Cruise To Alaska

Taking a boat up the Inside Passage has always been something I've longed to do. When I turned 18, I was going to take the Alaska Marine Ferry boat up, stopping at all the small towns going hiking and camping. It never happened. The closest I've come to doing this is a cruise ship to Alaska up the inside passage. This turned out to be a disaster. It rained the entire time (the last week of July), and the ship really didn't travel most of the inside passage as it claimed it would. Next time, I will definitely be taking the ferry boat or my other dream of kayaking up the passage.

But, the majority of visitors to Southeast Alaska find their way up there by cruise ship. Not a bad option, you still should see plenty of sights assuming the weather is decent. Booking the cruise is a gamble though. You can really strike gold with good weather or a complete disappointment with bad weather. Be ready for disappointment. Unlike some other cruises, Alaska is about the scenery from the ship. Scenery is the key with the shore excursions as well. Although the towns are interesting, booking a flight seeing tour or a kayak or rail tour will take you to the most incredible scenery. Bad weather will ruin those plans.

There are a few dozen cruise ships in Alaska in the summer. When looking for a trip, I was focused on three factors in a 7 day cruise. It needed to go into Glacier Bay, it needed to go up the inside passage, and it needed to stop at 3 ports. The cruises vary quite a bit. Some just shoot up the Pacific Ocean avoiding the scenic passage, while others don't do any out of the way areas like Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm Fjord. We hit 4 towns, Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and Victoria. Other ports might include Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg or Hanes.

My Trip Information On Port Locations