cuise ship tours or on your own local tours

[a.madruga]

going to juneau, skagway and ketchikan

first time alaska cruise

 

which way should we go with tours from princess or own our own bookings?

thanks for the help to all

[DENNAS]

I just booked two independent. One is Chilkoot Charters in Skagway the bus and rail combo up north to Yukon and emerald lake, and the second is a short tour in Ketchikan, With ‘taxi cab tours’. They take you wherever you want in 3 hours. Or longer If you want. We only have 3 hours since we want to shop and it’s a short day for us in that Port. In Juneau we will cab it to Mendenhall Glacier and then figure the rest out. Still a work in progress... Juneau. 
I never book ships excursions. Too expensive and too many people. Never had a problem. 

[donaldsc]

As most of you all know, I hate ship tours.  However, AK is one place where you can find some decent ship tours.  They are often around the same price as private tours and you can find the small group tours that are the only ones that I do.  That said, check out private tours before you book the ship tours as they in general are much better than the ship tours.

 

DON

[a.madruga]

thanks for your opinions and experiences

[masterdrago]

All of our tours except one were booked through independent operators. The one we booked through the Radiance of the Seas was changed to a different time and we did not know this until we boarded. We had to cancel that tour. I booked all of our 16 days packed to the gills with tours much to the dismay of DW.

[bhsolo]

I booked mine through RCL and they were great. The ones in Juneau and Skagway were not big (under 20), in fact our Skagway one was shrunk down even further to two groups once we got to where we were going. In Victoria it was a large bus load of people but we walked around on our own so it didn't matter the size. Price wise they were approximately the same as an independent so the ease of knowing should something happen the ship would be responsible to get me back on time or take care of my arrangements.

[Anita Latte]

Alaska is not as cut and dry in which is better. Many of the tour operators in Alaska have relationships with the cruise lines and rely on the cruise line relationships to get their bookings. Pricing may not be so different booking independently. So sometimes, depending on your particular situation, you may be better off using OBC or a flash sale or some such method and booking through your cruise line.

 

In other cases, there are some tour operators with which you don't have the option to book through the cruise line. I think Adventure Bound's day cruise out of Juneau may be an example of that; maybe some other whale watching outfits out of Juneau. It really depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it. Booking an independent whale watching in Juneau would enable you to get on a 6-passenger boat...while the cruise tour would be a larger boat with more people (but that may work better for you?).

 

Most of the reputable cruise tour operators in Alaska are well aware of port schedules. The tourist season is limited in Alaska and they are well aware that their continued ability to operate and earn a living is first and foremost related to getting passengers back to the ship. So generally, I wouldn't worry too hard about whether or not you will get back to the ship. The ports in Alaska are pretty much right there and there's no port security or any other worry like that about getting back to the ship; You don't have to show ID at a port entrance just to get back to the docks like you might on a Caribbean, for instance. In Juneau, the ships dock along a street that is just off downtown...each ship has "street front" and all the taxis and tour buses can be right there at EACH ship.

 

That said, if you are venturing far afield, the glacier hike whistle stop outside Skagway for instance...you may be better off booking that through the cruise line, just incase something happens. However, I had read a review where there were cruise ship passengers on a cruise sponsored tour on the same train as the independently booked hiking couple, so they had that benefit when there were issues with the train. I know that whatever train it was when I went to Skagway also ran late and our sailaway was delayed while the ship waited for the train passengers to come back.

 

Being repetitive...there's no one right answer to a question like this.

[EAEMNCT]

Has anyone ever used Amigo Tours in St Maarten, and how did they like it?

[Anita Latte]

3 minutes ago, EAEMNCT said:

Has anyone ever used Amigo Tours in St Maarten, and how did they like it?

 

Do you mean St Maarten in the Caribbean? This is the Alaska forum...so maybe post your question in the Caribbean ports forum?

[misguy]

We do our own.  In Skagway we drove into the Yukon Territory.  We went to a sled dog training camp and met Michelle Phillips a veteran of the Iditarod and she explained life on the trail before she took us for a ride.