Alaska Cruise- Shore Excursion recommendations?

[mila]

DH and I are taking a 7-nt Alaska cruise in mid-May. This is the 1st Alaska cruise we've been on, and there are so many shore excursion options (and fairly expensive too). Do you recommend any "must see"'s?

We are mid-40s, fairly active, and fairly adventurous. I have a bad knee so while walking is a non-issue, rocky terrain hiking is not a good option for me. This is the list of shore excursions.... Any recs would be great!

[Deleted]

I remember reading a blog points (maybe from The Points Guy) about that dog sled/glacier excursion and he said it was worth every penny. But dang at basically $1k a person, I find that hard to imagine.

We're going in June on NCL but I would imagine a lot of ours are similar to yours, so I'll be interested in the answers here.

[fn2187]

One of my favorites was a guided bike ride through a rain forest. It was my favorite scenery I’ve ever experienced. I believe the excursion was listed as “mild/moderate activity” but I found it difficult at times (hills).

[mila]

Jan 10, 2023 13:51:19 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

I remember reading a blog points (maybe from The Points Guy) about that dog sled/glacier excursion and he said it was worth every penny. But dang at basically $1k a person, I find that hard to imagine.

We're going in June on NCL but I would imagine a lot of ours are similar to yours, so I'll be interested in the answers here.

I saw that article too, and am contemplating that one. I think it's such an amazing experience, and we'll likely never going back to Alaska and are highly considering. But, so expensive

[majique]

We took an Alaskan cruise in September on Royal Caribbean with these exact ports. In Sitka, we just walked off and walked about 10 minutes out of town and hiked a trail. It was amazing and probably one of my favorite things we did. We did the Alaska whales, glaciers, and trails. That was amazing because we saw a humpback whale continually breaching for about an hour. That is not a normal thing and I’m not sure we would have enjoyed it as much if that hadn’t happened. We also did the Tatoosh island kayak. That was really awesome. It was raining for most of it but was still a great experience and we saw sea lions on the boat ride back. Have fun, it’s amazing!

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2023 13:59:18 GMT -5 mila said:

Jan 10, 2023 13:51:19 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

I remember reading a blog points (maybe from The Points Guy) about that dog sled/glacier excursion and he said it was worth every penny. But dang at basically $1k a person, I find that hard to imagine.

We're going in June on NCL but I would imagine a lot of ours are similar to yours, so I'll be interested in the answers here.

I saw that article too, and am contemplating that one. I think it's such an amazing experience, and we'll likely never going back to Alaska and are highly considering. But, so expensive

We looked at something similar on NCL, but as a family of four, I just can't bring myself to add it to the cart at this point. It's 2/3 of the cost of the cruise. 

[lpcats]

Jan 10, 2023 13:59:18 GMT -5 mila said:

Jan 10, 2023 13:51:19 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

I remember reading a blog points (maybe from The Points Guy) about that dog sled/glacier excursion and he said it was worth every penny. But dang at basically $1k a person, I find that hard to imagine.

We're going in June on NCL but I would imagine a lot of ours are similar to yours, so I'll be interested in the answers here.

I saw that article too, and am contemplating that one. I think it's such an amazing experience, and we'll likely never going back to Alaska and are highly considering. But, so expensive

We did this and it was worth it.  If I remember correctly, though, we did not book through the cruise line.  There are a number of companies that provide excursions that mirror what the cruise provides and provide a savings over the cruise price.  They also monitor the departure times of the ships and ensure you won't miss it.

[snowflurry]

Ketchikan - Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Boat Tour - loved this but it was soooo cold and windy. Also did the lumberjack show which was pretty fun and neat to see.

Juneau - Taku Glacier Lodge - our favorite thing of the cruise. Took a seaplane out over the glacier and landed at a private island. Was able to walk around the island and see the land and waterfalls. They grilled salmon on an open grill and we watched as black bears came and ate the scraps off the grill - really cool to see.

