The Emerald Princess-Excursions

[bccruising]

We are taking an Alaska Cruise in August aboard the Emerald Princess...The inside passage with Tracy Arm Fjord....We've never been to Alaska....Any suggestions on shore excursions would be helpful:)....Should we book through the ship as first timers to Alaska? This will be our 4th cruise.

Our ports are: Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Skagway, Victoria BC...Seattle to Seattle......

Thanks in advance

[JF - retired RRT]

You could take a look at the "Ports of Call" sub-forum for Alaska here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

[napunani]

We've booked our own excursions in Alaskan ports. Whale-watching boat tour in Juneau was one. These local tour companies realize they have to get cruise ship passengers back to the ship in a timely manner.

Do your research - check tripadvisor for starters. Also this guide is excellent http://www.tomsportguides.com/

[Colo Cruiser]

We are taking an Alaska Cruise in August aboard the Emerald Princess...The inside passage with Tracy Arm Fjord....We've never been to Alaska....Any suggestions on shore excursions would be helpful:)....Should we book through the ship as first timers to Alaska? This will be our 4th cruise.

Our ports are: Ketchikan, Tracy Arm Fjord, Juneau, Skagway, Victoria BC...Seattle to Seattle......

Thanks in advance

 

 

I suggest you join the roll call for your cruise which may be found here,

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=387

 

If it's not there then you can start one........

[AF-1]

We are on Emerald in July. We booked all excursions thru Princess. I checked out private vendors and did not see that much of price difference and some were about same price as Princess. Each person should do research and make their own decisions. Why don't you go to the Alaska board where you will find lots of info on shore excursions.

[suec12]

Well I want to post here not just to answer but to get maybe some additional info. My impression is because of the time (very early morning) the ship is in the fijord, you almost have to book with the ship to get a good experience. It seems you board a smaller ship off the Emerald and then go down to Juneau? I was a little surprised that the time in the fijord was so darn early! but cynical me thinks that is a good way to have passengers book an additional expedition thru Princess. On another cruise line with approached the glacier much more mid-day.

[Eaglecw]

Well I want to post here not just to answer but to get maybe some additional info. My impression is because of the time (very early morning) the ship is in the fijord, you almost have to book with the ship to get a good experience. It seems you board a smaller ship off the Emerald and then go down to Juneau? I was a little surprised that the time in the fijord was so darn early! but cynical me thinks that is a good way to have passengers book an additional expedition thru Princess. On another cruise line with approached the glacier much more mid-day.

 

 

We’ve done this cruise many times. The ship enters Tracy Arm, early around 5am. This has to do the tides at the month of the fjord. The ship slowly cruises up Tracy Arm to Sawyer Island and slowly turns around, at that point you can see Sawyer glacier of in the distance. I highly recommend the small boat excursion off the Emerald, it’ll take up to almost the face of Glacier. We have sighted bears along the beach up in the fjord that the ship never saw and whales once we exited the fjord n our way to Juneau. This excursion is well worth the price, it's one of the highlights of our trip.

[iron will]

getting close this.

[Retired_Army]

We’ve done this cruise many times. The ship enters Tracy Arm, early around 5am. This has to do the tides at the month of the fjord. The ship slowly cruises up Tracy Arm to Sawyer Island and slowly turns around, at that point you can see Sawyer glacier of in the distance. I highly recommend the small boat excursion off the Emerald, it’ll take up to almost the face of Glacier. We have sighted bears along the beach up in the fjord that the ship never saw and whales once we exited the fjord n our way to Juneau. This excursion is well worth the price, it's one of the highlights of our trip.

 

Can't recommend this tour enough if you want to experience the glacier. The Emerald will have to turn around quite some distance from the face of the glacier. We were too early in May to see bears but did have several Humpbacks doing full breaches on the way to Juneau (think Pacific Life Insurance commercials). Other than the helicopter ride to the glacier for on-snow dogsledding this was our best excursion.

[gatorguy56]

I also highly recommend the small boat excursion in Tracy Arm. We got very close to both the north and small glaciers and very close to Icy Falls (we could feel the spray from the observation deck. We had an excellent Naturalist on board.

 

In Skagway we took the train to the pass. We took the first train and sat in the very last car. We were able to get some great photos off the observation platform.

 

In Ketchikan we enjoy going to Creek Street and the salmon ladder if the salmon are running.

[AF-1]

Thanks for posting your reviews; but the op's ship has sailed. This thread is over a year old and they have already been on their cruise; but on the other side; there may be someone reading this thread for the first time and could benefit from your advice. Have a great day and week