Alaska without an excursion in every port?

[DaisyGirl55]

My DH and I will be sailing to Alaska in June (our first trip but it will not be our last or only cruise to Alaska). We will be stopping in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. I have researched lots of excursions, and read many of these posts regarding excursions.

 

My question is this: Rather than trying to do an expensive excursion in each port (flightseeing, whale watching, and WPRR), can we just wing it once we arrive in the port? I mean, we like to walk around, explore on our own, and scope things out. The first time we cruised to the Caribbean, we booked lots of excursions because it was all new and we did not know anything else. Now, we hardly ever book anything except maybe a snorkeling trip. We just do our own thing! There is always someone at the dock who is willing to drive us around, or we just do it ourselves, and have more fun doing so!

 

Are there vendors and/or taxi's at the port who could take us to see some totem poles? Drive us to Mendenhall? Are the port towns within walking distance of the pier? Is there enough to "do it on our own" for the length of time we are in port?

 

We could spend 1000 bucks on all of our excursions, and then be so busy we never really get to see the port itself. Or do we opt for maybe one or two ports, and then wing it for the third. If so, which port is the easiest to get around on our own?

 

Lots of questions here...but I know you guys can help me out. I cruise in 161 days, so if I am gonna book anything, I need to get it done before they all sell out. If this was to be my one and only cruise to Alaska, I would just bite the bullet and do it all. But I know we'll book again, and I just don't know if we should just go, scope it all out, and then be better informed for the repeat trip. Thanks in advance for helping me!!

[Budget Queen]

For the most part, those costly tours are well worth the money. Flightseeing is just supurb for scenery, and the beauty and vastness of Alaska. You just do not get that experience anyway else. Wildlife requires tours, so factor that in if a priority.

 

Ports are walk offs from the ships. Certainly doing a walking tour, maps in Fodor's Alaska and Frommer's Alaska, as well at each port visitor center. I never recommend planning on picking up "tours" at the dock WITHOUT planning this in advance. Tours are very limited at the dock and best for city bus tours and the like. The other problem is wasting a lot of time. Rarely will you be able to pick up a tour and immediately get on it, you may have a couple hours to "kill". So my recommendations- always have plans and reservations in advance - and certainly if those "plans" are to wander- at least know that before you get there to make the best use of your short time. :) Do your homework, it will pay off many times over.

[Yukon]

It depends on your priorities. If you're coming up primarily to cruise, then winging it is fine. If you're coming up to really see Alaska, you need to plan on some quality excursions that get you out of the ports, which are filled to overflowing with thousands of people aimlessly wandering through gift shops (just like you've seen in the Caribbean). Quality excursions can't be relied on dockside - they happen, but so do lots of poor experiences. Research, and book ahead.

 

Murray

[originolsin]

My DW and I prefer to wander aimlessly and find our own things. With that being said, unless you are into buying over priced jewelry and do-dads it is very difficult to do anything worth while in Alaska just wandering. I am not saying it can't be done, but like the others recommended, take the time to book excursions. It is well worth it. One of our stops was Victoria, we wandered around there and had a great time. We wandered around Skagway, and the only thing we could find that interested us at all was the Red Onion Salon. The little tour was fun and the atmosphere was pretty neat, but that didn't take up hardly any time and we were stuck going from place to place looking for something else enjoyable. When we go back again, we are going to book excursions for every port except Victoria. Hope this helps a bit, have fun!

