Want to see a wide range of Alaska’s most famous wilderness areas in one trip? A “cruise” organized by Princess Cruises could be the answer.
The California-based cruise company has long been a leader in Alaska cruises, which combine a cruise along the state’s southeastern coast with an overland tour into its rugged interior. Princess is also particularly known for its longer itineraries that take you to many of Alaska’s most iconic locations in a single, easy-to-arrange trip.
Among the 28 different Alaska cruise itineraries Princess offers in Alaska (more than any other company), for example, there are several truly epic options up to 17 nights in length that include visits not only to Denali National Park and Glacier Bay National Parkbut also at least one and sometimes two more important national parks.
These include Kenai Fjords National Park, home to one of the most spectacular ice fields and glacier-carved fjords in North America, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, the largest national park in the United States.
Princess owns its own accommodations and other infrastructure in all of these national park destinations, something no other tour company can say. Princess also has its own fleet of glass-domed Princess carriages and Princess Tours coaches to take you from place to place.
Here, a look at three of the most epic Princess cruises that will take you into the Alaskan wilderness with multiple visits to national parks. And to delve deeper into the 28 cruise itineraries Princess offers in the state, ranging in length from 10 to 17 nights, check out our related page. Princess cruise guide in Alaska.
3 major national parks, including Kenai Fjords
Tour name: 15-day tour accompanied by connoisseurs
Denali National Park and Preserve is probably Alaska’s best-known national park, but don’t overlook the less-visited Kenai Fjords National Park.
Located south of Anchorage on Alaska’s stunning Kenai Peninsula, the giant park (almost as big as Rhode Island) is a major hub for outdoor activities, as is the entire Kenai Peninsula, and plays a major role on this Princess tour.
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Tour attendees will spend three full nights near the park at the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge, allowing them plenty of time to explore Kenai Fjords National Park and the surrounding area.
Home to the massive Harding Icefield, one of the largest ice fields in the U.S., and numerous glacier-carved fjords, the park itself offers visitors the opportunity to see a glacier up close, either on foot or via a boat tour, kayak, or scenic flight. Visitors can spot wildlife such as Steller sea lions, puffins, Dall’s porpoises, American black bears, snowshoe hares, mountain goats, and humpback whales.
Other popular activities include world-famous salmon fishing and scenic float trips down the Kenai River, which flows 75 miles from Cooper Landing (home of the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge) to Cook Inlet. You can also hike trails near the front door of the lodge.
This tour combines a three-night stay at Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge with a three-night stay at a Princess-owned lodge in the Denali National Park area and a two-night stay in Fairbanks, Alaska. Princess combines this eight-night land tour with a seven-night cruise along the coast of Southeast Alaska for an epic 15-night adventure.
On the cruise portion of the trip, you will experience Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, a third major national park.
The details: Through 2026, Princess offers 17 15-day Insider Escorted Tour departures with rates starting at $7,576 per person, based on double occupancy. This price is based on staying in an “inside” windowless cabin during the cruise portion of the trip. Rates for cabins with windows and balconies start at $7,575 and $8,836 per person, respectively.
3 major national parks, including Wrangell-St. Elijah
Tour name: 13-day tour accompanied by connoisseurs
Quick, can you name the largest national park in the United States? If you said Yellowstone National Park or Grand Canyon National Park, you would be wrong by one important factor.
By far the largest national park in the United States is one you may not even know about: Wrangell-St. Elías National Park and Reserve. It measures more than 20,000 square miles, about six and 10 times the size of Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, respectively.
Located in south-central Alaska, the park is relatively unknown due to its remoteness. It attracts fewer than 100,000 visitors a year. But seeing it, however briefly, is a key part of this unusual Princess tour.
The 13-day trip includes an overnight stay at the Princess-owned Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge on the Copper River, just down the road from Wrangell-St. Elías National Park Visitor Center.
With just 85 rooms, the lodge offers spectacular views of the Wrangell Range, which lies in the center of the park, and also overlooks one of the most famous man-made features in Alaska: the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
For visitors, it serves as a base for hiking, salmon fishing, ATV tours, rafting trips, powerboat tours, coastal kayaking, glacier viewing boat tours, and even a visit to the ghost town of Kennicott (a former mining camp).
In addition to an overnight stay at Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge, the land portion of this tour includes a four-night stay at a Princess-owned lodge in the Denali National Park area and an overnight visit to Fairbanks, Alaska. This six-night land tour is also combined with a seven-night Southeast Alaska coast cruise.
As with the 15-night tour mentioned above, the cruise portion will allow you to experience a third major national park, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.
The details: Through 2026, Princess offers eight 13-day Escorted Tour departures with rates starting at $6,501 per person, based on double occupancy. This price is based on staying in an “inside” windowless cabin during the cruise portion of the trip. Rates for cabins with windows and balconies start at $6,771 and $7,704 per person, respectively.
4 important national parks
Tour name: 17-day expert-escorted tour
If you want to go to both Kenai Fjords National Park and Wrangell-St. Elías National Park in a single tour, consider this 17-day Princess trip.
This Alaska tour, the longest offered by Princess, includes two nights at Princess lodges in each of those parks, two nights at each of its two lodges in the Denali area (Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge and Mt. McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge), and two nights at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge. This 10-night land tour is also combined with a seven-night Southeast Alaska coast cruise.
For those counting, that’s two full nights at each of Princess’s five Alaska accommodations. It will also take you to four of Alaska’s eight national parks: Denali, Kenai Fjords, Wrangell-St. Elias and Glacier Bay (the latter during the cruise portion of the trip).
Since the cruise portion of the trip also includes a stop in the historic gold rush town of Skagway, Alaska, a major portion of which is part of the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, you’ll likely experience five national park sites on this trip.
You can take this vacation two ways: first on the land tour or on the cruise.
If you choose the cruise portion first, you will experience a slight variation. Your boat will visit the College Fjord Glacier area instead of the Hubbard Glacier (both are great for glacier viewing).
The details: By 2026, Princess offers 17 departures of the first land version of this 17-day connoisseur escorted tour and nine departures of the first cruise version of the journey. Rates start at $9,157 per person, based on double occupancy, for the first version of the land tour. Fares start at $8,126 per person, based on double occupancy, for the first version of the cruise.
In a nutshell
Princess Cruises is particularly known for its long Alaska tours that combine cruise voyages and land trips to take visitors to some of the state’s most famous wilderness areas. If you’re looking for a unique trip that can take you to iconic Alaska destinations like Denali National Park, Glacier Bay National Park, Kenai Fjords National Park, and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, a Princess cruise can be a great option.
