Region guide
Alaska cruises
Alaska is the one major cruise region with a hard deadline: the season runs roughly May to September and there is nothing outside it, which changes how far ahead a group has to commit.
Alaska at a glance
Season
May – September
Typical length
7 nights
Departs from
Seattle, Vancouver
Countries
United States, Canada
What sailing Alaska is like
Alaska itineraries come in two shapes and the difference matters more than the ports. A round-trip from Seattle or Vancouver runs up the Inside Passage — sheltered water between the mainland and the coastal islands — and comes back the same way. A one-way sailing between Vancouver and Seward or Whittier crosses the open Gulf of Alaska, reaches further north, and usually gets closer to the big tidewater glaciers.
Round-trips out of Seattle carry a quirk of US law. The Passenger Vessel Services Act requires a foreign port call, which is why almost every Seattle sailing stops briefly at Victoria, British Columbia — often late in the evening for only a few hours. It is a legal requirement rather than a destination choice, and worth knowing before a group builds expectations around that day.
Most Alaska port towns are small. Skagway has around a thousand residents, and Juneau, the state capital, has no road connection to anywhere — you arrive by air or by sea. On a busy July day a single ship can more than double a town’s population, which is why excursions sell out early here in a way they do not in the Caribbean.
Weather is the honest caveat. Southeast Alaska is temperate rainforest: Ketchikan averages well over three metres of rain a year. Days are long, the scenery does not depend on sunshine, and a group that packs for rain has a good week regardless.
Cruise ports in Alaska
Every port we cover in this region, with how ships berth and how far the town is from the gangway — the two facts that decide how a large group spends the day.
Icy Strait Point
A Tlingit-owned cruise destination built around a restored salmon cannery, next to Alaska’s largest Native village.
Juneau
A state capital with no roads in or out, backed by an icefield, with a glacier twenty minutes from the berth and a tramway leaving from the dock.
Ketchikan
The first Alaskan town northbound, built on pilings over the water, with the largest collection of standing totem poles in the world.
Sitka
The former capital of Russian America, facing the open Pacific, with an onion-domed cathedral and a totem park in coastal rainforest.
Skagway
A Klondike gold-rush town of about a thousand people at the head of a fjord, with a narrow-gauge railway climbing to the White Pass summit.
Victoria
A British-flavoured provincial capital on Vancouver Island, called by almost every Seattle round-trip because US law requires a foreign port.
Planning a group trip here
What to weigh up
- A short season — roughly May to September — so a large block needs booking further ahead than a year-round region
- Round-trips from Seattle must call at a Canadian port; one-ways from Vancouver reach further north
- Excursions sell out far earlier than in the Caribbean because the towns are tiny
- Balconies are worth more here than anywhere else: much of the scenery is seen from the ship
Where these sailings start
Who sails Alaska
The three kinds of group we plan for most often, and how a block of cabins works for each of them.
Other cruise regions
Western Mediterranean
Spain, France and Italy in a single week, with a major city almost every morning and the shortest sailing distances in the Mediterranean.
Greek Isles & Aegean
Santorini, Mykonos and the Aegean islands, with Ephesus on the Turkish coast — the most scenic and the most tender-dependent Mediterranean region.
Adriatic
Croatia, Montenegro and the Italian east coast — walled medieval towns, short sailing distances and fewer ships than the Western Mediterranean.
Mexican Riviera
Mexico’s Pacific coast from West Coast homeports — the drive-to region for California, Arizona and the Southwest.
Western Caribbean
Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, reached from Gulf Coast and Florida homeports.
Eastern Caribbean
The Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten and the northern Leewards — walkable towns and short tender-free port days.
Southern Caribbean
The ABC islands, Barbados and the Windwards — the driest, most culturally distinct corner of the Caribbean.
The Bahamas
Short sailings from Florida to Nassau, Freeport and the cruise lines’ private islands — the easiest first cruise for a group.
Take a group to Alaska
Five cabins or more held together as one block, quoted once, with each household booking and paying separately. Tell us roughly when and how many.