If you don’t have the money to spend on an exclusive Alaskan cruise but still want to explore the best of Alaska, you’re in luck.
An Alaskan cruise is a bucket list trip through a wilderness saturated with bright blue glaciers, craggy fjords, and wildlife like seals, bears, moose, and whales. It’s truly the stuff of dreams. The downside is that cruises can also be time-consuming and expensive. The average Alaskan cruise package is seven to 14 days long. And prices can range from $973 per person to $1,376 per person for an eigh-day itinerary on major cruise lines departing from Seattle. This included taxes, fees, and port expenses but not extras like drinks/meal packages, cabin upgrades, tips, Wi-Fi, and shore excursions, all of which can easily add up to at least $1,000 or more per person.
Unfortunately, when everything is said and done, the cost and time commitment are prohibitive to some travelers. This doesn’t mean anyone should give up their dream of experiencing the magic of Alaska, however. You can encounter many of the same spectacular views and wildlife on a three-night visit to Kenai Fjords National Park. The shortened time frame allows visitors to see some of the most iconic sights in Alaska while spending considerably less money than they would on the average cruise.
Kenai Fjords National Park is 607,805 acres of ocean, mountains, fjords, ice, and snow, often converging in the same space. It’s a place so beautiful, it’s hard to know where to set your gaze. The wildlife viewing is no less exciting with bald eagles, orange-beaked puffins, and peregrine falcons. Land and marine animals include whales, porpoises, sea lions, bears, moose, and mountain goats. If you’re ready to plan a trip to this astonishing place, here’s how to visit.
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How to Get to Kenai Fjords National Park
Kenai Fjords National Park is one of the most accessible parts of the Alaska wilderness. The gateway to the park is located 124 miles from Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Seward. The drive takes 2.5 hours if you don’t stop, but, frankly, this would be a mistake. Seward Highway is a stunner, winding between the sea and the Chugach Mountains. If you’re lucky, you may catch sight of a moose meandering beside the highway or a whale breaching offshore. There are plenty of turnouts and viewpoints along the way, so build in time to revel in your surroundings.
Even better, take the Coastal Classic Train on the Alaska Railroad, which runs from Anchorage to Seward from mid-May through the end of September. The train travels through the backcountry, affording access to even more dazzling views than you get from the road (and that’s a high bar).
How to Explore Kenai Fjords National Park
The majesty of Kenai Fjords National Park is best seen from the water. Kenai Fjords Tours travels deeper into the park than any other cruise operator, offering full and half-day tours from mid-March through the end of September. The company has been operating since 1978, and many captains have decades of experience. They are pros at navigating the seas with an almost preternatural gift for spotting wildlife and a willingness to veer off course to get closer to a pod of whales or a school of Dall’s porpoises. Tours vary in length and route. If you can only take one, opt for one of the glacier tours. Listening to the air crack as massive sheets of turquoise ice plunge into the water is an unforgettable experience you’ll carry with you long after you leave Alaska.
Kenai Fjords National Park is also home to the largest ice field within U.S. borders. The best way to appreciate the scale of the 700-square-mile Harding Ice Field is from the sky. AA Seward Air Tours offers flight-seeing tours over Kenai Fjords National Park. There are different options to suit different schedules and budgets ranging from 15-minute scenic tours and 90-minute flights including glacier landings.
It’s important to note that flight-seeing tours and day cruises don’t come cheap, and yet, they’re often less expensive than shore excursions booked via a multi-day Alaskan cruise. Both Kenai Fjords Tours and AA Seward Air Tours curate adventures to suit a variety of budgets.
The Exit Glacier area is the only part of the park accessible by road. The Exit Glacier Nature Center offers exhibits dedicated to the park and rangers are on hand to answer questions. During the summer months, you’ll also find excellent free programming like guided ranger walks. The trailhead for Exit Glacier and the Harding Icefield Trail are located at the nature center.
The one-mile Glacier View Loop Trail is wheelchair accessible weaving through cottonwood trees to expansive views of Exit Glacier. It’s a short, but eerie, journey. Exit Glacier is one of the most visible symbols of climate change in the world. In the last two hundred years Exit Glacier has retreated more than 1.5 miles and the loss is accelerating. Since the early 2,000s alone it’s retreated more than half a mile. Signs along the trail mark the places the glacier once reached. When Exit Glacier finally comes into view, you’ll be one of the lucky ones who were able to see it before it’s too late.
Hardier souls should make time for the 8.2-mile out-and-back Harding Icefield Trail. Considered a strenuous hike, expect to gain 1,000 feet in elevation with every mile. The legburn is worth it. The hike travels through a verdant forest and expansive meadows before climbing to panoramic vistas of the ice field.
Where to Stay in Kenai Fjords National Park
Most visitors to Kenai Fjords National Park find lodging in Seward. Windsong Lodge is located in a wooded area with magnificent mountain views. The hotel offers shuttle service to downtown Seward, the train station, and the cruise terminal. An excellent full-service restaurant and on-site offers breakfast and dinner.
There is also a campground with 12 walk-in tent sites at Exit Glacier. The sites are first come first serve and there are no fees to camp. Two of the sites are wheelchair accessible. Facilities at the campground include a cooking, dining, and food storage shelter, a pump to provide drinking water, and pit toilets.
If you’re in the position to splurge a little (still less than you’d spend on a cruise!), Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge on Fox Island is a romantic retreat located just outside Kenai Fjords National Park in Ressurection Bay. Guests stay in one of eight private waterfront cabins and lodging is all-inclusive of gourmet meals, a wildlife and sightseeing cruise, guided kayak excursions, and boat transportation to and from the island.
Update – January 18, 2024: Alaska Railroad has updated its schedule and the Seward/Kenai Fjords National Park route will only be running until September, 2024. The original article stated December.
Your article is misleading. There are plenty of dining options that do not cost extra on Cruise Lines. Yes, you can pay fir specialty dining but from what I understand the food especially the salmon etc. on Alaskan cruises is excellent.
Nice article, completely agree with all the recommendations for visiting the park, the drive and the cruise into the park to see the wildlife and scenery. One thing you might add that was a complete surprise to me was the level of good food offered in some of the restaurants in Seward. I found out there is (was) a CIA cullunary school located in Seward and several of the trained chefs and I assumed students were turning out remarkable food choices.
Alaska is beautiful and majestic. I met friends on a 7-day Alaskan cruise last year. We're all going on an 11-day Alaskan cruise this year.