lighthouse, totem and eagles excursion

[latebuyer]

Has anyone been on this cruise out of ketchikan? Reviews are pretty good on trip advisor, but interested in hearing from others.

[1025cruise]

I did it a few years ago. It's nice and peaceful. 

[latebuyer]

Thanks for your feedback. It seems like not a lot of people have done this excursion.

[latebuyer]

Do you remember approximately how long the boat ride was?

[martincath]

We did it on our very first AK cruise, so over a decade ago, and I wasn't going to respond given the length of time... but since you've only had one reply I'll chime in (with the caveat of much time passed, so take with many grains of salt!) that 'peaceful' is a fair description; you do see lighthouses & totems - but not very close; and eagle sightings are ten a penny in AK so overall we found the value poor; the trip itself (2 hours IIRC) was not terrible but there are so many other options that it would be an absolute bottom-tier pick for us.

 

The only memorable part of the excursion for us was the free salmon dip - still haven't had nicer included snacks on any tour, BUT thanks to Covid the odds of a big share bowl of dip being deployed these days seems pretty much zero...

[Lizzim]

We did this excursion in Sept 2022, we really enjoyed it.
 

Yes you only see the totems from a distance and the lighthouse too but we had lovely weather and saw some great scenery.

 

For the price we were happy 😁

[latebuyer]

Thanks both for the feedback. Yes i think that is the key point here - for the price will i be happy. I know the bering crab fisherman tour is more popular but i estimate that will cost around 300 canadian. The exchange rate is brutal. I thought this excursion was quite reasonably priced in comparison (only 135cdn). I haven't seen the actual price of crab tour so i'll wait and see for that, just estimating.

[Italy52]

2 hours ago, latebuyer said:

Thanks both for the feedback. Yes i think that is the key point here - for the price will i be happy. I know the bering crab fisherman tour is more popular but i estimate that will cost around 300 canadian. The exchange rate is brutal. I thought this excursion was quite reasonably priced in comparison (only 135cdn). I haven't seen the actual price of crab tour so i'll wait and see for that, just estimating.

We will be going on Princess to Alaska in July of 2023 and the price shown for the Crab Fishermen tour through the ship is $209 (US) per person.

[latebuyer]

Thanks. Then it works out to 284 canadian.

[Coral]

I did the tour several years ago, probably the first year it was offered.

 

It was incredibly boring. And I love lighthouses and totem poles. I would also say the dip was the stand out but I am allergic to seafood. People did like the salmon dip though.

 

Total bust for me. Would not recommend it.

 

We did sail by one of the staff's family and they did wave at us..... 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Coral

[CTSandy]

We did this tour September 2021 and really enjoyed it.  Cruise was only at about 30% passengers, so this tour was not full.  Although whales were not mentioned for this excursion, we came across several whales during the excursion and spent 20-30 minutes at that spot and got to see them blowing and doing bubble nets - my friend got a great picture of the tail when one went back under.  They were doing the various snacks, too - not a communal bowl for the salmon dip, but a prepared plate with a generous portion.  Captain Jeff pointed out where he grew up and talked about what teenagers do on islands for fun - think boats, not cars!  We were satisfied with this tour and happy to support local residents.

 

When we docked in Ketchikan in August 2022, we did a private tour with Ketchikan Native Excursions - very interesting but more expensive than the Totems cruise.  We found both excursions interesting and enjoyable - part of that was due to being able to talk to our guides about what living in Alaska was like.

[latebuyer]

Thanks, it seems like reviews are a bit mixed with this one but its good to hear some people enjoyed it.

[Coral]

8 hours ago, latebuyer said:

Thanks, it seems like reviews are a bit mixed with this one but its good to hear some people enjoyed it.

There was a post a few years ago about it (before COVID) and on that, everyone thought it was a waste of money.

[latebuyer]

Thanks, i would say judging from this thread not everyone thinks that.

[latebuyer]

Just to add, that i did see a thread from 2006 you were in. Thanks for contributing to the forum for so long.

[Casey12]

I have been to Alaska probably 20x. This was my least favorite excursion of any port in Alaska. There really is no scenery that you get that you don't get when you sail into Alaska.

[CaribbeanIsland]

I thought it was a waste of money. I would never recommend it or go on it again. I am glad it wasn't my first time in Alaska as there are far better excursions to go on. There is only one lighthouse and you pass it on your way into Ketchikan and it isn't even a great looking lighthouse. The totem poles you pass from a good distance and are from Totem Bight park. The rest of the scenery is nothing unique. I would suggest going to Totem Bight park if you are interested in totem poles. There are eagles everywhere so this wasn't unique to this tour.