What are the 2 best ways to see wildlife on the Alaskan cruise?

[scrapperkimmydee]

particularly Eagles

But bear and moose would be cool, too.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

particularly Eagles

But bear and moose would be cool, too.

Eagles - really no issue there. They are all over the place. Just keep your eyes open - treetops, sky.

Bear & moose, best viewing we've done was on our trip into Denali.

You won't see as much wildlife in ports, unless you go inland more.

 

[Disneybridewifemama]

Anan Creek. Bears, eagles, salmon. SO amazing. try family air tours. worth every penny!

 

[Disneybridewifemama]

Adventures in alaska in juneau we saw humpback and orca whales.

 

[jrabbit]

Look for "Golf Balls" in the trees - those are Eagles. DW was great at spotting them, me not so much.

 

[hamilton23]

We just got off the Wonder on Monday. We saw so many bald eagles in Juneau...they were like seagulls or pigeons. They were camped out on street light poles, sitting on top of buildings, etc. We had one follow us out of port in Skagway...I got some great photos of it riding the wind coming up off the front of the ship.

 

[DISGRL13]

Bring binoculars!!! We watched for eagles from our balcony on the ship. There were many along the shores!! We also saw seals on ice bergs and whales too. All of these while sailing on the ship. Enjoy!!!

 

[dcassetta]

You'll have no issues at all seeing Eagles.

Bears are more likely to be found later in the cruise season from July to September, after the salmon start running. Moose are more unpredictable than that. From the ship itself you may be able to see bears and/or moose along the shore as you're traveling. Although, I this is relatively uncommon. The best option would analyze the ports you're visiting and take a look at the excursions available there. Some of them are directly focused on wildlife and can include specific areas where bears are more likely to be.

Of the locations that Disney stops, really the only place you could do bears on your own would be in Skagway, by getting over to Haines and going to the Chilkoot river. I'm sure you could find a float plane trip in Ketchikan that includes the Anan observatory.

 

[xlxo]

Plan extra time to visit Grouse pre- or post-cruise.... free shuttles depart from the cruise terminal in the morning and afternoon daily.

There's also a bear breakfast opportunity. Please don't feed the parents to the bears.
https://www.grousemountain.com/products/breakfast-with-the-bears

 

[l4dk]

We just got off the wonder on Monday. Eagles were very easy to spot everywhere. We had one very close to us in Juneau at the Salmon Hatchery he was just seating there like nothing a few steps from us. I will post a picture. We were very lucky to see two black bears the first one from the boat excursion in Tracy Arm and the other one in Ketchikan. During another tour a black bear came out of the forest, walked through the parking lot of a salmon hatchery and found his way in to grab a salmon. It was an awesome experience.

 

[dcassetta]

We just got off the wonder on Monday. Eagles were very easy to spot everywhere. We had one very close to us in Juneau at the Salmon Hatchery he was just seating there like nothing a few steps from us. I will post a picture. We were very lucky to see two black bears the first one from the boat excursion in Tracy Arm and the other one in Ketchikan. During another tour a black bear came out of the forest, walked through the parking lot of a salmon hatchery and found his way in to grab a salmon. It was an awesome experience.

Love the bear at the hatchery photo! Why go to all that work catching salmon in the river, when the humans have left a buffet for you!

 

[cruisehopeful]

Take any outdoor excursion in Juneau and you will most likely see many eagles.

 

[jburge12000]

We did the Alaskan Bear Country Expedition in Ketchican and it was the highlight of our trip. We saw three different groups of a Mother and pair of bear cubs feeding very close up. Grandpa got the best picture of anyone in our group traveling the entire trip when he snapped a pic on his phone of an eagle swooping down and grabbing a salmon from the stream next to the salmon hatchery (looked like a professional pic from National Geographic). They also had a small raptor center that they had some injured eagles that you can get right up to.

Like other said, Juneau had eagles everywhere. The large power line towers next to the port had them all over them.

 

[DizMagic]

As all have said, we saw tons of Eagles. We saw about 13 black bears, but that was on an excursion to the Wildlife Rainforest Sanctuary. We were not able to see any moose, and were told they were very rare. We were there the first week of September, last year. We loved our cruise so much (and Alaska) that we booked the ABD Alaskan experience for this coming August. We are beyond excited as we will get to go into Denali and hopefully finally see those Moose!

 

[annacali]

We saw whales and a pod of dolphins from our balcony on the ship. We did a Mendenhall glacier/whale watch tour thru Juneau whale watch (ask for Ben and Jerry!) and saw a bunch of eagles and humpback whales. We even saw a sizeable gathering of huge sea lions along the shore whale watching. We were in a smaller boat with only 14 people and we got really close to the whales. In Skagway we took a private tour went up into the Yukon with Beyond Skagway tours and that is where we saw bears. There were also a lot of seals in Endicott Arm. This was all last month.

 

[ludari]

Yeah, I agree with some of the previous posters that eagles where all over the place and a lot of the tour guides will point them out. I also saw several bears in Juneau at the Mendenhall Glacier. In Skagway I took the White Pass & Yukon Train ride and noticed all sorts of wildlife as well. When you are on the ship keep you eyes open as well because I noticed killer whales, dolphins, sea lions and other whales when just looking out the window or deck.

 

[scrapperkimmydee]

It looks like we don't really need to pay extra to see the bald eagles. I like that!

Thanks!