Here's Your 2009 Alaska Cruising Report!

14 Cruiselines, 46 Cruiseships Sailing to Alaska This Summer

Plus Alaska State Ferries, BC Ferries, and Independent Ferries

Fourteen cruiselines – count ‘em, 14! – have scheduled Alaska cruises in 2009.
In total, visitors have an awesome 46 ships to choose among. Some are big and awesome, as in 2,670 guests awesome. Some are small and intimate awesome, pampering 12 or fewer.

Here’s the skinny on each of your cruiseline and ship options. For more information use the company website or phone contact listed with each entry:

Cruising Glacier Bay, Mike Miller photo ->

Large and Mega Vessels

Carnival Cruiselines: 1-800-CARNIVAL, www.carnival.com.
The world’s largest cruiseline will operate one vessel, the 2,124-guest Carnival Spirit, in Alaska beginning May 6 with one of its three “Glacier Bay” route sailings scheduled for 2009. The cruise includes a full day in Glacier Bay National Park.

For most of the season the line has scheduled seven-day one-way “Northbound Alaska” or “Southbound Alaska” cruises either north from Vancouver or south from Whittier (near Anchorage). Cruises in either direction feature College Fjord and other glacier sites in Prince William Sound, sailing the Inside Passage, plus port calls in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Sitka.

The company’s three seven-night “Glacier Bay” route cruises are roundtrip voyages from Vancouver. These trips spend full days cruising Glacier Bay National Park and feature sites along the Inside Passage as well as port calls in Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan.

Celebrity Cruises: 1-800-437-3111, www.celebritycruises.com.
Three vessels – Celebrity Mercury (1,870 guests), Celebrity Infinity (1,950), and Celebrity Millennium (1,950) – will return to Alaska cruising in 2009.

Mercury will begin its 2009 Alaska season (and Celebrity’s) with a 14-nite roundtrip “Ultimate Alaska Cruise” from Los Angeles, embarking on April 27. Ports en route include Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Victoria (B.C.) and return to Los Angeles. May 11 it will depart L.A. for Seattle, and Southeast Alaska ports (including Icy Strait Point) with a return to Vancouver. On May 24 it will begin a series of seven-night season-long roundtrips to Alaska’s Southeast from Vancouver.

Infinity will kick off its season May 11 with an open-jaw 11-night “Ultimate Alaska” voyage from San Francisco to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Victoria (B.C.) and Vancouver. Starting May 22 the ship will then sail round trips for the balance of the 2009 season from Seattle to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Victoria (B.C.) and return to Seattle.

Millennium will sail a similar roundtrip itinerary from Vancouver on May 22, then on May 29 initiate a season-long series of seven-night one-way voyages between Vancouver and Seward with Inside Passage cruising and port calls. Its final cruise of the season will be September 11 from Seward to Vancouver.

Holland America Line: 1-877-SAIL HAL, www.hollandamerica.com.
Again in 2009 Holland America will dispatch no fewer than eight cruiseliners to Alaska, offering three basic itineraries. Three vessels homeported in Seattle will sail 61 seven-day roundtrip Inside Passage “Alaskan Explorer” cruises: the 1,432-guest Zaandam starting Holland American Line’s 2009 Alaska season May 8; Holland America Line flagship Amsterdam (1,380 guests);

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The ABC's of Alaska Cruising

Three vessel sizes; four "flavors" of Alaska cruising;
when to visit Alaska; and, oh yeah, Alaska's weather

No doubt about it, Alaska's 2009 cruise season promises to be a another banner year for seaborne travel in this land of brown bears, mountain goats, humpback whales, sprawling glaciers, ice-capped mountains, steep-walled fjords, lunker king salmon and lush towering forests.

Forty-six cruiseships are scheduled to sail in the Alaska trade in 2009. Here are the ABCs of comfortable cruising in these wondrous wilderness waters from spring and summer through early fall. More...

Cruiseship passengers and Juneau locals enjoy the "Aurora Strings" performing at the "Concert in the Park" at Marine Park on the Juneau cruiseship wharf. Cruiseship in the background is the Holland America Line vessel Zaandam. Every Friday in the summer features different local artists. (Photo by Mike Miller)

Think Alaska Cruising Is Just for Grownups?

