Alaska on a Budget

[kinsetta]

I wrote this last September, right after returning from a B2B Vancouver-Whittier-Vancouver Alaska cruise on Princess, thinking I would jot down some of our experiences doing “budget” shore activities. As others plan for this summer’s cruises, I hope it is helpful.

 

Living in the Pacific Northwest, we have taken several previous cruises to Alaska and booked this most recent one somewhat impulsively, just as a getaway.  We didn’t want to spend pots of money on high-end excursions in every port. We stuck to that and ended up having some very satisfying days in each stop.

Ketchikan — one day we took the free town shuttle and spent several very enjoyable hours at the Tongass historical museum ($6pp, I think) which we were told had only opened in April 2018. Although of modest size, the exhibits were laid out well with excellent interpretation. Just outside was the creek where we watched salmon struggling on their final journey. Although we did not shop, Creek Street and Married Mans Trail are adjacent.

Juneau — on the northbound leg, pouring rain crossed Mendenhall Glacier off our list, at least for that day and we headed for the Alaska State Museum. Given the weather, we splurged on a taxi ($8 incl tip each way). The museum itself is $11-12pp admission, but it is a wonderful museum. We took a (free) docents tour which gave excellent background on their fine collection relating to native cultures. We went independently through the portions on the Russian era in Alaska as well as the WW II in Alaska exhibit and more on the statehood era of Alaska’s history. They had a fascinating exhibit on the sinking of the Princess Sophia, which I believe was a temporary exhibit — if it is, it’s really too bad because we spent over an hour in those two rooms alone. There was also a children’s play area for those shorter tourists and an earth science room that we didn’t even get into plus animal displays. They have a cafe, so it’s easy to break for coffee or a meal and really savor the entire collection. Highly recommended for a rainy day.

On our return visit, the weather could not have been better — brilliant blue skies, sunshine and in the 60s. The locals were awestruck and anxious for cruise visitors to realize how lucky they were. We took one of the shuttle buses out to Mendenhall and enjoyed every minute there. Now it depends upon your definition of “budget”, because the round trip shuttle is around $45 pp so not really super cheap, but much less than a formal excursion. And, if you have a National Parks pass (I’m looking at you, Golden Agers), one of the companies, M & M, gives you credit for that, reducing the cost. Once there, you will find a number of well-marked hikes (some are really just walks, under a half-mile) and some fun ranger programs. We saw an excellent movie as well as a live cam from a beaver den. Now I will say, that I’m not sure I’d recommend this on a miserable rainy day— when you may see little or nothing; just depends how hardy you are! But don’t let grey skies keep you away — it would still be worthwhile. We didn’t see them but some of our bus mates saw a bear and 2 cubs just a short distance from the road.

Skagway — we spent an entire day exploring the Gold Rush National Park. They offer a small but nice museum, films, ranger talks and at least four different walking tours during the day. As our ranger said, “It’s more like walk a little, then stop and listen to me for a while.” NOT a lot of walking. But a great opportunity to learn about aspects of the Gold Rush that may not be as well-known: women of the Klondike, Soapy Smith, the buffalo soldiers. And it’s pretty near free. As you may be guessing by now, we love history and museums, and wanted to be sure to get walking tour tickets, so we went on-line and reserved tickets for two people on four of the walking tours. For the advance reservation, we paid the princely sum of $3 pp.

Skagway’s Smart buses are a real convenience and can get you out to the Gold Rush cemetery (half mile walk) and a waterfall that people said was beautiful.

On our second day in Skagway,we did our “splurge” which really wasn’t, by Alaska cruise standards. We took a glass blowing class (hands on) at Glacier Gardens. We had great fun with a wonderful instructor and our globes were shipped home to us. Much cheaper to do independently and, again, easy with the Smart buses, that take you right to the door. I will say that September is, I think, late for the gardens, but earlier in the summer I think they would be spectacular. We also had lunch there — definitely not budget but extremely,extremely good. We treated ourselves to a wine/beer each and the bill was $48 before tip. But, as I said, excellent and a lovely outing.

In Whittier (turn-around) we did nothing (except laundry.). There’s not much in the town but you could rent a car or take one of the local cruises. Although we had spectacular weather, we were told by many crew that Whittier is rarely good weather. And, the cruises are not budget, really, even when booked directly rather than through the cruise line. They are immediately adjacent, however, so very easy to access independently. I’m curious, but do not have an answer, as to whether or not they have space available when the ship arrives in Whittier.

