better value--rock climbing or zipline?

[daffodiliaz]

We're considering either a zipline excursion in Juneau or Ketchikan, or the rockclimbing and rapelling in Skagway. All say 3.5 hrs. Wondering which has the most time for the actual activity.

On the zipline, do you spend most of your time standing in line waiting to zip, especially when there are multiple ships on port?

On the rockclimbing, is a lot of time spent on the instruction, and maybe just one climb up and one rapell down?

If you've been on either type of excursion we'd love to hear your thoughts.

[CC Help Michell]

We're considering either a zipline excursion in Juneau or Ketchikan, or the rockclimbing and rapelling in Skagway. All say 3.5 hrs. Wondering which has the most time for the actual activity.

On the zipline, do you spend most of your time standing in line waiting to zip, especially when there are multiple ships on port?

On the rockclimbing, is a lot of time spent on the instruction, and maybe just one climb up and one rapell down?

If you've been on either type of excursion we'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

We've done both rock climbing and zipline excursions in the Caribbean, and thought they were about the same in terms of "woo hoo" factor. For Alaska, we didn't consider either -- Alaska is about Alaska, to us, not about something we could do for 1/20 the price in the Caribbean on a garden variety cruise. I'm not saying this to be combative or to "challenge" you -- just to point out that for at least some others who visit Alaska, the "zipline" excursion is a distant "last" place compared to wildlife, indigenous population, whale watching, etc. excursions.

 

If the tour descriptions say 3.5 hours, it's because transportation, passenger readiness, instruction, equipment fitting, cruiseline demands, etc. requires the operator to allow that margin. We've also had 2 separate groups of friends booked on RCI in Alaska who booked the zipline at ISP -- and both groups were closed out on the morning they arrived, due to winds.

 

Just as folks here commonly note that Glacier Landing/Dogsled excursions are often cancelled due to weather, conditions, I'd say stuff like ziplining and rock climbing should fall into the same category -- book it if it's what you want to do, but have a back up plan.