Amazing Cruises out of Seattle

 Did you know that you could cruise to places other than Alaska out of the Northwest? It's true! Most, but not all of these cruises are repositioning ones bringing the ship to the Northwest for the Alaska Season in the Spring and then moving them on to their next destination in the Fall. A few of them are actually roundtrip out of the Northwest to other Pacific locations. Let's break down the options available to you!

 The easiest way to catch a cruise is to hop right on a ship near you. There are over 700 cruises leaving Seattle, WA and Vancouver BC in 2026, but as you guessed it, the vast majority of these are Alaskan cruises. I cannot encourage you enough to take one of these, I do almost every year, but sometimes you'd like to try something different. I get that because I do to! The good news is that about 100 of these cruises go to destinations other than Alaska, so you have lots of places you can travel to. Have you ever wanted to go to Hawaii, but can't stomach the idea of getting on a plane? Hop on a cruise ship instead! If you want to sail out of Seattle or Vancouver, most of the cruises are in the fall (September and October), though there are a few options in the spring (April and May) as well.

 In the fall, cruise ships are headed to their winter destinations and you can hitch a ride. You could take a short trip down the west coast for 5-9 days sailing as far south as LA, California. If you've got two or three weeks, you can take a longer cruise to California with stopovers in Hawaii along the way. Even more time on your hands? Take a three week cruise from the Northwest through the Panama Canal to Florida or New Orleans, Louisianna. It's an amazing trip that I highly recommend! The ones that surprised me? You can sail to Tokyo, Japan or Sydney, Australia! The downside to these cruises is that you eventually have to get home and that does involve a flight, unless you're just going to stay on the ship till it returns next season!

In the spring, you'll need to fly to the starting point, but then you can get off and have a friend pick you up at the cruise port in Seattle, saving you half the airfare of a roundtrip. Cruises are coming in to Seattle next Spring from places around the world including: Honolulu, HI; Auckland, New Zealand; Sydney, Australia; Florida; California; Mobile, AL; Tokyo, Japan; or even Rome, Italy. Can you imagine flying to Rome and taking a cruise ship home? Now, mind you, several of these cruises last a month or more which can be tricky on your schedule, but it definitely brings down the per day cost! You could sail in a balcony cabin on many of these for between $300-400 per day for two people.

 There are a few cruises each year, both in the spring and the fall, that are roundtrip out of Seattle or Vancouver. These will take you up and down the west coast stopping in Victoria and Prince Rupert, BC, Astoria, Oregon and several places in California that might include San Francisco, San Diego or LA. A short three or four day cruise will just take you around the Northwest visiting Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, and maybe Astoria. Longer cruises lasting 18 to 22 days will take you roundtrip to Hawaii, visiting all of the major islands. 

 So, just for fun, let's break down the cost to see if it's worth it to cruise to Hawaii from Seattle. Holland America has a cruise in April of 2026 for 18 nights that, if booked today (7/23/25) would run you about $7,000 for two people in a balcony room. That's about $400 per night for all your food, lodging, and passage to Hawaii. If, instead, you were to fly to Hawaii, it would be a whole different challenge. You see, these are Islands, so you're either taking a plane or a boat between them, you can't drive. So, if you flew to Honolulu, you'd then need to fly to Maui, Kauai and the Big Island to see it all, spending maybe two days in each place. Those plane tickets would run you about $1,200 per person, or $2,400 for a couple. That's a lot less than $7,000, but you haven't figured in lodging and food yet! A Mid-Range hotel in Hawaii, which seems like a fair equivalent to a cruise ship, will cost you an average of $447 per night. For seven nights, that's $3,129. Now our total is up to $5,529, and we haven't even eaten yet. For two adults eating out for every meal, you're looking at about $200+ per day, which brings our flight visit to Hawaii in around $7,000 - the same as the roundtrip cruise that gives you another full week of food, lodging and entertainment on the high seas. So I guess it really comes down to how you like to travel. For me, I love to unpack once and go lots of places. I enjoy waking up in a new port each morning and going out to explore the town. I don't want to waste half of my vacation in an airport hopping between places or in a cramped airplane seat. I'd much rather be sailing on a ship, with the wind in my hair and a drink with an umbrella in my hand 😉. 

 The other nice thing about sailing out of your home port is that if you're retired, like me, or have an otherwise flexible schedule, you can hop on a last-minute cruise. These aren't going to be free, but here's one example of how if I booked a cruise in a balcony room just two months away it would cost $1,000-$1,200 less than if I booked the exact same cruise a year and two months from now. And there are so many different cruise lines sailing out of Seattle that, if you're open to trying something new, there are lots of opportunities for last-minute savings!

 On that note, don't be afraid of a little repositioning. If you consider Vancouver, BC in addition to Seattle, WA you more than double the number of cruises available to you. A one-way plane ticket between these two cities is about $80-100, a train will run you between $40-$80 depending on when you travel and how far in advance you book it, and a bus ticket is about $55. Or, you might just know someone who's up for a little road trip across the border that will give you a ride. 

Here's the Thing: Cruising in the Northwest isn't just Alaska! Alaska is amazing and I'll go there every chance I get, but I like to go other places too. I'm looking forward to trying out some of these amazing options!