Discovery Princess Review: Northbound Alaska (Vancouver to Whittier)

From Down Under to the Great Land

There’s something uniquely exciting about catching a ship right as it changes hemispheres. Fresh off a massive transpacific repositioning crossing from its season in Australia, the Discovery Princess — the last ship in Princess’s Royal class — docked in Vancouver to kick off its Alaska season.

We boarded this 143,000-ton ship on Saturday, May 9th, for a classic northbound “Voyage of the Glaciers”: Vancouver up through Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway, an unforgettable day in Glacier Bay National Park, a scenic run through College Fjord, and final disembarkation in Whittier. Sailing this early in the season meant catching Alaska at its crisp, just-waking-up best — and this time, we had a brand-new travel companion along for the ride: our 6-month-old son.

Quick Take

Ship / Line: Discovery Princess, Princess Cruises (Royal-class)
Itinerary: 7-Night “Voyage of the Glaciers” (one-way, Vancouver → Whittier)
Sail Dates: May 9–16, 2026
Cabin: Mini-Suite, Baja Deck (11), Stateroom 11404
Overall Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4/5)
Best For: Families and first-time Alaska cruisers who want a relaxed, scenery-first trip
Skip If: You’re a Princess veteran chasing the premium dining and Medallion experiences of a few years ago, or you’re hoping to spend your days at the pool

The Bottom Line: This sailing delivered exactly what a northbound Alaska itinerary should — unbeatable scenery, an easy-to-navigate ship, and (with a 6-month-old in tow) proof that Alaska might be one of the best first cruises you can take with a baby. The food has lost a step from its glory days, but everything else more than makes up for it.

The Basics: What We Booked, and Why This Itinerary Works

Quick context for anyone newer to Alaska cruising: most lines run their seasons on one of two itinerary formats. Closed-loop itineraries leave and return to the same port — convenient if you don’t want to deal with one-way flights. One-way (or “open-jaw”) itineraries start in one port and end in another, like our Vancouver-to-Whittier route. Almost every Alaska sailing I’ve ever done has been one-way itineraries, but adding in a “back-to-back” cruise turns it into your own larger round trip, getting a chance to experience everything twice.

The Discovery Princess is the last ship in Princess’s Royal class — though not Princess’s newest ship overall (that title currently belongs to the new Sphere-class Sun Princess and Star Princess). At 143,000 tons, it’s a comfortable middle ground: big enough to feel substantial, small enough to never feel like a maze.

This also wasn’t our first time on this route. My wife has sailed this exact northbound itinerary once before, plus the reverse southbound version — making this her third trip through these waters. I have even more history here: I spent a three-month stint working this itinerary on an internship during college, then came back for three-week stretches each summer for the following few years. What was genuinely new this time was my son — his very first cruise, at 6 months old.

Getting Onboard: Embarkation in Vancouver

Embarkation was about as smooth as it gets. Some of our group took an Uber straight to the port; others walked in from downtown — Vancouver’s cruise terminal sits right at the edge of the city, with public transit options if you’d rather skip the cab.

One thing to know: the terminal is a single building that can sometimes handle up to three ships at once, and because you’re crossing from Canada into the U.S., everyone goes through customs before boarding. That combination alone can make for a busy afternoon on a normal day.

Our sailing had an added wrinkle: the Discovery Princess was finishing its transpacific repositioning crossing and didn’t arrive in port until noon. As a result, we didn’t get to the terminal until 3:00 PM and were onboard by 3:20 PM — quite late by typical embarkation standards. If your ship is kicking off a new season after a long repositioning, build in some flexibility around embarkation timing (more on this in the FAQ below).

Cabin & Stateroom: Mini-Suite 11404 on the Baja Deck

We stayed in a mini-suite, stateroom 11404, on the Baja Deck (Deck 11). The room itself gave us zero trouble — and a few small touches made a real difference with a baby and stroller in tow. The Medallion’s automatic door-unlock feature, where the door senses your Medallion and unlocks as you approach, turned into a daily lifesaver. With our arms full of a stroller, diaper bag, and baby, never having to dig for a key card was genuinely great.

The suite itself was decorated modernly with high-quality bedding and felt spacious for the category — a bathroom with a full bathtub, a separate closet, the bedroom, a small living room/desk area, and a balcony. Storage was better than we expected: our luggage slid easily under the bed and into the closet, and between the desk and nightstands we had nine drawers and five open shelves. The closet added a cabinet with six cubbies plus a shelf above the main hanging section.

