This Might Be the Coolest Alaska Cruise to Take in 2025

Travel Leisure
Kevin West
2025 01 04

It was the boat that got me. Swell, run by Maple Leaf Adventures out of Victoria, British Columbia, was built in 1912 as a wooden-hulled tugboat. Refitted in 2004, it now operates as an elegant 88-foot expedition cruiser for 12 guests, five crew, and an onboard naturalist. Full disclosure: I don’t much like the ocean, but I’ll take a boat if there’s no other way to get somewhere, and I had always wanted to see Alaska’s southeastern coast.