Alaska is one of those rare destinations where the two headline sights sit in completely different worlds. Glacier Bay National Park is best seen from the deck of a ship, while Denali National Park demands a land-based trip. A cruisetour stitches the two together — and Princess, with 28 different Alaska itineraries, is by far the biggest operator in this space.
The basic formula: every Princess cruisetour pairs a seven-night, one-way sailing between Vancouver and Whittier (the line's Voyage of the Glaciers route) with three to ten days of overland touring. Trips run 10 to 17 days in total, and they all include a visit to Glacier Bay — Princess is one of only a handful of lines with permits to enter the park.
Princess has been running Alaska operations for nearly 60 years, and it shows. The line owns five wilderness lodges across the state, including the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge a mile from Denali's entrance — closer than any other lodging — plus properties on the Kenai Peninsula and outside Wrangell–St. Elias, the largest national park in the US. It also runs its own fleet of glass-domed rail cars and motorcoaches, and holds a stake in Skagway's White Pass and Yukon Route railroad.
The 28 itineraries fall into three tiers. Denali Essentials trips (10-12 days) cover the basics. Denali Explorer itineraries (10-15 days) are the most popular, pairing the cruise — which stops at Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway and two glacier-viewing days among Glacier Bay, Hubbard Glacier and College Fjord — with lodge stays. Denali Escorted trips (12-17 days) add a tour director and more inclusions.
Logistics matter when booking. Cruisetours start in Anchorage, Fairbanks or Vancouver, so you'll need an open-jaw flight into one and home from the other. Land meals and most excursions cost extra, though some escorted versions bundle more in. Princess can arrange flights through its EZair service, but many travellers prefer to book their own using points.
Ship choice matters too. Only four of Princess's eight Alaska ships sail the one-way route in 2027 and 2028: Coral and Island Princess (around 2,000 passengers each, best for a quieter vibe), Crown Princess (roughly 3,000), and the newest and largest, Discovery Princess, carrying about 3,660.
A cruisetour isn't cheap in time — 10 to 17 days is a serious commitment — but it's the most practical way to see Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Denali in one trip. Juneau isn't even reachable by road, and driving the rest independently means long hauls on sparse highways. If you want Alaska's greatest hits without a rental car and a spreadsheet, this is the format built for it.
