Alaska Excursions with Senior Citizens

[leannak]

Hi! I'm looking for recommendations for Port Adventures to do with a couple of grandmothers. They can handle walking fine, but I don't think a crazy-long or challenging hike would be good because I don't want to tire them out. (Unless something is a definite must-see for them.)

There will be a variety of ages - as young as 5. Our goals are to make sure everyone is entertained, educated, enjoying the sites and the food. Nobody in the group is wildly adventurous - we won't have anyone asking to go rappelling off a glacier. We'd all like to stick together.

Our ports are the standard 7-day ports:

Dawes Glacier
Skagway
Juneau
Ketchikan

Thanks for any help you can give!

 

[AZMermaid]

This was 7 years ago, but we did the train in Skagway, whale watching (booked independently) in Juneau and a crab boat/dinner one in Ketchikan. All three were good for our party aged 1-70. My FIL isn’t the most nimble and had slight trouble getting on/off the whale watching boat, but nothing an extra arm didn’t help.

 

[stsomewhere]

In 2011, we booked a private tour through Juneau Limo https://juneaulimousineservices.com/ They picked us up at the ship. We got a city tour, panning for gold, scenic photo stop, animal sightings, Menenhall glacier, etc. It was great. Our kids thought they were rock stars.

 

[daedelus]

We did the train trip in Skagway - that was amazing. Beautiful country up there. We did the lumberjack show, I can't recall which port that was. Also fun. We tried to do whale watching, but there was so much fog they cancelled the trip. For that I'd recommend an afternoon time slot, the fog usually burns off by noon. We also toured the salmon hatchery in Juneau, surprisingly good. The kids really enjoyed that.

Bring plenty of extra memory cards for your camera - we took almost 1000 photos on our Alaska cruise. We saw so many bald eagles, we actually stopped taking photos of them! I will recommend a telephoto or zoom lens if you don't already have one. Whale and orca spotting off deck 10 on Wonder is a time-honored tradition. Some great photos to be had if you're patient!

Cheers!

 

[vegs1]

We did whale watching with Harv and Marv with my parents. They loved it. In Skagway, we did the train which they really enjoyed.

They chose to just enjoy the port in Ketchikan. Alaska is amazing. And ditto to the above poster who said to take extra memory cards. It’s just so beautiful!

 

[MomOTwins]

Mendenhall Glacier was not a ton of walking and we enjoyed it. Seconding all the suggestions for whale watching.

 

[ajo]

Like others, we did the train in Skagway and the Lumberjack show in Ketchican. In Juneau, we went to Mendenhall Glacier. We had a group of 15 with ages 3-72. Everyone had a great time.

 

[AZMermaid]

We did whale watching with Harv and Marv with my parents. They loved it. In Skagway, we did the train which they really enjoyed.

They chose to just enjoy the port in Ketchikan. Alaska is amazing. And ditto to the above poster who said to take extra memory cards. It’s just so beautiful!

Yes Harv and Marv! That’s who we use too, it was great!

 

[leannak]

Thanks, everyone! Great recommendations. I'm excited to go!!

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

On Dawes Glacier Day we took the small boat excursion out closer to the Glacier. We loved this. We got so close to the calving ice. It was amazing. Not to mention the baby seal we saw on a ice chunk as it floated by. This is completely do able without much walking. You can stay inside the covered boat at all time, or go outside. There is a small set of stairs to get to the top deck, but its not require to head out there. You will have to walk on a small gangplank to get on the smaller boat, but this was easy to do.

We did the Helicopter to a glacier and walk about on Skagway. There was minimal walking on the glacier. In fact if you didn't want to walk at all you could just stay in once place. You do need to be able to stand for the entire time you are on the glacier (about an hour). They give you special shoes to wear so the ice never felt slippery or unsafe at all.

In Juneau we did the Flight Plane to Taku Glacier Lodge. This requires almost no walking. It was great. You took a flight tour over some of the most amazing scenery and landed on the water at Taku Glacier Lodge. You have a short walk on a trail up to the lodge where an amazing lunch in provided (I even saw on our tours both vegetarians and vegans accommodated). For those who'd like to walk around a bit there are some short trails to wander, but for those who just want to enjoy the scenery you can stay in the lodge or sit out on the porch area and enjoy the views. The mosquitos were so intense that we eventually ended up inside the lodge to get away from the pests. We would still do it again in a heart beat.

All 3 of these Port Adventures were amazing and once in a life time worth doing options. We loved both.

In Ketchikan we did an intense hike through the rainforest. I wouldn't recommend this for anyone with any mobility or stamina concerns.

You can check out pictures and descriptions of all of these adventures here. http://frequentlyaskeddisneyblog.com/disney-cruise-alaska-part-23/