Cruising to Alaska

After taking a self-guided tour of the interior of Alaska in August of 2023, my husband and I knew we’d visit Alaska again. 

In June 2024, we took a round-trip Alaskan trip from Vancouver, on Holland America’s Koningsdam. Here are some tips if you’re planning an Alaskan cruise of your own, plus highlights from our trip.

Time of year

Cruise lines generally offer cruises in May through early October. Our cruise took place the first week of June. I believe it was the ship’s second cruise of the season. I thought it was a great time to go because the weather was nice, yet the ports weren’t crowded with as many other ships as they were even a week later.

Itineraries

When choosing an Alaskan cruise, pay attention to where you leave and return – cruises that leave or go to Vancouver generally take the inside route between Vancouver Island and the mainland. These cruisers will enjoy smooth water and beautiful views on both sides of the ship while cruising on the eastern side of the island. Cruises from Seattle go around the west coast of Vancouver, with views of the island only on one side, and with the possibility of rougher water as you’re in the open ocean. Cruises to Seattle also make a mandatory stop in Victoria, British Columbia, which is a beautiful city, but most cruises stop there briefly, which gives little time to explore the city. 

Also look at which ports you’ll visit, how long you’ll be in port, and what time of day you’ll be there. 

Vancouver

Since all hotels in and around Vancouver are expensive, I splurged and booked the Hyatt Regency downtown, which is only a few blocks from the cruise port. We took the Skytrain from the airport to downtown – an easy 30 minute $6 ride – then walked a few blocks to the hotel. The hotel was perfect. We could see the harbor from our room, and the next morning we even saw our cruise ship coming into the port.

Tips: The public transportation system in Vancouver is phenomenal. You can get from the airport to downtown (and back) cheaply and quickly. If you have time to sightsee before or after a cruise, the bus system there is easy to use, and inexpensive. Plan to pay a premium for hotel rooms – especially in summer 2026 when the city hosts FIFA World Cup matches. 

Embarkation Day

The cruise line had sent an email warning of delays with checkin, and had warned us not to arrive in the early afternoon. We were eager to get on the ship, so we ate breakfast at the hotel, did a little walking around the city, then walked to the port. We took photos of the ship, the port, floatplanes taking off and landing. We were in line to board at 11 a.m., and on the ship by 11:30 a.m. We went to the Lido deck and I got my first alcoholic beverage of the trip.

Our stateroom

We were in stateroom number 4009. I had chosen that room from just a few that were listed as available when we booked only a month before the cruise. It is at the front of the ship, on the starboard side. On the plus side it has an extra deep balcony. On the downside, instead of clear plexiglass it has a solid metal railing so you can’t see the water when you’re sitting in the chairs. Also, the partition between our balcony and the one next to ours was loose and the wind made it bang loudly. The maintenance man came once, and fixed it for a short time but then it broke again. I had hoped that not being able to see the ocean as well might help prevent motion sickness. Regardless,  we were ecstatic to have a balcony. Throughout the cruise we were floating past awe-inspiring views. I definitely wouldn’t cruise in Alaska without a balcony.

Dining

Included with the cruise fare are the Lido Market buffet, the Main Dining Room sit down restaurant, Dive-In burgers, Dutch Cafe, and a pizza place. We found all the options to be excellent in food and service. But for its convenience and flexibility, we got most of our meals at the Lido Market buffet. It just has so many options, and we liked being able to just get our food ourselves and eat it wherever we wanted. 

We also did use our specialty dining credit that was included with our Have It All plan at the Pinnacle Grill. It was a nice meal, but we’re not really fancy dining people. I would have been just as happy with a meal from the buffet to be honest. 

First Sea Day
We woke up and gazed at British Columbia’s snow-capped mountains passing by our window. I kept track of our progress on the marine tracker website. I like to know exactly what I’m looking at. We enjoyed our first breakfast, lunch and supper buffet. In the evening we went to the Rolling Stones lounge, which features live classic rock and roll.

