Alaska is beautiful, I did a cruise there 3 years ago.
In Juneau we had signed up for an excursion that got cancelled we ended up going up to one of the local vendors right at the dock and booked a trip out to Mendenhall glacier. It was less expensive than doing the cruise through the ship and the bus brought you out and left you for as long as you wanted they had multiple returns to take. We liked having more than 30 minutes at the glacier as we got to walk out closer to the glacier and there were no other stops along the way.
Fun! We went on the same Celebrity cruise out of Seattle for our honeymoon. We absolutely loved it! We did some hiking, horseback riding, and a whale watching excersion.
I lived in Juneau for a few years and I went on a Celebrity cruise to SE Alaska with my in-laws about two years ago.
I would highly recommend doing the zip line tour in Icy Strait. Icy Strait a/k/a Hoonah isn't that big of a town and there wasn't too much to do when we were there. In Ketchikan, you should do the salmon fishing and then go grab a beer at the Arctic bar.
I know Juneau fairly well. If you can wrangle it, do the whale watching there and then hit Mendenhall Glacier. I used to be a Forest Service interpreter there and you can see about getting an interpreter-led hike through the area for free. One area that a lot of visitors tend to miss is the salmon spawning platform at the glacier. That's where you are much more likely to see a bear and it's at a safe distance. Just ask the Forest Service worker who greets the bus and they'll point you in the right direction. I also recommend a tour of the Alaskan Brewing Company, which is located out in the Lemon Creek area of Juneau. There's an Alaskan Brewery store in the downtown area where your ship will dock, but I think they just sell merchandise. For food, you might want to try Pel'Menis. They serve Russian dumplings for about $6 and they are a super yummy snack. A lot of tourists grab a drink at the Red Dog Saloon, but if you want a place that is a little quieter and has a cool atmosphere, go to the Alaskan Hotel. It's a former brothel turned hotel just down the street from where your boat will dock.
Post by DarcyLongfellow on Jan 22, 2013 21:47:47 GMT -5
DH and I took an Alaskan cruise four years ago (right before I got pregnant with DD). We had SO much fun.
In Jumeau, you *have* to take a helicopter ride and hike on the glacier. It was the highlight of our trip (even through at the very beginning super NON adventurous me freaked out and turned to DH and said, crying and absolutely dead serious, "I don't want us to die up here on this glacier!").
The main cost is in the helicopter ride, so pay the extra money for the longest amount of time up on the glacier as possible. For us, that was the three hour adventure. We went rappelling down the side of the glacier! And I climbed up a sheer face of glacier using the spiny shoe things (cramp ons?) and two ice picks. It was awesome!
If it's still around, I also highly recommend taking the Deadliest Catch boat tour in Ketchikan. Even if you didn't/don't like the show, the boat trip was amazing. We saw Bald Eagles and a lot of neat sea creatures.
We also rode ATV's in Sitka, which was a really cool way to see a remote-ish area we wouldn't have seen otherwise.
For what it's worth, we found Alaska to be very casual compared to other cruises. People were so tired after being out in the cold all day that they didn't dress up much. It suited us perfectly. We didn't even bring formal attire -- just got room service on formal night.
I've never taken a cruise but have visited Skagway a couple of times and taken the state ferry from Skagway to Prince Rupert (British Columbia) - this will be the prettiest part of your cruise since it's through the "Inside Passage". You've gotten lots of great rec's on activities at port, but I didn't see anybody mention making sure to go outside after dark to look for northern lights. It'll be fairly late in August before it gets dark but you won't see them if you don't look.
Darcy--which company did you use for the glacier helicopter ride? Was it Northstar Trekking like Susie? That sounds right up our alley, I think that's a definite for us.
Sxia- for the nature hike near Mendenhall glacier, what company did you use?
We have been whale watching before, it's the other animals like bears, bald eagles, etc. that DH is dying to see. I really need to plan a tour with some wildlife viewing on our of our stops.