Hi there!
I did an Alaska cruise in May on the Majestic Princess cruise ship.
This is to give you an idea of what an Alaska cruise can be like!
Your experience will vary!
ð Destination: Whittier cruise port in Alaska! (aka the cruise port near Anchorage)
Map of one-way Alaska cruise route
ð Map of the scheduled Alaska cruise ports for this one-way Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage. This Alaska cruise itinerary started in Vancouver and ended in Whittier. It included the Alaska cruise ports of Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway. It also included the scenic cruising glacier sea days of Glacier Bay National Park and College Fjord.
My one-way Alaska cruise itinerary (7-day Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage)
- Day 1 | May 13: Vancouver, Canada
- Day 2 | May 14: sea day
- Day 3 | May 15: Ketchikan (6:30am to 3pm)
- Day 4 | May 16: Juneau (8am to 9:15pm)
- Day 5 | May 17: Skagway (6am to 8:30pm)
- Day 6 | May 18: Glacier Bay National Park scenic cruising sea day
- Day 7 | May 19: College Fjord scenic cruising sea day
- Day 8 | May 20: Whittier
Day 1: Vancouver embarkation day
Be out on the open deck as the cruise ship is sailing away from Vancouver cruise port!
The cruise ship will sail right under the iconic Lion’s Gate Bridge of Vancouver!
If you have time before your cruise boarding time, you might be able to go to Granley Square to see your cruise ship!
The Princess cruise ship I was boarding could be seen from here, but not all cruise ships will dock in this spot which means not all cruise ships can be seen from Granley Square.
I walked from Granley Square to the cruise port and saw another angle of the cruise ship.
Day 2: sea day (May 14)
Day 3: Ketchikan cruise port (May 15: 6:30am to 3pm)
My plan for Ketchikan cruise port:
- morning: Snorkel Alaska tour
- after tour: Saxman Park totem poles on my own
Snorkeling in Alaska?!?!?!
I was VERY nervous about this, and even upon booking the tour, I was immediately having regrets!
But to reassure myself, I read all the reviews (again), and basically everyone who mentions the water temperature says that you will not be cold because you’ll be wearing a wetsuit and other cold water swimming gear!
And, even as someone that gets cold easily, I must agree!!
For most of the time in the water, the water temperature didn’t even occur to me!
It was a water temperature of 50 degrees.
I was excited about seeing tons of small little clear jellyfish. And I saw a couple of red ones too.
I was also excited about seeing so many starfish.
Plus, I got the experience of cold water swimming and snorkeling in Alaska!
After the snorkeling tour, Saxman Park was on the way back to the cruise port, so I got dropped off there.
Saxman Park is one of the places in Ketchikan to see totem poles.
Then I took a bus back to the cruise port.
If you have time, I liked Totem Bight State Historical Park better, possibly because it felt like you were surrounded by nature more.
I went to Totem Bight State Historical Park by bus on my previous cruise ship arrival to Ketchikan.
ð Sailing out of Ketchikan cruise port.
My plan for my previous cruise to Ketchikan:
- morning: Totem Bight State Historical Park on my own (Ketchikan bus)
- afternoon: Misty Fjords National Monument seaplane tour with Island Wings
- late afternoon: Creek Street on my own
Read about Ketchikan:
Day 4: Juneau cruise port (May 16: 8am to 9:15pm)
My plan for Juneau cruise port:
- morning: Juneau whale watching tour (Princess excursion)
- afternoon: Mendenhall Glacier tour by canoe + hike with Liquid Alaska
Juneau is known as one of the best Alaska cruise ports for whale watching, so if you want to go whale watching, Juneau can be it!
There are different types of boat tours, and I chose a whale watching tour that had less people.
There were around 20 people on the boat.
With a cruise port pick-up, we took a shuttle to Auke Bay to get on a boat to go see whales.
You know the pictures you see in all the whale watching advertisements?!
Well, it’s actually quite rare to see whales like that.
Still, I was happy with what I saw.
Especially since I got a picture of a whale with its mouth open!
We also saw sea lions on a buoy.
