Alaska 2023 independent shore excursions

[sadiecatie]

I was wondering this too as I felt 45 minutes wasn’t enough. Alaska Shore Tours has a combo where they run multiple shuttles back to the ship so if you want to stay longer you can.

I looked it up - the one I found is Juneau Whale Watch. Depending on the flexibility you want, their tour may be good. Their buses to Mendenhall leave from near the cruise port every 30 minutes, so I’m assuming you could actually take time for lunch between the two if you wanted since your bus to Mendenhall isn’t leaving from Auk Bay.

 

[KantLose]

We loved Harv and Marv’s for whale watching in Juneau. Our Captain (Micky ) was so knowledgeable about the whales - my kids shared their new knowledge with everyone we know after the trip.

 

[KantLose]

We also used Alaska Excursions in Skagway to go to the Sled Dog and Musher’s camp. Very fun with a few stops for scenic views along the way.
In Ketchikan, we did kayaking with Ketchikan Kayaking Company. Great time doing something a little more active and the guides shared a lot of information about the local community. They also offer hiking and biking tours that we heard good things about from people on our bus back to town.
We had a great experience with all of our independently booked excursions!

 

[Sakura1017]

We also used Alaska Excursions in Skagway to go to the Sled Dog and Musher’s camp. Very fun with a few stops for scenic views along the way.
In Ketchikan, we did kayaking with Ketchikan Kayaking Company. Great time doing something a little more active and the guides shared a lot of information about the local community. They also offer hiking and biking tours that we heard good things about from people on our bus back to town.
We had a great experience with all of our independently booked excursions!

I'm booked to do the same excursion you did in Skagway. I booked via AlaskaX which is now what Alaska excursions name was. Did they contact you before the excursion on when to meet up? Or was it just the one confirmation you received from them after booking?

 

[Sakura1017]

For those that did whale watching in Juneau and used private tour companies, where the size was up to 6 people, how did the ride feel? I have a family member who is concerned that because it's a small boat they might feel motion more often? We are going in July so hoping waters will not be rough. Can anyone share their experience?

 

[Flip flops in winter]

For those that did whale watching in Juneau and used private tour companies, where the size was up to 6 people, how did the ride feel? I have a family member who is concerned that because it's a small boat they might feel motion more often? We are going in July so hoping waters will not be rough. Can anyone share their experience?

We used The Local Guy in Juneau to do salmon fishing last July. Inadvertently all the charters are whale watching tours because whales are everywhere. It was incredible. The 5 of us (2 parents, 3 kids) plus captain and deck hand were quite comfortable on a 24' boat. There were plenty of seats in the cabin but most of us just stood towards the back of the boat. I wouldn't recommend it for people who are likely to get sea sick but it certainly wasn't rough by any means. We live in FL and are on boats fairly frequently. I would compare the motion to being on a large river. It's not like open ocean.

 

[KantLose]

I'm booked to do the same excursion you did in Skagway. I booked via AlaskaX which is now what Alaska excursions name was. Did they contact you before the excursion on when to meet up? Or was it just the one confirmation you received from them after booking?

I think it was just the confirmation, but when we got off the boat, the representative was waiting with a sign for the company so it was very easy to find them.

 

[KantLose]

For those that did whale watching in Juneau and used private tour companies, where the size was up to 6 people, how did the ride feel? I have a family member who is concerned that because it's a small boat they might feel motion more often? We are going in July so hoping waters will not be rough. Can anyone share their experience?

Agree with the above poster that it was more similar to being on a lake/river than open ocean. We really enjoyed being on the smaller boat private tour as it allowed us to ask lots of questions about the whales and our guide was able to tailor our time on the water to our family’s interests. For example, she offered the chance to go near an island that is home to sea lions.

 

[poohj80]

For those that did whale watching in Juneau and used private tour companies, where the size was up to 6 people, how did the ride feel? I have a family member who is concerned that because it's a small boat they might feel motion more often? We are going in July so hoping waters will not be rough. Can anyone share their experience?

