Seven Seas Mariner - Alaska Wilderness

Where this cruise calls, day by day

5 ports and 3 sea days over 7 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Vancouver, BC

   CanadaDepart

   Canada Place is the rare cruise terminal that is genuinely in the middle of the city - white sail-roofs on the downtown waterfront, with Gastown five minutes away on foot. Most Vancouver calls are turnaround days for Alaska, which means customs queues and half a day rather than a whole one. Ships that don't fit or can't get a slot go to Ballantyne Pier, which is a shuttle ride out.

   • The Stanley Park seawall and the totem poles at Brockton Point
   • Granville Island Public Market, reached by the little rainbow ferries
   • Capilano Suspension Bridge and the Grouse Mountain gondola on the North Shore
   • Gastown's steam clock, then Chinatown and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

   Getting ashore

   Docked. Canada Place opens onto the downtown waterfront beside the Waterfront SkyTrain station; the overflow berth at Ballantyne Pier is a few kilometres east and needs a taxi or shuttle.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Alaska season); Jul-Aug driest

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

   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)

5. Day 5 · At sea

6. Day 6

   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)

7. Day 7 · At sea

8. Day 8

   Seward

   United StatesArrive

   Seward sits at the head of Resurrection Bay on the Kenai Peninsula and works mainly as a turnaround port for Gulf of Alaska crossings, where passengers swap ship for the Alaska Railroad or a coach to Anchorage, 120 miles north. It is also the road gateway to Kenai Fjords National Park. A new Royal Caribbean-funded cruise terminal with a 748-foot floating dock has been replacing the old railway-side facility.

   • Kenai Fjords National Park boat tour to the tidewater glaciers in Aialik Bay
   • Exit Glacier, the one part of the park you can reach and walk to by road
   • Alaska SeaLife Center on the waterfront, a research aquarium and rescue facility
   • The Coastal Classic train to Anchorage through the Kenai Mountains

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth alongside at the cruise terminal beside the railway, a walk or short shuttle from Seward's small downtown.

   Best months

   May-Sep (Jun-Aug for glacier boat tours; the season ends abruptly in September)