Last Updated: Jun 10, 2025 @ 10:30 am
Whether you are a first time cruiser or a seasoned veteran cruiser, we hope that this website can offer you some guidance to make this, and future cruises, more enjoyable, safe, and cost effective as possible. While it may be fun to discover all of this information on your own, you may overlook some items which may end up costing you time and/or money in the end. This website is packed with information to help you plan and enjoy this nautical vacation by giving you access to a variety of things you may want to consider or encounter on cruises.
This 7 day Alaska Cruise is from Saturday, July 5, 2025 to Saturday, July 12, 2025 on the Princess Cruise ship "Sapphire Princess". This is a 7 day cruise departing from Anchorage (Whittier) and arriving in Vancouver, Canada and will explore the coasts and ports of Alaska and Canada along the way.
Sat, July 5 - Anchorage (Whittier)
Sun, July 6 - Hubbard Glacier (Scenic Cruising) Alaska
Mon, July 7 - Glacier Bay National Park (Scenic Crusing) Alaska
Tue, July 8 - Skagway, Alaska
Wed, July 9 - Juneau, Alaska
Thur, July 10 - Ketchikan, Alaska
Fri, July 11 - At Sea
Sat, July 12 - Vancouver, Canada
To make this cruise even more memorable for us we are planning to spend time exploring some of Alaska by land for 8 days prior to the cruise! The land portion of our vacation will allow us to explore parts of Denali National Park, Fairbanks, Valdez, Seward, the Kenai Fjords, and the Homer area.
There currently is some volcanic activity taking place in Alaska that hopefully will not disturb our plans. To keep track of this potential you can visit the Alaska Volcano Information website.
The information we are including on this website is garnered from cruising websites such as Cruise Critic, Cruzely, Tips for Travellers, Cruise Hive, Life Well Cruised, Profcruise, the Princess Cruise website, and watching countless hours of YouTube videos about cruising (such as Tips for Travelers, La Lido Loca, Don's Famiy Vacations, Life Well Cruised, Emma Cruises, etc.), plus personal observations we have encountered on our cruises and talking with other experienced cruisers. While we are hardly veteran cruisers, we do like to do our research and are happy to share what we have learned with our friends!
While a cruise may seem expensive, it offers us the opportunity to travel to many exotic ports, eat, be entertained, pampered, eat, relax or be active, eat, and enjoy times with each other. Did I mention we could also eat? It is truly a unique vacation experience!
What do we love about cruising?
Being at sea. For us, one of the best things of cruising are the sea days. The experience and pace of life with a series of sea days is amazing. You truly can unwind and relax, as it is so peaceful. You unwind and relax like you never do on land.
Get to see places that can be hard to see by land. Some of the Alaskan areas may be difficult or impossible to otherwise visit by land transpiration being only accessible via ship or air travel.
Region Taster. It is great to get a taste for a number of places in a region and then decide which island or area you may want to go back and spend time at and really explore. For example, it can be hard to decide what part of Alaska you want to commit to going to for more time. But if you go on a cruise you may see 5 or 6 areas, explore for a day, and decide where you want to invest more time and money in the future.
People. Very friendly and a sense of community. People are more chatty and friendly as they a have a shared interest and focus – much more than on land based vacations.
Diversity of things to do – all within a short walking distance. A cruise ship is a one stop total city experience where everything you want is within a few hundred feet and a huge range of activities to indulge in. Fine dining. Broadway Style Shows. Variety of dining venues. Shops. Lectures. Fitness center. Spa etc. Nearly everything you could imagine.
Variety. For people that prefer not to stay in one place a cruise means you can see many places without the hassle of packing and unpacking, changing hotels etc. You wake up each morning someplace new!
If you're new to cruising you may want to first refer to the glossary of cruise ship terms to become familiar with the nautical and cruise ship jargon used throughout this website.
If you have additional questions they may also be answered by reading through the Cruise Answer Book created by Princess Cruises. This booklet should be very helpful in answering many of the questions you may have as a first time cruiser.
If you do read something on this website and later you can't recall where you found it, the site has a search feature which is accessed by clicking the search magnifying glass in the upper righthand corner of each page.
For comments, suggestions, or questions about this website or this cruise please contact me via email
If you want more information about a particular topic please let me know and I will try to update the website!
We enjoy introducing our friends and family to the world of cruising and we hope you enjoy the experience as much as we do.
Although we have not cruised in Alaska we do enjoy cruising and we have done exhaustive research into learning what an Alaskan cruise may be like. However, we also want to make this an experience that YOU create and enjoy. So while we may have suggestions we leave it up to you as on what you may want to do.
It is fun to sail with friends and family who can enjoy these experiences together and we hope you enjoy this cruise to perhaps share more with us in the future.