Cunard Leaves Alaska: Queen Elizabeth's Short, Grand Second Act

Cunard does farewells with paperwork. The line's own site carries a "Farewell Alaska" retrospective; the 2026 brochure season was sold, from the start, as the last; and the final voyage numbers are printed like the closing lines of a ledger: voyage Q626, the fifteenth and final Alaska round-trip of the season, departing Seattle September 17 and returning September 24, followed the same day by Q627, a 21-night repositioning to Miami by way of the full Panama Canal transit, arriving October 15.

After that, for the first time since 2019, the Cunard name disappears from Alaska's schedule. No 2027 season. No 2028 season. Queen Elizabeth's published future is the Mediterranean and Europe, with Caribbean sailings from Miami through the winter.

Quick facts

The second act, 2019 to 2026

Cunard's modern Alaska chapter opened in 2019, when Queen Elizabeth sailed four 10-night round-trips from Vancouver: the line's return to the region after a decades-long absence, announced in 2017 with real fanfare. "Cunard is thrilled to make our return to Alaska with our youngest ship Queen Elizabeth," the line's North America chief said at the time, pitching itineraries built around Tracy Arm Fjord and Hubbard Glacier. Demand ran ahead of the plan; Cunard announced an expanded full season for the following year before the first one was even complete.

The run that followed was distinctive on the water. A Cunard Alaska sailing was a genre of its own: white-glove afternoon tea inside sight of the ice, Glacier Bay days on one of the few lines holding National Park Service access, a black-hulled ocean liner profile among the megaship silhouettes. In 2025 the operation moved to Seattle, the ship's first Seattle homeport, marked with civic ceremony by the Port. And in 2026 came the announcement that the second Seattle season would be the last.

The accounting Cunard published for its farewell reads like a small era: 18 unique ports, with Ketchikan the most-visited at 36 calls; Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier as the recurring scenic days; 67,445 guests across the run.

Why is Cunard leaving Alaska?

Cunard has not published a reason for leaving Alaska. The farewell materials celebrate; they don't explain. What the schedule shows is redeployment: Queen Elizabeth's 2027 program sits in the Mediterranean and Europe, closer to the rest of a four-ship fleet that is heavily committed to Southampton, the transatlantic run, and European itineraries.

Anything more specific would be speculation, and the speculation writes itself in either direction: a small fleet with global ambitions can't be everywhere; a niche product in a record-volume market has other places to be. The honest version is one sentence: a four-ship line chose to spend its rarest asset somewhere else.

What's concrete is what leaves with her. Cunard's exit removes one of the few lines with Glacier Bay park access from the Alaska market, retires the season's most formal product, and ends the only Alaska program where the scenic-day soundtrack included a string quartet. The 65-ship record season loses exactly one ship, and a category.

Watching the last week

For ship-watchers, the calendar is precise. September 17: last Alaska round-trip departs Seattle. September 24: she returns in the morning, and departs the same day on Q627: south along the coast she worked all summer, through the Panama Canal locks, into Miami on October 15. It's the full stop at the end of the sentence, sailed at 18 knots.

We'll be tracking Q626 and the long turn south mile by mile: her final Glacier Bay day, her last Victoria call, the wake pointing away from the Great North. Ships leave Alaska every fall. Leaving with no return on the books is rarer, and worth watching all the way to the horizon.

Related on CruiseMigration

• The Cruise Ships That Can (and Can't) Enter Glacier Bay — what her exit changes
• The Rookie Report: How MSC and Virgin's First Alaska Seasons Are Going — the arrivals, against this departure
• Two World Cruises, One Pacific Crossing: Volendam vs Coral Princess
• Queen Elizabeth ship page — follow Q626 and the Panama Canal repositioning

Sources

• Cunard — "Farewell Alaska" — line retrospective: ports served, guest totals, most-visited port
• Cruise Industry News — "Cunard's Queen Elizabeth Begins Last Scheduled Season in Alaska" (June 2026) — final season, no stated reason, 2027 European deployment
• Cunard/PRNewswire — Alaska 2026 voyages, Queen Elizabeth round-trips from Seattle — season shape, 7–11 nights
• Seatrade Cruise News — Cunard's Queen Elizabeth returns to Alaska in 2026 — Seattle homeport and deployment history
• Cunard voyage pages Q626 and Q627 — final round-trip and Seattle-to-Miami repositioning
• Cunard/PRNewswire, 2019 Alaska return announcement (October 2017) — four 10-night Vancouver round-trips