[agabbymama]

DaisyGirl55,

 

When we did the Inside Passage in '99, didn't have a lot of extra money and I was so disappointed that Denali wasn't open, we didn't book any excursions before the cruise. Ended up never booking any ship excursions at all. We were picked up by a HAL bus in Anchorage and enjoyed the 3 hour drive to Seward seeing lots of wildlife and scenery and the bus driver was very knowledgable giving lots of info. Once at Seward, we saw sea otters right by the pier then boarded the ship. We sailed to Sitka, got off the ship and started wandering. Ended up finding a hop on/hop off shuttle bus for $7 (now $10) that makes like 7 stops around town. We visited the Raptor Center, Museum, and saw totems. Then on to Juneau where we also just walked off the ship. I was looking for an Alaska photo album, so really walked around that town. Saw the Red Dog Saloon, visited to take some photos. Then Ketchikan. It was pouring rain so everyone that was leaving the ship was trying to take shelter under the awnings. As I stood huddled with everyone else, I spied a van with a sign in the window "Native Tour $15". I went and signed up and had to wait about 20 minutes for her to get a few others. We ended up with 7 of us on the van. She was a great native american with lots of info and stories. We went through Ketchikan, to Saxman village, to a walk in the rain forest. When I returned to the ship, I had missed lunch so I went up by the pool to get a hamburger. There was a gentleman there that had recognized me from the ship, he was concerned when I didn't return on the bus with them. I told him I had paid $15 for an independent tour. He had paid $45 for the ships tour and we went to exactly the same places.

 

So bottom line is, you can certainly enjoy a cruise to Alaska without spending big bucks on tours. Especially with the fact that you plan to cruise there again.

 

I myself would never pay $200-$600 for any tour. For my cruisetour in August I have booked a couple at $45 and $55, but certainly don't intend to BREAK THE BANK.

 

Have a great cruise! Alaska is AWESOME!:p

[lstrong]

We found renting a car was a great way to see Alaska ports - gets you out of the touristy/jewelry shop areas, especially in Juneau and Skagway, without spending a lot of $ on tours.

[NancyIL]

First time Alaska cruiser here - also hoping to return in the future. :) For our first visit to the port towns, I do want to spend some time seeing them and not just rush off to the wilderness. So - we'll spend the morning in Skagway at the National Park Service Visitor Center - seeing the museum, viewing the movie, and going on one of the free Park Ranger walks of the historic area. In the afternoon we'll be on a 3.5 hour rail/bus excursion to Fraser, BC and back. Lots of people go on longer excursions to the Yukon that take much of the time in port. That will be something for us to consider on our NEXT cruise. In Ketchikan we're doing a Misty Fjords floatplane excursion - which is our most expensive one at $209/pp. That lasts 2 hours, and then we'll do a walking tour of Ketchikan. I'm planning to do some walking in downtown Juneau - visiting the Alaska State Museum and the Capitol. Then we have a rental car reserved with Rent-A-Wreck - so we'll drive out to Glacier Gardens, Mendenhall Glacier, maybe the Shrine of St. Therese and/or the Alaska Brewery (what a contrast, eh!). We're also doing a 9-day independent land trip after our cruise, so we have to spread out some of the excitement and money!

[Toyz711]

we went last sept..

while my DH and i knew we wanted to go whale watching and the train. we wanted to spend time with his dad, on the cruise. the rest of the family would not plan anything.

they did the mendenhall glacier, just going up in the bus and hiking around a little. in skagway they took the train, at the last minute, throught the cruise line. i think after seeing how many people were coming off the ships, they realized it would be better to have some plans. i am sorry we didn't plan more, but the dad had health issue and time with him was better. we can always go back.

if i was to just walk around, it would be ketchikan..you can take busses to the totem poles and such. but any real scenery is not around town..you have to get away from town. the towns are crowded, stores full...not the real alaska.

[MercedMike]

I will add my agreement to what posters have said, especially BQ and Yukon -- Alaska excursions are indeed expensive, but mostly they are well worth while. And I agree that making plans in advance, either for ship's excursions or with well recommended independent operators, is probably a good idea.

 

It is definitely true that at every port you will be bombarded with booths and touts for all sorts of tours, vans, taxis and everything else imaginable. If you get a buzz from that sort of excitement you can just try walking off and sorting out all the yelling vendors. It would probably be fun, but I am not sure you would get the BEST trip in every port! It is also true that at every port you can find a zillion tacky tourist shops and spend the whole day shopping if that is your thing.

