What is a Must Do excursion on Inside Passage, Alaska cruise...?

Question

Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan are the stops. I hear the Skagway Train Ride is good. Whale watching boat excursions. Are they worth it? Can I get good Alaskan exposure from ports or do you recommend certain port excursions?

Answer 1

Yes Alaska if you're over 90.

panama canal if you want to get eaten by all sorts of nasty bugs.

If you want a good cruise in Europe you do Costa Cruise lines of the Greek isles trust me you will love it, I did it for 6 months.

The Caribb was fun also but Rio to Buenosaris was kick *** (scuse my spelling)

PS I have only heard that about Alaska about 10 years ago so things might have changed a bit

Answer 2

I have been on 22 cruises to Alaks and have 3 more this year.The whale watching is good. Just make sure you select one that is guranteed. That way if you do not see a whale you get most of your money back. The Train rides are good. Select the one that goes to the different saloons. In Ketchikan go to the Salmon Mall at end of pier. Many shops & you walk out the back door to more shops. Do NOT buy souveniers on the ship. Cost alot less in port. Visit Alaska Shirt.com It is hard to say which excursion are better. The seaplanes & helicopter people say are nice but, also cost the most. You should recieve an excursion brochure which will explain the lenght & what is included, lenght of time & price. Also new in Ketchikan is a 4 hour excursion on a crab boat. Just like the TV show Deadlyist Catch. They go to Angel Island so the waters are very calm. It is an amazing cruise and if you have the time a cruisetour is best. You will see whales, seals, Eagles etc. from the deck of the ship. There will be plenty to see & take your breath away. You can see the glaciers on TV but, until you see them up close & in person you haven't seen anything. You did not say when you are going so in May the temps run 30 to 50's, June, July 50 to 70, August & Sept. 50 to mid 70's. Now like anywhere on the water it it is always alittle cooler.

Hope this helps.

Enjoy.

Answer 3

Do a gold panning adventure in Skagway or Ketchiakan. They are fun.

I've id one in Skagway and I got some gold. I've never done Dog Sledding but I really want to and there fun. You can get the best Alaskan expierence anyway you want to expierence Alaska.

What line and ship are you going on?

Answer 4

When we did our Alaska cruise we did tours and I though some were good and others were just OK, something to do and not that exciting.

IN Skagway we didn't do the train ride but did about the same trip up the Klondike trail by mini-bus.  WE saw the train most of the way up and back so the routes and what you see are about the same.  So if you want a train ride do that, otherwise do the minibus trip and see the same.

In Ketchkan we did the Totem Poles tour and that was really nice.  I do recommend that one.  I think they also have a lumber jack show at that stop also.

In Juneau we went to see the Mendenhall Glacier (kinda nice but like watching ice melt) and then went to a fish hatchery (salmon), saw a few eagles, and then back to the ship.  Not really exciting, especially since you will see glaciers galore on the trip.

There was a tour and I don't know which stop, to do a dog sled ride and see  a sled dog puppy kennel.  That may be exciting.

Remember that when you go to Alaska its not like going to the Caribbean where there are really exciting things to do like jet ski or swim withe the dolphins or stingrays.  Its a cultural and scenic trip.  One of the best tour we did was actually after we were off ship and went to the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage.  http://www.alaskanative.net/  

That's worth going to.

Answer 5

We did the White pass railroad out of Skagway That was the most spectacular train ride ever. As must do is to go into the red dog saloon in Juneau. It's just a bar, but a really cool bar. The best part of this cruise is going to glacier park and seeing the glaciers dropping off. Oh my gosh, what a sight. I have been on 8 cruises with Princess, and by far Alaska was my favorite cruise, but we did the cruise/tour with Princess.

Answer 6

I really enjoyed my Alaska cruise.  I WOULD recommend going on excursions rather than just wandering around the ports.  If you wander around you'll see lots of tourist shops, and then you'll see regular small towns ... sort of interesting, but maybe not for a whole day.

Do the whale watching -- if you're not sensitive to sea sickness.  The cruise ship won't move around much, but smaller boats do!

Some tips on warding off sea sickness:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/savvyguide/kn...

My mother really enjoyed the "Traditional Alaskan Salmon Bake".  I thought it was a bit cheezy, but it's a nice meal and a fun BBQ.

If you're into cultural stuff, the native dance shows are interesting.

One thing: Flight-seeing trips (helicopter or float plane), while expensive, are amazing.  But do NOT book one unless it's through the cruise line.  There have been some accidents with 3rd party companies that took risks flying on days they shouldn't.  The cruise lines, by contrast, are very cautious when it comes to your safety (even if it means canceling some days due to weather and refunding people's money).

Hope you have a great trip!

And please consider sharing your stories and pictures with us.  You can get an online Cruise Journal (it's free) here:

http://www.cruisesavvy.com/journals