Need Advice for Juneau, Skagway, & Ketchican

[needadvice]

We are trying to decide whether to take ship-sponsored tours or make it on our own. (In Hawaii, we rented cars in every port.)

 

It seems that many of the attractions are close to the port, or there is public transportation readily accessible.

 

Does anyone have experience doing it on your own in each of these ports, and how much $$ is saved by not taking ship tours?

[Toyz711]

if you search this board for each of these port, you can get a lot of information on how do to your own thing. this could help:

http://www.traveljuneau.com/

plenty to do mendenhall glacier, mt roberts tram, some rent a car and go around.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/districts/mendenhall/

the shuttle to mendenhall can be front near the tram's office, $6pp each way.

http://www.visit-ketchikan.com/

city tours, the "duck" tour, totem poles

http://www.skagway.com/

i did the round-trip train ride, many do combo trips of train/bus...some rent a car. car rental is limited, pre-book.

 

if you want flightseeing, bear watching or any excursions with limited access...prebook early. car rentals are very limited in places like skagway.

do a search of this board for "murray's guide" a mile by mile guide to driving from skagway up to the yukon.

[mii]

If you do a search as the above poster mentioned there is thread upon thread mentioning the very same thing that you are asking. Just go to right above this page where "Search this forum" and put in a town or ship excursion etc. Even go back a few pages on this forum and there is all sorts of info there. I have also googled towns in Alaska.

 

Marilyn

[fti]

We are trying to decide whether to take ship-sponsored tours or make it on our own. (In Hawaii, we rented cars in every port.)

 

It seems that many of the attractions are close to the port, or there is public transportation readily accessible.

 

Does anyone have experience doing it on your own in each of these ports, and how much $$ is saved by not taking ship tours?

 

Look at the ship's excursions in each port then decide which ones you are interested in. Then start your search on this board for similar independent excursions. You won't always save a ton of money booking independently but you will get a smaller tour, more personal and perhaps longer. That is often the case for example with whale watching in Juneau. In Skagway you can rent a car and drive to the Yukon for under $100/car whereas the train is over $100/person, albeit a completely different experience.

[needadvice]

Thanks! Very helpful!

[I'm not Sue]

Just returned from Juneau--we didn't rent a car, but next time we will. Juneau is so spread out compared to the other Alaskan cities you mentioned. We missed seeing some things because we took the city bus or shuttle (check the schedule to make sure it runs in the afternoon--that's where we ran into problems).

[needadvice]

Thanks for the warning!