We requested a crib from our stateroom attending, and it arrived and was set up for us within the hour. The room has a curtain that splits it into two halves, and our original plan was to put the crib on the living room side so we could keep the TV on or use our laptops from the bedroom side. We scrapped that within about an hour — this is Alaska, and the view outside is infinitely better than anything on a screen. Instead, we pushed the crib against the side of the queen bed and wrapped the curtain around it, which let us come and go from the balcony or sit in the living room with the balcony curtains open without disturbing him. It became our go-to setup for the entire week.

🍼 Cruising with a Baby: Traveling with an infant completely alters how you utilize a cruise ship. Instead of fighting for lounge chairs on deck, our stateroom balcony became our private scenic-cruising sanctuary. Because a northbound Alaskan route offers near-constant views of snow-capped peaks and coastal wilderness, we could watch the stunning landscape glide past right from our room during nap times without missing a single beat. If you are cruising Alaska with a baby, spring for the balcony and mini-suite. It is the ultimate logistical game-changer.

The Dining Dilemma: 400 Nights of Perspective vs. A First-Timer’s Eyes

Evaluating the food on Discovery Princess forces an honest, internal conflict. On this sailing, we traveled with family members who were taking their very first cruise. To them, the food was a home run. They were thoroughly impressed by the sheer volume, the specialty venues, and how seamlessly the galley staff managed accommodations for a strict dairy allergy.

But when you have over 400 nights at sea with Princess, your eyes are tuned to a different frequency. You stop looking at the grand spectacle and start noticing the corporate optimization—the small, overlooked details where corners have been quietly cut over the years. While the baseline quality remains “decently good,” the overall culinary ambition has noticeably shifted.

🦪 360: An Extraordinary (and Expensive) Mixed Bag

We were invited to enjoy an evening at 360: An Extraordinary Experience, Princess’s highly exclusive, technologically immersive dining venue which runs $149 per person. The overall experience is very much worth it in our eyes, but its worth knowing exactly what you are signing up for:

The Production (5/5): From an experiential standpoint, it is out of this world. You sit in an intimate circular room wrapped in a 360-degree screen that paints a stunning visual narrative of a journey through the Mediterranean. You meet the local farmers via video, interactive projections dance across your table, and thematic scents are pumped into the space. The service is flawless, and the drinks are spectacular – there is truly nothing else like it.
The Food (2/5): For a premium-priced meal, the actual food was shockingly weak and left us hungry. Course one was simple pita bread, hummus, and olives. The Spanish course was literally tomato spread on toast—a classic dish, sure, but one that costs less than a dollar to produce. The “surf and turf” featured shrimp instead of lobster, and the best dish of the night was a lemon pasta that amounted to just lemon, butter, and noodles. The storytelling is Michelin-starred; the actual plate economy is budget-conscious.

🍉 The World Fresh Marketplace: Buffet Variety Without Variation

The buffet suffers from a similar corporate restraint. There are a lot of stations, but there is almost zero day-to-day variation. If you like the gyro bar, the Mexican station, or a fruit selection consisting almost entirely of melons, you’re in luck—because it will be the exact same setup every single afternoon.

The rotating daily feature simply swaps one basic concept for another: a pasta bar becomes a ramen bar, which later becomes a standard grill station (offering burgers that aren’t quite as good as the free ones right out by the pool). High-end crowd-pleasers like the shrimp cocktail bars and premium beef items have largely vanished from the rotation.

🍝 The Saving Graces: Sabatini’s & The Catch by Rudi

It isn’t all corporate cost-cutting, though. When Princess lets its culinary teams cook properly, they still deliver magic. Meals at Sabatini’s Italian Trattoria and The Catch by Rudi were standout experiences. The service was pristine, and the environment allowed us to truly enjoy the best part of sea travel: floating in the middle of the ocean completely unplugged from reality.

However, there is still a lingering struggle for past guests. If you remember the original menus of these specialty venues from years ago, the current iterations pale slightly in comparison—featuring fewer high-quality items and a less impressive presentation overall.

Onboard Experience: Life at Sea (and Why We Skipped the Pool)

With views like these, our onboard time revolved heavily around the balcony — but there was plenty else going on when we wanted it.

The trip opened with a sea day in open ocean, which (without land in sight) isn’t much to look at — so naturally, it became our most active day onboard as we explored the ship stem to stern and got our bearings.

