Princess Alaska Cruise Booking Shore Excursions

[javaandjazz]

Hello,

Newbie here and cruising for the first time on a princess 2 week cruise to Alaska. My question is, their shore excursions seem like an awful lot of money. There must be other excursions available once you get off the boat into the various towns/cities? Does princess get a cut if you book the excursions with them? Can anyone recommend any tours in Ketchikan, Skagway,Valdez, Kodiak, Juneau, Anchorage, Icy Strait Point? Thanks!

[paul929207]

Any excursion you book thru a cruise line (Princess included) makes money for the cruise line.

 

Yes, there are often cheaper excursions available thru independent guides. Two places to go for info are the Port of call section and the ROll Call for your cruise. Both are part of these boards. On the roll call you will often find people who have planned a private excursion and would like people to join their group and split the cost.

 

Keep in mind if you are planning independent tours, it is up to you to determine the vendor is capable and honest. You also need to do the research to determine what you want to see.

 

Finally, there is one big benefit to the ship's tours. If the tour is late getting back to the ship, the ship will wait. If a non-ship tour is late, the ship will sail without you.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Alaska excursions, in general, are very expensive. We did an independent excursion and two through Princess last year. You do not save much on the independent ones-usually smaller groups and more personalized service-which is often preferable. There are little tour kiosks in the towns (Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan) when you get off the ship, but I have no idea about the quality or type of touring offered.

[georoc01]

Hello,

Newbie here and cruising for the first time on a princess 2 week cruise to Alaska. My question is, their shore excursions seem like an awful lot of money. There must be other excursions available once you get off the boat into the various towns/cities? Does princess get a cut if you book the excursions with them? Can anyone recommend any tours in Ketchikan, Skagway,Valdez, Kodiak, Juneau, Anchorage, Icy Strait Point? Thanks!

 

I picked up an Alaska Toursaver book. It contains 2 for 1 coupons for many of the excursions found in the princess list, including the Bering Sea Crab Tour in Ketchikan. That can help.

 

We

[LoriPhil]

In Skagway you can book the White Pass Train directly, or go with a tour (we're using Chilkoot but Dyea Dave also gets good comments) that lets you combine bus and train options. In Juneau, we booked with Orca Enterprises for a wonderful whale-watching excursion with Captain Larry based on recommendations from the Alaska boards - one of our favorite memories. We're splurging on some excursions, but doing other things on our own to balance out the costs.

 

Right now there's a current thread over on the Alaska boards ("Can't afford excursions - any suggestions") identifying inexpensive options as well - some great ideas there!

[jkmcmom]

We were on Star Princess in May – it was a trip of a lifetime that I truly hope we have the opportunity to repeat. We visited Ketchikan, Juneau & Skagway that you mentioned are part of your cruise.

In Ketchikan we got off the ship, stopped at the info ctr (right at the dock) to pick up a map because we planned on doing a walking tour. We walked up to Totem Heritage Ctr & the Salmon Hatchery/Eagle Preserve. Our walk took us over part of Creek St., Married Man’s Trail & thru a residential area – I enjoyed that as I liked seeing the houses & the landscaping. The Totem Ctr was informative & historical; the eagle preserve, awesome!; and the salmon hatchery was like a biology class as we were there way before the salmon were returning. We walked back a different way – saw totem poles in people’s yards, did some shopping, ate lunch & saw another bird preservation group in town, SEAK. We also rode the “funicular” up to the lodge. Nice view. All in all, Ketchikan was a pleasant & relaxing time. Our only clock time to answer to was getting back to the ship.

Juneau was whale watching! We planned this from home – we went with Alaska Whale Watching. Their website is akwhalewatching.com Our boat captain was Louis. We were met at the ship by a young lady (Clancy) who took us to the marina via van/bus. It was a spectacular afternoon – warm for May with the sun shining. We saw a number of whales, plus a calf playing alongside its mother; went to a buoy full of sea lions; saw a light house setting that was picture postcard perfect; on the way back to the marina, we saw eagles in the wild; and we could see Mendenhall Glacier from the water. We had the van driver Clancy drop us off at the Glacier Park so we could see it. As this was not part of the whale tour, we were responsible for our own way back to the ship. We had planned for this & had taxi #s with us to call. No problem! There were 4 of us & I believe our fee back to town was about $45. We went to Red Dog Saloon – quite touristy, but loads of fun just looking at all the stuff on the walls! Plus, Alaskan Amber on tap! We tried reindeer sausage & then it was time to return to Star.

Skagway again, we planned from home. We had reserved a rental car. We drove into Canada – Yukon – had a guide that I read about here on CC on another post so we knew where to stop for short hikes, and beautiful photo ops! We drove up to a little town, Carcross, then to the world’s smallest dessert, stopped for lunch at Spirit Lodge & then turned around at Emerald Lake. Drove back to town and back to Star. This day we had rain, snow & sunshine as we traveled.

Star also stopped at Victoria, but we elected to stay onboard & just enjoy a relaxing evening. We had anytime dining so our port plans didn’t hinder our having dinner!

Whatever you plan – or don’t plan – Alaska is beautiful. I encourage you to see the towns away from the piers. I cannot wait to go back for another visit.