Getting There · Seward & Whittier
One airport, two ports, and a long way between them. Royal Caribbean puts Seward about 130 miles from Anchorage’s airport, and Holland America puts Whittier about 60 miles and 90 minutes away. It’s the train, a bus, your line’s transfer or a rental car. Here’s what each one costs.
Tell us when you land and when the ship leaves, and we’ll check it against what each ride publishes and our rule of thumb.
Fly into Anchorage, and land the day before. Seward is about 130 miles south and Whittier about 60 miles away through a one-lane tunnel, and the morning trains leave Anchorage at 6:45 AM for Seward and 9:45 AM for Whittier.
Princess asks for Whittier flights that land 5 hours before the ship leaves. For Seward, the day before is the safer plan.
Booking.com lists airport taxis you can book ahead. Check the pickup point, the price and the cancellation terms before you book.
Booking.com links are affiliate links: Seabound Journeys may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we recommend. Affiliate disclosure.
Seward’s new cruise terminal is at 913 Port Avenue, next to the Alaska Railroad’s Seward station. It opened officially on June 10, 2026, per Cruise Hive, a trade site. In Whittier, the newer Chugach Glacier Gateway terminal burned on September 14, 2026 and was declared a total loss; trade reports say its owners aim to reopen for 2027 — a hope, not a date — so check your line’s berth and transfer instructions for your sailing. Both roads leave Anchorage on the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm.
Fares and dates are on Booking.com. Land the day before, not the morning you sail.
Booking.com links are affiliate links: Seabound Journeys may earn a commission if you book, at no extra cost to you. It doesn’t change what we recommend. Affiliate disclosure.
Pick your port and set how many of you are riding. Everything here is priced per person, so it scales with your party.
| Alaska Railroad Coastal Classic, Anchorage depot to Seward | — |
| Alaska Cruise Transfer, ANC to Seward, Thu and Fri | — |
| Seward Bus Lines, direct transfer, Thu and Fri | — |
| Viator, Anchorage to Seward direct transfer, from | — |
| Alaska Railroad Glacier Discovery, Anchorage depot to Whittier | — |
| Viator, Anchorage to Whittier direct transfer, from | — |
| Viator, hotel or airport pickup to the Whittier dock, from | — |
One way, before tip. The train and Seward bus fares are the 2027 ones, checked October 2, 2026; the bus price is an early-booking one that rises after November 1. Viator’s “from” prices are as of October 2, 2026. The Seward buses run on Thursdays and Fridays. Cruise-line transfers are priced in your cruise account, so they aren’t here.
Heading home? The Coastal Classic leaves Seward at 6 PM and reaches Anchorage at 10:15 PM. From Whittier, Park Connection’s coach leaves the terminal at 9:45 AM on ship days and reaches Anchorage at noon.
Princess publishes a rule for Whittier, and one bus publishes its last departure for Seward. Beyond that, the yardstick is our rule of thumb, labelled as ours.
Whatever the ride, your cruise line’s check-in window is the real deadline, and it’s printed in your boarding documents.
Twenty hotels for each port, in town and in Anchorage, ranked on the ride, breakfast and distance. Tell us your sail date and we’ll book the night before.
Seward is about 130 miles from ANC and Whittier about 60, through a tunnel on a schedule. Put in your flight and this works out the ride, the wait and what to do with the bags.
Partner links (transfers, rental cars, luggage storage) may earn Seabound Journeys a commission at no extra cost to you. They don't change the plan, which is built only from what each company publishes.
The Alaska Railroad runs both ways in. The Coastal Classic leaves the Anchorage depot at 6:45 AM, stops in Girdwood and reaches Seward at 11:20 AM, daily from May 14 to September 12 in 2027; the cruise terminal is next to the Seward station. The Glacier Discovery leaves Anchorage at 9:45 AM, stops in Girdwood and reaches Whittier at 12:05 PM, and its full route runs May 29 to September 12 in 2027. Fares for 2027: $133 one way to Seward in Adventure Class ($289 GoldStar) and $122 to Whittier, checked October 2, 2026.
Driving to Whittier means the Anton Anderson tunnel: one lane, shared with the trains, open 5:30 AM to 11:15 PM from May through September and 7:00 AM to 10:45 PM from October 1, with traffic taking turns every 15 minutes. Cars pay $13 round trip. Avis rents from the Whittier harbor only until October 5, 2026, so a one-way car there is a summer plan, not a fall one. Bags: neither terminal stores them, per Cruise Critic for Seward and Holland America for Whittier, and Bounce lists 8 spots in Anchorage from $4.95 a day.
The day-before flight is the one move that takes a delay off sail day. It costs a hotel night. It buys you the morning, and in Alaska it may buy you the train.
Five of the Seward twenty and six of the Whittier twenty run a free airport shuttle, all in Anchorage. In Seward, Harbor 360 and the Gateway run free shuttles to the terminal; in Whittier, sleeping in town means no tunnel on sail morning.
Twenty hotels for a Seward cruise, in town and in Anchorage. Here are the top six.
Twenty hotels for a Whittier cruise, in town, Girdwood and Anchorage. Here are the top six.
These are the rides our Seward twenty list from the airport, and the ones that also get you to the ship.
Every hotel, side by side: the Getting There table.
Ted Stevens Anchorage International (ANC). Royal Caribbean puts the Seward terminal about 130 miles from it, and Holland America puts Whittier about 60 miles and 90 minutes away. Neither port has a commercial airport of its own that any cruise line points you to.
The Alaska Railroad's Coastal Classic leaves the Anchorage depot at 6:45 AM and reaches Seward at 11:20 AM, next to the cruise terminal — $133 one way in Adventure Class for 2027, checked Oct 2, 2026. Alaska Cruise Transfer and Seward Bus Lines run buses from ANC for $78 on Thursdays and Fridays, a 2027 early-booking price, Park Connection leaves downtown at 7 AM and 3 PM, and there's a Hertz in Seward for a one-way rental.
The Glacier Discovery train leaves the Anchorage depot at 9:45 AM and reaches Whittier at 12:05 PM, $122 one way for 2027, checked Oct 2, 2026. Park Connection's coach leaves downtown at 3 PM on ship days, and Princess and Holland America sell their own transfers. Once you're in Whittier there are no taxis, Uber or Lyft, per Holland America, so the ride you arrive on matters.
The Anton Anderson tunnel is one lane, shared with the railroad, and alternates direction every 15 minutes, per Alaska DOT: 5:30 AM to 11:15 PM from May 1 to September 30, and 7:00 AM to 10:45 PM from October 1 to April 30. Cars pay $13 round trip, and vehicles with trailers $22; DOT asks you to be at the staging area 10 minutes before your opening. Checked Oct 2, 2026.
For Whittier, Princess asks that flights land at least 5 hours before the ship leaves. For Seward, 130 miles away, the morning train leaves Anchorage at 6:45 AM, so flying in the day before is the safer plan.
From Whittier, Princess asks for flights at least 10 hours 30 minutes after the ship arrives, or after 1 PM with its rail transfer. From Seward, the train back leaves at 6 PM and reaches Anchorage at 10:15 PM, so most people fly the next day.
LoungePair sells no ANC passes. Alaska Airlines runs its own Alaska Lounge at the airport.
Royal Caribbean says there's no long-term parking at the Seward terminal, and the city's lots charge $10 a day that runs out at midnight. In Whittier, the city's harbor lot is $11 a day, midnight to midnight, and Whittier Parking runs a lot across the tracks without a printed rate. At ANC, the long-term lot is $13 a day with a $78 weekly cap. All checked Oct 2, 2026.
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