Independent versus cruise excursions?

[Florida 1]

We used independent excursions last year as well as the price differences were quite significant. In Skagway we used Alaska Excursions for the sled dog adventure (a lot of fun), and in Juneau used Coastal Helicopter to fly us to a glacier where we were able to walk around a learn a lot from our pilot. It was amazing!

[4774Papa]

We did an independent tour for Juneau (Viator) and Ketchikan (K. Taxi) that were cheaper than the ship's excursions.

 

We could not find an independent tour for the White Pass Train plus rain forest hike, so we went with the ship.

[Melinda Brasher]

Some of my favorite "excursions" have been hikes I just do on my own. There are some amazing places you can get to in the port towns, even on foot from the ship.

[Beach4me]

Some of my favorite "excursions" have been hikes I just do on my own. There are some amazing places you can get to in the port towns, even on foot from the ship.

 

Agree! We were in Ketchikan early in the morning late in Sept one year - and the first of 3 ships in. We took a cab up to the lodge and wandered our way down back to the dock. We walked through some beautiful areas, found some unexpected totems, watched the salmon in the creek - and the eagles having breakfast - and wandered around with no one else around. Eventually visited 2 shops and made our way down to the dock for some incredible clam chowder.

 

It's still one of our favorite port days.

[TheCalicoCat]

I have read a lot about people preferring independent excursions over cruise organized excursions, so I have been looking at some of the highly rated independent companies. But I am confused....when comparing prices with the cruise excursions, I don't see a difference with most of them, especially with the flightseeing or whale watching excursions am I missing somthing? If the prices are the same or that close together, what is the benefit of independently booked excursions?

 

Individual attention. In the past, in Skagway, we took a tour with Beyond Skagway with Becky. Since it was only us, when we wanted to stop, she stopped, she also reversed so I could snap a photo of a flower on the side of the road.

 

I have chose all independent tours or DIY activities for my July 2017 cruise as well.

 

Ketchikan - flight with Family Air. I booked in October 2016 & got a discount for paying in full. (Dave changed the pick-up time for us & has been great with e-mail communication. He just recently let us know where he will pick us up - now that he knows where our ship will be on the pier.)

 

Juneau - DIY (Mt. Roberts if the weather is nice &/or Mendenhall via one of the buses at the pier.)

 

Icy Strait Point - DIY

 

Anchorage - Hanging out with a friend - hiking?

 

Homer - independent tour with Alaska Coastal Studies

 

Kodiak - Independent flight

 

Sitka - DIY

 

Victoria - DIY

[cruiseguy1016]

I have always booked excursions through the ship because I am so concerned about getting back to the pier on time. However, for our trip on the Legend this July, I booked a Skagway tour through Frontier Excursions. We are in port until 9 pm that night, and Frontier guarantees we will be back at the pier on time. My choice for this was because my husband is a smoker and the train to White Pass does not stop and he would be uncomfortable. Frontier takes a van and says they stop frequently for photo opportunities, etc. and my husband will be able to step away from the group and smoke. I was pleased with their customer response, and will be hoping that it all lives up to what they say.

 

Do not worry about being back on time. The tour operators' livelihood depends on satisfied customers. They know what time the ships get into port and what time the ships leave port. If they ever caused a customer to miss the ship, the bad news would spread like wildfire and they would probably be out of business. We do almost all of our tours on our own for the reasons discussed here. We have never been concerned about (or come close to) missing the ship.