Cruise Port Guide · 65 cruises visit Puget Sound →
The bucket-list things to do — and the private, expert-led way to do each.
Here’s the bucket list for your day ashore: the most extraordinary thing to do at each stop, and the private, small-group, or expert-led way to make it yours — your own pace, real access, none of the crowd.
Scan the glittering waters of the Salish Sea for orcas, humpbacks, and gray whales with a family-run operator that literally guarantees a sighting. This half-day voyage from Port Townsend or Edmonds is the Pacific Northwest's most coveted wildlife moment.
Descend into the buried Victorian city that lies beneath modern-day Seattle — a subterranean world of 19th-century storefronts, saloons, and cobbled sidewalks that tell the scandalous, wildly entertaining story of how Seattle literally raised itself from the ashes after the Great Fire of 1889.
Glide silently across Elliott Bay on a fully crewed private sailboat with the Olympic Mountains framing the horizon and Seattle's skyline glowing astern — arguably the most beautiful three hours available anywhere on the Pacific Northwest coast.
Stand at 6,400 feet on the flanks of an active volcano surrounded by wildflower meadows, ancient glaciers, and the most commanding panorama in the Pacific Northwest. Mount Rainier on a clear day is simply one of the most awe-inspiring natural spectacles on earth.
Cross Puget Sound by ferry to the wild Olympic Peninsula and ascend to Hurricane Ridge — a 5,242-foot alpine meadow with jaw-dropping views across the Strait of Juan de Fuca — then descend to Sol Duc Falls, one of the most photographed waterfalls in the Pacific Northwest.
Walk the living shoreline of South Puget Sound with a marine scientist, tidal pool in hand, uncovering the extraordinary — and surprisingly fragile — ecosystem that makes these waters one of the most biodiverse estuaries in the continental United States.
⚓ Your bucket-list concierge
Tell us your sailing and we'll send the bucket list for every port — the most extraordinary thing to do at each, and the private, expert-led way to make it yours.
No spam. The honest plan, even when it says skip the ship’s tour.