Alaskan cruises are a once-in-a-lifetime experience. They allow you to see America’s 49th state from the comfort of a cruise ship. But as you plan an Alaskan cruise, it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start. By helping you narrow down what is important to you, these six tips will help you understand what you need to know when you are researching your Alaskan cruise planning.

Alaskan cruises don’t sail year-round

Alaskan cruises only sail from late April to September, with the peak season (i.e. when all of the cruise lines are sailing to all of the ports and national parks) between June and August.

However, because cruise season is only for a part of the year, this also means that a lot of cruise ships sail during the peak time. And because of a large number of ships, a lot of the ports will have a lot of people at any given time.

We sailed on our Alaskan cruise from Vancouver during the same week as Canada Day and Fourth of July. While we were in Juneau, one of the breweries said that the port can get up to 20,000 visitors in one day. As you plan your Alaskan cruise, make sure to note that ports will always be packed, no matter what time of the Alaskan cruise season you travel!

There are different itineraries

Just like a cruise, you would take anywhere else (such as the Caribbean or in Europe), there are different itineraries that go to a wide variety of ports and areas of Alaska. Not every itinerary is alike.

A big factor in itineraries is the cruise line that you sail. In Alaska, cruise lines sign contracts to sail through national parks and are only given permits for so many trips per year. Because of this, only some lines sail to certain areas. This is the same case with the ports within Alaska as well.

For example, only Holland America, Princess, Carnival and Norwegian sail to Glacier Bay. And typically, only Royal Caribbean, Celebrity and Disney sail to Hubbard Glacier (though Holland and Norwegian also sail to Hubbard Glacier too). Additionally, each of these lines has different ports that they stop at – so if you were to sail Norwegian, you have a different itinerary than if you sailed Norwegian, even if your itinerary includes Glacier Bay.

Do your research as you plan your Alaskan cruise to see what ports you want to stop at or what areas you want to sail through.

There are different sized ships that sail Alaska

With the many different cruise lines sailing Alaska, there are as many different ships sailing in Alaska. This means that there is a wide variety of amenities that you can choose from: from small ships to large, from lots of onboard entertainment to just focusing on the scenery. Anything your heart desires will be sailing in Alaska!

For example, when we sailed the Golden Princess to Alaska, it was a mid-sized ship. However, we were sailing on the same itinerary as the Norwegian Bliss, which is one of Norwegian’s biggest ships. So as you are planning your Alaskan cruise, figure out what is most important to you: do you want to sit and look at the scenery? Do you want to have a ship that has more entertainment than you know what to do with? Or do you want a lot of onboard activities? Figure out what you are most looking forward to ono a ship (and factor that in with the port stops) and this will help you narrow down which cruise line to sail with.

It probably won’t be as cold as you think it will be

When we went to Alaska, I only packed one short and summery dress. Everything else was packed for warmth and comfort. And what do you know – it was literally the hottest it had ever been in Alaska, with temperatures rising into the 90’s. Luckily, it was a dry heat (no humidity like we are used to in Virginia), but I hadn’t packed correctly!

Remember that while Alaska does have colder areas, especially when you head towards glaciers or colder water, it is still summer when you visit. So, as you are planning your Alaskan cruise, make sure to pack some summer clothes. Because otherwise, you will be uncomfortable when exploring ports.

You will see wildlife & glaciers

Even if you don’t get off of the ship, you will see Alaskan nature up close and personal. Every cruise line, no matter where their specific itinerary sails, will take a day or two to just go slowly along the Alaskan coast. This will be the perfect chance for you to watch along the shore or in the water to see animals. As you sail, you will also see plenty of glaciers covering the coastline.

Additionally, most cruise lines also have a naturalist on board that will help point out things that you can see off of the ship. The naturalists live onboard the ship during the summer months and are extremely experienced with knowing when and where to see different animals from the ship.

On our cruise line, our naturalist set out a map, with different notes indicating when we would be in certain areas, and what time you could see certain animals or wildlife (for example, she had marked, “5:30 a.m. – Ketchikan – whales,” which indicated that when we were sailing towards Ketchikan, we needed to get up around 5:30 a.m. to see some whales).

Some cruise ships will also bring park rangers on board to help you understand the areas that you are sailing through. When we were in Glacier Bay, three rangers boarded our ship and explained to us every glacier, landmark, and animal that we saw while we were exploring the area.

It will be light out at night

Our cruise went south (from Vancouver) to North (to Anchorage). When we first got on the cruise, I was surprised to see that the sun sets at a normal time. “Hm,” I thought. “Maybe they were wrong about the sun setting early.” I thought maybe it only really happened in the extreme norths of Alaska. But on our last second to last night of the cruise, I realized that the dining room had the blinds drawn. When I went to a window after dinner to see why, I realized that it was completely light outside, even at 9 p.m. at night! When we sailed into Anchorage the next night, it was light out until at least midnight (and a crew member mentioned that there would probably only be a few hours of darkness that night).

While that was fun to see, it’s also something to note as you plan your Alaskan cruise. No matter which way you are going (south or north or vice versa) or your itinerary, you don’t want the sun to keep you up when you’re trying to sleep. Some cruise lines say that they have black-out curtains, but we have talked to more than a handful of people who have said that they were ineffective or still let some light in.

Because of this, one of my biggest tips while planning an Alaskan cruise is to book an inside room. Not only will this help you sleep at night, but it will also make sure that you don’t hear or see anything that could keep you awake (as I said above, there are oftentimes onboard presentations from your cruise naturalist that are broadcast over outdoor speakers – and oftentimes they begin as early as 5:30 or 6 a.m.)

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Any Alaskan Cruise Planning Questions?

No matter what you plan for your Alaskan cruise, you are bound to have a good time. But if you have other questions while you plan, feel free to ask in the comments, and I will answer ASAP!

Want to see more of my Alaskan cruise? Take a look at my Instagram stories (there are three Alaskan cruise stories, all of which include all seven days of our cruise, each port that we visited and our ship – the Golden Princess).

Have you taken an Alaskan cruise? What did you think of it? Are you planning an Alaskan cruise? What has been your experience so far? Leave a comment below!

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