Alaska-ketchiken

[catherine412]

Hi, all. We are looking at doing Alaska through DCL in 2026. I have a question though. So obviously, through DCL, it's a round trip cruise so they take you back to Vancouver airport when the cruise is done after 7 days. Am I nuts if I have my family take a flight from Vancouver airport back to ketchiken Alaska and stay in ketchiken for one night after the cruise is over? I realize that it's like working backwards but for us, we probably won't be back to Alaska again and that being the case, I want to make sure we get to do everything that we want to do.
For the other ports we have all picked out one excursion to do together as a family and each stop has enough time for the activity picked and to explore the port afterwards.
For ketchiken, we are totally tied between two port excursions and we would really love to be able to do them both. However, Disney is only in ketchiken for like 6.5 hours which isn't enough time to do both activities that we want to do, only one or the other. We really have our hearts set on both of them.
My partner is willing to put a smile on and work backwards after the cruise line takes us back to Vancouver airport to then stay one night in ketchiken to be able to do both but I'm worried that the extra flight may make him tired or a bit crabby. We would be traveling with one young child who has flown before and is typically great with flights/well behaved. Is this a stupid idea? If we are not coming back again I just hate coming back with FOMO when you really had your heart set on certain activities? Thanks

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Hi, all. We are looking at doing Alaska through DCL in 2026. I have a question though. So obviously, through DCL, it's a round trip cruise so they take you back to Vancouver airport when the cruise is done after 7 days. Am I nuts if I have my family take a flight from Vancouver airport back to ketchiken Alaska and stay in ketchiken for one night after the cruise is over? I realize that it's like working backwards but for us, we probably won't be back to Alaska again and that being the case, I want to make sure we get to do everything that we want to do.
For the other ports we have all picked out one excursion to do together as a family and each stop has enough time for the activity picked and to explore the port afterwards.
For ketchiken, we are totally tied between two port excursions and we would really love to be able to do them both. However, Disney is only in ketchiken for like 6.5 hours which isn't enough time to do both activities that we want to do, only one or the other. We really have our hearts set on both of them.
My partner is willing to put a smile on and work backwards after the cruise line takes us back to Vancouver airport to then stay one night in ketchiken to be able to do both but I'm worried that the extra flight may make him tired or a bit crabby. We would be traveling with one young child who has flown before and is typically great with flights/well behaved. Is this a stupid idea? If we are not coming back again I just hate coming back with FOMO when you really had your heart set on certain activities? Thanks

Really, only you can decide how to manage your vacation. If you have no issue flying back for one day to do it - go for it

I'll just point out that many people who have said "I'm only doing Alaska once" (and I'm one of them) have returned multiple times after visiting.

Also, be aware that you'll be traveling through immigration/customs check points multiple times during that 2 day "vacation".

 

[thegreatdonaldo]

Is it possible to look for another cruise line that stays in Ketchikan longer? It would certainly be less expensive than a DCL cruise and an additional RT flight.

 

[msmama]

What are the excursions? Are they really Ketchikan dependent? If you share maybe we could help find a suitable alternative elsewhere.

I'm a firm believer in if you're traveling somewhere, you might as well travel somewhere else, too, so I'm all for adding to trips, though I, personally, would go somewhere I haven't been before (so maybe fly to a different Alaska city that could have the same adventures you're looking for).