One of the best parts of our booking was the Princess Plus package — included for free thanks to our travel agent (seriously, always use a travel agent; these promotions exist, and they cost you nothing extra to access). That meant included drinks, gratuities, Wi-Fi, and dining credits for the whole week, all of which we put to good use.

A few onboard highlights:

The onboard naturalist gave a presentation on whales that was genuinely excellent — well worth carving out time for.
We enjoyed Princess’s classic afternoon tea.
We treated ourselves to a couple of spa massages.
We caught Rock Opera, Princess’s signature production show — it debuted on Sky Princess back in 2019, and it’s just as good now as it was then.

What we didn’t do: the pools, hot tubs, or casino. Alaska in early May is cold, and while a handful of kids braved the pool on the sunnier days, we were perfectly happy watching from the balcony with a complimentary blanket. The casino, for what it’s worth, was open more often than I expected — if that’s part of your routine, you shouldn’t have trouble finding it open.

The daily rhythm of this itinerary is one of its biggest strengths. We specifically chose this route for its long port days, which gave us plenty of time to get on and off the ship and eat ashore when we felt like it — including a memorable dinner off-ship in Juneau.

Traveling with a baby turned out to be tougher than expected in some ways, and easier in others. If you let the ship know in advance, they’re remarkably accommodating — including making fresh purées on request, or trying to entertain him in the buffet. Every dining venue had a decent high chair, and staff were happy to let us roll the stroller right up to the table instead. Crew and fellow passengers alike were thrilled to have a baby onboard — he was an easygoing, happy baby the entire trip, and he always became a minor celebrity in the elevators.

The Port Breakdown: Beyond the Diamonds & Tourist Traps

Because this was a true northbound itinerary, the voyage built massive momentum with every stop. Pushing a stroller meant skipping high-adrenaline helicopter excursions, but these three ports proved incredibly accessible, rich in history, and packed with local flavor if you know where to look.

📍 Port 1: Ketchikan – Coffee, Canals, and Culture

Ketchikan features a compact, walkable downtown that’s easy to navigate. While the main drag is filled with cookie-cutter jewelry stores and tourist traps you can easily overlook, the real magic lies just a few blocks away.

The Morning Fuel: We bypassed the ship coffee and started at Alaska Coffee for some excellent local espresso.
The Lumberjack Show: We caught the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, located right near the docks. It’s an absolute blast — fantastic atmosphere, high energy, and an impressive showcase of pure strength and logging skill.
The Local Eats: For lunch, we hit Alaska Fish House. The breaded and fried halibut and cod were unbelievably fresh and flaky. (Pro tip: salmon shouldn’t be fried in my opinion, but their fried salmon was good!) If you want a legendary local burger instead, keep an eye out for Burger Queen.
Creek Street & Married Man’s Trail: We walked over to Ketchikan’s famous Creek Street, a historic elevated wooden boardwalk built over the water. It famously housed the town’s red-light district during the Gold Rush, but today features a unique blend of walk-through museums, gift shops, and a local cannabis dispensary. Following the boardwalk to the end leads to Married Man’s Trail, a peaceful wooded walking path along the hillside that brings you right to an active salmon ladder. Pushing further into the residential area, we found a native totem pole museum where we spent an hour admiring the historic craftsmanship and learning about indigenous culture.

📍 Port 2: Juneau – Sled Dogs & Puppy Cuddles

Juneau is Alaska’s landlocked capital, and for this stop, we focused on an experience that the whole family (especially a 6-month-old) could enjoy: the world of dog mushing.

Iditarod Spring Training: We took a quick 20-minute bus ride out of the bustling downtown into a gorgeous, dense forested area. Here, we met a team of incredible Iditarod sled dogs. Because it was May, they were in the middle of spring training to keep their conditioning up for the winter.
The Dog Cart Ride: We hopped onto a custom, motorless 6-seat wheeled cart, and the pack pulled us at thrilling speeds through the wooded trails. The power and enthusiasm of these dogs are unreal.
The Highlight: Before heading back, they gave us 20 minutes to sit down and cuddle with a litter of 6-week-old husky puppies. They were sleepy, soft, and incredibly sweet—unquestionably one of the emotional highlights of the entire trip.

