Alaska is home to more than 30,000 grizzlies, but the state’s cruise industry is experiencing anything but a bear market as momentum of last year’s record-breaking season is expected to continue in 2024.
The most-visited Alaskan port, Juneau set a new mark a year ago with 1.65 million passengers descending on the capital city during cruise season, which generally runs from April to late October. That figure from the Juneau Chamber of Commerce is a Denali-sized jump of 30 percent compared to pre-pandemic 2019.
Coinciding with Alaska’s 65th anniversary of statehood, the upcoming cruise season appears to be just as robust, with 19 cruise lines sending 43 ships to the Last Frontier. Kicking things off for the second straight year is the 4,008-passenger Norwegian Bliss, which docked in rustic Skagway last week. With four mainstream-category ships homeported in either Seattle or Vancouver, Norwegian Cruise Line has nearly 100 more after that.
Two competing companies have staked out even larger claims in this modern-day, maritime Alaskan gold rush. Holland America Line is sending seven premium-class ships for 141 total cruises. And at the top of the totem pole is Princess Cruises, which is celebrating its 55th year in these waters with seven premium ships sharing 158 departures.
Rafting alongside Mendenhall Glacier is a chance-of-a-lifetime adventure for many. (Photo by David Dickstein)
Not counting grand voyages with itineraries so rich they make a visit to Alaska seem more like a pit stop, this cruise season will see more than 800 trips of mostly seven to 10 days starting or ending on this side of the Pacific. Where they’re all going is a destination rich in unparalleled wilderness, wildlife and native culture. In other words, bucket list stuff.
“Alaska is one of those places that draws you in and sets the hook right away,” said Kristi Switzer, destination marketing manager for Travel Juneau. “Visitors come for the otherworldly experience of being in the presence of glaciers and fjords, seeing whales and bears and finding the balance of Alaska Native cultural heritage with the rustic sophistication found in the capital city.”
Sometimes just seeing a whale’s tail is a win when on an Alaskan tour. (Photo by David Dickstein)
Although Switzer recommends visits lasting several days instead of several hours, the city’s destination evangelist hopes that a partial day in Juneau and each major Alaskan cruise port will have 1.5 million passengers wanting more.
“This magical corner of the world has so much to offer beyond being a checkmark on people’s bucket lists,” she said.
Walking on a glacier is one of the more exciting shore excursions Alaska has to offer. (Photo by David Dickstein)
Alaska is a checkmark for about three-quarters of all passengers headed there, according to the Alaska Tourism Industry Association, and the same can be said for two ships this season.
Starting with a six-day sail out of Vancouver on May 11, the namesake of Celebrity Cruises’ popular Edge class will make its Alaskan debut with weeklong roundtrips from Seattle through Sept. 13. The 2,918-passenger vessel features a unique “outside-in” architecture that provides more floor-to-ceiling glass on the exterior and expanded outdoor spaces to soak up the Alaskan coastlines.
Skagway, a popular cruise port, is the northernmost point in Alaska’s Inside Passage. (Photo by David Dickstein)
Edge will be joined by a pair of fleet mates for the season, albeit Summit’s seven-day roundtrips are turnarounds out of Anchorage or Vancouver, and Solstice’s weeklong jaunts are solely based in the British Columbian seaport. Celebrity, a premier-category cruise line has 57 departures to Alaska scheduled this year.
The other new recruit is Silver Nova, the youngest Silversea Cruises ship in the luxury fleet to ever service Alaska. Capped at 728 guests, Silver Nova was launched last year and has the goods to do justice to a dreamlike place that captures the imagination of wilderness lovers and history buffs.
“Silver Nova is the ideal ship for Alaska cruising,” said company spokesman Brad Ball. “Her innovative design, which incorporates an unprecedented 4,000 square meters of glass, immerses guests into the incredible scenery of Alaska from virtually all venues and suites, with far-reaching views at every turn.”
While in Skagway, let happy and hard-working sled dogs take you on a spin around Musher’s Camp. (Photo by David Dickstein)
The ship’s reimagined pool deck, which overlooks the water on her starboard side, and all-new outdoor venues — the Dusk Bar and the Marquee — allows unique openness to view spectacular Alaskan glaciers and wildlife. Those who want to experience an older and smaller Evolution-class Silversea vessel can book the Silver Muse, which also will sail mostly seven- to 14-day trips between Anchorage and Vancouver.
Because nearly every Alaskan cruise includes the staples — Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Inside Passage and Denali with a land add-on — some cruise lines like to shake things up with unique itineraries.
Holland America has a roundtrip that makes it easy to visit the 49th and 50th states without a long flight. A new “Glaciers & Volcanos: Alaska to Hawaii” cruise, part of the premium line’s Legendary Voyages collection of journeys from 25 to 59 days, departs on Aug. 31 from Seattle or Sept. 1 from Vancouver aboard the 1,916-passenger Westerdam. The nearly four-weeklong itinerary includes seldomly visited Kodiak and Dutch Harbor before heading down to the tropics to make four calls to three Hawaiian islands.
Seabourn strives to offer a more tasteful Alaskan cruise and not only because it’s an ultra-luxury cruise line. “Caviar on the Ice” is a savory and swanky soiree on every Alaskan voyage, and when the 450-passenger Odyssey is in Sitka, a town originally built by Russian traders in the early 1800s, Seabourn guests can enjoy a culinary adventure that includes a scenic drive to a taproom for a sampling of local brews and a few eateries to try Siberian-rooted pelmeni dumplings and a hot dog made with caribou that the locals call “reindeer dawgs.” Sorry, vegetarians and friends of Santa, but Blitzen on a bun is da bomb.
Red Onion Saloon, a former bordello built in 1898, is a top attraction in historic Skagway. (Photo by David Dickstein)
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Carnival Cruise Line is staying with a three-ship deployment in Alaska this season. Sharing the workload of 55 roundtrips generally lasting seven to 11 days are Carnival Spirit (2,610 passengers) and Carnival Luminosa (2,260) out of Seattle, and Carnival Miracle (2,667) from San Francisco. Another mainstream cruise line, Royal Caribbean, has four ships making 85 runs to Alaska from Seattle, Vancouver and Anchorage: Ovation of the Seas (4,905) and older sister Quantum of the Seas, Brilliance of the Seas (2,543) and Radiance of the Seas (2,466).
Disney Cruise Line is sending its 2,700-passenger Disney Wonder out of Vancouver for 15 week-long roundtrips, one five-day spin leaving on July 24 and an extended nine-day voyage on July 15.
Other cruise lines showing passengers a whale of a time in Alaska include Crystal, Cunard, Hurtigruten, Lindblad/National Geographic, Oceania, Ponant, Regent Seven Seas and Viking.
