Princess - Alaska

glacial views | CRUISETOURS | FAMILY FUN | authentic alaska experiences

Princess

Eventually, seeing other people get so hooked on this place — home to 34,000 miles of coastline (more than the rest of the U.S. combined) and where bald eagle and orca sightings are a daily occurrence — will no longer suffice. Cue Princess Cruises®, whose Alaska itineraries make light work of what would otherwise be an overwhelming endeavor: charting your own course through the Great Land and its enchantingly wild waters.

Princess has been bringing guests to Alaska for more than 50 years, and the line recognized early on that people venture to the 49th state with certain wish-list experiences in mind. Ranking high among them is the chance to witness its iconic, blue-tinged masses of ice and rock. Princess’ Voyage of the Glaciers cruise — a 7-day sailing from Vancouver to Anchorage (Whittier) via the Inside Passage and Prince William Sound — includes not one, but two glacier viewing experiences. This explains, at least in part, why it’s the line’s top-rated itinerary, per past cruisers.

Glacier Bay National Park

Mendenhall and Denver Glaciers

Fall in love with the Great Land

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BACK TO THE TOP

Many make the journey to Alaska expressly to set eyes on Denali, whose name means "the great one" in the language of Alaskan Athabaskans. At 20,310 feet above sea level, the mountain is North America's highest peak, a towering and surreal-looking monument lording over the tundra, boreal forest and lakes that surround it in 6 million-acre Denali National Park and Preserve.

Princess Wilderness Lodges

Exclusive rail service

Part of what sets Princess apart from other Alaska cruisetour operators is its Direct-to-the-Wilderness rail service. Princess-owned cars bring passengers straight from the ship to one of the line’s own wilderness lodges in the Denali area, giving guests the maximum time to explore the interior wilds of the state. And the train ride itself is anything but a means to an end: cars have huge glass-domed windows and even open-air observation platforms providing uninterrupted views of Alaska’s forests, mountains and rivers. Plus, guests have the option to enjoy made-to-order meals and drinks along the way.

Call of the wild

By ushering you straight from ship, to rail journey, to lodge, Princess cruisetours provide vast windows of time to take in (and safely seek out) the sights that make Alaska so profoundly wonder-full. In addition to the glaciers, fjords, humbling mountainscapes and technicolor skies, you'll want to keep watch for Denali's Big 5 — that is grizzly bears, caribou, moose, Dall sheep, and wolves — as well as the myriad bird and marine species that call Alaska home.

An exclusive world of Discovery™

Princess guests get to experience the family-focused programs the line has developed for their Alaska sailings and cruisetours in partnership with Discovery™. At sea, you'll find Animal Planet-themed kids' club programs, plus all-ages presentations and activities inspired by hit shows like Deadliest Catch, Mythbusters and Shark Week.

Kid-friendly encounters

Of course, Alaska cruises are inherently kid-friendly in that they open the door to a curiosity-piquing new world. But Princess takes this one step further by offering onboard programming aimed squarely at delighting the littlest adventurers on board — and their parents, too.

At sea

Even between ports, Princess keeps up a steady infusion of Alaska flavor in every sense of the word. Guests can look forward to an extensive, rotating menu of Alaska dishes (starring sustainably sourced wild Alaska cod, Dungeness crab, wild spot prawns and several varieties of wild-caught Alaska salmon, among other delicacies) available every night in the main dining rooms. Elevated destination-specific menu items are available at specialty restaurants, too. These can be paired with hand-picked wines or on-theme cocktails like "creamy cinnamon moonshine" and "glacial-chilled martinis," crafted with spirits sourced from Alaska distilleries.

On land

Also not to be missed, the White Pass Scenic Railway excursion from Skagway gives passengers panoramic views of gorges, glaciers, mountains and historic sites, as seen from a 125-year-old railroad line improbably cut into the mountainside at elevations of up to 3,000 feet. For an entirely different view, daredevils can also walk sky-high planks, traverse suspension bridges and fly across ziplines with the Adventure Park & Ziplines excursion, also from Skagway.

Views of glacial proportions

Exhilarating cruisetours

Family fun

Authentic Alaska experiences

Plan your trip

Alaska cruises

You’ve seen the look — that starry-eyed, enamored gaze worn exclusively by those who have recently come back from Alaska. You can almost see a whale breach in their saucer-sized, wonder-filled eyes as they recount to you the otherworldly wildlife, staggering glacial landscapes and utter serenity of the experience.