 

Some relatively inexpensive things we have done and enjoyed:

 

Juneau -- you can get off the ship and buy a shuttle bus ticket to Mendenhall for about $6. Visit the glacier, the wonderful visitor center, and if you are up to hiking there are lots of good trails. There is also the Mt Roberts tram right by the ship, which is an interesting thing to do and not outrageously expensive. And lots of people enjoy walking down to the Red Dog Saloon.

 

Ketchikan -- The Town and Totem tour is not too bad for price and is very interesting. Totem Bight Park has a lot of wonderful totems, and a good guide will tell you many stories. The Ketchikan Ducks are also a lot of fun and not badly priced.

 

Skagway -- the Yellow Street Cars are pretty reasonably priced and give a good tour. But our best recommendation here is to rent a car from Avis and drive yourself in to the Yukon to Emerald Lake and Caribou Crossing. The dog cart ride at Caribou Crossing is probably the most reasonably priced available and is fun.

 

Check our page below for reviews and pics of several trips to Alaska and lots of the available shore excursions.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[CanCanCase]

Interesting question! As others have mentioned, it CAN be done this way - good, bad or in the middle, your results may vary.

 

As BQ suggested, "walk-up" tours can often leave you waiting an hour or more for the next tour to begin, but if you're the shopping, eating, wandering type that wants to explore the town, it could be a nice way to go.

 

Isn't knowledge of a destination and a willingness to get you on the best vacation possible the job of a Travel Agent? Or have all TAs gone down the path of selling whatever pays them the highest commission?

 

-Case

[GLW513]

DaiseyGirl55 - my wife, sister-in-law, and I are also sailing in June. We are departing from Seattle on 3 June!

[mii]

The above posters have good sugggestions. Here are mine. If there is a excursion that really interests you then by all means do it. Maybe try to do it in the morning and then leave the rest of the day free to do some just walking around the towns. By the way all of the towns, Juneau, Skagway and ketchikan are very close to the ports so no problem there. Where people really get tired is doing one excursion in the morning and then doing one in the afternoon. I have done that and for myself was completed exhuasted. So just maybe pick one excursion and then will have plenty of time to just stroll around the town.

 

Marilyn

[mii]

Oops, duplicate

 

Marilyn

[Yukon]

Isn't knowledge of a destination and a willingness to get you on the best vacation possible the job of a Travel Agent? Or have all TAs gone down the path of selling whatever pays them the highest commission?

 

That died a long time ago - few of the TAs who claim to know Alaska have ever been here even once, and since there's no way to check, why trust your trip to a stranger.

 

Murray

[LeftcoastBC]

some good thoughts on the overall "Tour" picture.

 

I do have one suggestion about Juneau thought for last /spur of the momemnt.

 

Take the City Bus. Goes in big loops. The Highest within 1K of the Glacier.

[Atomica]

If you're after doing your own thing, buy a guidebook to Alaska (like the ones DK or Frommers offer) - usually there's lots of good tips and tricks.

 

Also, Google each port. We were able to find walking tours & maps right on most ports websites (Skagway and Juneau will actually mail you a little guide for free of the town). The more research you do on each port and excursion, the happier you'll be. Case in point: we stopped in Wrangell, Alaska two years ago. I was interested in going to Petroglyph Beach, but wasn't sure if I wanted to spend $50 per person. A quick google search showed that it was about 1 mile from the cruise ship docks, and open freely to the public. It also gave us a nice 15 minute walk as well, and we got to spend as much time as we wanted there (and we didn't have to sit in the sun on a hot bus waiting for people to board!)

[DaisyGirl55]

You guys have certainly given me lots to ponder! Right now my wish list is flightseeing in Ketchikan, whale watching in Juneau, and WPRR in Skagway (my notes are at home, but I think that is correct). If I have to whittle it down, as much as I want to go up in the plane, I really, really want to go on a whale watching excursion. That we will probably do without fail.

