We were home about five days before I booked our next trip.
Nothing makes me want to travel more than going on a great trip. After a few days in my own bed and drinking my home coffee (home coffee is always better, I’m sorry), I was thinking about our next adventure.
As our girls get closer to the graduating (I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT), I’m feeling the pressure to get those last states checked off our list. So last March, after we returned from our Arizona and Nevada spring break trip, I started hunting for our next one. We’re dabbling in using strategic credit cards and points for travel, and, after our spring break trip, we had enough Delta Sky Miles to book inexpensive flights to Seattle. Originally, the plan for this trip was to explore Seattle and take the ferry to Canada for a few days.
But in April (May?) a new Travelzoo email arrived with a really great deal on an Alaskan cruise leaving from Seattle the day after we planned to arrive. It arrived back to port early on the morning we’d planned to fly home. It was meant to be. We’d spend a day in Seattle, take a 7-night cruise through Alaska, stop on the last night in Canada, then be back in Seattle in time to catch our flight home.
Sold immediately x 4.
What made our Norwegian cruise such a great deal was it was the last cruise of the season. We set sail on October 4, 2025 and returned to port on October 11th. It was the beginning of Alaska’s rainy season, so there was a chance we’d be seeing Alaska in the rain, but we didn’t care. Visiting Alaska is hard and expensive. To see so many places, you either need a prop plane or a boat. And, shockingly, we don’t have either. So taking a cruise was the best option.
[A few things to note: I’ve been on a few cruises, but no one else in my family had. Chris Graham gets car sick and seasick pretty easily. He has thrown up on a dolphin cruise in Florida and while speeding down the highway in Ohio. I told him a giant cruise ship feels different, and, while he did not believe me, he agreed to the trip anyway. Secondly, cruising is super not-great for the environment. A lot of the glaciers in Alaska are melting (as they are everywhere), and we were worried about the environmental impact of taking a giant ship into such fragile places. Most cruise lines will share what they’re doing to combat their environmental impact, so that’s definitely worth researching.]
We flew into Seattle and stayed one night at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront. It was a perfect location to walk to Pike Place Market and all the surrounding streets. We got dinner at the market and did some shopping, then walked back the next morning for breakfast and coffee before we boarded the ship. Our hotel was directly across from the dock. We woke up that morning to the giant ship docking outside our window, then when it was our time to board, we just walked over. We could not have been in a better spot.
Our trip was a 7-night Alaskan cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines on the Norwegian Bliss. Our cruise package included a balcony stateroom, freestyle dining, 150 minutes of wi-fi per person, and one $50 shore excursion credit at each port. There was also a deal that the 3rd and 4th guests were free, so we just had to pay taxes on the girls stay. I was a little worried about the size of our room and tried, at the last minute, to bid for an upgrade, but the ship was sold out and there were no other rooms available. But once we got on the ship and settled in, it was actually fine, and I’m glad we didn’t upgrade. After taxes and fees and random other charges, our total for the cruise was about $3400. We didn’t add any additional wi-fi packages or dining packages, because I didn’t want my kids to stare at their phones the whole time and there were plenty of food options onboard. We’re not fancy and not there to eat fancy meals. We were there to explore Alaska.
And that’s what we did. Our ports of call were Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria, British Columbia. We also spent one breathtaking day cruising through Glacier Bay.
With the season being so close to ending, some excursions weren’t available, but we got to do everything we wanted to. I think the only complaint was we didn’t have enough time on land. We’d prefer less time on the water and more time exploring, but that’s the downside of a cruise: you’re on someone else’s schedule.
On other cruises I’ve taken, booking excursions through independent companies is often cheaper than going through the cruise line. But for this trip so close to the end of the season, many places were only accepting reservations through the cruise line’s website. So with that extra challenge and the $50 credit we had for each port, we booked our excursions through the Norwegian website.
In Juneau, we took the Goldbelt Tram up the side of the mountain and did some hiking. Then we took a tour bus to Mendenhall Glacier and got to spend some time hiking and exploring the park. In Skagway, we took the Historic Dyea Walk (it was fine, nothing super great) and visited a musher’s camp (amazing, so fun, loved every second of it, did not want to leave). At Ketchikan, we did the Tongass Rainforest Expedition. We really liked it and wished it was longer. Our tour guide was great, and we got to see a lot of really cool stuff. We pulled into Victoria, BC, late in the evening, so we didn’t plan any excursions for that stop. We took a cab into the city, ate sushi as requested by Elliott Graham, then took an impromptu tour with our cab driver before heading back to the ship. This stop was more for maritime law reasons than a full day, but we still liked our first visit to Canada. They have really clean streets and universal healthcare, so we’re big fans.
The best part about every time we got to a new port? It never rained. It was the beginning of rainy season as I might have mentioned, and we were prepared to be wet the whole time. Then every time we pulled into a port, every person there said, “You guys got lucky. It’s been raining every day and just stopped.” The stars aligned so we never once got rained on. A friend was on a similar cruise the week before, and it was raining so bad they had to skip one port of call. So I’m not sure how that all worked out, but we felt super lucky. That’s the gamble with going so late in the season: we could afford the reduced-rate trip, but we could’ve gotten really wet.
Overall, we loved Alaska, and we’re so glad we got to see this incredible place. Chris Graham and his mini-me Harper are not interested in going on another cruise. Elliott said she would. I’m indifferent, but if I go on a cruise again, it will probably not be with my family. We did get to spend a lot of time on the observation deck, reading books, playing card games, gazing out the window as we made our way through Glacier Bay, eating endless snacks and dessert, spotting whales and dolphins, drinking Starbucks coffee, and napping. It was absolutely lovely. I loved the forced slowness we had some days, but some teenagers found it a little boring.
We’d do this cruise again, no question. It seems to be the best, most economical way to explore Alaska. We wish we had time to see and explore more, but we still got to do a lot and really loved the trip. Highly recommend if you, too, do not have access to your own prop plane or boat.
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