I talked to someone who went on a different whale watching tour and their boat went past a whole bunch of harbor seals. I saw the picture and it looked really cool. I wish our boat had gone by it!
The thing about wildlife watching tours is that wildlife sightings are not guaranteed! At least, the variety that you will see.
Most whale watching tours in Juneau do seem to have a guarantee that you will see at least one whale. Although this doesn’t mean that you are guaranteed to get a GREAT sighting. ðĪŠ
But this is just how it goes with wildlife viewing! Patience is required. And that’s also what makes it so exciting when you do see wildlife, whether it’s in the water or on land!
ð Driving from the Juneau cruise port. View from the back of the shuttle.
ð A whale was spotted. Will it appear again?!
ð Amazing view of a whale!! ðąðąðą
ð Spot the sea lions!
The Mendenhall Glacier is one of the most popular things to do in Juneau.
Most people will go to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center to get a distant view of the glacier.
This glacier is retreating which means that it continues to get further and further away year after year.
I did a canoe tour across the lake to get a closer look at the glacier.
You can’t actually walk on the glacier (it seems you used to be able to), but I thought this experience was so great.
We paddled the canoe to shore near the Mendenhall Glacier which means that we got closer to the glacier than the vast majority of people do.
We also got to see blue ice.
There was another tour group who was there about an hour earlier than us, and they were able to witness a big chunk of ice fall off the Mendenhall Glacier into the water!
Our tour guide was in touch with another tour guide and showed us the video.
This process of ice falling off a glacier is called calving, and calving is one of the best Alaska glacier experiences you can see!
Your best chance to see calving on a cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage is at Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park! You might also see this at Harvard Glacier in College Fjord.
You can do a Mendenhall Lake canoe tour without a shore landing, but I think it’s better if you had the short walkaround!
This was one of my favorite tours that I did during my 2 Alaska cruises.
ð Mendenhall Glacier tour guide.
My plan for my previous cruise to Juneau:
- morning + lunch: Taku Lodge Feast & 5-Glacier Seaplane Discovery with Taku Lodge Wings Airways (Princess shore excursion)
- afternoon + evening: Mendenhall Glacier and Nugget Falls on my own (Juneau bus)
Read more about Juneau:
Day 5: Skagway cruise port (May 17: 6am to 8:30pm)
My plan for Skagway cruise port:
- morning: Skagway dog sledding on a glacier + helicopter tour with Temsco Helicopters (Princess excursion)
- afternoon: Yakutania point hike on my own
- see more: Things to do in Skagway
This is the only day that didn’t go according to plan because a delayed water shuttle in Skagway caused me to miss the morning excursion. That excursion was moved to the late afternoon, so I did the hike before the excursion.
The absolutely most popular thing to do in Skagway cruise port is the White Pass train.
There are different types of combination tours that you can do that includes the White Pass railway.
Skagway is one of the best cruise ports for a helicopter tour.
If you’re thinking about doing a helicopter tour, I recommend doing one that includes some sort of landing. It makes the experience that much more special!
Like… dog sledding! You can make it a helicopter tour with dog sledding on a glacier!
Skagway is also one of the best cruise ports for dog sledding in Alaska.
There are also hikes in Skagway that you can do on your own for free.
ð Norwegian Encore cruise ship sailing away from Skagway cruise port.
ð 10:18pm
ð 10:37pm
My plan for my previous cruise to Skagway:
- morning: White Pass Rail & Klondike Highway (Princess shore excursion)
- afternoon: Glacier Discovery by Helicopter with Temsco Helicopters (Princess shore excursion)
Read more about Skagway:
Day 6: Glacier Bay National Park scenic cruising sea day (May 18: 6:15am to 3:15pm)
My plan for Glacier Bay National Park cruise day:
- be outside as much as possible!
If you aren’t going to be doing any excursions during your Alaska cruise, then you must make sure that you choose an Alaska cruise itinerary that includes Glacier Bay National Park!
On Glacier Bay National Park day, national park rangers will board the cruise ship by arriving on a small boat.
Then they will be on the cruise ship the entire time that you are in Glacier Bay National Park.