 

Looks like I need to do a little more research, and also go back to these boards and read some older posts. Most of the times we cruise for the cruise/ship experience. Some cruises we never even go into the port and just stay on the ship. In Alaska, we will want to go and explore the town, as well as doing a specialized excursion. I will read and re-read all of your posts (probably several times) and take it from there.

 

Thanks everyone for the time and thought you all took in answering my questions. How I ever took 8 cruises without Cruise Critic I'll never know! How does that saying go...if I only knew then what I know now!

[Sailorgirlseattle]

I know just where you're coming from. We've done Alaska twice and have only done a couple of excursions -- the first time trying to keep costs down, the second time because we'd just lost my DFIL and we more in a lowkey kind of mood and not up to a lot of fanfare.

 

That said, I see that you do have a wishlist. Spend a lot of time contemplating that, and checking out all three ports on the Web. Identify what you MOST want to do, and which of the ports you'd like to see most.

 

Personally, what I've done and would do again if I could relive it, is do the White Pass Railroad trip in Skagway, and explore Juneau and Ketchikan on my own. Juneau you WILL want some sort of transporation, either bus or taxi or rental car. There's a lot of tourist shops right by the docks, but to see the "real" stuff you need to travel a bit. But, the Mt. Roberts tram is right by the docks, and that IS pretty cool. You can hike around up there too, and get some great views of Gastineau Channel and some of the mountains. Our second trip there we had our own personal cab driver :D who took us up to Mendenhall, then back towards town to the brewery, and then back to the docks. It was kinda pricey, but not nearly as bad as an expensive excursion, it was tailored to just exactly what WE wanted to do, and he was chatty about life in and history of Juneau.

 

Ketchikan is VERY easy to see stuff in town. There's a small history museum in town, that's kind of fun (and free, or small donation). We found ourselves with some extra time and took a horse drawn wagon ride which was also nominal and took us out of town a bit. Creek Street is fun, even if you're NOT shopping, and there's a tram up to a hotel on the ridge above it ... you can also walk up or down the Married Man's Trail to the hotel. You can definitely fill a day in either of those ports if you just like laying back and taking things easy.

[blues traveler]

Daisygirl,

alaska is my first cruise but my parents are veterans,THE big excursion on my list is whale watching in juneau. The other excursions were too expensive for my tastes. I may try some on the fly excursions when we hit port though.i'll let you know what i find.

[cjnky]

Good luck Daisygirl!!! I've been studying this board for 5 months now - and one thing for sure - I know our AK trip is definitely going to be sooooo much better as a result. I tip my hat to each and every one of you veterans who have shown me the ropes!! :D

[MercedMike]

That died a long time ago - few of the TAs who claim to know Alaska have ever been here even once, and since there's no way to check, why trust your trip to a stranger.

 

My goodness -- when did a TA bite you? Don't trust your trip to a stranger -- trust it to some nice familiar guy or gal who makes their reputation by posts on a message board??? Ridiculous!

 

Now consider my DW, for example -- she is a CLIA Master Cruise Counselor, has over 15 years experience in the business, and has cruised to Alaska 8 times, once for free on a fam trip from a cruise line and 7 times at great rates she found for us. Do you think she might possibly be able to help a client find the best possible cruise for them?

 

OTOH, she has never cruised to the Baltic. Do you then think that it would be a waste of time to ask her to book a Baltic cruise for you? Do you think that some CC poster who has been to the Baltic once on one particular cruise line will have a lot more valuable information than my DW can get from her experience and training, her documents, her travel group, her colleagues and even her clients?

 

There is a very easy way to check on her knowledge -- sit down at her desk and ask her. She will gladly tell you which ports she has personally visited and which she has not. In fact we have a picture in a frame on her desk of over 40 trips she has taken, 29 of them cruises.

