Seward Cruise Port: Ships, the Train and Highway to Anchorage, and What to Do Before You Leave

On embarkation or disembarkation morning in Seward, the mountains stand right behind the waterfront and the Alaska Railroad’s cars wait close to the pier. Suitcases roll along the platform, and passengers look up at peaks that fall almost straight into Resurrection Bay. Seward is a cruise port where voyages begin and end, and the road and rail links to Anchorage are what most travelers plan around.

How do cruise ships use Seward?

Seward works mainly as a turnaround port, a place where many ships start or end their Alaska journeys rather than simply passing through. From here, passengers connect to Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage by the Alaska Railroad or by the Seward Highway. That role shapes everything about the waterfront, which is built around moving people and cargo between ship, rail and road.

The setting helps explain why. Seward sits on Resurrection Bay on Alaska’s southern coast, and the town calls itself the place where “Alaska Starts Here.” For a traveler on the last morning of a voyage, or the first, the port feels like a small town that happens to host a very large transfer.

A railroad waterfront

Much of the port belongs to the Alaska Railroad, which owns about 328 acres in Seward. The land is mostly used for train operations, and it includes the cruise ship terminal, the docks and the uplands behind them. Seward is also the southern terminus of the railroad, so the tracks end right where the ships begin.

That arrangement explains the feel of the place. The terminal is not a separate resort-style complex but part of a working transportation yard, where more than 200,000 people and every kind of cargo pass through the railroad facilities each year. Expect the atmosphere of a busy rail and freight town, with mountains as the backdrop.

The passenger and freight docks

The passenger dock has two faces, and the freight dock sits beside it as a separate working facility. The freight dock is reached on its west side. The measurements below give a sense of the scale of the waterfront.

Shore power for the port

The City of Seward has received a $45.7 million EPA grant to implement shore power at the Port of Seward. Shore power lets a vessel plug into electricity from land instead of running its own engines while it is in port. For a town surrounded by water and mountains, it is a project aimed at keeping the air around the bay cleaner.

As a traveler you will not need to do anything about it. It is simply part of how this port is changing, and a reason the waterfront may look different from one cruise season to the next.

How do you get from Seward to Anchorage?

You travel between Seward and Anchorage by the Alaska Railroad’s Coastal Classic train or by road on the Seward Highway. Seward is easily accessible from Anchorage, and the two routes link the cruise port to the city and its airport. They answer different moods: one lets you watch the landscape from a window, the other lets you stop and set your own pace.

The Coastal Classic train

The Coastal Classic runs from Anchorage through Girdwood to Seward, and the railroad operates it as a seasonal passenger service. National Geographic Traveler ranked it among its Top Ten Train Rides in North America. The train arrives in Seward in the late morning, which suits a day that continues with sightseeing in town.

Out of Anchorage, the line winds along Turnagain Arm, where the Chugach Range mountains plunge directly to the sea. The train makes a brief stop in Girdwood. After that it enters backcountry wilderness, which many consider the most scenic stretch of the entire Railbelt. Keep a camera close and sit where you can see out both sides.

The Seward Highway

The road route follows the Seward Highway, the same corridor cruise passengers use to reach Ted Stevens International Airport. It covers roughly the length given in the table, and it ends at the waterfront where the ships and trains meet. Travelers who prefer to keep their schedule flexible often like having the road as an option.

On the road you see the same country the train crosses, but from a different angle and with the freedom to pause where the landscape draws you in. If you arrive in Seward by highway, you are already in the town where Alaska is said to start, with the harbor and the bay just ahead.

What can you do before you leave?

Before you leave Seward you can visit the Alaska SeaLife Center, walk the historic downtown and harbor, and look toward Kenai Fjords National Park. The town packs a surprising amount into a small area, and everything below sits around the same bay. Many lodging places, restaurants and shops here are open only during the summer tourist season, generally from mid-May through mid-September, so what you find depends on the time of year.

The Alaska SeaLife Center

The Alaska SeaLife Center, at 301 Railway Avenue, is the state’s only public aquarium and a family-friendly attraction. It is a research and rescue facility as well as a place to visit, run by a nonprofit whose legal name is the Seward Association for the Advancement of Marine Science. Inside, you can learn about the marine life of the waters you have been sailing or are about to sail.

The center offers special experiences, including a Marine Mammal Encounter, an Octopus Encounter and a Puffin Encounter. There is a Discovery Gift Shop and The Porthole Cafe on site. Tickets can be purchased, and donations or memberships arranged, through the center’s website.

Downtown, murals and the boat harbor

Seward’s historic downtown and picturesque boat harbor are home to one of the largest public mural collections. Walking the streets, you pass paintings on building walls, and the harbor beside them fills the view with masts and mountains. It is a pleasant way to spend a few unhurried hours between the ship and the train.

Seward also has a reputation as one of Alaska’s premier sportfishing destinations, and the harbor is where that reputation lives. Even if you do not fish, watching the boats and the people around them tells you a lot about the town. Mile 0 of the Iditarod Trail is marked on the shoreline at the southern end of Seward, a good spot for a photograph.

Kenai Fjords National Park and the surrounding country

Seward borders Kenai Fjords National Park, which was established in 1980 to protect the glaciers of the Harding Icefield. The park is listed as a highlight of Seward for wildlife viewing and whale watching, and sightings are chances rather than promises. The town is the gateway to this country, and its glacier-shaped landscape sits between mountains and the ocean.

The land around Seward is the ancestral homeland of the Alutiiq, or Sugpiaq, people, a fact worth keeping in mind as you look at the bay. The wider Kenai Peninsula also has many public-use cabins and wilderness lodging options, for travelers who want to stay longer after the cruise.

Good to know before you go

Seward is a small town with a short main season, so what is open depends on the time of year. The Coastal Classic is a seasonal service, and many lodgings, restaurants and shops follow the summer calendar. Plan your hours in town around your ship or train, and remember that the harbor and the bay are always there to walk beside, whatever else is closed.