boshgarner

We just stayed at Comfort Inn Ships Creek last week - they have an airport shuttle which is not advertised well as we took an uber to the hotel and found out later. The shuttle will also take you to the railroad in the morning, which granted is only a few minute walk from the hotel, but it was raining when we would've needed to walk, so it was nice not have to lug our suitcases in the rain. Walking to 49th St Brewing as many suggested would definitely be my recommendation, while it is an uphill walk, it will only take 10 minutes and is perfectly lit/safe. The main floor/bar is open seating, so as long as you're not picky about where you sit, we didn't have any trouble getting in!

We were just there last week and took an excursion with Brown Bear Lodge & Excursions (which we booked through Alaska Shore Excursions). Our guide was the local clan leader and was incredible, cannot sing his praises enough! We saw five brown bears in total, including a mama and baby and even one that was literally feet away from us. He had spots that it sounds like the ship booked excursions did not go to based on conversations we had with folks back on the boat later that hadn't seen any bears on their excursions. Of course, September is the tail end of salmon run season, so our odds were better than you may have in June. But I would still recommend giving it a shot! And definitely go out as early as you can, our excursion left at 7am when very few people had gotten off the ship, and we had seen 3/5 of our bears by 8:30am