Princess Cruises is gearing up for its biggest ever Alaska season, with the cruise line announcing they will be sending eight ships to the region in 2026. The sailings will encompass 180 departures and 19 destinations across the eight ships.
Star Princess will become the first Sphere Class ship to sail in Alaska, with the design of the ship perfectly designed for wildlife and landscape watching. The ship is designed to have ocean vistas even from a range of eateries and restaurants.
But the move won’t please everyone. America’s last frontier is now a hotbed of tension over the growing number of tourists.
In the state capital Juneau, residents are fighting for “Ship-free Saturdays” with a proposal to ban cruise ships carrying 250 or more passengers from docking every week. The city’s Assembly has until August 15 to adopt the measure or face a referendum of residents in October.
The Princes fleet numbers adds an extra ship, but the line in total can carry 24,000 passengers. Princess is, of course, not alone – but one of the region’s biggest and most popular players.
Bookings for its new season will be open from August 2. Furthermore due to Princess’s new price guarantee, passengers can book as soon as possible and know that if Prices drop, you will receive 120% of the fare difference in on-board credit.
Sailings will range between seven-day and 20-day journeys, with plenty of itineraries to Alaska’s premier glaciers, as well as the inside passage.
A particularly noteworthy feature of Princess’s Alaska sailings is their ‘North to Alaska with Princess’ program. This program includes a range of naturalist talks, a planetarium Northern Lights experience, a local seafood menu and more, to offer a more immersive cultural look into Alaskan lifestyles and environments.
There are also over 20 cruisetour options available, these offer the chance to combine your cruise with an overland holiday.
John Padgett, Princess Cruises President said: ““2026 will reinforce Princess’ leadership in Alaska cruise holidays. The deployment of the magnificent Star Princess to Alaska for the first time will offer guests unprecedented views, luxurious accommodations, and the finest food, beverages and entertainment ever seen in the Great Land. Our guests will experience Alaska like never before aboard our innovative Sphere Class ship.
“Whether you’re a first-time cruiser or a seasoned traveller, Princess is the ultimate choice for luxury and adventure, with awe-inspiring glaciers, unforgettable wildlife encounters, and the freshest seafood imaginable.”
Alaskan cruise caps
The key Alaskan port Juneau has been setting more and more caps on cruise ships, deciding they will only take 16,000 cruise ships per day, and just 12,000 on Saturday’s, to provide more respite to locals.
These limits are set to begin from 2026, as such it appears the news caps have not deterred Princess from investing and growing in the region.
Disturbance to local communities is a hotly debated issue at the moment. Santorini, a port also reconsidering its cruise laws, recently saw 11,000 cruise passengers in just one day, around 70% of its total population.
The ‘invasion’ of tourists was so severe that the president of the Thira municipa community Panagiotis Kavallaris asks citizens to limit their movements and try to stay inside.
Santorini is set to issue new cruise caps from 2025, but is also discussing constructing a new cruise port and improving its energy infrastructure.
I have lived in Juneau for 42 years, giving me the historical perspective on cruise ship visits. Alaska and Juneau in particular have always had tourist/ travelers , it is the scale of the ships and the numbers they carry that is the problem.
In the 1980’s a cruise ship a week brought 1500 visitors . Juneau accommodated with wonderful art to sell, great fishing , sea life and land animal watching. These days with 22,000 disembarking on any Tuesday what poor Juneau has to offer is 2 beers and a t-shirt.
The length of this huge ships if stood on end would be in violation of our height requirements for downtown. And with five ships in one cannot see across the harbor to Douglas Island.
It has become ridiculous to watch the slow parade of people jammed on the sidewalks, and the near gridlock from the tram to the 4Points Hotel 3/4 of a mile long .
The season used to be Memorial Day, the last of May to Labor Day the first of September, now it begins in mid April and goes through the third week of October. Too long with too many.
This is goes out for ken I agree but something has to be done I mean come on these poor people that live there deserve some day in a place that they live and not to be trampled from tourists all year round think about it would you like it
I agree give the town a break
Beware Alaska!
Look what happened to Hawaii!!!!!
This makes me very sad. We already have booked a cruise trip for June 2025. I didn’t realize there would be that many ships nor people. I guess we should have just flown in but we wanted to scope out where we would like to visit first via cruise. Being from PNW with my dad being from BC I feel like Alaska is just an extension of home and wanted to see it. Not fond of large crowds either so I hope it’s not too disappointing.
I was in Juneau last week
Because the weather was bad, lots of rain the trail tp nugget falls was washed out
There were so many people in the visitor’s center at Mendenhall Glacier. They were elbow to elbow and tour busses kept bringing them in
Most people were on.a two hour tour with no where to go and had to wait for the return bus. This small visitor’s center really couldn’t handle the vast amount of people waiting out the rain
I was on an Alaskan cruise the middle of June. I was a bit surprised with the number of people. My next visit will be flying in and a train up into the interior.
A ban won’t work. It will put a lot of Alaskans out of work and ruin the local economy because nbo
As a Juneau resident who loves my community, I am outraged by how the foreign-flagged cruise lines run rough-shod over port communities. Juneau will likely get 1.7 million cruisers in our town this summer – when is enough enough?? How much quality of life and sense of community will be sacrificed chasing the almighty dollar? Please, don’t visit on a cruise ship; come as an independent traveler and we will be nicer to you!
I was in Alaska this month (July ’24) and in Juneau on a Wednesday. That day there were 5 cruise ships in Port which totalled 16,000 passengers. We could hardly move in the place, couldn’t get into anywhere to eat and had to line up at various places. It was a great disappointment for me. Too many people. Not at all what I had imagined before setting out to see the region. Please don’t spoil it by sending so many people.
16,000 cruise ships per day and 12,000 on Saturday are a lot,maybe you meant passengers?
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