Excursions Chosen -- Opinions, Please?

[DD]

Wow, it was much harder to book excursions than to book the whole cruise. Booking the cruise was the easy (and cheap) part. Here's what I finally have it narrowed down to. Would you please weigh-in with an opinion. This is our first trip to Alaska and it may be awhile before I can drag my husband back again. He's more into exotic travel and is only doing this trip to make me happy. Hey, I've gone to Asia with him to make him happy, so it is my turn. Anyway, I'm hoping that he'll fall in love with Alaska and we'll be able to do repeat trips, but for now, this is it. Due to vacation-time constraints, we do not have time for a cruise-tour. Here's what I've got:

 

2 nights pre-cruise in Vancouver. During that time, we'll probably do a full-day trip on the Whistler Mountaineer

 

Embark Vancouver

 

Ketchikan -- Island Wings with Michelle to Traitor's Cove for bear watching

 

Skagway -- White Pass Scenic Railway through Princess in the morning and an evening wildlife expedition through Princess in the evening. This second excursion, starting at 1:40 pm, limited my other options. I'd like to do a train trip through Chilkoot Charters, but I can't find one that will work with the time constraints

 

Juneau -- Helicopter Glacier Trek through Princess in the morning and a Photo Safari by Land and Sea through Princess in the afternoon. My second choice is to do a tour with Alaska Marine Adventures to Tracy Arm. Adventure Bound Alasaka doesn't work with our time constraints and I'm not willing to do the "maybe your ship will be late, call us when you're here" route. I really like the Tracy Arm idea but I'm thinking that I should see Mendenhall Glacier while in Juneau. DH is excited with the whole walk-on-a-glacier idea.

 

Whittier -- The ship arrives at 12:30 am. The Alaska RR offers a 7 hour Glacier Discovery tour that starts at around noon, goes to Grandview, and then drops you off in Anchorage. It's AKRR on the way out, and bus on the way back. The alternate was a PWS cruise, but I would like to at least be able to say that I've been on the AKRR. Our flight home is at 11:40 pm that same day.