Prince Rupert Again!

[mommiemudd]

Ok, there have been several NCL Spirit cruises that have stopped in Prince Rupert. Where are you guys?? I have only seen about 3 posts regarding excursions at this port. Please let us know what excursions you have done-did you like your excursion? wish you had done something else? Any info is appreciated! We are thinking about the bear viewing excursion but are open to suggestions. Thanks!! mommiemudd

[cruise pup]

I'd especially like to know if anyone did the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear View By Boat.

[mommiemudd]

That is also the excursion we are most interested in. However, it is long and a bit pricey so we would like feedback before booking. Anyone??

[cruise pup]

Considering you pay almost as much for a 3 hour whale sightseeing tour in Juneau I think the price isn't bad. Especially since the number of visitors is limited to the sanctuary (and you can only view by boat... no one is allowed to set foot on land). Plus there's other wildlife besides bears to see and the boat ride should be interesting.

[20YearsBetweenCruises]

On the 6/5 Spirit trip, sad to say that the excursions that my family members did at Prince Rupert were a bust:

My cousin's husband & his did the $250 fishing trip - no one caught any fish on their boat. But he did say that other boats caught fish. He felt that it was just bad luck..

One cousin did the RR. It broke down that day. The train people took all who wanted to go on a bus to a cannery tour. I think he got his excursion money back.

Some other cousins of mine were looking for these cool magnetic bracelets that others bought for $2.99 – $4.99 in the Alaskan ports – they found them in Cow Bay, but for $20.

I heard from other passengers that the whale watching trip was cancelled because of choppy water.

My sister & brother (& their families) did the bear tour. Sad to say that they were most disappointed by this tour. They did not see one bear (except for a bear on a video camera that the crew showed them from last week...)... They said the boat was not well equipped. My sister said the boat was really suited for 1/2 ferry ride (like the one she took to Haines), not a 5 hour trip. They did not have enough spots for everyone to sit down in. When one lady laid down (they were not sure if she was getting sick or just tired :) ) , 2 others had to stand up. They just served them water & some not-so-good sandwiches. The water was choppy & my brother thought we was going to get sick. Plus it is 2 hours to get there, 45 mins or so of looking for bears, then 2 hours back. They said that 2 hour back was the worst part. The only good thing about the whole thing is that they saw whales. They said the captain maneuvered the boat to be in their path, and they came very close. So they said 15 minutes of the 5 hours was great. My brother (& his family ) did the Tracy Arm trip the day before with my family. On that boat (which was bigger), they served us a variety of snacks non-stop, there were extra seats left over even though the excursion was sold out & the best part - after you saw the Tracy Arm, the Spirit was there to pick us up (no 2 hour ride back!) Maybe if they actually saw bears they would have been happier...(Actually – we saw a bear on the Tracy Arm trip!)

What did I do in Prince Rupert?? After concluding from this board that there really isn't much there yet, I left my husband & sons on the boat. My 9-year-old daughter & I had a fun day shopping. Now there really isn't much to shop at there yet (but I wasn't expecting much.) We went to a dollar store where my daughter bought a charm bracelet. The clerks were very nice & put it together for us. And I developed 5 rolls of film at a place in the mall - they turned out very nice (& it was fun showing everyone our pictures back on the ship.) We had ice creme... Basically a very nice time shopping at the same kind of stores I can find a mile from my house :)

I’m sure not every day in Prince Rupert is like this day – if you decide to do an excursion here, I hope you have better luck!

[mommiemudd]

Wow! Thanks for the feedback! We have a 3 year old so I am not sure she would be happy with the bear trip. It might be nice just to see the town like you guys did! Was the town within easy walking distance from the dock?

[20YearsBetweenCruises]

Right at the dock there were a few shops/artist places. After that we walked into town which I guess was about 1/2 mile up hill. Maybe only 1/4 mile - not too bad. In town, there are really no touristy stores that I saw. When I said the "mall" before, it was because that is what they called it. The stores there were another dollar store, a radio shack, the photo-developing place, a store like a k-mart, a couple of clothing stores. Very small - not like the "malls" around here. My daughter & I had fun walking around & spending time with just the two of us though.
Now that there has been at least 6 or 7 Spririt Alaska trips now, there has to be others out there with an opinion of Prince Rupert? Anyone else out there go on that bear tour? Was it as terrible as my sister & brother reported? (Really, they are very easy going people, if they say it was terrible, I would not go on risk taking a child on it!)

[cruise pup]

I'm glad they will refund the bear trip if I decide to cancel. It seens like the Tracy Arm tour is getting high marks, though.

[joe_cruiser]

This site has a list of 99 things to do in Prince Rupert: [url]http://www.citytel.net/library/our_town_stuff/99things.html[/url] Of course your mileage may vary...

I will be in Prince Rupert on 7/10 on Silversea and am working on all my port excursions now. I will post what I come up with.