Alaska Excursions--post your reviews here!

[Mickdeb]

Has anyone gone on the horseback riding excursion?

We did the horseback riding excursion in Skagway. We booked directly and saved around $30.00 per person. We did the afternoon ride and enjoyed it very much. The guides were great and we had a wonderful dinner when we returned, which we didn't expect. I thought we were only going to have snacks. But they served us, grilled salmon with dill, roasted garlic potatoes and caesar salad with rolls. Every thing was delicious! And I typically don't eat salmon.

 

[sassysocks]

Does anyone know if there is a gold panning area in Juneau that is close to the port?

 

[DCLGraces]

Has anyone done the Skagway alpine snow shoe and white pass rail adventure excursion? If so when did you cruise and how was it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[3Adevas]

I will start off by sharing that we are an adventurous family and have experienced each port on our own. Cruised on the Wonder 9/1/14 and I am happy to share info about our Alaskan excursions with my DH and 5 year old DS.

Skagway:
Rented a 4 door green Jeep from Alaska Green Jeeps Southeast Tours company and adventured from Skagway over the Klondike Highway into the Yukon! The rental process and the people at Alaska Green Jeeps were great. I arranged everything online including a booster car seat provided for free. Easy walk from the cruise terminal into Skagway to the rental office inside the popcorn store. They provided us a cooler with water and snacks for the day along with very friendly tour information, safety tips, and narrated CD to listen to on the drive. The guy who set us up in our jeep was so helpful and encouraged us to drive all the way up to Carcross and Emerald Lake without stops, which got us way ahead of all of the big tour busses going on organized tours for the day We were glad for the advice, it worked out perfect, and we had plenty of time to stop on the drive back and take in breathtaking views and get in tons of picture stops! At Carcross, we stopped at Carcross Desert then on to our next and most exciting adventure....Dog Cart Sledding at Caribou Crossing!! Booked everything online and expectations were exceeded here. We were the first of many travelers to arrive at the little village where we got to meet Michelle and her Iditarod racing dogs. They dogs were super excited and jumping and barking to be picked to drive our cart. We were carted through a nice scenic trail on a 30 min ride and Michelle shared so much information it was awesome to learn about the Iditarod and their training. After our dog cart ride we played with the husky puppies, gave them snacks and cuddled them, looked around the museum and headed to the BBQ lunch. By this time, the large tour buses had just started to arrive so we were perfect in our timing being the 1st family to enjoy the dog cart ride in the morning and eat a delicious BBQ chicken lunch before the crowds. After lunch, we headed on up the Klondike Hwy up to Emerald and Spirit Lakes- gorgeous and breathtaking is all I can say! Driving back to Skagway we turned off and took part of the drive on Dyea Road-nice scenic view to pull off where we saw our ship docked down below. Once we refueled and turned in our jeep in Skagway, we still had ample time to walk around some of the shops and walk back to the ship.

Juneau-
We took a free shuttle from cruise dock to where we grabbed a blue bus to Mendenhall Glacier. The bus driver was great told us about some local history on the way and gave us specific instructions on how to get back. We were dropped off right at the visitors center and walked the trail to Nugget Falls. Never seen anything like the Mendenhall Glacier area and loved having the freedom to take our time and explore the area at our own pace! Got on the blue bus back to downtown Juneau where we walked to Alaska Fish Company for a late lunch- great food and beer! The back porch of the place had a great view of our Disney Wonder at dock. Walked from lunch to Mount Roberts tramway and wandered around for a bit up top. The fog was rolling in and out so it was tricky weather wise but overall glad we experienced the tram ride and what views we did get to enjoy. We saw several bald eagles in Juneau. We ended up walking along the seawall from downtown back to the ship, it was a long walk but DS took a nap in his stroller along the way.

Ketchikan:
We walked a few blocks from ship dock to the Alaska Discovery Center grabbed a FREE shuttle white van to Walmart which was about 4 miles/10 min ride away. We grabbed a city bus at the Walmart stop and rode to Totem Bight State Park about 15 min away. At the totem park it was like we had the place to ourselves! We explored and learned about the totems and walked along the rocky water shore for a couple of hours and hopped on the city bus back to Walmart. The FREE shuttle white van from Walmart back to the cruise terminal area was less than a perfect situation----by this time of the afternoon all the cruise ship workers who had gone to get supplies at Walmart while in port for the day were piling up in line with loads of stuff and we had to wait thru 3 shuttles to get our family of 3 a seat on the shuttle. The shuttle was packed like sardines but it worked out ok and we got back in plenty of time to walk around town a little bit before heading back to the ship.

We had some very fun adventures on our own in Alaska and I am happy to share any advice or information if you have any ?'s or interest in our experience cruising with a 5 year old

 

[seelyt2]

In Juneau - has anyone done either the Dog Sled Summer Camp or the Sled Dog Discovery & Musher Camp? They both sound comparable in price ($154 vs. $149 pp) and experience (lap in a cart and cuddling). Just wondering if anyone could suggest one over the other as we will likely do one of these. Thanks in advance!

