END OF SEASON STORE SALES IN ALASKA PORTS

[mcrcruiser]

 Which are the best ports & or stores that have the greater discounts on quality goods  ?

 

 We are taking the R/T Royal Princess Sept 17 ,2019 to Ketchikan ,Juneau & Skagway  . We are driving to San Pedro pier to board the ship ,so no flying weight restrictions 

 

  Are there  particular stores that you have personally shopped at the end of the Alaska season that you got great deals ?

 

 TIA 

[Colo Cruiser]

Sept 17th is pretty late in the season........

We have hit the end of the season (mid Sept) a few times on our Princess Alaska cruises and found that most stores were closed and many shop-owners high tailed it out of town for the season. Especially in Skagway.

We don't partake but the port shopping presentations onboard were packed and we heard some unhappy passengers because of the shops being closed. Some of the promos/coupons etc that were handed out could not be used.

[Cruisin' Along]

We cruised departing August 27 a few years ago and shops were already running end of season sales. We found the best bargains in Juneau. 

[Greg4502]

Most of the shops that are open, the prices seems to be around the same. They all have most of the same stuff. It you find a good price at one and then start looking around for a better one, you may forget the name of the first store. Also, take a look around on the side streets and the streets off the main drag for stores. Many of them just rent the space for the season. A lot of these have good deals. They want to get rid of the inventory.

[mcrcruiser]

17 minutes ago, Greg4502 said:

Most of the shops that are open, the prices seems to be around the same. They all have most of the same stuff. It you find a good price at one and then start looking around for a better one, you may forget the name of the first store. Also, take a look around on the side streets and the streets off the main drag for stores. Many of them just rent the space for the season. A lot of these have good deals. They want to get rid of the inventory.

Thanks the side street stores is a good option to check out  .We do hope to have enough stores still open to get some great Christmas present deals .However , if this fails to  materialize then we revert back to option 2 ;which are the online Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales, at Amazon ,Walmart & Target . 

 

 We are hoping to get several Alaska made (not made in China ) items of quality .Perhaps a jacket ,shirts ,ie .More clothing items than trinkets 

[sfaaa]

If you see something you like, make an offer. Many shopkeepers and even some tour operators are willing to negotiate to make a sale before the cruise season ends.

[greenie082756]

We too are on the same cruise in mid September on the Royal and I was wondering the same thing about the shopping options.  The last time we cruised to Alaska was the end of August and most of the store were open then.

 

**Crossing fingers for some stores to be open **

#Mamaneedsanotherchristmasornament# 

[cr8tiv1]

I was on one of the very last cruises for the season.  Skagway didn't offer much of a discount.  There's a huge store in Juneau, right next to the port.  Lots of sales signage. "Thought" I got some good end of season sales.  HA!  returned with my treasures and found out that they marked it up to give the huge savings when I got home.  Didn't save very much overall.  

 

I guess it depends what you are looking for.

[JoRoy218]

3 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I was on one of the very last cruises for the season.  Skagway didn't offer much of a discount.  There's a huge store in Juneau, right next to the port.  Lots of sales signage. "Thought" I got some good end of season sales.  HA!  returned with my treasures and found out that they marked it up to give the huge savings when I got home.  Didn't save very much overall.  

 

I guess it depends what you are looking for.

Yes, the big store just steps from the ship is Tongass Trading. You’ll see their bright red shopping bags everywhere. They have tons of things to choose from at decent prices. 

[Cruise Raider]

We always travel to Alaska in September and have found some great sales, the best being in Icy Strait Point several years ago.  There were also some pretty great sales in Juneau and Skagway in the past.  This year, we also went in September and they are onto us bargain hunters.  There still are some end of the season deals but not like we've found in the past.  They now seem to simply pack their wares up for next year vs selling items dirt cheap like they used to do. 

Juneau will still be your best bet.  As others have mentioned, you are going very late in the season and a lot of places will be closed up for the winter, especially if the weather has already turned.  

[XBGuy]

We were on the Grand Princess departing San Francisco Sep. 15, 2017.  It was the last AK round trip of the season.  I can't say that I recall closed stores.  I can report that at the fudge store in Skagway we were unable to buy any mint fudge.  They were out of whatever ingredients needed to make mint fudge.  Somehow, we struggled along--probably, with peanut butter fudge.  It did appear that there were good sales on Alaska baseball caps,  You could pick them up for a couple bucks.  Not in Icy Strait Point, though.  They seemed to be pretty proud of their baseball caps.

 

We actually ran into more closed businesses on our trip from Los Angeles last April on the Emerald Princess.  We were the third ship of the season in most of the ports.  There were a couple restaurants and at least one store that had not yet opened in Skagway.  Thankfully, however, we were able to get mint fudge.  It seems to me that we walked by one or two restaurants in Ketchikan that had not, yet, opened.

[katrina915]

I was on the Ruby Princess mid September last year and all the stores by the docks were open.  I wasn't looking for sales but found tshirts for $7 and half off some gloves (Skagway shirt company).  In Juneau, the ice cream and fudge shop by the tram had sales on candy.

[wolfie11]

On ‎1‎/‎24‎/‎2019 at 8:02 AM, mcrcruiser said:

Thanks the side street stores is a good option to check out  .We do hope to have enough stores still open to get some great Christmas present deals .However , if this fails to  materialize then we revert back to option 2 ;which are the online Black Friday & Cyber Monday sales, at Amazon ,Walmart & Target . 

 

 We are hoping to get several Alaska made (not made in China ) items of quality .Perhaps a jacket ,shirts ,ie .More clothing items than trinkets 

You won't find many jackets, shirts, etc. made in Alaska at the tourist shops.  In fact, the stores mostly sell Made in China stuff.  Also, those big sales in September at 50% off - they're the same stuff that was on sale in May at 50% off.  I think they call them "loss leaders" in the industry.  If you want real Alaska stuff, you will have to pay for it.  It will have a Made in Alaska sticker or a sticker indicating it was made by Alaska Natives.  I own a number of Ray Troll shirts bought at his gallery Coho Soho in Ketchikan (you can check it out online) and there are some really nice enamels (pins, zipper pulls, etc.) by Spear that are very reasonable.  They are Alaskan but not sure they're actually produced in Alaska.