Alaska Cruise Guide
Alaska Cruise Ports
Every major Alaska cruise port explained — docks, passenger caps, logistics, and what actually happens when your ship ties up, paired with live arrival schedules for each port.
Guides & explainers
- Bear Spray Can't Board: Alaska's Most Confiscated Packing Mistake
Alaska hiking guides say carry bear spray; cruise prohibited-items lists bar aerosol self-defense sprays. Both are right — here's how to solve it in port.
- Juneau's 2026 Glacial Outburst Flood, Explained for Cruise Visitors
Juneau's 2026 glacial outburst flood crested at 14.7 feet on August 13, below last year's record. The barriers held and no cruise itinerary changed.
- Juneau vs Ketchikan: The Closest Race in Alaska Cruising
Ketchikan was projected to pass Juneau in cruise passengers for the first time. Forecasts say it won't — but the gap is down to about 90,000 people.
- Northern Lights from an Alaska Cruise: Real Odds, Real Timing
Alaska's sky is never dark enough for an aurora between late April and August 20. From August 21 on, the lights become a real possibility from a ship's deck.
- September Alaska Cruises: The Honest Terms of the Shoulder-Season Deal
September Alaska cruises trade calm water for dark skies and thin crowds. NOAA's Gulf buoy: mean waves climb from about 5 feet in July to 8 in September.
- Icy Strait Point: The Tlingit-Owned Cruise Port Next Door to Hoonah
Icy Strait Point is the world's first Indigenous-owned cruise destination — a restored salmon cannery near Hoonah, run by Huna Totem Corporation, with about 240 ship calls a year.
- Sitka Cruise Port Guide: Old Sitka Dock, Tendering, and the 7,000 Cap
Where cruise ships dock in Sitka, why some still tender downtown, and how a voluntary 7,000-passenger daily cap shapes cruise days in Alaska's old Russian capital.
- Whittier vs Seward: Alaska's Two Anchorage Gateway Cruise Ports
Whittier and Seward are the turnaround ports linking Alaska cruises to Anchorage and Denali. One sits 60 miles away behind a shared road-rail tunnel; the other is a 4-hour scenic train ride.
- Shore Power in Alaska: How Cruise Ships Plug In and Why It Only Works Sometimes
Princess plugged in at Juneau in 2001 — the first cruise ship shore-power connection in the world. 25 years later the Alaska grid still can't always supply it. Here's why.
- Seattle's Two Cruise Piers: Pier 91 vs Pier 66
Seattle handles 330 cruise calls and 2.1 million passengers in 2026 across two terminals: Pier 91 (Smith Cove) and Pier 66 (Bell Street). They work very differently. Here's how to choose.
- Áak'w Landing: Juneau's Fifth Cruise Dock and the Indigenous Corporation Building It
Juneau's tidelands lease for Áak'w Landing was finalized April 2026. Construction starts summer 2027. Opens for the 2028 season. Built by Huna Totem, the Tlingit corporation behind Icy Strait Point.
- Coral Princess Becomes First Cruise Ship of 2026 at Whittier
Coral Princess docked at Whittier on April 28, 2026 — the first cruise ship of the season — wrapping a 131-day world voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles.