Alaska First Timers Excursion Help

[Davis2010]

Hello friends!

My husband and I are taking our first ever Alaska cruise for our 10 year anniversary. We would love some advice and tips on booking excursions. Any you recommend? Cruise line or independent? Is there a website with reviews of all the excursions? Thank you in advance!

We will be on the Princess Ruby: May 9-16, 2020.

Ports:

Seattle

Juneau

Skagway

Ketchikan

Victoria

Glacier Bay Scenic Cruising

[crystalspin]

OK I'll go out on this limb!

 

Seattle -- Pike Place, Space Needle (have brunch in the revolving restaurant?), Chihuly Garden (on your own?).

Juneau -- Whale watching, Mendenhall Glacier (Did twice with ship tours). Do NOT eat at the Red Dog Saloon! maybe a beer.

Skagway -- White Pass Railroad up, with bus back (Ship's tour) -- eat at brewpub in town.

Ketchikan -- Totem Bight or Saxman Native Village Tour (with ship OR Sourdough Tours for Saxman+Wildlife viewing). Get dropped off at the end of Creek Street, shop for souvenirs, walk DOWN the hill and eat at Alaskan Fish House.

Victoria -- Butchart Gardens. There were 9 of us so we rented two cars, but it's quite a drive so you might want to take ship's tour.

 

I have never done any flight-seeing, fishing trips, or adrenaline sports -- but they are available. What I hope to offer is reasonably priced "true Alaska" experiences. Obviously you do not have to eat in any of the towns -- plenty of food waiting back on the ship.

[mapleleaves]

There are dozens of trip reports listed near the top of the page. Many are detailed photo journals with lots of useful information about sights, activities, excursions, and vendors used.  Reading about what other travellers enjoyed will help you determine which activities best support your interests and priorities.  And they provide first hand recommendations.

Since you're travelling in the shoulder season, reading reports from May might be more helpful.

 

Many people prefer to go with private vendors in order to avoid the big bus feel that you get on a ship's excursion, ie taking a 10 pax van to the Yukon instead of a 60 pax bus, or a 6 person whale watching boat instead of 60.   Eliminates all the waiting for people, and fighting for viewing space. 

 

Have fun with your research and planning !

 

 

 

 

[SuperCrewBear]

2 hours ago, mapleleaves said:

Many people prefer to go with private vendors in order to avoid the big bus feel that you get on a ship's excursion, ie taking a 10 pax van to the Yukon instead of a 60 pax bus, or a 6 person whale watching boat instead of 60.   Eliminates all the waiting for people, and fighting for viewing space. 

 

I agree with that! I've been on two excursions to the Yukon at Skagway a couple years apart.  We went with Dyea Dave Tours and enjoyed the trip both times. You'll have more freedom on the small bus than one of the big ones too.  A perfect example is the 1st trip (we did the bus in the morning, rode the train back into Skagway from Fraser in the afternoon - perfect weather both times but your results may vary...), when we got to the Yukon border sign there was two of the big buses already there. There was maybe 30-40 people lined up and waiting to get their picture made with the sign.  We drove on by and stopped on the way back - there was nobody there then.  The interesting thing [to me] is that our two trips were 2 years and 2 days apart - May 2016 and May 2018.  The first time the lakes were thawed out for the summer already - the second time they were still heavily froze over.  I highly recommend Dyea Dave at Skagway!  (You buy your train tickets separately [well in advance!] but Dave will stop on the way out of town at the train office for you to pickup your tickets. He will also pick you back up at the train and deliver you wherever you want to go in town or back to the ship.)

 

Good luck!

 

At the Yukon border with nobody else around:

 

May 2016 at Emerald Lake, Yukon.

 

Two years and two days later in 2018 at the same spot on Emerald Lake - the lakes were all still frozen.

Edited January 3, 2020 by SuperCrewBear

[Davis2010]

16 hours ago, crystalspin said:

Seattle -- Pike Place, Space Needle (have brunch in the revolving restaurant?), Chihuly Garden (on your own?).

Juneau -- Whale watching, Mendenhall Glacier (Did twice with ship tours). Do NOT eat at the Red Dog Saloon! maybe a beer.

Skagway -- White Pass Railroad up, with bus back (Ship's tour) -- eat at brewpub in town.

Ketchikan -- Totem Bight or Saxman Native Village Tour (with ship OR Sourdough Tours for Saxman+Wildlife viewing). Get dropped off at the end of Creek Street, shop for souvenirs, walk DOWN the hill and eat at Alaskan Fish House.

Victoria -- Butchart Gardens. There were 9 of us so we rented two cars, but it's quite a drive so you might want to take ship's tour.

This is fantastic! Thank you for all of the ideas! What company did you use for whale watching?

[Davis2010]

@SuperCrewBear thank you for the info! I've read on here lots of good things about Dyea Dave and we definitely want to get on the train! Those pictures are amazing!

[gottagoacruzn]

Yes, Dyea Dave is a really good tour guide. An if you love seafood, stop at Tracy's crab shack in Juneau, the in place to eat.

[mapleleaves]

Seattle to Forks is about a 4 hr drive on a weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mapleleaves]

there are only 3 or 4 helicopter vendors in Juneau.  They're listed on the town's Visitor Guide.