We went to Skagway rather than Sitka.

Victoria - we just walked around the city because we were exhausted from all the previous days of excursions and we went there on our honeymoon so had already done all the sights (and kids were tired)

[snowflurry]

Jan 10, 2023 13:51:19 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

I remember reading a blog points (maybe from The Points Guy) about that dog sled/glacier excursion and he said it was worth every penny. But dang at basically $1k a person, I find that hard to imagine.

We're going in June on NCL but I would imagine a lot of ours are similar to yours, so I'll be interested in the answers here.

We were on the NCL Joy back in June 2019 to Alaska with kids ages 9 and 11.  Kids loved the ship and NCL is definitely our preferred cruise line. 

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2023 14:09:42 GMT -5 snowflurry said:

Jan 10, 2023 13:51:19 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

I remember reading a blog points (maybe from The Points Guy) about that dog sled/glacier excursion and he said it was worth every penny. But dang at basically $1k a person, I find that hard to imagine.

We're going in June on NCL but I would imagine a lot of ours are similar to yours, so I'll be interested in the answers here.

We were on the NCL Joy back in June 2019 to Alaska with kids ages 9 and 11.  Kids loved the ship and NCL is definitely our preferred cruise line. 

This is so great to hear. We'll be on the Bliss and our girls will be 11 and 13. 

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2023 14:06:58 GMT -5 snowflurry said:

Ketchikan - Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Boat Tour - loved this but it was soooo cold and windy. Also did the lumberjack show which was pretty fun and neat to see.

Juneau - Taku Glacier Lodge - our favorite thing of the cruise. Took a seaplane out over the glacier and landed at a private island. Was able to walk around the island and see the land and waterfalls. They grilled salmon on an open grill and we watched as black bears came and ate the scraps off the grill - really cool to see.

We went to Skagway rather than Sitka.

Victoria - we just walked around the city because we were exhausted from all the previous days of excursions and we went there on our honeymoon so had already done all the sights (and kids were tired)

Thanks for this feedback! This is one of the things I'd been looking at because we're in Juneau on my 50th birthday. 

[Poeticxpassion]

We did a cruise to Alaska on royal Caribbean years ago. I still have so many fond memories. We did dog sledding where we got a tour of a camp, met puppies and got a ride through the forest, it was incredible and worth every penny. We also did a whale watching tour.

[Poeticxpassion]

[Poeticxpassion]

[Poeticxpassion]

These are 3 we did. You can see from photos above. We didn’t go to Sitka, so no recommendations there.

Lighthouse, Totems and Eagles
Day 3 - Ketchikan, Alaska

Exclusive Alaskan Whale Discovery
Day 5 - Juneau, Alaska

Dog Sled Summer Camp
Day 5 - Juneau, Alaska

[SusanBAnthony]

Not a cruise but when we were in Alaska MULTIPLE people raved about the dog sled on the glacier thing. We looked it up and almost fell over at the price.

Idk I like dogs but how can it be cool enough to be worth 1k PP? Meanwhile we saw the Denali sled dogs for free.

Yet so many people consistently say it's worth it.

[Deleted]

Jan 10, 2023 17:58:19 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Not a cruise but when we were in Alaska MULTIPLE people raved about the dog sled on the glacier thing. We looked it up and almost fell over at the price.

Idk I like dogs but how can it be cool enough to be worth 1k PP? Meanwhile we saw the Denali sled dogs for free.

Yet so many people consistently say it's worth it.

I told my daughter we have a puppy that pulls like crazy. I'd just put her on her sled and let the dog pull her down the street. 

[sent]

Following because we are doing a different RC ship to Alaska this summer. My friend did an Alaska cruise for her honeymoon and said the same thing about the dog sleds, that they are a must-do. My kids are 5 and 9. I think they are a little young to appreciate a $1K excursion so I'm pretty sure we won't be doing it. I haven't fully research yet what options I have at each port that is not through RC. Alaska would not have been my choice on an itinerary for their first cruise, but we are joining some of my husband's friends so we can't change the itinerary. He really wants to go on a glacier. I kinda don't want to. I may just do my own thing with the kids in the port while he does one of the pricey glacier things. 

