Norwegian Joy - Alaska Hubbard Glacier from Seattle

Where this cruise calls, day by day

9 ports and 2 sea days over 10 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Seattle, WA

   United StatesDepart

   Seattle is the busiest Alaska turnaround port in the US, and which pier you get matters. Pier 91 at Smith Cove is a converted cargo terminal about three miles north of downtown; Pier 66 on Bell Street puts you a steep ten-minute walk from Pike Place Market. Because sailings from here are US-flagged only in part, almost every Seattle Alaska itinerary is legally obliged to call in Canada, usually Victoria.

   • Pike Place Market and the original Starbucks, best done before 9am
   • The Museum of Pop Culture and Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center
   • A ferry across Elliott Bay to Bainbridge Island for the skyline view back
   • Pioneer Square and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park museum, free and directly relevant to where you are sailing

   Getting ashore

   Two terminals: Pier 66 is downtown and walkable, Pier 91 is three miles out and needs a taxi or shuttle - check your ticket, they are not interchangeable.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jul-Aug reliably dry and warm; May and Sep wetter but far less crowded)

2. Day 2 · At sea

3. Day 3

   Juneau

   United StatesPort

   The oddity of Juneau is that it is a US state capital with no road to anywhere - you arrive by ship or plane or not at all, and the legislature meets in a town hemmed between a mountain wall and the water. Ships tie up along the downtown waterfront, close enough that the Mount Roberts Tramway cabins lift off almost directly above the berths. The real draw is Mendenhall Glacier, a rare tidewater-fed icefield you can reach on a scheduled bus.

   • Mendenhall Glacier and the trail to Nugget Falls, about 12 miles from downtown
   • Mount Roberts Tramway from the cruise dock to an alpine trail system at 1,800 feet
   • Whale watching out of Auke Bay, where humpbacks feed reliably through summer
   • Helicopter landing on the Juneau Icefield for a walk on the ice or a dogsled camp

   Getting ashore

   Docks downtown on the waterfront, walkable to the tram and shops; Mendenhall Glacier is a 20-30 minute bus ride.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jun-Jul best for icefield flights; expect rain in any month)

4. Day 4

   Skagway

   United StatesPort

   Skagway is a gold rush staging town that never stopped being one - the false-fronted Broadway storefronts are a National Historical Park, and roughly a thousand year-round residents host several thousand passengers a day in season. What sets it apart from every other Alaskan call is the White Pass and Yukon Route, a narrow-gauge railway that climbs from tidewater to a 2,865-foot pass on grades cut into the cliff in 1898.

   • White Pass and Yukon Route railway to the summit, boarding near the docks
   • Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park visitor center and the restored Broadway buildings
   • The first miles of the Chilkoot Trail from Dyea, the actual stampeders' route
   • Driving the Klondike Highway over the pass into British Columbia and the Yukon

   Getting ashore

   Docks in the harbour a 10-20 minute walk from Broadway depending on berth, with a shuttle from the furthest one.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jun-Aug for full railway and highway access; Skagway is unusually dry and sunny for the region)

5. Day 5

   Hubbard Glacier (Scenic Cruising)

   United StatesPort

   Hubbard is the largest tidewater glacier in North America and, unusually, it has been advancing for about a century while most others retreat. Ships enter Disenchantment Bay near Yakutat and stop well short of the six-mile-wide face, because submerged ice can surface violently after a calving. The ice reaching the water here took roughly 400 years to travel down the glacier.

   • Watching the calving face shed ice the size of a ten-storey building
   • The ship holding position and rotating so both sides see the glacier
   • Seals and sea otters on the brash ice filling Disenchantment Bay
   • The Russell Fiord entrance, which Hubbard has twice dammed shut, in 1986 and 2002

   Getting ashore

   Scenic cruising only - no landing, and how close the ship gets depends entirely on how much loose ice is in the bay that day.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jun-Aug clearest and least ice-blocked)

6. Day 6

   Sitka

   United StatesPort

   Sitka is the one Southeast Alaska call that faces the open Pacific rather than the Inside Passage, and it was the capital of Russian America until 1867 - St Michael's Cathedral still stands in the middle of the main street. The volcanic cone of Mount Edgecumbe sits across the sound. Its history is also the hardest of any Alaskan port: the Tlingit fought and lost a battle here in 1804, on ground that is now a national park.

