An Alaska cruise only gets you the coast: a 7-night sailing with glaciers and port stops, usually round trip from Seattle or Vancouver. A cruisetour adds a land tour of the interior, with Denali the main draw, so you sail one way and spend 2 to 6 nights inland on Royal Caribbean or three or more on Princess. Pick the cruise if the coast and glaciers are the trip. Pick the cruisetour if you want Denali, and accept the extra nights, extra planning and, with Royal Caribbean, meals you pay for on land. This guide uses Princess's, Holland America's and Royal Caribbean's own pages, read on October 19, 2026.
What a Cruise Only Covers
Princess says a round-trip Alaska cruise typically departs from and returns to Seattle, Vancouver or San Francisco and visits Inside Passage ports. Royal Caribbean's cruise-only options are 7-night round trips from Seattle, sailing June through August or in May and September, and from Vancouver, sailing May through September. Holland America lists Alaska cruises of 7 to 28 days from Seattle, Vancouver, Whittier or San Diego, with a Glacier Guarantee that gives a future cruise credit of 15% of your fare if you don't see a glacier.
Princess's one-way cruises run between Vancouver and Whittier, the port for Anchorage, and Princess says that route opens the door to extended land travel. Royal Caribbean's one-way sailings run from Vancouver or Seward.
What a Cruisetour Adds
Each line pairs a sailing, usually 7 nights, with a land tour:
- Princess: the 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers plus three or more nights on land, 10 to 17 nights in total on the tiers it features. The Denali lodge is on all of them, along with Princess rail.
- Holland America: 9 to 17 days, with 1 to 3 nights at its Denali lodge and a Denali park tour on every cruisetour. Its Ultimate Alaska and Denali tours and its Alaska, Denali and Yukon tours include a Tour Director, and the Yukon tours add two nights in Dawson City.
- Royal Caribbean: a 7-night cruise plus a 2 to 6 night land tour, 9 to 13 nights in total, across 12 itineraries.
Direction is your choice on Princess and Holland America, who show both land-first and cruise-first itineraries. Royal Caribbean offers its tours before or after the cruise, though it calls Kenai Fjords and Wildlife its only southbound cruisetour, the one with the land tour first. For how the pieces fit on one line, see our guide to how Princess Alaska cruisetours work.
What Costs Extra
On the land portion, Royal Caribbean says food and beverages aren't included, though transfers are, and Princess says land gratuities aren't included and sells prepaid meal plans for land dining. Princess's cruisetour experts take calls on 1-888-260-0837. On Princess's tours you enter both the U.S. and Canada, and land expenses are in U.S. dollars while Vancouver expenses are in Canadian dollars.
Plan the trip around the one-way structure. You start in one city and finish in another, so your flights, luggage plan and return airport depend on the itinerary. Royal Caribbean says a cruisetour converted to cruise only within 42 days of the land tour's start date carries a cancellation charge, so decide before that point.
How to Choose
Choose the cruise only if you want glaciers and ports without the extra nights, you'd rather sail round trip from Seattle or Vancouver, or you want the simpler booking. Princess says most travelers prefer late June through August, and May and September tend to offer better value. Our guides to the best time to cruise Alaska and what an Alaska cruise costs cover timing and price, and our Princess Alaska guide covers which ships reach Glacier Bay.
Choose the cruisetour if Denali is on your list. The park sits inland, and Princess and Holland America reach it on every cruisetour with a rail leg and a lodge stay.