[rubytue]

We’ve done the R/T Seattle cruise twice. 2009 and last summer. I’ll tell you what we did, the kayak trips were very cool! Lots of “very cool” below.

Juneau: 2009 we did a kayak trip on the lake in front of Mendalhall glacier. Amazing! But the return back was into the wind and cold and splashy. 2022: an old friend of mine lives there now, so he picked us up and took us around for the day. We went to a beach, then hiking on a trail by some botanical garden or something to pick berries, then to the glacier, and finally to the fish hatchery. But, the best part was seeing my friend, so that’s not useful.  This was the company we used in 2009, but is doesn’t look like they offer what we did anymore (was not guided, more like a rental, they did transport, we were on our own on the lake) beyondak.com/trips/private-glacier-canoe-paddle-trek/

Sitka: 2009 we did some wildlife cruise and saw tons of bald eagles and whales. I was Meg on bald eagles because we see them locally, but OMG so many. 2022 was a “dry” suit snorkel. The suits were less dry for us (others in the group were fine, but both mine and H’s leaked terribly). It was definitely cool (in multiple ways 😂) and I feel like I can now say I’ve done it, but I wouldn’t recommend it because it’s too questionable if your suit keeps you dry. After both of these, we walked to the totem park which was really cool. The last time, as I was using the bathroom, we noticed a sign for a ranger led hike starting in 5 minutes. So we went on that. A little Sitka history and more berry picking. Very cool.

Ketchikan: nothing her stands out. 2009 H and our fathers (was a family trip) went fishing with no luck. Me and the mothers did a city tour and walked around. Yawn. This past year, we took a kayak trip somewhere out of town. Was nice and peaceful. I had a sea lion pop up his head right next to my kayak. It was my birthday, so that was a cool gift.

Victoria: first time, my step mother wanted to see Buchart Gardens. The ship was late getting in (this is common) so our garden trip was very abbreviated. This past year, we didn’t get off the ship. Tired, didn’t want to do another excursion, and they charged for the bus to get downtown. And it’s such a short, evening stop it just wasn’t worth it. First time I have ever stayed on the ship at a port.

[mcmel]

I would do the Bering Crab Fisherman’s Tour in Ketchikan and a glacier walk in Juneau.

[HitchedIn2006]

We did an Alaska cruise last summer with the family.

Skagway: dog musher camp with Alaska Shore Tours. Met us at the end of the pier. We ended up being the only folks on the tour, so bonus for private!! The drive to camp was around 45minutes, so ate up a bunch of time. Was $520 for 4 of us (plus a tip). Did the White Pass Railroad as well.

Juneau: rented a car through Turo- car was right downtown where the bus from the boat to downtown went (5 minutes tops from boat to car). Went to the hatchery, Mendenhall glacier (the blue bus was $40/person, so almost the cost of a car rental!), lunch and checked out some breweries.

Ketchikan: Lumberjack show and went shopping/walked through Creek Street.

The dog musher camp is the most talked about activity we did on the cruise, per the kids.

[RockNVoll]

We did an Alaska cruise as our first wedding anniversary trip so it's been many, many years. I'm just here to offer that we booked all our shore excursions ourselves rather than through the ship and it was soooo much cheaper to do it that way. The cruise company tries to scare you about potentially missing the boat (literally) if you do excursions with anyone but them, but what I found was that the independent operators were very careful about making sure you get back on the ship in time because it would be bad for their own reputations if they got poor reviews.

We actually did a Mendenhall Glacier hike with the Beyond Alaska company someone linked above.  They were fantastic and I, who can't remember what I had for breakfast, still have very fond memories of that experience.