📍 Port 3: Skagway – Gold Rush Rails & A Crew Secret Restored

Skagway is a tiny town of just 350 year-round residents. It is a perfectly preserved, living time capsule themed to the late 1800s Gold Rush, complete with wooden sidewalks, old-timey storefronts, and local lore about “Soapy Smith”—the legendary scoundrel who scammed hopeful miners.

The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad: This is the definitive Skagway experience. We boarded the historic vintage train right from the dock for a 3-hour journey up the mountains. The cars are heated and feature massive glass windows. We snaked our way up 2,800 feet, crossing terrifyingly high bridges and plunging through mountain tunnels, tracing the exact, brutal trail carved by the 1897 gold stampeders. The snow-covered mountain vistas at the summit are breathtaking.
Local Treats: Back in town, we visited the state’s very first licensed dispensary, grabbed a latte, and treated ourselves to a classic Klondike Doughboy—a massive sheet of fried dough covered in cinnamon and sugar.
The Ultimate Crew Insider Secret: For dinner, we hunted down Starfire. Back when I worked onboard ships years ago, this standalone restaurant was the ultimate secret spot where crew members would go to escape ship food. Sadly, COVID-19 shut it down for over five years. This season marks their grand return as a small food truck, and the ship crews have already rediscovered it. I ordered the Pad Thai, and I can confidently say it is still the absolute best Pad Thai I have ever had in my life. It tasted exactly like I remembered.

The Scenic Cruising Days: Glacier Bay & College Fjord

Following our port stops, the itinerary transitioned into back-to-back scenic cruising days. This is where the Discovery Princess truly shone as a platform for a young family.

Glacier Bay National Park: This is the undisputed crown jewel of Alaska. National Park Rangers boarded the ship early in the morning, setting up a temporary station and providing live narration over the ship’s speakers. Servers were offering hot chocolate and coffee on the pool deck all day long, and the views were never ending. Because we had a balcony, we could sit comfortably outside with the baby, shielded from the wind, staring for hours at passing chunks of ice that had calved off local glaciers. Finally, the journey up the inlet ended with a long stay at Margerie Glacier and all the surrounding wildlife that call Glacier Bay home.
College Fjord: The next day brought us scenic cruising north and a pass through College Fjord in the late evening, a stunning amphitheater of glaciers named after prestigious East Coast universities (like Harvard and Yale). It offered a completely different, narrower, and steeper landscape than Glacier Bay, providing a perfect cap to the scenic voyage before we made our final early-morning arrival into the quirky, tunnel-accessible port of Whittier for disembarkation. This town all lives in one hotel like building, and the only way to access the town by land is through a 7 mile tunnel under a mountain.

Service & Crew: Solid, Familiar, and a Few Old Friends

Service throughout the week was consistently good — friendly, attentive, no complaints — but if I’m being honest, nothing this time around felt like it went above and beyond, with one exception being our stateroom attendant, Jon Marc. He kept our cabin running smoothly all week and got our crib request turned around almost instantly, which made the first night with a baby onboard far less stressful than it could have been.

A real highlight of the week, service-wise, was personal rather than official: I had three friends onboard from my days working on the Ocean Medallion Project at Princess. Getting to catch up with them, and having them look out for us the way only people who’ve worked these ships can, was one of the best parts of the trip — though admittedly, that’s not something most readers will have the luxury of experiencing.

Value & Pricing: Was It Worth It?

Alaska isn’t cheap, and this sailing wasn’t either — but we felt like we got a genuinely good deal. The Discovery Princess is the latest ship in Princess’s Royal class (again, not the newest overall — that’s the new Sphere-class), and based on past pricing, I would have expected something closer to $7,000 for three of us in a mini-suite for a week with the Plus package — Wi-Fi, gratuities, included alcohol, four specialty dining credits, and a handful of smaller perks. We ended up paying just over $4,000.

Onboard spending stayed minimal too — outside of the spa, we spent only about $85 for the entire week. Between the itinerary, the cabin, and how much was already included, this felt like one of the better value sailings we’ve taken.

🏁 The Final Verdict: Is Discovery Princess Right for Alaska?

