More than one million passengers in 2009 cruised to or from Alaska. If such a cruise is in your plans, you may want to compare itineraries, ports of departure, ports of call, styles of cruises, seasons and costs.
The most popular voyage is the Inside Passage with seven-day cruises departing from Seattle or Vancouver and sailing to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, and either Sitka or Haines plus Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm. The second most popular are cruises that duplicate the Inside Passage route, then continue to College Fjord, Hubbard Glacier, Valdez and either Seward or Whitter. From there passengers can continue their Alaskan tours or return by cruise ship, reversing their itinerary.
You can compare cruises on styles they offer. Contemporary cruises are floating resorts with Las Vegas-style entertainment, spas and casinos. They also are more family-style with activities for children and teens. Then you have the luxury-style cruises with smaller ships, high-class dining, higher crew-to-passenger ratio, bigger staterooms with private decks and balconies.
The most popular season is from mid-June to end of August, especially for families. But the shoulder seasons have been seeing an increasing number of tourists when prices are lower and crowds are less. These times are mid-May when the first cruise ship arrives to mid-June, and then the first two or three weeks of September.
Vancouver, B.C., and Seatte are the two main ports for departure and arrival of Alaskan cruises. Some cruises, especially when they reposition from the south, offer cruises to Alaska from San Franciso, Los Angeles and San Diego. Some passengers reverse this itinerary in September and sail from Alaska to southern ports.