Sailing into Glacier Bay, one of the most anticipated spots is Margerie Glacier where the cruise ship will be spending some time at.
The hope is that you will get to witness the calving of an Alaska glacier!
That is, you might get a chance to see huge chunks of ice fall off the glacier to make a big splash into the water!
ð 9:56am
ð Norwegian Encore cruise ship sailing away from Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay National Park, a few minutes before 10:30am.
ð The reality of what it’s like on the open deck on Glacier Bay National Park day! ð See more of the public viewing areas on the Majestic Princess cruise ship. (10:47am)
ð Or you might be able to find a quiet spot where fewer people are! (11:31am)
ð Glacier Bay National Park rangers leave the cruise ship on the small boat! (2:56pm)
Since I didn’t bring binoculars with me, the thing that was nice about the Majestic Princess that my previous ship didn’t have (Sapphire Princess) was the binoculars.
I saw a couple of people try to take pictures of what they were seeing through the binoculars.
Does that work?!
Yes, yes it does. ðĪĢ
As we were leaving Glacier Bay, Mark the naturalist onboard said to be on the lookout for a glacier as we are sailing into the Gulf of Alaska.
So, I was on the lookout and took pictures through the binoculars of the glacier!
And then we were back sailing out on the open water of the Pacific Ocean!
Or, more accurately, the Gulf of Alaska.
Day 7: Sea day with evening of College Fjord scenic cruising (May 19: 6pm to 8:30pm)
College Fjord was the first rainy day of the cruise.
Welcome to Alaska!
Day 8: Whittier disembarkation day (May 20)
My plan for Whittier disembarkation day:
- get off the cruise ship as late as possible (9:30am)
- 26 glacier boat tour during the day
- evening train from whittier to anchorage
I wanted to take the train from Whittier to Anchorage, so this meant that I needed an overnight in Anchorage.
Whittier doesn’t seem to really have much to do, so the best thing to do to “pass time” seemed to be the 26 glacier cruise.
Well, it did more than pass time!
Even though it went to College Fjord, same as the cruise ship, seeing College Fjord from a smaller boat was a completely different experience!
It also did go to a couple other places the cruise ship didn’t go to.
The tour company for the 26 glacier tour coordinates their timings to match the train and cruise ships.
I got on the train to Anchorage right after the tour.
Read more about Whittier:
How much does a cheap Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage cost?
This Alaska cruise that I did was early in the Alaska cruise season, so it was on the “cheaper” side.
That said, when looking at Alaska cruises, you don’t just want to look at the base rate that’s displayed on the website!
Along with the port fees and taxes, the cheapest Alaska cruises will be an inside cabin.
It’s often said that if you’re going to splurge on a balcony on a cruise, then it’s for an Alaska cruise.
But of course, it depends on your priorities, and it’s how you want to spend your cruise.
For example, if you are seriously considering getting a balcony, then maybe instead of spending that money on a balcony, you’d rather spend it on an epic Alaska cruise excursion… like a dog sledding tour in Alaska!
You also may want to budget extra money separately for the best Alaska excursions.
But, just to give you an idea, I took screenshots of what the cost of my Alaska cruise was showing up as less than 3 weeks before departure.
The cruise started on May 13, and the cost of the Alaska cruise displayed below is for an inside cabin that you could book on April 23.
ð Cost of a last minute “drop and go” one-way Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage, less than a month before a May cruise departure was $620 per person. The base cruise price was $380 per person for 2 people, and there was an additional fee of $240 for port fees and taxes. This means the cost of a last minute one-way Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage was $89 per night per person for double occupancy when you include the taxes and fees.
ð Cost of a last minute “drop and go” Alaska cruise from Vancouver round trip, less than a month before a May cruise departure was around $700 for a solo cruiser. The base cruise rate was $456 for a solo cruiser, plus $240 in port fees and taxes. This means the cost of a last minute one-way Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage was $100 per night for a single occupancy solo cruiser when you include the taxes and fees.
And that’s a bit about my one-way northbound Alaska cruise!
HAPPY CRUISING FROM VANCOUVER TO ANCHORAGE!
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