Look at their web sites to see what kind of tours they offer and compare details, ie how much time do they spend in flight, ON the glacier, or with the sled dogs, whichever type you're interested in.

 

http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/10785063#/10785063/32

 

There's also plenty of video on youtube.  Just do a search on 'Juneau helicopter tour ' and you'll see footage on the various tours. 

[tigger_ag]

When we went to Alaska we started by viewing all the ships excursions.  It was the easiest way for us to get an idea of what we might be interested in.  We both came up with a list of things we would love to do and then compared them.  This helped us decide what was the most important for us to try and accomplish.  We only booked one tour through the ship as we couldn't book anything similar independently.  Everything else we booked on our own and as some people mentioned it made it so we were in smaller groups which is what we prefer.  Then when we figured out what we were looking for we started to search these boards.  It helped us really zone in.  It seems there are many great tour operators in Alaska!

 

You asked about what tour operator someone used for whale watching.  We used Harv and Marv it was great and  they dropped us at Mendenhall Glacier at the end of the tour so we could explore the glacier.  Taking the city bus back to the port was easy!

 

Other excursions we did included float plane to see bears, salmon fishing, glass blowing (this was the ship excursion).  All were great and we had a good time. 

[Davis2010]

On 1/3/2020 at 11:39 AM, mapleleaves said:

There are dozens of trip reports listed near the top of the page. Many are detailed photo journals with lots of useful information about sights, activities, excursions, and vendors used.  Reading about what other travellers enjoyed will help you determine which activities best support your interests and priorities.  And they provide first hand recommendations.

Since you're travelling in the shoulder season, reading reports from May might be more helpful.

 

Many people prefer to go with private vendors in order to avoid the big bus feel that you get on a ship's excursion, ie taking a 10 pax van to the Yukon instead of a 60 pax bus, or a 6 person whale watching boat instead of 60.   Eliminates all the waiting for people, and fighting for viewing space. 

 

Have fun with your research and planning !

 

 

 

 

Maybe I'm using the trip reports incorrectly, but how do I sort them by May trips and how do I see which ones did certain excursions like heli/dog sled?

[Luv2cruz1000]

One of our best memories was renting a DIY jeep in Skagway and driving in the Yukon. Same price as the train and could stop often. Went past emerald lake to Robinson and then turned around.

[VermeulT]

In Alaska - you don't need to do the ship's tours, but you'll find them closely priced to private tours.  The big difference will be the number of people on your tour.  Jayleen's (mentioned in another thread about whale watching in Juneau) only takes 6 people per boat.  The private operators live and die by the tourists so it is in their best interest to get you back to port on-time.

 

I'll be doing the train in Skagway this summer.  I'm very excited.

Ketchikan consider the Deadliest Catch Fisherman's Tour.  While you won't really go crab fishing - you'll learn about this industry and about different types of crabs.  The tour is very informative and fun.  You won't really save anything booking on your own.  You'll have plenty of time after to walk Creek Street and go shopping.

Juneau - You didn't mention how much time you have here.  Whale Watching is great.  I'd also suggest going to Mendenhall Glacier.  Many of the tours can drop you at the park instead of the port, so you'd need to take the public bus back, which is easy enough.

Victoria - if you want to go to the gardens - you can get a tour at the port.  When I was there 4 years ago, we could have gotten a tour for near-nothing.  The tour operator was trying to add to a bus that was ready to go.  We ultimately opted not to because we were exhausted at that part of the trip.  Point here is that you can get a good deal on shore and don't need to go through the cruise line.

[gotcha3]

50 minutes ago, VermeulT said:

In Alaska - you don't need to do the ship's tours, but you'll find them closely priced to private tours.  The big difference will be the number of people on your tour.  Jayleen's (mentioned in another thread about whale watching in Juneau) only takes 6 people per boat.  The private operators live and die by the tourists so it is in their best interest to get you back to port on-time.

 

I'll be doing the train in Skagway this summer.  I'm very excited.

Ketchikan consider the Deadliest Catch Fisherman's Tour.  While you won't really go crab fishing - you'll learn about this industry and about different types of crabs.  The tour is very informative and fun.  You won't really save anything booking on your own.  You'll have plenty of time after to walk Creek Street and go shopping.

Juneau - You didn't mention how much time you have here.  Whale Watching is great.  I'd also suggest going to Mendenhall Glacier.  Many of the tours can drop you at the park instead of the port, so you'd need to take the public bus back, which is easy enough.

Victoria - if you want to go to the gardens - you can get a tour at the port.  When I was there 4 years ago, we could have gotten a tour for near-nothing.  The tour operator was trying to add to a bus that was ready to go.  We ultimately opted not to because we were exhausted at that part of the trip.  Point here is that you can get a good deal on shore and don't need to go through the cruise line.

That's not exactly true. We're about to book  the White Pass Scenic Railway trip in Skagway. Celebrity wants $229 per adult whereas we can book directly with WPRR for $175. I'd say that's a pretty big difference. You?

[VermeulT]

11 hours ago, gotcha3 said:

That's not exactly true. We're about to book  the White Pass Scenic Railway trip in Skagway. Celebrity wants $229 per adult whereas we can book directly with WPRR for $175. I'd say that's a pretty big difference. You?

Yes that is a big difference.