[shalu]

Jan 10, 2023 14:16:59 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

Jan 10, 2023 14:09:42 GMT -5 snowflurry said:

We were on the NCL Joy back in June 2019 to Alaska with kids ages 9 and 11.  Kids loved the ship and NCL is definitely our preferred cruise line. 

This is so great to hear. We'll be on the Bliss and our girls will be 11 and 13. 

What dates will you be on the Bliss? We will be going the 3-10 of June and will have my 13 year old daughter with us. This will be my first Norwegian cruise (normally do Royal) and first trip to Alaska.

[Deleted]

Apr 23, 2023 8:40:14 GMT -5 shalu said:

Jan 10, 2023 14:16:59 GMT -5 @rebeccawelton said:

This is so great to hear. We'll be on the Bliss and our girls will be 11 and 13. 

What dates will you be on the Bliss? We will be going the 3-10 of June and will have my 13 year old daughter with us. This will be my first Norwegian cruise (normally do Royal) and first trip to Alaska.

We're going the 3rd to the 10th too. First trip to Alaska for them. I haven't been since right after I got out of high school. 

[loira]

Jan 10, 2023 14:05:18 GMT -5 lpcats said:

Jan 10, 2023 13:59:18 GMT -5 mila said:

I saw that article too, and am contemplating that one. I think it's such an amazing experience, and we'll likely never going back to Alaska and are highly considering. But, so expensive

We did this and it was worth it.  If I remember correctly, though, we did not book through the cruise line.  There are a number of companies that provide excursions that mirror what the cruise provides and provide a savings over the cruise price.  They also monitor the departure times of the ships and ensure you won't miss it.

I was just coming in here to say something similar. I worked in the tourism industry in Victoria for a couple of summers and the local companies provide all the cruise excursions (for example, a tour to Butchart Gardens), but if you buy them on the cruise they are hella marked up. I know this because sometimes cruise passengers would come wandering up to my sales cart and ask the price of a city tour and get really annoyed that they'd paid 50% more for the exact same one right off the boat. So if there's something you really want to do but it's too much $$$, you may find it's cheaper when booked directly through the tour provider.

[mags]

We are going mid June.
I bought all of our excursions off of TripAdvisor much cheaper than buying them from the cruise.

[sandandsea]

We just booked yesterday for late July. Our must do excursions are glacier/water rafting in Juneau and sled dogs. We will have our kids with us (7&11) so some of the more adventurous ones required 50” or 70 pounds which won’t work for ds2.

[dcrunnergirl52]

We're going in June and right now, we're thinking:

Icy Strait Point: Private whale watching (with 6 people it's nearly the same price to do a private, smaller boat as a regular boat)

Juneau: I'm hoping to do the sled dog summer camp if they have a cancellation (the one without the helicopter/plane right). If not, my back-up is to get a Turo and drive to the Mendenhall/Nugget Falls Trail, salmon hatchery, and maybe another place or just downtown.

Ketchikan: Bering Sea Boat Tour

[katfco]

We're going via Royal Caribbean in July and we're going to do our own thing when we get to the glacier. From what I read, it's an easy trip to the national park and we'd rather do our own easy hike than be led around.

I would have liked to do the helicopter or dogsleds, but they're so expensive.

[mcmel]

Apr 23, 2023 14:33:29 GMT -5 dcrunnergirl52 said:

We're going in June and right now, we're thinking:

Icy Strait Point: Private whale watching (with 6 people it's nearly the same price to do a private, smaller boat as a regular boat)

Juneau: I'm hoping to do the sled dog summer camp if they have a cancellation (the one without the helicopter/plane right). If not, my back-up is to get a Turo and drive to the Mendenhall/Nugget Falls Trail, salmon hatchery, and maybe another place or just downtown.

Ketchikan: Bering Sea Boat Tour

Great call on Icy Strait and Ketchikan. I would consider a helicopter tour in Juneau if you’re able to.