 

A reputable local Travel Agent, recommended to you by local people who have used them, qualified by CLIA training, and willing to spend lots of face to face time with you learning what you want and helping you to find the best possible cruise will be handsomely rewarded by your repeat business over the years. There is no need for them to try to "pack" their commission on your trip.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how many people are somehow afraid that a TA is going to sell them something they don't want, and instead brag about their ability to "research" their trip by reading bulletin boards like this one. Who are they kidding??

 

If you have a question such as whether the Totem Heritage Center is walking distance from the dock, post it here and let us self proclaimed gurus argue about it. But for picking and booking your cruise, a reputable local Travel Agent is the person who is the expert.

[jer_l]

My DH and I will be sailing to Alaska in June (our first trip but it will not be our last or only cruise to Alaska). We will be stopping in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. I have researched lots of excursions, and read many of these posts regarding excursions.

 

My question is this: Rather than trying to do an expensive excursion in each port (flightseeing, whale watching, and WPRR), can we just wing it once we arrive in the port? I mean, we like to walk around, explore on our own, and scope things out. The first time we cruised to the Caribbean, we booked lots of excursions because it was all new and we did not know anything else. Now, we hardly ever book anything except maybe a snorkeling trip. We just do our own thing! There is always someone at the dock who is willing to drive us around, or we just do it ourselves, and have more fun doing so!

 

Are there vendors and/or taxi's at the port who could take us to see some totem poles? Drive us to Mendenhall? Are the port towns within walking distance of the pier? Is there enough to "do it on our own" for the length of time we are in port?

 

We could spend 1000 bucks on all of our excursions, and then be so busy we never really get to see the port itself. Or do we opt for maybe one or two ports, and then wing it for the third. If so, which port is the easiest to get around on our own?

 

Lots of questions here...but I know you guys can help me out. I cruise in 161 days, so if I am gonna book anything, I need to get it done before they all sell out. If this was to be my one and only cruise to Alaska, I would just bite the bullet and do it all. But I know we'll book again, and I just don't know if we should just go, scope it all out, and then be better informed for the repeat trip. Thanks in advance for helping me!!

We've cruised three times to Alaska and have never booked a tour ahead of time. Although I'm sure the tours are well worth the money. we would rather do fewer expensive excursions and cruise more often. Here's what we did on a tight budget in each of the three ports you mentioned on each of our cruises:

 

Juneau

1. 1999 Inside Passage Cruise--Walked around the city and visited the state museum, the Russian Orthodox Church and other sights. Then we took a local tour on an old double-decker bus led by a college student. He drove us around the city, across the bridge to Douglas Island and out to Mendenhall Glacier. It was about three hours long and cost us $15 per person. It was a great first visit experience.

 

2. 2003 Southbound Cruise--Rented a car from Rent-a-Wreck which we reserved ahead of time. They picked us up at the dock and drove us to their office. It was a little red Ford Fiesta stick shift. The rental agent highlighted a map as an itinerary. We drove all the way north to the end of the highway stopping numerous times visiting Auk Bay, Almalga Harbor, the Shrine of Saint Theresa, a state park and numerous stops along the coast just to shoot pictures. We then drove to Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center and then on a back road to the other side of the Glacier. We visted the hatchery and Douglas Island and did some shopping. This was a full day and cost us less than $50.

 

3. 2005 Round trip from San Francisco--We again rented from Rent-a-Wreck and did our own itnerary. Visiting many of the same places and a few additional places like the state government center. We also drove south of Juneau. There wasn't a lot to see there, but it was a beautiful drive. We stopped in on one of our friend's mother who lives in Juneau and visited a short time with her. Total cost was just about $50.

 

Skagway

 

1. 1999 Inside Passage Cruise--We were not in Skagway a long time this trip which was good because it was pouring rain. We did walk around town a bit and visited a couple of small museums. We ended up returning to the ship early because the rain was so bad.

