Alaska Cruise Ports, Ranked

Not all Alaska ports are equal, and the differences are larger than the itineraries suggest. This ranks the ports on the standard circuit by what they deliver relative to the time you have.

Ports on the standard Alaska circuit differ more than the itinerary suggests. This ranks them on what they deliver against the hours you actually have.

1. Skagway

Why it wins: the White Pass and Yukon Route railway. A narrow gauge line hand built in 1898 and 1899, climbing 2,865 feet in twenty miles through tunnels and across trestles. It is spectacular, historically remarkable and completely weather proof, which no other headline Alaska excursion is.

The town is a bonus: twelve blocks of preserved gold rush streetscape maintained in part by the National Park Service, walkable in an hour, with free ranger led tours. Skagway also sits in a rain shadow and receives about 26 inches of rain a year against Ketchikan's 140.

Weakness: almost no wildlife. Do not plan a whale trip here.

2. Juneau

Why it is here: it offers the most. Mendenhall Glacier is twelve miles away and is the most accessible glacier in Alaska. Whale watching out of Auke Bay is among the most reliable anywhere. Helicopter glacier landings and icefield dog sledding are available nowhere else on the circuit at this quality.

Weakness: it is the busiest port in Alaska, receiving over 1.6 million cruise passengers a season, and everything worth doing is outside town. A five ship day is genuinely congested and badly planned Juneau days are the most common Alaska cruise regret.

3. Icy Strait Point

Why it is here: the best whale watching odds in Alaska, boats that leave from the site itself, two gondolas that remove the walking, Tlingit ownership that keeps revenue in the community, and almost no crowding.

It is also the least stressful port on the circuit, which after Juneau and Skagway is worth more than it sounds. See Icy Strait Point.

Weakness: it is not a town. Travellers expecting a historic main street find it manufactured.

4. Ketchikan

Why it is here: the most walkable port in Alaska, and the only one where a completely free day is genuinely as good as a paid one. Creek Street, the Totem Heritage Center and the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center are all within fifteen minutes of the berth. The largest collection of standing totem poles in the world sits across three sites.

Misty Fjords by floatplane is the most spectacular two hours available anywhere on the circuit, when it flies.

Weakness: around 140 inches of rain a year, and short port calls that often run only six to nine hours.

5. Sitka

Why it is here: the deepest history on the circuit, with Russian colonial heritage and long standing Tlingit presence, plus the best all round wildlife because it faces the open Pacific. Sea otters, puffins and large sea lion colonies are all available here and largely are not elsewhere.

Weakness: many ships tender, which costs two hours of the port day and occasionally means the call is cancelled entirely in rough water. See Sitka.

6. Victoria

Why it is last: it is on the itinerary because United States law requires a foreign port call on Seattle round trips, not because anyone chose it as a destination. The call is usually four to six hours and often begins in the evening.

That said, it is a genuinely attractive city and Butchart Gardens illuminated after dark is a good use of a short evening.

The ports most itineraries skip

• Haines, a quieter alternative to Skagway with the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve
• Wrangell and Petersburg, small working communities largely untouched by mass tourism
• Kodiak, a genuinely different island environment
• Prince Rupert, on the British Columbia coast

These appear on longer itineraries and on small ship sailings, and they are the strongest argument for a ten to fourteen night cruise on a second visit.

How to allocate your excursion budget

If you can only book two excursions across the whole cruise, book the White Pass railway in Skagway and a whale watching trip at Icy Strait Point or Juneau. Walk Ketchikan for free. That combination covers the two things Alaska does better than anywhere else, for roughly $560 per person.