See The Wilderness of North America by Sea With These Five Unique Cruise Routes

There’s an undeniable charm to travelling by sea. Enjoying the slow, steady route offers a more tactile adventure – the smell of the ocean, the chance to set foot in places that are inaccessible when travelling overland. Cruises can offer us passage to pristine wildernesses, ancient glaciers and rugged coastlines, all in comfort and style. If you’re planning a jaunt to North America, here are five of our favourite cruise routes to best see the continent.

Alaska

The sprawling, sparsely populated state of Alaska is at once stunningly beautiful and largely inaccessible, so the best way to see it is often from the ocean. Departing from Vancouver or Seattle, this line meanders up the continent’s western coastline through the islands of the North American Fjordland, an ecoregion famed for its orca and humpback whale populations. You’ll drift between the rugged islands of the Inside Passage, cruise among 2.3 million hectares of wilderness at Tracy Arm Inlet, and see 4000-year-old glaciers at Glacier Bay before returning to Vancouver, perhaps a little more worldly than when you left.

Canada and New England

New England and eastern Canada has been inhabited by Indigenous populations for tens of thousands of years and were some of the earliest regions to be settled by Europeans. Departing from Boston, you’ll get the chance to take in that history visiting picturesque towns like Bar Harbor in Maine (famed for its local lobster) and the historic Victorian architecture of Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. Across the seven-day journey, the cruise winds through the region’s islands, rivers and harbours, which feature isolated beaches, crumbling cliffs and the chance to spot blue, beluga and right whales.

Denali

Denali (also known as Mount McKinley) is North America’s tallest mountain at 6190 metres and is this route’s ultimate destination. The cruise there shows quintessential Alaska: ancient glaciers at Glacier Bay and eight more at College Fjord (where there’s a real chance to see glaciers breaking off into the ocean, known as calving), plus gold rush mining towns like Skagway and the migratory bird hotspot of Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. To get to Denali, you’ll swap the ship for shore and catch a train to the remote wilderness of Denali National Park and Preserve.

Hawai’i and Baja Peninsula

You can leave the snow jacket at home for this one. The 30-night voyage slingshots first around four tropical Hawaiian islands where you’ll find the majestic ‘Opaeka’a Falls, Kona’s cloud forest and the enormous Haleakala volcano crater at an elevation of more than 3000 metres. The cruise then swings back to Mexico to explore the coral farms of the Sea of Cortez, the maze of islands in Loreto Bay National Marine Park and the diverse ecosystems of Las Barajitas Canyon, before returning to San Diego.

Panama Canal and Eastern Caribbean

Central America is a trove of ancient civilisations and unique landscapes, and this route takes in a little of everything. Starting as a sprint down the US west coast, the cruise makes port along the white-sand beaches of Mexico’s Pacific coast, taking in Oaxaca and the rich birdwatching estuaries of Huatulco. En route to the Caribbean, you’ll see the volcano-studded landscape of Guatemala, ancient cities of Nicaragua and the iconic waterfalls of Costa Rica before passing through the Panama Canal.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Flight Centre and Holland America Line