Princess Cruises Adding Staggered Embarkation on Two Ships

Princess Cruises will be adding staggered embarkation times to cruise ships that are sailing to Alaska for the 2026 season.

Starting on April 3, 2026, guests who are cruising to Alaska on Star Princess and Royal Princess out of Seattle will receive an email from the cruise line regarding arrival groups.

Arrival groups will determine what time guests can head to the port, check in, and board their ships.

Guests will receive an email approximately 30 days prior to their cruise with information about arrival groups.

Guest who book their airfare through Princess Cruises (EZair) or who enter in their flights in the cruise line’s app will have an arrival time automatically assigned. This includes guests who have a hotel package booked with Princess Cruise Plus.

For all other guests, they will be able to manually select the time of their arrival group.

If a guest does not select an arrival group, they will automatically be assigned one 24 hours before embarkation.

This new boarding process from Princess Cruises is only for cruises out of Seattle to Alaska on Star Princess and Royal Princess.

Royal Princess will kick off its Alaskan cruise season on May 2, 2026. The ship will sail week-long cruises to the 49th state with stops in Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, Ketchikan and Victoria.

Star Princess, the newest ship from Princess Cruises, will sail seven-night cruises to Alaska starting on May 3, 2026. The sailings will visit Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway and Victoria.

Both ships sail sail to Alaska from Seattle through the middle/late September 2026.