Ketchikan question

[puppymama1]

We will be visiting Alaska in June and had planned to just use the free shuttle in Ketchikan to go to the Totem park and eagle sanctuary... I just checked to see how many ships will be in port on the same day we will be there, and unfortunately there will be a total of 6 ships in port that day... So I am wondering if planning to use the free shuttle may not be a good idea since it will be so crowded that day.... Should we look into booking a tour instead?  Thanks!

[Crew News]

Six ships will overwhelm the small town.  Book a ship tour and skip the hassle.

 

Edited October 27, 2019 by Crew News

[martincath]

The shuttles get full with fewer ships than that, and they don't visit the Raptor Center or Saxman/Totem Bight anyway, just things inside Ketchikan itself. If you meant the Totem Heritage Center (that is one the free shuttle visits) it's actually a pretty easy walk - less than a mile-and-a-quarter from the berth #4 and less than 3/4 mile from #1 - and very interesting. If you can't walk that far, you may want to rethink your day as even if you took a tour out to the Wildlife Sanctuary/Raptor Center the guided walk part through the sanctuary area there is 3/4 of a mile...

[puppymama1]

1 hour ago, martincath said:

The shuttles get full with fewer ships than that, and they don't visit the Raptor Center or Saxman/Totem Bight anyway, just things inside Ketchikan itself. If you meant the Totem Heritage Center (that is one the free shuttle visits) it's actually a pretty easy walk - less than a mile-and-a-quarter from the berth #4 and less than 3/4 mile from #1 - and very interesting. If you can't walk that far, you may want to rethink your day as even if you took a tour out to the Wildlife Sanctuary/Raptor Center the guided walk part through the sanctuary area there is 3/4 of a mile...

Is the Raptor Center near the Totem Heritage Center or Totem Bight?  Any recommendations on which tour company to use?  We could walk a mile for the guided walk on the tour, but couldn't do that plus walk a mile to get there and back... thanks!

[martincath]

4 minutes ago, puppymama1 said:

Is the Raptor Center near the Totem Heritage Center or Totem Bight?  Any recommendations on which tour company to use?  We could walk a mile for the guided walk on the tour, but couldn't do that plus walk a mile to get there and back... thanks!

Neither - it's several miles further than Saxman along the same road, which is why there are combo tours offered like the one I linked above. Totem Bight is the opposite direction - here's a Google Map showing all the various Totem options, plus the Raptor centre, and one of the downtown cruise berths so you can get an idea of the geography.

 

We've never done a tour in Ketchikan so I can't give you reviews, but given that the info at each site is provided by the folks working there a tour bus is basically providing just transportation. City buses are dirt cheap, but even if you don't want to take transit buses either a car rental or a cab plus entry fees would probably work out cheaper than the indy tour I linked for even a small group of people (and cruiseline tours will likely be even more expensive).