What this map shows
Every tracked cruise ship, drawn at her last reported position. Positions come from AIS — the transponder broadcast every ship over 300 gross tonnes is required to make — ingested continuously, and each fix carries its age, so the map never presents an old position as a fresh one. AIS goes dark in places (Glacier Bay is the clearest case); where it does, the fix ages honestly instead of guessing. The pipeline is written up in how we track cruise ships, and the site’s conventions in how to read this site.
Click any ship or port for its detail panel. For the season at a glance, the Alaska 2026 dashboard counts the fleet in the region; the glossary defines the vocabulary, and about says who runs this and why.