Star Princess Debuts in Seattle for Alaska Cruise Season
Star Princess' arrival underscores how Alaska cruising is becoming a higher-stakes Seattle market, with major lines adding larger ships to meet sustained demand.
Princess Cruises marked Star Princess’ Seattle debut with an Alaska-themed drone show and a Port of Seattle plaque exchange as the 177,800-GT ship began its inaugural Alaska season from Pier 91. The ship departed May 3 on the first of 20 weekly roundtrip Inside Passage sailings scheduled through Sept. 13 and is expected to carry about 90,000 guests in the region this season.
The deployment puts Princess’ newest ship into the Seattle rotation during the line’s largest Alaska program, with eight ships, 180 departures and visits to 19 destinations. For Seattle, the arrival adds to a year the port has described as its busiest cruise season.
The May 1 public drone display was staged over Seattle Center, with the International Fountain Mall as the primary viewing area. “Seattle has always played a vital role in our Alaska program,” said Marie Lee, Princess Cruises’ chief marketing officer, adding that the event was also intended to recognize the city’s role in supporting the cruise line’s Alaska operations.
The ship’s arrival was followed by a traditional maritime plaque exchange involving the Port of Seattle, Star Princess senior officers, Capt. Gennaro Arma, Princess Cruises President Gus Antorcha and local maritime, labor, port operations and public safety representatives. Arma called Seattle “a port with a proud maritime heritage and long-standing connection to Alaska” and thanked port partners for the welcome.
Star Princess begins Pier 91 Alaska schedule
Star Princess is sailing weekly roundtrip voyages from Seattle to Alaska ports including Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Sitka, with glacier viewing at Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. Royal Princess is also homeporting in Seattle this season on seven-day Inside Passage itineraries.
The Sphere-class Star Princess has capacity for 4,300 lower-berth passengers and 1,600 crew, with 2,157 staterooms across 21 decks. Princess traces its Alaska cruise program to 1955.
Across the Alaska program, Princess is featuring its North to Alaska onboard content, including appearances by local storytellers, lumberjacks and Iditarod participants, along with Alaska seafood menus. The line also lists shore excursions and commentary from Glacier Bay park rangers and naturalists among the season’s broader Alaska offerings.
Princess also tied the debut to community contributions in Alaska ports. The cruise line and Holland America Line are contributing $100,000 toward rebuilding Ketchikan’s Joseph T. Craig American Legion Post 3 after its destruction by arson, and Princess announced additional donations of $25,000 to Juneau Flukes, $25,000 to Skagway Childcare Council and $10,000 to Sitka Trail Works.
Seattle expects its busiest cruise year
The Port of Seattle’s 2026 cruise season began April 17 with Norwegian Jade and is expected to total 330 vessel calls and about 2.1 million passengers. The port first exceeded 1 million cruise passengers in 2017 and recorded 1,778,193 revenue passengers in 2023.
Seattle’s homeport lineup this year includes 16 ships. MSC Cruises and Virgin Voyages are entering the Seattle-Alaska market for the first time. A 2025 analysis put Elliott Bay cruise operations at nearly $1.2 billion in annual local business revenue and more than 5,120 direct and indirect jobs in Washington.
Eleven Seattle homeport vessels are expected to plug into shore power this season, and additional Pier 91 connections are scheduled to come online before the port’s 2027 shore-power requirement for homeported cruise ships. Princess has already scheduled both Star Princess and Royal Princess to return to Seattle for Alaska sailings that year.
