Even with a season that solely runs from April by October, Alaska attracts roughly 40 large cruise ships and dozens of smaller cruise vessels annually, making it one of the vital common cruise locations on the planet after the Caribbean and Europe. The very best Alaska cruises vary from off-the-beaten-path voyages on vessels carrying fewer than 100 passengers to weeklong jaunts by the Inside Passage aboard megaships that maintain 1000’s.
It may be exhausting to determine which cruise ship will ship your thought of a “bucket checklist” expertise within the Final Frontier. So much comes all the way down to your journey fashion, preferences and funds.
Some vacationers demand luxurious Alaska cruises, whereas others do not thoughts going much less fancy if it means shut encounters with bears and different creatures within the wilderness. Some search for romance, and others need to introduce the youngsters or grandkids to glaciers and eagles, gold panning and sled canines.
The excellent news is there is a ship in Alaska for you, regardless of your style or fashion. This is a newbies information to the perfect Alaska cruises that can assist you slim down your decisions.
Greatest for megaresort followers: Anthem of the Seas
Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas. SHUTTERSTOCK
Royal Caribbean is understood for its floating megaresorts that carry 1000’s and are large on facilities, glitz and a certain quantity of glamour (assume: flashy casinos, high-tech exhibits and lavish spas). Eating and consuming venues quantity within the dozens, whereas amusement park options thrill the youngsters and adrenaline-seekers.
The road all the time stations one or two Quantum Class ships in Alaska for the season. On 4,180-passenger Anthem of the Seas, you possibly can order a drink from a robotic bartender, strive simulated skydiving or browsing experiences, and take a trip in a glass capsule that travels excessive above your ship on a mechanical arm — a strange technique to see the Alaska surroundings. Adults can linger within the glass-walled Solarium, stress-free within the indoor swimming pools and whirlpools, whereas their youngsters zoom across the SeaPlex in bumper vehicles.
Anthem of the Seas sails round-trip from Seattle on seven-night cruises, however the actual itinerary varies by week. The ship cruises Endicott Arm for scenic views of Dawes Glacier and usually visits two Alaska ports and Victoria, British Columbia.
Associated: A newbies information to selecting a cruise line
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Greatest for land and sea adventures: Nieuw Amsterdam
Holland America Line has supplied Alaska cruises for 75 years and is clearly a market chief. The road tops the checklist by way of cruises, in addition to cruisetours, which mix time crusing with in a single day stays on land. The corporate operates its personal lodges, rail vehicles and motorcoaches for exploration of Alaska’s inside and past.
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The road will ship six ships to Alaska in 2026, with a variety of stand-alone cruises and cruisetours that mix a cruise with visits to such inside locations as Denali Nationwide Park & Protect, Fairbanks and Anchorage. Nevertheless it’s 2,106-passenger Nieuw Amsterdam that gives among the most attention-grabbing Alaska cruisetour itineraries in 2026.
The ship provides nine- to 14-night cruisetours that head into the Canadian Yukon, following the route of the Klondike gold rush from Alaska to northwestern Canada. You may sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, to Skagway, Alaska, with a cease in Tracy Arm or Glacier Bay Nationwide Park & Protect, then journey to Whitehorse and Dawson Metropolis within the Yukon earlier than persevering with on to Fairbanks (the gateway to Arctic Alaska), Denali Nationwide Park (house to North America’s largest peak) and Anchorage.
On board, get pleasure from reside music at Billboard Onboard and B.B. King’s Blues Membership, play a recreation of pickleball on the outer deck or get pleasure from nice eating at quite a few eating places serving sushi and Asian delicacies, steak, seafood, Italian fare and Dutch treats.
Greatest for households: Disney Surprise
Goofy on Disney Surprise in Alaska. SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUY
Should you’re touring with younger youngsters in Alaska and need an activity- and entertainment-packed expertise, make a beeline for Disney Cruise Line and its Alaska-based Disney Surprise. The ship has an intensive kids’s program, high-quality leisure and actions corresponding to waterslides and play areas.
Cabins are designed with households in thoughts and embrace break up loos (one with a bathroom and a sink, the opposite with a shower-tub combo and a sink), in addition to pullout couch beds and bunks to sleep 4 in a cabin. Disney-themed eating places and attentive waitstaff take the stress out of household mealtimes.
Bonus: Everybody’s favourite Disney characters shall be on board for exhibits and meet-and-greets. Goofy may even make an look as you admire hovering eagles, blue icebergs and glaciers.
