Everyone I know who has taken an Alaska Cruise has raved about the experience. I’ve been wanting to take one myself for over 20 years but the timing never seemed to work. As of Spring 2025, I finally took a cruise to Alaska and I can tell you there aren’t enough options in a thesaurus for the word beautiful. If taking one has been on your list of “must see” destinations (or you’ve never even considered it), once you experience it you’ll kick yourself for waiting so long.
Even though I’ve planned countless cruises to Alaska, I’m often guilty of not following my own advice. That education from the School of Hard Knocks taught me the “benefit” of learning things the hard way — or at least the “hands on way” through experiences. So in no particular order, here are a few of things my Alaska cruise experience taught me.
Bring Binoculars
I fell in love with the romance of countless pictures of enormous whale tails, videos of gentle giants swimming next to boats, and advertising “promising” spectacular up close views of nature and wildlife. Even though I tell everyone to bring a pair of binoculars on their Alaska cruise, I boarded the MS Eurodam without. Excitement was palpable from the moment I stepped onboard; “soon we’ll be sailing into Stephen’s Passage which is the best spot to see whales!”
When the moment came, it was nearly everything I imagined. Pods of whales surfacing, spouting water into the air as they exhale, and then waving their tails at us as they went for a deep dive. It’s very cool and a sight I hope everyone gets to see. But the way my friend tells his story, “It was amazing! Their tails are huge! It’s like they were right next to us! There must have been 50 of them in that passage!” is quite different from mine. Spoiler alert: he followed my advice and packed binoculars.
I saw five or six whales. They were obviously huge. However the whales I saw were maybe 100 yards away and most were beyond what I could see without binoculars. They were spectacularly beautiful, even though distance made them appear small. I missed out on some other sights, too, without binoculars, but I heard there were small otters and sea lions swimming playfully and beautiful birds swooping… in the distance.
Related: Cruise Line Excursions: Pros and Cons
Pack a Hat and Gloves
While it’s worth mentioning that my cruise to Alaska was early in the season, it was cold, especially at 7am when our onboard naturalist was pointing out interesting sights and explaining migration patterns and other interesting facts about the area. It may have been colder than average, but it’s rarely warm on the water in Alaska, especially early mornings and late evenings.
Of course, being from NJ, I’m familiar with cold, damp weather, so I saved space in the suitcase by leaving a warm coat, hat, and gloves at home. Standing on the back of the ship at 6:30am I wished I had more than a windbreaker. There I stood, hands in pockets, scanning the water for signs of whales and other interesting sights. The irony of how cold my hands would have been had I brought binoculars is not lost on me.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of places to buy a warm hat, pair of gloves, and sweatshirts in every port. Guess I’ll have less room in the suitcase on the way home.
You Can Get Pictures From Both Sides of the Ship
There are no shortage of opportunities to spot wildlife on an Alaska cruise. It’s not uncommon to see interesting things randomly, like when sitting on the Lido deck eating ice cream, but the best chances to see the things everyone wants to see are scheduled and announced. You can imagine, I think, how crowded the viewing spaces get during these times.
The trick, I found, is to arrive early, pick a spot, and stay put. The friend I was traveling with (and nearly everyone else on board), got their steps in racing from one side of the ship to the other with every announcement, “Thar she blows!” Of course the sightings are so random and brief by the time they left their spot got to the other side of the ship, and jockeyed for position, they didn’t see anything.
As it turns out, there were just as many, “Thar she blows!” announcements on the port side as the starboard. Had I packed binoculars I would have seen far more whales –from the front row — than anyone else. This same situation showed up multiple times during my week-long cruise and my patience was rewarded often. When possible, the captains of both the cruise ship and the smaller vessels on excursions turned the ship as often as possible to make sure everyone had a good chance to see amazing sights.
Experience Alaska With Your Eyes (Not Through a Camera)
I’ve already mentioned wanting to take an Alaskan cruise for 20+ years and having a romanticized idea of what it would be like based on images I’ve seen. What I didn’t realize was that even the amazing images captured by professional photographers don’t really capture the beauty of Alaska. After about five clicks of my phone’s camera it became clear that my pictures were not going to be anywhere as beautiful as what I was seeing.
I decided to be in the moment. Take a few pictures that will serve as a reminder of the beauty I was actually seeing. Years from now when I look at the pictures from my Alaska cruise I’ll have a vivid memory of how awe struck I was. Had I looked at everything through the lens of a camera, I would have been more consumed with getting the picture right than seeing the sights as they were.
Besides. How many pictures of beautiful mountains, whale tails, and glaciers do I really need? They all look basically the same.
Getting an Epic Whale Picture Requires Luck
Throughout the week I was reminded how difficult it is to get an amazing shot of whales from the cruise ship. Between struggling to get a good spot to stand, having the animal close enough to the ship to see them with the naked eye (or realizing you’re seeing something amazing through binoculars, grabbing your phone or camera, finding it in the view finder / screen), focusing, and taking the picture getting a great picture in the few seconds the whale is visible is really a matter of luck.
All my whale pictures came on excursions. Being on a small maneuverable boat with a relatively small number of people made it much easier to take good pictures. The excursion I was on could safely — for the boat and the whale — get closer to the whales; and being closer to the water made a huge difference, too.
Excursions in Alaska are not cheap, but the experience is worth every penny. The more pennies you spend, the better experience you’ll have. I chose a mid-priced whale watching option. It was on a two deck boat with about 75 people and there was never an issue with not being able to get a good view. We could have spent less money and had less time on the water (and more time shopping) or more money and been on a smaller boat with fewer people which would have taken us even closer to the wildlife.