You will notice I only reported on one day in Ketchikan although we called there twice. The night before our second visit to Ketchikan, I came down with a nasty cold and it was obvious that my activities should involve sleeping in my bed— so that’s what I did. (I do not recommend this as a budget strategy!). Had we gone out we would have taken the city bus to Totem Bight and perhaps visited the Totem Heritage Center as well. So look those up, but can’t give you a direct report or recommendation.

Now for all of these port stops you could, of course, shop, which we did almost none of, and there are walks/hikes in each of them as well.

One thing I would say about all of these ports is that weather will play a huge role in your experience. If you are comfortable with a “wing-it” approach you might consider waiting until you arrive to make your choice. Research ahead of time and know what you’d most like to do and what it will cost. If you have your heart set on something special, I would book that ahead and make the best of whatever weather you are dealt. Do know that flight things may very well be cancelled due to weather and for our voyages, helicopter landings and dog sledding on glaciers were cancelled because, I believe, of glacier conditions this late in the season.

One of the things I’m trying to tell people in this post is that the museum options can be a wonderful rainy day alternative. There’s also the Sealaska center in Juneau, the Southeast Discovery Center in Ketchikan and several small but interesting museums to explore in Skagway (Carrington’s Ivory, Skagway city museum.)  For the sake of research, you may also need to check out Alaskan saloons such as the Red Onion (Skagway) and Red Dog (Juneau).

 

Be flexible with your expectations and open to whatever adventure Alaska offers you. No matter what you do — Alaska’s great.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Katie52]

Thank you so much. I really enjoyed reading your report. 

[milolii]

Very nice review, thank you.  Glacier Gardens.... can you just visit the gardens on your own?  Do you remember the hours? 

[kinsetta]

Yes, you can visit on your own -- I don't recall the hours but I'm sure it's on the website.  You can get there via the Smart Bus so transport isn't an issue.  The earliest bus of the day got us there for our glassblowing class in plenty of time.  If you don't have anything so structured scheduled, it will be easy to go whenever you get to it.  Very easy.

[milolii]

Ty

[Cruisincoral]

We just got back from our cruise. In Ketchikan we also visited the Tongass Museum. It was lovely and the locals running the museum were happy to engage. They even gave our mom’s (87 and 80) beautiful local-made cedar roses.  We just wandered thru town. Flowers were in bloom in the small park. 

[Eileen G]

We just had a great day in Skagway using the Smart buses. It is $2 a ride or $5 for all day. We did two ranger led walks in the morning then road the Smart Bus back to the ship for lunch. We returned to town and took the Smart Bus to the Cemetery and Ried Falls. We recognized some of the names in the cemetery because we learned about them during the ranger talks. We also saw the huge boulder that was painted gold and claimed to be the world's largest gold nugget next to the grave of the man who painted it. The buses to the edge of town run every 30 minutes and the buses to the ships at the railroad dock run about every 10 minutes.

[tetleytea]

I have cruised Alaska both on a budget and higher-end.   And in my experience, the higher-end experience IS better if you know what you're doing.  The first time you cruise Alaska you might want to go budget, simply because you may very well not know what you're doing yet.  So you go back, and hit the stuff you learned about.

 

One fun thing to do on a budget I found:    scavenger hunt.   Your "own personal cruise shopping consultant" will be more than happy to help you there.  You can get coupon books on the ship and at the terminal, which you can thumb through on the ship.  You find all the cheap things and go around the tourist-district finding them.  We totally loaded up at Ketchikan on that:  T-shirts, sweatshirts, Christmas ornaments, costume jewelry, salmon, ulu knives, gifts, etc..   In fact, from now on I leave room in my luggage for that.  i.e. I purposely under-pack shirts and sweatshirts, expecting to buy some at Ketchikan.  The ulu knives of course have to go in checkin (not carryon).

 

I think I've gotten by on about $100, and totally loaded up on cheap/freebies.  One Whittier cruise will set you back $350, with only a bunch of pictures to show for it (which don't get me wrong...I totally recommend...).

 

[amarvel]

I've been to Alaska several times, so the last time we went we went around into all the shops and got the free charms. We made it somewhat of a game to see how many we could get. The charms were free. We also would use all the coupons given to us at the port and on the ship and would try to get the best discounts. We went to stores that we wouldn't normally and made it a fun activity.

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[sfaaa]

Cruise in Sept. Lots of end of season deals in port.