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The ship may not have all of the wild points of interest of its Alaska counterpart Anthem of the Seas, nevertheless it nonetheless provides youngsters golf equipment, outside films, an indoor adults-only solarium, a rock-climbing wall, themed events and a number of eating venues, making it an incredible worth for the value.
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Should you’re on the lookout for different surefire methods to save lots of, inside and ocean-view cabins are sometimes less expensive than balcony cabins on Alaska cruises. These non-public verandas are extremely fascinating, with everybody searching for views of the wilderness, snowcapped peaks and glaciers. As these reserves get low, the costs are inclined to get increased.
Cut price seekers ought to both ebook early for these lodging or select inside, exterior or assure cabins (the place you do not decide your room location) to save lots of extra.
Greatest for Alaskan journey: Wilderness Legacy
Kayaking in Alaska. UNCRUISE ADVENTURES
If journey is what you crave on an Alaska cruise, you need to hunt down the small ships of UnCruise Adventures. All the road’s itineraries supply an lively part, however its “Wild, Woolly and Wow” itinerary claims to be “probably the most lively backcountry itinerary” of UnCruise’s 2026 Alaska cruises.
A day aboard 86-passenger Wilderness Legacy may begin out with a hike by a forest to see waterfalls, adopted by a late-day kayak journey in Thomas Bay. Or, you may get pleasure from a little bit of scenic cruising by LeConte Glacier (the place the large ships do not go) by small boat and even stand-up paddleboard. Large ships can solely supply deckside viewing of the marvels of Glacier Bay, however UnCruise Adventures sends its ships to the not often visited outback.
Mountain biking, whale watching and glacier climbing are all in your cruise agenda. Simply if you’re prepared for a relaxation, guided skiff excursions will take friends looking for Alaskan wildlife in distant bays and secret coves.
The seven-night itinerary sails round-trip from Juneau, Alaska.
Greatest for multigenerational teams: Star Princess
Alaska has turn out to be a sizzling spot for multigenerational household journey, with grandparents taking their youngsters and grandkids of all ages on a memory-making vacation. Princess Cruises is a line that gives one thing for everybody, and its soon-to-be Alaska-based Star Princess is our best choice for household reunion teams.
The brand-new Star Princess, which simply debuted earlier this month, will sail round-trip to Alaska from Seattle — a handy U.S. house port for households to succeed in by airplane or automobile — all through the summer season of 2026. Its “North to Alaska” program will delight youngsters with totem pole adorning, sled canine puppies within the ship’s Piazza and northern lights viewing in an on-ship planetarium. Dad and mom and grandparents will recognize native seafood on restaurant menus and onboard cultural programming with Alaska residents.
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Whereas the youngsters get pleasure from Star Princess’ spacious kids’s and youths golf equipment, the adults may linger over a craft cocktail or get pleasure from a therapeutic massage within the onboard spa. The household can come collectively for meals in quite a lot of informal and nice eating eating places and revel in unique manufacturing exhibits because the ship sails between ports.
With room for 4,300 passengers, Star Princess would be the largest Princess cruise ship ever to sail Alaska.
Greatest for luxurious lovers: Seabourn Encore
Should you envision sipping Champagne as you watch a glacier thunderously calve into the ocean, think about reserving an all-inclusive luxurious cruise on a Seabourn ship.
Seabourn Encore, which may accommodate as much as 600 passengers, throws a touch of journey into its luxurious environment. Along with providing passengers complimentary Champagne and caviar and housing them in spacious suites, the ship has an onboard expedition workforce and does a complicated model of expedition cruising in Alaska, utilizing inflatable Zodiac craft and kayaks.
Seabourn calls its program “Ventures by Seabourn.” Specialists on board these sailings embrace naturalists, biologists and different scientists who’re members of the expedition workforce. They lead the outside actions (together with hikes) and supply passengers with a deeper perception into Alaska. As soon as friends end communing with nature, they’ll bask in connoisseur delicacies in a number of eating places, get pleasure from a complimentary cocktail or calm down in an upscale spa.
Seabourn Encore sails each one-way, weeklong itineraries between Vancouver and Juneau and two-week, round-trip itineraries from Vancouver in 2026. It visits common Alaska ports like Ketchikan and Sitka, in addition to much less touristed locations like Wrangell, Alaska, and Prince Rupert and Alert Bay in British Columbia.
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Greatest for off-the-beaten-path journey: Nationwide Geographic Quest
Nationwide Geographic Quest in Rudyerd Bay. ANDREW PEACOCK/LINDBLAD EXPEDITIONS
Should you’re trying to get away from the megaship crowds, the perfect Alaska cruise for you could be with Nationwide Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions. Nationwide Geographic Quest, with area for as much as 100 passengers, frequents off-the-beaten-path locations in Alaska on weeklong itineraries between Juneau and Sitka in 2026.
