Princess is the right line for Alaska if you want Glacier Bay or a land tour to Denali, and it's built around both. Its cruisetours pair the 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers cruise with rail travel and Princess-owned lodges, and Princess calls itself the only cruise line that owns and operates its land accommodations. If you want a small ship, or you only care about the Inside Passage towns, the case is thinner.
The details that decide it are which ship you book and which itinerary it sails, because not every Princess Alaska cruise goes into Glacier Bay. Everything below comes from Princess's own Alaska and cruisetour pages, read on October 9, 2026, plus its 2027 Alaska season release and 2027 Alaska brochure.
What Princess Sails in Alaska in 2027
Princess announced its 2027 Alaska season in August 2025: eight ships, 187 departures and 17 itineraries from five homeports. The ships are Star Princess, Coral Princess, Crown Princess, Discovery Princess, Emerald Princess, Island Princess, Royal Princess and Ruby Princess. The homeports are Seattle, Vancouver, Anchorage (Whittier), San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Here's how Princess's release lays out the 2027 lineup:
- Seattle: Star Princess sails 7-day round trips every Sunday. Royal Princess sails 7-day round trips that include Glacier Bay every Saturday.
- Vancouver: Emerald Princess runs a 7-day itinerary with Glacier Bay or Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. Coral, Crown and Discovery Princess sail 6- to 9-day Inside Passage trips with Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier.
- Voyage of the Glaciers: Coral, Island, Crown and Discovery Princess sail the 7-day one-way route between Vancouver and Whittier.
- San Francisco: Ruby Princess sails a 10-day Inside Passage itinerary with Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier.
- Los Angeles: Emerald Princess sails two 16-day round trips with Glacier Bay.
Princess's 2027 brochure calls Star Princess the newest of its eight Alaska ships and lists it at 4,300 guests and over 1,500 balconies.
If Glacier Bay Is the Point, Pick the Itinerary Carefully
Princess is an authorized concessioner of Glacier Bay National Park, and it says park rangers come aboard to give commentary and answer questions. Its 2027 release counts 85 Glacier Bay calls and says Princess takes more guests there than any other cruise line.
But Glacier Bay depends on the route. The itinerary table in Princess's 2027 brochure puts Glacier Bay on the Saturday round trips from Seattle (Royal Princess) and Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier on the Sunday ones (Star Princess). It shows Endicott Arm, not Glacier Bay, on the 10-day round trip from San Francisco, and Glacier Bay on the 16-day round trip from Los Angeles.
The Voyage of the Glaciers has a wrinkle too. Princess's release says every 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers includes Glacier Bay, but the brochure marks it "on most itineraries" and footnotes Coral Princess's northbound departures from June 2 through August 25, 2027: on those, Hubbard Glacier scenic cruising replaces Glacier Bay.
So read the itinerary for the words "Glacier Bay National Park" before you book. Out of Seattle, that's the real difference between Star Princess and Royal Princess.
Cruise Only or Cruisetour
This is where Princess separates itself. A cruisetour combines the 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers with what Princess calls Direct-to-the-Wilderness rail, glass-domed railcars that take you from the ship to a Princess lodge in the Denali area. Princess says every Alaska cruisetour visits Denali National Park and includes three or more nights on land.
Princess runs five lodges: Fairbanks, the Kenai Peninsula, Copper River and two in the Denali area. Its 2027 release says the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge is one mile from the Denali National Park entrance and points to the Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge for mountain views. You can sail first and do the land part after, or the other way around.
Princess sells three main cruisetour styles:
- Denali Explorer, 10 to 15 nights: includes the Denali Natural History Tour inside the park, with a meal plan available to buy.
- Denali Escorted, 12 to 17 nights: includes the Tundra Wilderness Tour, most meals on land and a tour director. Princess's release says the 17-night version spends two nights at each of the five lodges.
- Denali Essentials, 10 to 12 nights: the cruise, Denali and rail, with a meal plan available to buy.
Princess's 2027 release lists 28 cruisetour itineraries. Its cruisetour page says its National Parks cruisetours take in up to five parks: Glacier Bay, Denali, Kenai Fjords, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park in Skagway and Wrangell-St. Elias, which Princess calls America's largest national park. The Copper River lodge is the one that looks out on Wrangell-St. Elias.
If you want to see Denali and don't want to plan the land half yourself, this is the reason to choose Princess. If you'd rather build your own land trip, a round-trip cruise from Seattle or Vancouver keeps it simple, since you fly in and out of the same city.
Where You'll Stop
Princess's Alaska FAQ names Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Sitka and Icy Strait Point as its classic Inside Passage ports, and the 2027 release adds Haines and Victoria, B.C. The Voyage of the Glaciers stops in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, and Princess's release says every northbound sailing gets a late-night stay in Juneau.
When to Sail and What It Costs
Princess's FAQ says most travelers prefer late June through August for the long days and wildlife, and that May and September tend to offer the best value. It also suggests booking 6 to 12 months ahead, especially for cruisetours and Glacier Bay sailings. Our month-by-month guide to cruising Alaska has the 2027 sailing dates by line.
For fares, we priced Princess against seven other lines in how much an Alaska cruise costs, with the ship, date and cabin for each. If you've sailed Princess before, your Captain's Circle tier decides which perks come with you.
When Another Line Fits Better
Star Princess carries 4,300 guests. If you want a much smaller ship, look at the small-ship lines in our guide to the best Alaska cruises. And if your plan is a single week in the Inside Passage with no land tour, Princess's lodges and rail don't come into it, so compare on ship, date and price.
The Bottom Line
Book Princess if Glacier Bay or Denali is on your list. For Denali, pick a cruisetour by how much you want handled: Escorted if you want a tour director and most meals on land included, Explorer or Essentials if you'd rather decide on a meal plan yourself. For Glacier Bay on a round trip from Seattle, choose Royal Princess's Saturday sailing over Star Princess's Sunday one. On any Voyage of the Glaciers, confirm Glacier Bay is on the itinerary for your date before you put down a deposit.