We were fine as well (and I get sea sick easily). The boats are more in a bay than on open water so it's not rough waters. We were constantly moving except for the spots where we slowed down to watch whales so too distracted to think about not feeling well.

 

[DisneyConvert]

My favorite day was Juneau. We did a tour that included mendehall glacier, a salmon hatchery, and Glacier Gardens. The stop at the gardens was first and the guide did an amazing job educating about the rainforest. It was my favorite part of the day and I'm the kinda girl that finds natural scenery boring.
We did about an hour at mendehall glacier which was enough time to go to the falls and back. We also checked out the visitors center but only spent 10 minutes there before heading back to the bus.

Loved that Salmon hatchery!

 

[azrivest]

Hi all!
Does anyone have any excursion recommendations for Icy Strait Point? My kids (10&7) aren't heavy enough for the zipline and we already booked a whale watching tour in Juneau.

 

[Keyser]

It's been a long time, but two that stood out:

Chilkoot Charters was what we used in Skagway - would highly recommend them. Basically got a smaller more personalized tour for a lot less than something similar from DCL (and we took the train ride back - it's the same train as everyone else).

In Ketchikan we had booked with Island Wings, but the excursion was cancelled day of due to weather. Island Wings was very good about contacting us and refunding our money; we'd try booking them again if we ever went back. But, instead we ended up going to the visitor center and ending up with some tour (just our family) that was mainly memorable for how odd and inappropriate it was (I think the operator was called "Northern Tours") - would definitely not recommend that route! If your excursion is one that might get cancelled, I'd recommend making plan B ahead of time.

 

[Keyser]

There’s an easy hike out to a waterfall and viewpoint which I’d recommend. We were probably there an hour and a half in total.
Ride share was totally easy - there’s no Uber only Lyft from what I remember.
There’s little service at the glacier. The Lyft driver gave me their direct cell and we texted for pickup and I venmod for every trip after the first.
I thought it was easy to handle and would do it again

(Caution: my info may be too old - it was about 7-8 years ago when we went!)

We did a whale watching tour where they were willing to drop us off at Mendenhall afterward instead of back at the ship. We spent about 2 hours there total, including the visitor center and "hiking" to the falls. 45 minutes would've felt too short to me, personally. With that time, you could see the glacier from the visitor's center and some of the stuff right near there, but probably not walk out to the falls or get any closer. Or, if you just skipped the visitor center you could probably walk to the falls and back. Getting transportation back to the ship wasn't an issue (it was a taxi when we went; now it seems like it's Lyft, though I think there might also be some bus).

One note: back when we went, there were no food/drinks whatsoever at the center, and even if you had your own food (we had some energy bars) you could only eat it standing in one little area in a corner of the visitor center. So, if you are going to be like us and go from a morning activity straight there around noon, realize you may be getting really hungry!

 

[2boysmommy]

Jayleen’s Alaska in Juneau for whale watching. Small vessels, knowledgeable boat captain, respectful of the wildlife. Fantastic all the way around.
Ketchikan Kayak Company for a great day on the water seeing wildlife from a different point of view. Very nice guides. Great experience.

 

[MousseauMob]

For Sitka, I highly recommend Capt. Paul Davis from gallantadventuresalaska.com. We've used him multiple times on multiple visits to Sitka. With him, we've seen Whales, Puffins, Sea Otters, Eagles, Sea Lions, Sea Caves and the beautiful Saint Lazaria Island.

 

[MousseauMob]

Hi all!
Does anyone have any excursion recommendations for Icy Strait Point? My kids (10&7) aren't heavy enough for the zipline and we already booked a whale watching tour in Juneau.

The Adventure Park has a ropes course, that has things for younger kids also. Details are at: https://icystraitpoint.com/tour/adventure_park/