Anyone ever NOT do any excursions?

[Skylarr29]

You can spend as little or as much as you want on excursions in Alaska. Some of them are $500-$700 per person. Dog sledding, helicopter to a glacier, etc. Last time we were there we did Juneau on our own, took the bus to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked and enjoyed our day. We did an inexpensive small bus tour to the Yukon in Skagway and a float plane in Ketchikan. It was about middle of the road cost wise. If you visit cruise critic you can find tons of DIY things for Alaska.

 

[cleophus12]

If you don't want to do an excursion don't. Alaskan ports are easily done on your own. That said, do some homework so you know what's available and can plan what your family likes. Alaska was a once in a lifetime trip for us so although we didn't do any excursions through the cruise line we saw plenty of the sights and had a great time. Homework is always key for me.

 

[Keurigirl]

Absolutely! We did an Alaskan cruise last year and did no excursions. There is lots to see and do right at the port or slightly outside of it.

 

[LasseKjus]

17 cruises and have probably done 5 total ship-based excursions. Doesn't mean we don't get off the boat. Doesn't mean we don't do some exploring. Doesn't mean we don't shop or go to a beach, we just don't pay money to do something fancy. Here's what I recall doing:

St. Thomas, did the St. John Eco Hike for about $60/per person on first ever cruise. Loads of fun. Went back to St. Thomas several trips later and re-created this for about $15 per person using a Taxi and the Red Hook Ferry.

Rented bikes on Castaway Cay later in the first-ever cruise.

Belize, did Mayan Ruins via the ship because I wanted to make sure we did it. Second time, we did it as a non-ship excursion.

Grand Cayman bus tour. Cost, about $25 per person. Got us off the ship on one of the first tenders, definitely earlier than open tendering.

Cabo San Lucas boat harbor tour. Same reason as the Cayman excursion. Cheapest one and first one off the ship.

That's it. No other shore excursions. Now a couple of times we have done some once we hit land. My in-laws are famous for renting a taxi and taking an island tour. We did go zip lining in Roatan in an off-ship excursion, but we rarely do those too. Prefer just to explore and people watch.

We are also the people that tried to walk from Phillipsburg to Marigot and almost made it were it not for a blasted wrong turn.

 

[Luv2Diz]

We're booked for Alaska 2014. This will be our first cruise ever and at the moment, we're not sure what our budget would be, so I was just curious if it's possible to just not do any excursions and still have a fantastic cruise.

Absolutely! We didn't book any excursions on our Alaska cruise and had a fantastic time. We explored on our own in the ports. We did things at our own pace and saw what we wanted to see and do. We didn't miss doing excursions at all.

 

[ppony]

We don't and never felt were missing anything. if I want to go-go-go, I'll save that for the parks.

 

[Momma2Jax]

We didn't do any official excursions for Alaska. For us, it wasn't worth the cost. Also our DS has special needs, and we don't know until its happening, how he will react to some things.

Each port day, we got up leisurely, went to breakfast later than others (ordered room service fruit and pastries to hold us over while getting ready) then got off the ship. We just walked the town, and if something looked interesting, we did it. In Skagway we went to a playground, and DH did some geocaching, and we went in some shops. In Juneau we walked the strip, and took the mt Roberts tram to the top and looked around (just bought tickets at the bottom and got on). In Ketchikan, we walked around, then found a free shuttle bus, and randomly rode it to a park district. We went to this beautiful park with a creek with jumping salmon, and watched them. We were almost alone there!

Each day we did this, then got back on the ship at lunch time eat our paid-for-lunch, let DS nap, and hang out on the ship the rest of the afternoon.

We loved it! We didn't spend a pile of money, we saw sights, and we relaxed!

 

[katedrew94]

For us it depends on the port. We love some of the beaches in St. Maarten and St. Thomas, so usually we just take a taxi there. I usually just want to veg, and we have a 5 yo daughter so the beaches are a hit.

 

[mmmears]

Alaska is beautiful. And the list of excursions there seem endless... and the costs can really add up.

My DM has a hard time walking and has cruised AK 3 times without doing any excursions. It's a beautiful cruise (even the days at sea) and she doesn't feel she is missing anything.

On our DCL AK cruise, I did one excursion (Juneau glacier visit) with my DH and DD, but in Skagway and Ketchikan we walked the towns in the morning then DH and DD did excursions and I went back to the ship and kept my DM company. I don't feel like I missed all that much.

None of us wanted to be running around all day. We looked at the ABD add-on for our cruise and it was commando-touring. Not what we wanted from our Alaska experience.

So you can take it easy and still have a great time!

 

[tajz90]

We only did ONE on ours and it was a hike and a float. The others we just winged it and had a blast. We went to Mendenhall on our own and saw bear fishing for salmon We took a cheap little city tour and our driver took us straight to bears. The place we took one excursion, we had the guide drop us at the edge of town and we walked to the Gold Rush Graveyard and then we walked to a little water fall behind it. We walked back to town. We had a good time and would recommend just going it in your own.

 

[kelleigh1]

Thanks for all the input! I really appreciate it. I will definitely look into what is available, not just thru DCL but also that we could do on our own.

We're such rookies at this!