Bring the kids! Alaska cruiseship travel can be a fabulous, fun, family vacation!
See our family cruising page for details.

Concerned About How Much to Tip on an Alaska Cruise?

See our FAQ page for guidance, and to see Theron P. Keller's incredibly easy-to-use calculator that instantly tells you just the right amount to budget for gratuities – even, if you wish – before you leave home!

Alaska Cruise Tours – The Way to Cruise

Alaskas Hiways, Flyways & Railways

First time cruisers sometimes wonder what a “cruise tour” might be. A “tour” of the cruiseship perhaps?

Well, no... When you buy an Alaska cruise tour (also called a "cruisetour" or a "cruise- tour") you purchase a package that includes a basic cruise plus additional tours, travel, and destinations ashore either before or after the cruise. Your pre-cruise and post-cruise choices range from wilderness lodges and national parks to scenic rail and motorcoach excursions, riverboat journeys, travel to Canada’s Yukon Territory, and any number of other pleasurable things-to-do and places-to-see.

All necessary transportation, hotels, tours, and transfers – including, of course, your basic cruise – are usually covered in a single purchase. Exceptions: Some meals ashore may or may not be included; gratuities seldom are.

The cruise tour offered most by cruiselines is a one- or multiple-night option featuring luxury rail or motorcoach from Anchorage or Whittier to Denali National Park. The package may or may not include a sightseeing bus ride deep into the park’s interior in search of grizzly bears, moose, caribou, Dall mountain sheep, foxes, and - if you’re incredibly lucky - wolves or wolverines. Some Denali tours extend north to (or from) Fairbanks. More...

Alaska's "Other" Ferry System

You've heard about cruising via Alaska's excellent state ferries. And about BC Ferries' fine service just south of the Alaska panhandle. But have you heard about Alaska's "other" ferry system? Click here to read about this "Off the Beaten Path" travel opportunity.

Introducing a Brand New Feature:

"Port of the Month... An Alaska Port City Vignette"

Beginning now and continuing through December and into the new year, AlaskaCruisingReport.com introduces the first in a new series of monthly reports about Alaska's fascinating port cities. First in the series is Ketchikan. In January we'll tell you about Sitka. In March it will be Juneau's turn. (The list goes on...) To view the Ketchikan entry click on "Port Cities" in the upper left-hand list of links.

Alaska's Exciting Ports of Call

The port cities, towns, and villages you can visit on an Alaska cruise or ferry ride are a diverse and exciting lot. Some communities, like Anchorage, are big and busy and business-oriented, yet Alaskan to the core; the Anchorage Museum of History and Art and the Alaska Native Heritage Center are both "must see." Skagway is an authentic 19th century goldrush town. Sitka relishes the memory of its Tlingit Indian heritage and its Russian colonial past.

They don't call Petersburg "Little Norway" for nothing, and if you don't believe it drop by toward the end of May and help the locals celebrate Norwegian Independence Day. Juneau's three "G's" (Glaciers, Gold, and Government) make it a favorite stop among both cruisers and ferry patrons.

Ketchikan's world class collection of totem poles is much treasured by residents and visitors alike - as are the magnificent cedar monuments on Chief Shakes Island within the harbor at Wrangell. At Haines, residents likewise embrace historic and contemporary Tlingit Indian art, as well as the world's largest gathering of American bald eagles. Tiny Baranof Warm Springs, as the name implies, boasts natural outdoor warm springs pools in the woods - sites much appreciated both by locals, itinerant commercial fishermen and smallboat cruise passengers. Tenakee's natural springs have similar appeal.

Icy Strait Point, adjacent to Hoonah, is Alaska's first planned cultural and activity port, reserved for passengers from no more than one cruiseship a day. Cordova and Valdez, both located on the shores of glacier-rich Prince William Sound, offer unexcelled waterborne sightseeing and angling. Goldrush Nome, the Eskimo village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, and Little Diomede Island can only be described as "way far out," in more ways than one. More...

BC Ferries New Vessel Now Sailing Inside Passage

To Prince Rupert and Alaska Ferry Access to Ketchikan

Our ferry page has complete details!

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