 

2. 2003 Southbound Cruise--Much better weather in Skagway and a longer time there so we enjoyed it much more. We did the National Park Historical Walking Tour led by a park ranger. It was free, but you had to sign up ahead of time for one of the tours. It was very informative. We then took a local tour to the Yukon. It was in a van led by a young college girl. There were a dozen or so of us in the van. We drove to the Yukon stopping many times along the way for pictures. After returning to Skagway we were taken to the historical cemetery and on a short hike to a cascading waterfall behind the cemetery. The tour was about four hours long and cost us $30/each. Afterward we took a look at the historical train yard and my wife went shopping. While she shopped I took a hike up and around Lower Dewey Lake. I got the trail map from the National Park Office. There were lots of people on the trail so I felt quite safe even though I was hiking alone. It was a moderately difficult hike and took just over two hours.

 

3. 2005 Round trip from San Francisco--This was a short day in Skagway and we we didn't feel like doing any excursions so we each did our own thing. (This cruise also had six ports total and we had kept pretty busy in other ports.) In the morning did an easy hike north to Yakutania Point and then on to Smuggler's Cove where I encountered a young man from Haines who had been kayaking and was camped there. I visited with him for a while as he shared a lot of information about the area and then hiked back to meet my wife for lunch. She had spent the morning shopping. After lunch I took the hike up to Lower Dewey Lake again while she found a museum that we hadn't seen before. Next trip she tells me I have to visit that museum because she really enjoyed it.

 

Ketchikan

1. 1999 Inside Passage Cruise--We took a local tour that we arranged after docking with Rainbird Tours ($20-25/each). We saw highlights of Ketchikan, the fish hatchery, Cape Fox Lodge (which had a beautiful view of the city as well as five commissioned totem poles) and then Saxmon Village where we saw totem poles and watched a native carver working on a new pole. We were dropped off at Creek Street for shopping. We also did some shopping downtown near the dock and got some great Alaskan Prints at the Scanlon Gallery.

 

2. 2003 Southbound Cruise--We again did the Rainbird Tour and ended up with the same tour guide. Similar itinerary, but we enjoyed it. This time things at Saxmon Village had changed a bit. There was now a viewing window for tour groups to watch the carver; however, since we were with a local who knew him we were allowed to go inside. We did a lot of shopping at Creek Street for gifts to take home and got some great end-of-the-season bargains.)

 

3. 2005 Round trip from San Francisco--It was one of those rare, sunny day in Ketchikan. This time we rented a car which we had arranged before our cruise. We felt we knew enough about Ketchikan to do it on our own. We drove north to see areas we had not seen on the Rainbird Tour including Totem Bight State Park (another great collection of poles) and Ward Lake. We then drove south all the way to Herring Bay making a few stops along the way for photos. It was a beautiful drive and this was our last port so we enjoyed just spending the day by ourselves. We stopped at Saxmon on the way back to Ketchikan where a tour group had just exiting the carving shed. Since the door was open we went in and had a great time. The carver actually took time away from his work and showed us many pieces that different carvers were working on. He also explained the story of his pole which was a commissioned piece and told us it would be placed north of Ketchikan. We are looking forward to seeing it completed on our next cruise to Alaska (2008 we hope). Total cost for the day with car rental and fuel was less than $75. (Not including the Barbara LaVallee print I bought at Scanlon Gallery for my wife's birthday or the love birds bracelet she found at an out-of-the way studio which she bought for herself or the two $5 bottles of Alaskan Brewery Smoked Porter that we bought for our bosses. Hmm . . . I didn't get anything!)

 

I hope this gives you some ideas. You'll love Alaska!

 

Jerry

[halbfl2]

Jer_1 How do you contact Rainbow tours. I Googled them and couldn't find anything. Did you just hire them at the dock?:confused:

[brunolvr]

Jer_1 How do you contact Rainbow tours. I Googled them and couldn't find anything. Did you just hire them at the dock?:confused:

Try wearching for Rainbird Tours instead of Rainbow. :) http://www.alaskarainbird.com/

[jer_l]

http://www.rainbird.com is the correct website, but we booked on the dock. In Ketchikan there is a building where many of the local tours have counters where you can book tours.

 

Jerry