This Royal Caribbean ship will be the largest ship ever to combine a cruise with a land tour of Denali

Royal Caribbean is about to take more than 4,000 passengers even further northwest into Alaska. Beginning in spring 2026, Ovation of the Seas will become the line’s largest-ever one-way ship to The Last Frontier, offering both cruises and cruise tours – something previously unavailable to Royal Caribbean passengers on a large ship.

The Quantum Class ship, part of the line’s third-largest class of ships, will replace Radiance of the Seas on one-way weeklong voyages between Seward, Alaska and Vancouver, British Columbia. The ship will call at the ports of Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point and Sitka, Alaska. Ovation will also traverse the upper Gulf of Alaska between Hubbard Glacier and Seward during its sailings, providing access to Anchorage and interior Alaska.

To that end, passengers have the option to book up to six additional nights for land-based exploration, with Alaska destinations including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Denali, Talkeetna and Alyeska. Tundra treks and train rides with glass domes are among the excursion options.

What stands out about Ovation of the Seas cruise tours is that the ship dwarfs the other ships that offer single sailings with cruise tour add-ons. That’s because most cruise lines put their largest Alaska ships on round-trip cruises in Seattle and save older, smaller ships for the one-way trips. When Ovation begins operating these itineraries in 2026, megaship fans looking to spend time in inland Alaska before or after their cruise won’t have to choose between their preferred ship size and their preferred itinerary.

While single itineraries offer travelers a way to explore places that ships cannot reach, traveling to and from one-way in Alaska is often more expensive. That’s because you’ll need to book two one-way flights, including one from an Alaskan city, which can be more expensive than round-trip flights to Seattle or Vancouver. This can impact your bottom line if you are on a limited budget.

For the 2026 season, Ovation of the Seas, a regular on the Alaska cruise scene, will join 4,180-passenger classmate Anthem of the Seas and 3,602-passenger Voyager Class fleetmate Voyager of the Seas in the region. (This season, Voyager will sail to Alaska for the first time.) The final two ships will operate a weeklong round trip from Seattle. Ports of call include a mix of Juneau, Sitka, Skagway and Icy Strait Point, with scenic sailing to Alaska’s Endicott Arm Fjord and Dawes Glacier.

A fourth ship, the 2,143-passenger Serenade of the Seas – a member of the Radiance Class of ships – will sail seven-night round-trip cruises from Vancouver during the 2026 Alaska season. Ports include Sitka, Juneau, Icy Strait Point and Ketchikan in Alaska and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, plus scenic sailings through the Inside Passage and to Alaska’s Tracy Arm Fjord.

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