The line’s immersive cruisetours offer the coveted chance to travel the waterways of Southeast Alaska and to venture inland to South Central Alaska's Copper River, Kenai Peninsula and fabled Denali National Park. These journeys include stays in Princess-owned Wilderness Lodges; exclusive ship-to-lodge rail service; and authentic, interactive experiences for a deeper exploration.

Here are four elements of your journey with Princess that will ignite your own lifelong love affair with Alaska.

Some who have made the journey this far north won’t be sated until they’ve experienced these ice giants from every angle. Princess offers two excursions to satisfy just such travelers. Take a short ride from Juneau to Mendenhall Glacier, where you can choose from a number of trails that reward hikers with views of the half-mile-wide glacier from various vantage points. (Tip: the Nugget Falls trail will get you closest and earn you bonus views of the trail’s namesake 377-foot waterfall cascading alongside the glacier’s ridges and spiky blue seracs.) Or take the Dog Sledding & Helicopter Flightseeing excursion from Skagway, which includes, in addition to the bucket-list adventures its name implies, actually walking out on the Denver Glacier. (It warrants saying that you’ll also be chauffeured across said glacier by a pack of marvelously athletic Huskies.).

All Princess' cruisetours include a stay in Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, set just one mile from the entrance to the national park. After a full day in otherwordly wilds, guests can unwind on an expansive deck overlooking the Nenana River, hot chocolate (or hot toddy) in hand. Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge is set in Denali State Park and affords guests incredible views of the high peak.

Additional Princess Wilderness Lodges include Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge near the Kenai Peninsula; Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge set four miles from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park; and Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge overlooking the Chena River.

From the ship deck, spot a pod of orcas in the midst of a cooperative hunt, or bald eagles diving and grasping for fish with their talons. Keep your binoculars handy during your rail journey for the chance to spot the unmistakable, hulking forms of moose lumbering across the hills and fields. Take a tour in Denali National Park to spy Dall sheep grazing and resting on mountain ridges and slopes, or witness a grizzly trodding along on its enormous claws from the comfort of a bus. Note: It's perfectly normal if you feel a momentary shiver despite the barriers of metal and glass between you and these burly, broad-shouldered mammals.

At Glacier Bay National Park — a highly protected preserve only select cruise lines are permitted to visit — spend an hour face-to-face with Margerie Glacier. This 21-mile-long beauty is set against a serene mountain backdrop, which magnifies the thunderous boom and subsequent splash of calving icebergs. Depending on the itinerary, the journey also includes a stop at either Hubbard Glacier, Alaska’s largest tidewater glacier; or College Fjord, where many of Alaska’s glaciers sojourn before gliding off into ocean waters.

Children can earn merit badges and eventually achieve Junior Ranger status by taking part in age-appropriate ecology and art activities as well as meeting a real-life National Park Ranger who comes aboard at Glacier Bay to "swear them in."

And with an interactive sled dog experience, animal lovers get to meet one of Skagway's newest trainees. The educational encounter includes a talk from a professional handler who will share firsthand insight on training and caring for husky puppies.

Another furry friend to keep watch for: Stanley, Princess' "beary" well-dressed mascot, who roams the decks to greet guests on each sailing.

The Princess-Discovery connection extends onto land as well, where families can find excursions that get the Discovery and Animal Planet stamps of approval. And those staying at the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge can take a short hike up to the Treehouse, a custom-built structure perched on steel "trees" (the steel lends extra stability in an earthquake-prone state). The house had a starring role on an episode of Animal Planet's Treehouse Masters show and features a deck that allows unmatched Denali viewing opps from one of the highest land-based, north-facing lookouts.

Indeed, choosing shore excursions for your Princess Alaska cruise can seem like a high-stakes undertaking, especially given the volume of bucket-list-worthy adventures on the menu. That said, there are a few no-brainers: the Whale Watching & Alaska Salmon Bake experience in Juneau is one example, combining guaranteed humpback or orca whale sighting in glistening Auke Bay with a feast on Alaska salmon roasted over an open alder wood fire. Or, for those who'd prefer to catch their own dinner (and that's meant literally, thanks to Princess Cruises' Cook My Catch, whereby onboard chefs will prepare what you hook to your specifications), there's the Salmon Sportfishing Expedition from Ketchikan.

Princess also welcomes local Alaskans aboard to add even more dimension to guests' "northern exposure." For example, a local lumberjack demonstrates his trade and invites guests to try their hands at axe throwing; professional Alaska photographers share their experiences and pointers on capturing frameable nature photos; and Libby Riddles, the first woman to lead the winning 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race team, tells about her journey to victory.

Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge

Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge

Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge

Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge

PLAN YOUR TRIP

glacial views | CRUISETOURS | FAMILY FUN | authentic alaska experiences