Friends can discover the small fishing city of Petersburg or seek for orca and humpback whales in Frederick Sound. Lindblad has particular permits to deliver passengers into the wilderness of Glacier Bay Nationwide Park & Protect and the Tongass Nationwide Forest, past what the large ships can supply. A hike on Chichagof Island is the proper alternative to identify bald eagles within the wild.
At some point is even devoted to serendipitous exploration. The ship’s captain has the flexibleness to hunt out the perfect distant islands and bays for beachcombing, tide pooling, climbing and kayaking adventures.
So long as you do not thoughts a mellower setting the place lectures and impromptu guitar sing-alongs exchange casinos and present productions, you may be proper at house as you deeply expertise coastal Alaska.
Greatest for solo vacationers: Norwegian Bliss
Norwegian Bliss in Alaska. NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE
Solo vacationers do not all the time should pay double to cruise Alaska on their very own. A number of ships characteristic cabins designed and priced for one. A number of Norwegian Cruise Line ships characteristic cozy studio cabins designed and priced for one individual, and 4,004-passenger Norwegian Bliss provides 82 solo rooms on its round-trip Seattle cruises to Alaska.
These solo cabins get our vote as a result of they’re situated in a posh the place a personal lounge encourages mingling. Lone vacationers may meet their shipmates whereas ready to hop right into a race automobile on the ship’s go-kart monitor, at a exhibiting of “Jersey Boys” or over a muddled drink on the Sugarcane Mojito Bar.
The ship sails seven-night cruises from Seattle, visiting Dawes Glacier, Sitka and Icy Strait Level, in addition to Juneau and Ketchikan in Alaska and Victoria, British Columbia.
Greatest for foodies: Riviera
Pool deck on Oceania’s Riviera. TIM FAIRCLOTH/OCEANIA CRUISES
You may not have Alaska in your checklist as a sizzling spot for culinary journey, however Oceania Cruises sees each vacation spot as a possible foodie paradise. Its 1,250-passenger Riviera simply sailed its first Alaska cruises this yr and is returning to the state in 2026, giving friends many alternatives for good eats on board and off.
Strive a food-forward shore tour to see what culinary magic Alaska has hidden behind its glaciers and mountains. Take a culinary tour of Sitka and sip native beers, snack on Russian dumplings and pattern different treats like reindeer sizzling canines. In Juneau, you possibly can join a seafood tour across the metropolis’s favourite eating places. Or, strive a chef-led Culinary Discovery Tour in Ketchikan, the place you go to an oyster farm and style its merchandise.
On board, friends can join new regionally themed, hands-on cooking lessons and be taught to make treats from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
Plus, passengers can get pleasure from Riviera’s a number of eating places at no additional cost. A latest refurb has given the ship a brand new outside pizzeria and Italian trattoria, or if it is too chilly, head indoors for French delicacies (in partnership with famend chef Jacques Pépin), steakhouse favorites or spicy Asian fare.
Riviera will sail seven- to 12-night cruises from Seattle in 2026, and a few characteristic the up-and-coming cruise port of Klawock, Alaska.
Greatest for fun-loving adults: Good Girl
Virgin Voyages’ Good Girl cruise ship. VIRGIN VOYAGES
In 2026, Virgin Voyages will make its Alaska debut with new cruise ship Good Girl. The irreverent and playful cruise line will deliver its signature fashion from its bread-and-butter warm-weather locations within the Caribbean and the Mediterranean to chilly Alaska to warmth issues up.
Good Girl is an adults-only ship that may accommodate as much as 2,770 passengers, however that does not imply it is boring. On its northern sailings, the ship will nonetheless supply friends the possibility to get a tattoo on board, benefit from the surroundings from a personal balcony hammock, break up their sides at a drag present, dance all night time on the Scarlet Night time celebration and immerse themselves in among the greatest onboard leisure at sea. The ship eschews cavernous cruise ship eating places and buffets for a plethora of complimentary onboard eating places serving every little thing from Korean barbecue to Mexican specialties and veggie-forward dishes.
Virgin Voyages cruisers love selection, so Good Girl will not sail one itinerary on repeat in summer season 2026. The ship will sail a mixture of seven- to 12-night Alaska cruises from Seattle, with scenic cruising in Tracy Arm or Hubbard Glacier.
Planning a cruise? Begin with these tales:
