Alaska at sea: the back story

About Alaska at sea: the back story

By the ULTIMATE the world’s cruise lines Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

The Inside Passage has been travelled by boat for as long as people have lived on this coast. Today’s cruise ships sail north from Seattle and Vancouver through Tlingit and Haida country to the gold-rush towns, the capital at Juneau and the ice of Glacier Bay.

Two gateways

Most Alaska voyages begin in one of two cities. In Seattle, the Port of Seattle runs the Bell Street Cruise Terminal at Pier 66, on the downtown waterfront, and the Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91; its 2026 season, which ended in October, served nearly two million revenue passengers and set a record for shore power. In Vancouver, ships sail from Canada Place on the downtown waterfront, beneath the mountains of the North Shore.

The Inside Passage

North of the border the route threads between forested islands. Ketchikan comes first, with its creekside boardwalks and totem poles at Totem Bight State Historical Park and Saxman. Sitka, a reminder of Russian America, keeps the site of the battle between Russian traders and the Kiks.ádi Tlingit in Sitka National Historical Park, where totem poles line a coastal trail through the forest.

In Glacier Bay the ship never docks: the park comes aboard instead.

A capital with a glacier

Juneau is the state capital, and its cruise waterfront sits right below the mountains. Above the waterfront the Goldbelt Tram climbs through the rainforest to 1,800 feet, and out of town the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, run by the Tongass National Forest, looks across a lake to the ice. The Sealaska Heritage Institute’s Walter Soboleff Building, downtown, is a fine introduction to Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian culture.

The trail of ’98

Skagway was the starting point for the Klondike gold rush, and the National Park Service now cares for its historic district as Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The White Pass & Yukon Route railway, which owns and runs the town’s three deep-water docks, climbs from the quay to the White Pass Summit on an excursion of about two and a half hours.

Glacier Bay

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve is the great set piece. The National Park Service is clear that cruise ships do not dock anywhere in the park: they typically spend a full day of nine to ten hours in the bay, including a stop at a tidewater glacier, and park rangers board the ship to give talks, run Junior Ranger activities and staff an information desk. Ships enter Johns Hopkins Inlet only in late summer, once the harbour-seal protections are lifted.

Our advice: choose a voyage that includes Glacier Bay, since not every itinerary does, and keep the day free from spa bookings; take a balcony if you can. Book the White Pass railway and the Goldbelt Tram early for big-ship days, and pack layers: the weather can change by the hour.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Alaska at sea: the back story before you go.