 

[seelyt2]

Skagway:
Rented a 4 door green Jeep from Alaska Green Jeeps Southeast Tours company and adventured from Skagway over the Klondike Highway into the Yukon! The rental process and the people at Alaska Green Jeeps were great. I arranged everything online including a booster car seat provided for free. Easy walk from the cruise terminal into Skagway to the rental office inside the popcorn store. They provided us a cooler with water and snacks for the day along with very friendly tour information, safety tips, and narrated CD to listen to on the drive. The guy who set us up in our jeep was so helpful and encouraged us to drive all the way up to Carcross and Emerald Lake without stops, which got us way ahead of all of the big tour busses going on organized tours for the day We were glad for the advice, it worked out perfect, and we had plenty of time to stop on the drive back and take in breathtaking views and get in tons of picture stops! At Carcross, we stopped at Carcross Desert then on to our next and most exciting adventure....Dog Cart Sledding at Caribou Crossing!! Booked everything online and expectations were exceeded here. We were the first of many travelers to arrive at the little village where we got to meet Michelle and her Iditarod racing dogs. They dogs were super excited and jumping and barking to be picked to drive our cart. We were carted through a nice scenic trail on a 30 min ride and Michelle shared so much information it was awesome to learn about the Iditarod and their training. After our dog cart ride we played with the husky puppies, gave them snacks and cuddled them, looked around the museum and headed to the BBQ lunch. By this time, the large tour buses had just started to arrive so we were perfect in our timing being the 1st family to enjoy the dog cart ride in the morning and eat a delicious BBQ chicken lunch before the crowds. After lunch, we headed on up the Klondike Hwy up to Emerald and Spirit Lakes- gorgeous and breathtaking is all I can say! Driving back to Skagway we turned off and took part of the drive on Dyea Road-nice scenic view to pull off where we saw our ship docked down below. Once we refueled and turned in our jeep in Skagway, we still had ample time to walk around some of the shops and walk back to the ship.

Hi Adevas: This sounds AMAZING! We're thinking of doing the Yukon Jeep Klondike Adventure which is very similar to this. Question for you...when you stopped at the Dog Cart Sledding at Caribou Crossing, did you make reservations in advance for that?

 

[3Adevas]

Hi Adevas: This sounds AMAZING! We're thinking of doing the Yukon Jeep Klondike Adventure which is very similar to this. Question for you...when you stopped at the Dog Cart Sledding at Caribou Crossing, did you make reservations in advance for that?

Hi there! Yes, Alaska was amazing and Skagway day and jeep rental + dog sleds was hands down our favorite day! We did reserve the Caribou Crossing 30 minute dog cart ride in advance online thru their website and easy breezy. Just something to keep in mind....there was a time zone change that we were not exactly planning for- time zone was different at Caribou Crossing I think I remember we were an hour behind Skagway- double check this aspect based on your travel dates. It ended up working out well for us anyway, as we beat all the big tour buses up and were actually earlier than our booked time and we were 1st visitors out on carts w/the dogs that day

 

[jtkboston]

In Juneau - has anyone done either the Dog Sled Summer Camp or the Sled Dog Discovery & Musher Camp? They both sound comparable in price ($154 vs. $149 pp) and experience (lap in a cart and cuddling). Just wondering if anyone could suggest one over the other as we will likely do one of these. Thanks in advance!

See my family's review of the Skagway Sled Dog and Musher's Camp, see trip report above (click the arrow next to "jtkboston said"):

We booked this direct with the excursion operator, Alaska Excursions. (Saved us $$ since DD #1 is 11 years old and Disney would charge us adult prices for her.) ...

 

[noahdove]

I am anxious to read other excursion reviews. Just last night I cleaned up my Alaska folder and now
I can add more info in the correct space

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Very interested in this thread

 

[grimgrinnin]

