or the Seward Highway. For Whittier, the Glacier Discovery Train and the road both lead back toward the Anchorage area.
The Coastal Classic from Seward
The Coastal Classic Train travels from Seward through Girdwood to Anchorage on the same line it runs in the other direction. National Geographic Traveler ranked it among its Top Ten Train Rides in North America. It winds along Turnagain Arm, where the Chugach Range mountains plunge directly to the sea.
After a brief stop in Girdwood, the train enters backcountry wilderness, considered by many to be the most scenic stretch of the entire Railbelt. It is a way to see the landscape you sailed past from the water, now from a window.
The Glacier Discovery Train from Whittier
The Glacier Discovery Train follows much of the same route as the Coastal Classic, with an added turn off the main line to Whittier and a turnaround point of Grandview. It stops briefly at the resort town of Girdwood. Some of its stops are in areas accessible only by train, offering day trip options for all ages and energy levels.
At Portage, passengers may disembark to visit the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, home to black and brown bears, moose, caribou, wood bison and more. A stop like that turns the transfer to the city into part of the trip rather than a chore at its end.
By road or by air
The Seward Highway is the road link between Seward and Anchorage, and Whittier lies about 58 miles southeast of the city. Whittier also has a seaplane dock operated by the city, which is part of how people reach the area by air. For the flight home, you finish at the Anchorage airport named in the Seward port facts.
On a cruisetour, the question mostly answers itself. Holland America’s cruisetours depart from Seattle, Vancouver, Anchorage or Fairbanks, so the trip is built to end in a city with its own airport, after the Denali Lodge stay and the park tour.
Good to know before you go
Whittier’s wet climate is worth planning for when you step off the ship, since rain is part of the town’s character and a layer you can pull on is simply sensible there. The land side of a one-way trip can run through Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias or the Kenai Peninsula depending on the lodge, so it helps to decide early which landscape you want at the end of the voyage. Holland America’s glacier guarantee and the Glacier Bay ranger program are part of the cruise itself, so there is nothing extra to arrange for them.
Sources
- Princess Cruises, Alaska cruises (https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises), checked October 11, 2026
- Holland America Line, Alaska cruises (https://www.hollandamerica.com/en/us/cruise-destinations/alaska-cruises), checked October 11, 2026
- Seward, cruise ship terminal (https://www.seward.com/maritime/dock-facilities/seward-cruise-ship-terminal/), checked October 11, 2026
- Wikipedia, Whittier, Alaska (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittier,_Alaska), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Glacier Discovery (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/our-trains/glacier-discovery), checked October 11, 2026
- Alaska Railroad, Coastal Classic (https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/our-trains/coastal-classic), 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