Star Princess - Alaska Inside Passage from Seattle
Princess's newest Sphere-class ship spends its first full Alaska season sailing the classic Inside Passage loop from Seattle. The route threads Endicott Arm to the face of Dawes Glacier before an afternoon-to-evening call in Juneau, bookended by full days in Ketchikan and Skagway and a late-evening stop in Victoria on the way home.
Price Range
$$
Mid-Range
*Prices vary by cabin type, sailing date, and availability. Confirm rates with Princess Cruises before booking.
Ship Details — Star Princess
View full Star Princess details
Year Built
2025
Tonnage
175,500 GT
Passengers
4,300
Crew
1,700
Decks
21
Class
Sphere
Itinerary & Route Map
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Where this cruise calls, day by day
6 ports and 2 sea days over 7 Nights.
- Day 1Seattle, WA port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Seattle, WA
United StatesDepart Day 2 · At sea
- Day 3Ketchikan port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Ketchikan
United StatesPort - Day 4Juneau port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Juneau
United StatesPort - Day 5Skagway port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Skagway
United StatesPort Day 6 · At sea
- Day 7Victoria, BC port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Victoria, BC
CanadaPort - Day 8Seattle, WA port guide: where ships dock and what to do ashore
Seattle, WA
United StatesArrive
What to know about this sailing
Drawn from 21 traveler threads about Star Princess in Alaska (2018–2026), the route data and the port notes above; the pre-2021 threads concern the previous Princess ship that carried the name.
Nobody in traveler discussions had sailed this ship on this route when the archive closes in February 2026, because Star Princess only reaches Alaska for the 2026 season; every thread about it is a booking debate, and the pre-2021 ones are about the older Princess ship that previously carried the name. Read that way, the archive is unusually consistent about the one trade-off that matters here. The loop runs the classic three towns south to north, Ketchikan first, then a morning in Endicott Arm at Dawes Glacier folded into the Juneau day, then Skagway, and it never enters Glacier Bay. A 2023 reply from a Seattle-based travel agent with eight Alaska cruises behind them, describing the same Endicott Arm routing on Discovery Princess, put the difference plainly: roughly two hours at Dawes against a full day inside Glacier Bay with rangers aboard. Two sea days plus the late-evening Victoria call leave three real port days in seven nights.
Every thread weighing this sailing frames it as ship versus glacier. Royal Princess runs from the same city for a few hundred dollars less and adds a full Glacier Bay day; on a 2025 thread comparing the two for a multigenerational July 2026 trip, the two most-upvoted replies both picked Royal Princess for that reason alone. Norwegian Encore also has Glacier Bay at a slightly higher fare than Star, and the replies on 2025 and 2026 threads that chose Star over Encore did so for the ship and for docking, since Princess ties up in downtown Ketchikan where Norwegian's berth is a shuttle ride out of town. One 2026 reply ranked Star last of the four ships in that thread and called it crowded unless you book a Sanctuary cabin, while a 2026 poster booked for May recommended exactly that, a Sanctuary Collection mini-suite with its own dining room and the Premier package included. This is the sailing for people who want the newest Princess hull and a Seattle departure and can live without Glacier Bay; anyone who has read the threads and still wants the park should book Royal Princess or Encore instead, and a 2024 poster with six or seven Alaska cruises behind them said the only one that disappointed was the one that skipped it.
Questions about this sailing
Is Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier as good as Glacier Bay?
Not according to the threads. A 2023 reply from a Seattle travel agent with eight Alaska cruises said a ship spends about two hours in Endicott Arm at Dawes Glacier against a full day in Glacier Bay, and posters in 2024, 2025 and 2026 repeatedly called Glacier Bay the deal-breaker between Star Princess and the ships that enter it. The counter-view, from replies that picked Star anyway, is that the newer ship and Princess's downtown docking outweigh the glacier, and a 2024 poster who had done Glacier Bay on Princess said they would try a different glacier next time rather than repeat it.
Star Princess or Norwegian Encore for a first Alaska cruise from Seattle?
Three threads between mid-2025 and early 2026 asked exactly this. The case for Encore is Glacier Bay, which Star never enters. The case for Star, made by the most-upvoted replies on the 2025 threads, is the ship itself plus Princess docking in downtown Ketchikan rather than Norwegian's Ward Cove berth, which several posters called the annoying part of the Norwegian itinerary and told the poster to check port times before deciding. On suites, one reply comparing Star's owner's suite with Encore's Haven said the Princess suite was much bigger and significantly cheaper but the Haven is the more exclusive enclave.
Can you take a baby on this Alaska cruise?
A February 2026 thread asked about this sailing with a ten-month-old. The replies agreed that neither Princess nor Norwegian offers infant care and both kids' programmes start at three, so childcare should not decide between the two; one reply noted Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney do take babies for limited slots. Two replies said a balcony earns its keep with a baby napping in the cabin, and one warned that shore excursions get severely limited with an infant and that whales may still be scarce in early May.
Onboard Amenities
Cruise Highlights
About the Ship
What Travelers Say About Star Princess
Reviews of the ship itself — the same for every Star Princess sailing. Distilled from 71 traveler threads, Cruise Critic member reviews and travel blogs.
Star Princess is the second Sphere-class ship and a near-twin of Sun Princess, but it arrives as the version that learned from its sister's mistakes. Debuting in October 2025 with an 11-day Mediterranean roundtrip from Barcelona, it carries roughly 4,300 guests at around 178,000 gross tons and was christened in November 2025 with godparents Camila and Matthew McConaughey. The vibe is refined, modern, and premium-but-unpretentious, built around the same futuristic Sphere atrium and the signature glass-domed solarium, and pitched squarely at mature couples, groups of friends, and first-time Princess cruisers.
What People Love
- Princess baked in fixes from Sun Princess's launch from day one, so the operational debut went noticeably more smoothly than its sister's.
- A brand-new separate non-smoking casino directly addresses one of the biggest complaints about Sun Princess.
- Specialty venues The Butcher's Block by Dario and The Catch by Rudi now occupy dedicated spaces rather than the awkward back-of-buffet placement they had on Sun.
Common Complaints
- As a brand-new ship that debuted in October 2025, it has very few reviews and no verified aggregate rating yet.
- Wayfinding was not improved and remains as confusing as Sun Princess, with inadequate signage.
- The Eatery buffet is still undersized and overcrowded for 4,300 guests, pushing diners to sun-exposed outdoor tables.