Skagway:
Rented a 4 door green Jeep from Alaska Green Jeeps Southeast Tours company and adventured from Skagway over the Klondike Highway into the Yukon! The rental process and the people at Alaska Green Jeeps were great. I arranged everything online including a booster car seat provided for free. Easy walk from the cruise terminal into Skagway to the rental office inside the popcorn store. They provided us a cooler with water and snacks for the day along with very friendly tour information, safety tips, and narrated CD to listen to on the drive. The guy who set us up in our jeep was so helpful and encouraged us to drive all the way up to Carcross and Emerald Lake without stops, which got us way ahead of all of the big tour busses going on organized tours for the day We were glad for the advice, it worked out perfect, and we had plenty of time to stop on the drive back and take in breathtaking views and get in tons of picture stops! At Carcross, we stopped at Carcross Desert then on to our next and most exciting adventure....Dog Cart Sledding at Caribou Crossing!! Booked everything online and expectations were exceeded here. We were the first of many travelers to arrive at the little village where we got to meet Michelle and her Iditarod racing dogs. They dogs were super excited and jumping and barking to be picked to drive our cart. We were carted through a nice scenic trail on a 30 min ride and Michelle shared so much information it was awesome to learn about the Iditarod and their training. After our dog cart ride we played with the husky puppies, gave them snacks and cuddled them, looked around the museum and headed to the BBQ lunch. By this time, the large tour buses had just started to arrive so we were perfect in our timing being the 1st family to enjoy the dog cart ride in the morning and eat a delicious BBQ chicken lunch before the crowds. After lunch, we headed on up the Klondike Hwy up to Emerald and Spirit Lakes- gorgeous and breathtaking is all I can say! Driving back to Skagway we turned off and took part of the drive on Dyea Road-nice scenic view to pull off where we saw our ship docked down below. Once we refueled and turned in our jeep in Skagway, we still had ample time to walk around some of the shops and walk back to the ship.

This sounds awesome - how long is the drive from Skagway to Carcross?

 

[3Adevas]

This sounds awesome - how long is the drive from Skagway to Carcross?

Mileage wise about 65 miles, drive time on the Klondike Highway with the fog and mist and border crossing was right at 2 hours.

 

[Jcal2021]

We have loved reading all of the advice and recommendations on this thread! We are booked on the 6/29/15 sailing and have so far booked the captain's choice whale watching tour with Rum Runners on advice we've seen here and on trip advisor. We'd like to plan a helicopter/dog sled excursion in Skagway and aren't sure if we should seek out an independent company or just wait until our booking window opens at the end of this month and book through Disney. We're the lowest Castaway Club tier (silver, I think) and aren't sure if it would still be available. Any thoughts from experienced Disney Alaska cruisers would be appreciated! We're a family of three who wants to make the most of our experience without going the "touristy" route to the extent possible.

 

[Disneybridewifemama]

I was wondering the same thing we are also on the july 13th 2015 cruise. Do you think thats too soon to see bears?

 

[RKKUNK]

We also did whale watching with Rum Runners. We loved it! We did the helicopter/glacier dog-sledding in Skagway. We booked it on our own. It was with the company that was right in the parking lot where the cruise ship docked.(Temesco?) It was a surprise for our son. We had done the bus/railway tour earlier in the morning, so our son thought that was all we were doing. We acted like we were just taking a walk to check out the helicopters that were taking off and landing and then we told him we were going on the helicopter to ride a dog sled on the glacier! He was so surprised and loved it so much! We all did! It was expensive, but we just chalked it up to a once in a life-time experience. Have a great time!!

 

[RKKUNK]

We had spent a lot of money on some great excursions before we got to Ketchikan, so we just did the Lumberjack Show and then rode a city bus out to Totem Bight State Park. We caught the bus right downtown and it was super cheap. I think we might have paid $5.00 round trip for the 3 of us. The park is really pretty! Right on the water. We also got to see some of Ketchikan we wouldn't have seen if we had just stayed in the area by the ship. It was also interesting to get the feel of the locals as I think we were the only "tourists" on the bus.

 

[loricfam]

Has anyone ever used Juneau Adventures for whale watching? We're cruising to Alaska this July. I thoroughly read these boards and called about 7 tour companies that were mentioned repeatedly with rave reviews to book a private whale watching for my family of 4, but every one of them was already completely booked with no openings! One of the tour companies suggested I call Juneau Adventures, which is a tour company I had not seen mentioned on these boards.

So, now I'm booked with Juneau Adventures for a private whale watching. I'm very glad I found him and quite excited. But, I'm a little concerned that there is no naturalist on board, so we're going to be missing the great narration and explanation about the whales. How was your experience? Was it on time? Fun? Informative? Comfortable boat? Friendly captain and deck hand? Did you see lots of whales? Other wild life? Was there any narration about the whales at all? Thanks for your help!

 

[Kimberly1]

Yea! Loving reading through this. We are cruising in August and it's time for us to decide what we want to do.

 

[saintstickets]

We did the helicopter/glacier dog-sledding in Skagway. We booked it on our own. It was with the company that was right in the parking lot where the cruise ship docked.(Temsco?)

This is the excursion DW and I want to do the most. When you try to book direct from Temsco, they tell you on their website that if you're on a cruise ship that you need to book through the cruise line. Is this something new or were you able to book direct anyway? TIA

 

[grimgrinnin]

This is the excursion DW and I want to do the most. When you try to book direct from Temsco, they tell you on their website that if you're on a cruise ship that you need to book through the cruise line. Is this something new or were you able to book direct anyway? TIA

You can book through a 3rd party like Alaska Icefield Expeditions. I saved about $175 for 2 people going through them.