Juneau

I had reserved a whale watch trip for us in Juneau, and it was to begin a couple of hours after we got off the ship. So, we walked around the town near the port a bit, and did some souvenir shopping. The best shopping of the entire trip was at the Alaska Shirt Company. It was a busy store, and had the absolute best prices on everything. I should have bought more there than I did. 

We were eager to go whale watching. For the trip, we got on a bus near the ship gangway and they drove us to the small whale watching boat for the three-hour trip. The boat wasn’t very crowded, which was nice. We saw a few orcas in the distance, and a few humpback whales. One humpback even came up for a breath about 50 feet from our boat, surprising all of us. 

 After the whale watch trip and some more souvenir shopping, we got back on the ship. We could have done an additional trip to Mendenhall Glacier, and if I go again, I’ll add that to the whale watch trip. Plus if there were time, we’d take the sky tram to the top of the hill overlooking the port.

Skagway

The following morning, we arrived in Skagway. With our Have It All Package, we had credit for an excursion, and we used it on a two-hour ocean raft wildlife adventure. The description said we’d be taken by ocean raft to see all sorts of wildlife. We put on dry suits and goggles, which we needed as rain poured for about half the trip. We each straddled a seat as we zipped along. As the rain hit my goggles, I felt like I was in a washing machine. We saw a couple of soggy eagles, an empty eagle nest, and that was all of the wildlife. On our way back into the port the sun came out, and we sped past everything. The photo of us in the bright orange dry suits is cute, but the actual trip was disappointing. 

After the excursion, we walked about the downtown area and decided to eat at Skagway Brewing Company restaurant. It was excellent After we ate, we walked around for a bit more. It seemed that most of the stores were jewelry stores. We went back to the ship. From our balcony we watched helicopters take tourists to and from glacier viewing and hiking trips. 

Tip: There are many jewelry stores in Skagway, each with a team of persistent salespeople. If you’re not interested, be ready to tell them so.

Glacier Bay National Park

Our cruise itinerary included a day of cruising in Glacier Bay National Park, where we were to see several glaciers. We’d been told it would be a trip highlight, so we were looking forward to it. At 6 a.m. on Glacier Bay day, an emergency announcement came over the loudspeaker for a passenger needing assistance. A couple of hours later we noticed that the ship had stopped. The captain announced that the passenger with the emergency needed to be evacuated from the ship. The ship turned and headed toward the bay’s entrance. After the person was off the ship, we headed north again and saw only Marjorie Glacier. We first saw it on an upper deck with others. Then we went back to our room, and discovered that seeing it from our own balcony was the best place to be. 
Tip: If you have a balcony, just view the glaciers from your balcony. The ship did a complete turn, and we had an excellent view of it, without the crowds. I wish we had ordered or gotten hot chocolate for the occasion.

Ketchikan

The town has a boardwalk that wraps around and over a creek, so we planned to walk and tour on our own. During the late summer salmon swimming upriver fill the creek. We were too early to see that, but we did see a “ladder” that was built for them. It was easy to imagine salmon using the staircase as they navigated up the creek. We enjoyed seeing the many shops that line the creek and downtown area, and the creek itself. We walked to a totem pole museum, then back. We ate lunch at a very small Mexican restaurant, then we walked down to the floatplane base. We watched planes come and go. After more souvenir shopping we got back on the ship.

Sea Day

The last sea day, we cruised past beautiful snow-capped mountains and evergreen trees. In the middle of our last night on the cruise, I went out onto the balcony and watched as we floated past the towns along the coast of Vancouver Island. The lights were dazzling. Everything was quiet, and the temperature was perfect.

Back to Vancouver

Once we arrived back in Vancouver, we went through immigration quickly, then walked a couple of blocks to the hotel I’d booked for the night. We dropped our bags off and took the bus to Stanley Park. We walked around the park, then took the bus back to the hotel. I had booked us on an afternoon whale watch trip, leaving from Granville Island. We took an Uber to Granville. The whale watch trip was amazing. We found a pod of transient orcas and stayed with them for about an hour, then we saw a couple of humpbacks. It was an amazing end to our vacation.