   • Sitka National Historical Park, with a totem trail through the 1804 battlefield
   • St Michael's Cathedral and the Russian Bishop's House
   • Alaska Raptor Center's flight training centre for injured eagles
   • Wildlife boat tours into Sitka Sound for sea otters, puffins and whales

   Getting ashore

   Larger ships use the Old Sitka Dock about five miles north with a paid shuttle; smaller ships still tender straight into the downtown harbour.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jun-Aug best; Sitka is exposed to Pacific weather and can be rough at the shoulders)

7. Day 7

   Icy Strait Point

   United StatesPort

   Icy Strait Point is not a town - it is a destination built and owned by the Huna Totem Corporation around a restored 1930s salmon cannery, staffed largely by Tlingit residents of Hoonah a mile away. That ownership is the point of the place, and it shows in how the day is presented. Two floating docks take ships directly, and gondolas connect the landing to the upper site and the mountain.

   • Whale watching off Point Adolphus, one of the most reliable humpback feeding grounds in Southeast Alaska
   • The ZipRider, a 5,330-foot zipline dropping over 1,300 feet
   • The restored cannery museum, shops and Tlingit cultural performances
   • Brown bear searching along the Spasski River valley

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth alongside at one of two floating docks, with gondolas linking the landing to the cannery site and the ridge above.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jun-Aug for whales; the site largely closes outside the cruise season)

8. Day 8

   Ketchikan

   United StatesPort

   Ketchikan is built on pilings against a steep hillside, gets over 140 inches of rain a year, and holds the largest collection of standing totem poles anywhere. Creek Street, its most photographed lane, is a boardwalk of former brothels suspended over a salmon stream. Some ships berth right in town; others go to Ward Cove, a converted pulp mill site up the coast, which changes the whole shape of your day.

   • Creek Street boardwalk and Dolly's House, with salmon running below you in season
   • Totem Bight State Historical Park and the Totem Heritage Center's collection of unrestored 19th-century poles
   • Floatplane flightseeing over Misty Fjords National Monument
   • Saxman Native Village carving shed, where you can watch poles being cut

   Getting ashore

   Downtown berths put you steps from Creek Street, but the Ward Cove berth is roughly seven miles north and depends entirely on a shuttle bus into town.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jul-Aug warmest; bring rain gear regardless)

9. Day 9 · At sea

10. Day 10

    Victoria, BC

    CanadaPort

    Victoria's oddity is the clock. US cabotage law requires round-trip Alaska sailings to touch a foreign port, so most ships arrive here late in the evening on the final night and leave near midnight - four hours, much of it dark. Ogden Point is a working breakwater terminal a couple of kilometres from the Inner Harbour, and the city itself is low-rise, English-inflected and easy.

    • Butchart Gardens, about 30 minutes north and lit for evening visits in summer
    • The Inner Harbour, the Parliament Buildings and tea at the Fairmont Empress
    • Royal BC Museum for its First Nations and natural-history collections
    • Fisherman's Wharf and its float homes, a walk along the water from the pier

    Getting ashore

    Docked at Ogden Point; it is roughly a 30-minute waterfront walk to the Inner Harbour, or a short shuttle, taxi or pedicab.

    Best months

    May-Sep; late calls suit Butchart's summer illuminations

11. Day 11

    Seattle, WA

    United StatesArrive

    Seattle is the busiest Alaska turnaround port in the US, and which pier you get matters. Pier 91 at Smith Cove is a converted cargo terminal about three miles north of downtown; Pier 66 on Bell Street puts you a steep ten-minute walk from Pike Place Market. Because sailings from here are US-flagged only in part, almost every Seattle Alaska itinerary is legally obliged to call in Canada, usually Victoria.

    • Pike Place Market and the original Starbucks, best done before 9am
    • The Museum of Pop Culture and Chihuly Garden and Glass at Seattle Center
    • A ferry across Elliott Bay to Bainbridge Island for the skyline view back
    • Pioneer Square and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park museum, free and directly relevant to where you are sailing

    Getting ashore

    Two terminals: Pier 66 is downtown and walkable, Pier 91 is three miles out and needs a taxi or shuttle - check your ticket, they are not interchangeable.

    Best months

    May-Sep (Jul-Aug reliably dry and warm; May and Sep wetter but far less crowded)