Cruises from Seattle 2028

Seattle is the cruise capital of the West Coast—the busiest Alaska gateway in the world, with two downtown cruise terminals and a 2026 season that's the biggest the port has ever hosted: roughly 330 ship calls, 16 homeported ships, and over two million passengers moving across the docks. The appeal is simple geography. Seattle sits at the bottom of the Inside Passage, so ships can leave Elliott Bay on a Saturday afternoon and have you watching glaciers calve by Monday—no international flight, no Canadian connection, just a domestic flight or a drive and you're aboard.

Almost everything sailing from Seattle goes one place: Alaska. The classic itinerary is a 7-night round trip threading the Inside Passage to Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, with a scenic day in Glacier Bay, Endicott Arm, or at Hubbard Glacier and a stop in Victoria, British Columbia on the way home. The glacier day is the one nobody forgets: the ship slows to a drift, the engines go quiet, and everyone crowds the rails with coffee and binoculars waiting for the crack and rumble of calving ice. You'll also find longer 10-14 night Alaska runs, a handful of Pacific Coastal sailings in the shoulder weeks, and repositioning cruises that open and close the season. If your goal is glaciers, whales, and fjords with a one-flight vacation, this is the port built for it.

Seattle has two terminals, and which one you use depends entirely on your line. The big-ship majority—Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, Holland America, Princess, and Royal Caribbean, plus Virgin Voyages and MSC—sails from Smith Cove Cruise Terminal at Pier 91, north of downtown at the foot of the Magnolia Bridge. Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania, and Regent Seven Seas use Bell Street Cruise Terminal at Pier 66, right on the downtown waterfront along Alaskan Way, an easy walk from Pike Place Market. Double-check your documents before booking transport: the two piers are a couple of miles apart and embarkation-day traffic between them is slow.

The season is sharply defined. Ships start arriving in mid-April, the schedule peaks May through September, and the last sailings depart in mid-October—there are no winter cruises from Seattle. May and September shoulder sailings typically carry the lowest fares; June through August brings the warmest Alaska weather, the longest daylight, and the highest demand. Saturdays and Sundays are the heavy turnaround days, so if you're flying in, build in a buffer night—Seattle is not a port where you want a tight same-day connection. And pack layers whatever the month: an Alaska summer can serve warm afternoons and chilly glacier mornings on the same cruise, and a rain-ready shell earns its place in the bag.

Driving is straightforward: both terminals are reached from I-5 via the Mercer Street exit (Exit 167). For Pier 91, continue to Elliott Avenue West and take the West Galer Street Flyover (Magnolia Bridge) to the terminal; parking on-site starts at $27 per day including taxes, fees, a free shuttle to the ship, and luggage assistance, with RV/overheight spaces from $47 per day—reserve ahead at seattleportparking.com. For Pier 66, the Bell Street Pier garage sits directly across from the terminal with 1,700 covered spaces at $33 per day (rate subject to change; 6'6" height limit), bookable online through Republic Parking. Sea-Tac Airport is ~17 miles south of Pier 91—about 35 minutes without traffic, longer on summer Saturdays.

Booking through Zipsea works exactly like booking direct—same ships, same cabins, same published fares—except we pass back the maximum onboard credit the cruise line allows on every sailing. On a 7-night Alaska cruise from Seattle, that's often hundreds of dollars toward shore excursions in Juneau and Skagway, specialty dining, or the spa on a glacier-viewing day. Browse the live sailings above, compare Pier 91 and Pier 66 departures, and lock in your onboard credit before fares move.