Emerald Princess: 12-Night Alaska from Los Angeles

Los Angeles cruise port is in San Pedro, a harbor neighborhood at the southern tip of the city, about 25 miles from downtown LA and 18 miles from LAX. The port is called the World Cruise Center, and it's the main departure point for Mexican Riviera, Hawaii, and Pacific Coast itineraries.

San Francisco is a compact city of about 870,000 people on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, connected to the north by the Golden Gate Bridge and to the east by the Bay Bridge. The city's terrain is famously steep, its climate famously foggy, and its personality famously independent.

Victoria is British Columbia's capital city, situated on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It serves as a regular port of call on Alaska cruise itineraries departing from Seattle, typically as the first or last stop before or after the Inside Passage.

Vancouver cruise port is the main gateway to Alaska, and nearly every Alaska cruise that runs the full Inside Passage route starts or ends here. The terminal is at Canada Place, a distinctive sail-shaped building right on the downtown waterfront.

Juneau cruise port is the capital of Alaska and one of the main stops on Inside Passage itineraries. The town sits on a thin strip of coast at the foot of Mount Roberts and Mount Juneau, backed by the 1,500-square-mile Juneau Icefield and surrounded by the Tongass National Forest.

Skagway cruise port is the northernmost major stop on most Alaska Inside Passage cruises and one of the best-preserved gold rush towns in the world. The town sits at the head of the Lynn Canal fjord, wedged between the Coast Mountains and the Taiya Inlet, with a population of about 1,000 permanent residents that balloons with each cruise ship arrival.

Glacier Bay is not a traditional cruise port. There is no dock, no town, and no getting off the ship for most passengers.

Ketchikan cruise port is the first major stop on most Alaska Inside Passage itineraries coming up from Seattle or Vancouver. The town sits on Revillagigedo Island in Alaska's southernmost panhandle, wedged between the ocean and steep forested mountains.