Category	Rating	Insider Take
The Ship	⭐⭐⭐⭐☆	Modern, elegant, and classy — peak maturation of the Royal-class design.
The Cabin	⭐⭐⭐⭐☆	The Medallion door and smart storage made traveling with a baby far easier than expected.
The Food	⭐⭐⭐☆☆	Decent, but didn’t quite blow us away — veteran cruisers will notice the downgrades.
Entertainment	⭐⭐⭐⭐☆	Rock Opera still holds up, and the naturalist talks were an unexpected highlight.
Service	⭐⭐⭐⭐☆	Friendly and reliable across the board, with one true standout in our stateroom attendant.
The Itinerary	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐	Absolute perfection — Glacier Bay and College Fjord is an unbeatable combo.
Value	⭐⭐⭐⭐☆	With the Plus package included, this felt like one of the better value sailings we’ve taken.
Overall	⭐⭐⭐⭐☆	A smooth, highly memorable vacation that delivers exactly what it promises.

The Good: The Discovery Princess handles Alaska’s geography beautifully, and this itinerary — with both Glacier Bay and College Fjord on the same sailing and extra long port times — is arguably the best route in the entire cruise industry. The mini-suite and balcony made traveling with a 6-month-old far easier than we expected, the long port days gave us real flexibility, and at just over $5,000 with the Plus package included, the value was hard to beat.

The Bad: If you’re a veteran Princess cruiser, you’ll notice the subtle budget cuts in buffet variety and premium dining venues like 360, along with less Alaska-specific theming and a step back in Medallion features compared to a few years ago.

The Bottom Line: For first-timers, families with young kids, or anyone wanting a relaxing, scenery-first introduction to Alaska, this ship delivers a premium 4-star vacation — and one of the better values we’ve found for it.

FAQ: Your Questions About This Sailing, Answered

Is a Princess Alaska cruise good for traveling with a baby or toddler? Yes — far better than you might expect. A balcony cabin or mini-suite gives you a private “viewing room” for scenic days and naps, every dining venue has high chairs, staff are happy to accommodate strollers at the table, and the Medallion’s hands-free door unlock is a small but real win when your arms are full. Just request a crib ahead of time and don’t hesitate to ask the ship directly about meal accommodations.

Is Princess’s 360 dining experience worth the $149 price tag? For the experience, yes — it’s unlike anything else at sea, with immersive projection, scent, and storytelling that’s genuinely impressive. Just go in knowing it’s a show first and a meal second; the portions and ingredients are modest for the price. If you want a meal that’s both excellent and filling, save room (and budget) for Sabatini’s or The Catch by Rudi.

Should I book a one-way or round-trip Alaska cruise? If your travel plans allow for flying into one city and out of another, a one-way (open-jaw) itinerary like this Vancouver-to-Whittier route is hard to beat — you get a true point-to-point journey through Alaska rather than retracing your steps. A northbound sailing in particular lets you combine Glacier Bay and College Fjord on the same trip, which is one of the best itinerary combinations in the industry.

Why was our ship’s embarkation in Vancouver so late, and is that normal? If your sailing is the first of a new season and your ship is arriving from a long repositioning crossing (in our case, all the way from Australia), the ship may not dock until midday — pushing embarkation back several hours from the usual late-morning start. It’s not a sign of bad planning; it’s just a one-time season-kickoff quirk. If you’re curious, ship-tracking sites can show you where your vessel is the day before, so you’re not caught off guard.

What is Starfire in Skagway, and can passengers eat there? Starfire is a small spot in Skagway that, for years, was a closely guarded secret among cruise ship crew looking to escape ship food. It closed for over five years during COVID and recently reopened as a food truck — and yes, it’s open to passengers too of course. It’s an easy walk from the dock, easy to miss if you don’t know to look for it, and in my opinion still serves the best Pad Thai anywhere.

Practical Takeaways: What We’d Tell a Friend Booking This Cruise

Book a balcony or mini-suite if you’re traveling with a baby or toddler — it becomes your private viewing deck during naps and scenic days.

Use a travel agent. The Princess Plus package (Wi-Fi, gratuities, drinks, dining credits) is often included for free through promotions — it made a real difference in our total cost and onboard spend.

Request a crib in advance, and don’t be shy about contacting the ship directly for any dietary accommodations — even insiders find the process unclear, but the crew will take care of you.

Don’t plan around the pool on an early-season Alaska sailing. Pack for cold, and let the balcony do the work.

written by:

Andrew O’Sullivan

Virginia Tech grad who loves all things cruising. Spent a season as a server for a small ship in Alaska while in college, then managed the development and rollout of the Ocean Medallion for Princess Cruises for 4 years before choosing to sail for fun from here on out. Excited to share my love for cruising with others who share this same passion.