Alaska Port Adventures

[katiec786]

Hello!

My fiance and I have just booked a 7 night Alaskan cruise next May for our honeymoon. Neither of us have ever cruised before, and Alaska has always been such a bucket list location I am already so excited I could vomit. Also given that the wedding planning is 90% complete now I'm very glad to have something else I can plan

We are setting up a Honeymoon Contributions pot on our registry that will exclusively be put towards things like Port Adventures, a meal (or two) at Palo, and any fun outings for the few days we're having in Vancouver post cruise, so I'm starting to make a shortlist of Adventures so we can budget accordingly. I really love the thought of sending out a wedding thank you card that gets to include the phrase "Thank you so much for your gift, we used it to meet the Sled Dog Team I've been dreaming about since I saw 'Balto' when I was a kid".

That being said, I would really value any advice on which excursions are truly worth the $$$, and which port you would skip an adventure and just explore. For reference we're both relatively active people and don't mind a good walk, but I have a chronic pain issue which can make that difficult if it chose to rear its ugly head on the day, so I'd rather not book something that requires a hike.

Our cruise stops are Glacier Viewing, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. I would say one of the priorities is getting to see some whales (I grew up in Australia and never got bored of seeing humpbacks, but if I saw an orca in the wild I think I would immediately happy cry), and we most likely want to do the train in Skagway.

Initial questions:
- Is the Glacier Explorer truly worth the money? Its the most expensive excursion on our shortlist and I am very curious about what you actually experience.
- In Skagway whats the real difference between All Aboard Steam Train ($299pp) and White Pass Scenic Railway ($159pp). Is it just the steam train pulling you? Looks like its the same route and you're in a vintage rail car no matter what
- At what point do timings of excursions get released, is it just when your booking window opens?
- I think we'd probably do whale watching in Juneau as it seems to have the best options, but if you have a third party that you'd recommend in Juneau (or any of our stops) I'm happy to listen!

Thanks all!

 

[Calantha]

Our cruise stops are Glacier Viewing, Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan

We did the photo Safari and glacier hike in Juneau. We weren’t able to book that directly with the company. We saw a lot of whales, it was amazing.

In Ketchikan, we booked the deadliest catch boat excursion separate from Disney, although you can book through Disney, but direct is cheaper. And we got to see them feed the Eagles and learned all about Alaskan fishing.

We didn’t do the glacier Explorer, so I can’t comment on that. It was not available when I tried to book. It fills up very fast.

 

[Mathmagicland]

we most likely want to do the train in Skagway.

I can help with some Skagway comments. We did the Yukon Bus and Rail excursion with Chilkoot Charters on our first visit to Skagway and I’d highly recommend it!

https://chilkootcharters.com/

We did the 07:30 departure with the train first, which I feel is the best option to choose. Chilkoot gets the last car on the train, where there is a small outdoor platform out the back, so you can get some great pictures of both looking back to the harbor with the ship as well looking forward as the engine and train going around some curves, and everything in between. The lunch stop also had some sled dog puppies to pet snd play with. I think it was possible to add on a cart ride with sled dogs pulling, part of their summer training, but we didn’t do that so I may not be remembering correctly.

By taking the train first, we were about 15 minutes ahead of the bus-only tours or bus first tours to the lunch stop, which was nice. We also did two or three photo stops on the way to lunch that the bigger busses don’t make. We skipped the Welcome to the Yukon sign because there was a huge tour bus with about 100 guests already there, and hit it on the way back when there was no one there…a Chilkoot advantage with their smaller busses that hold maybe 16-18 people and aren’t full.

After the lunch stop we continued north to another little Yukon town, where we were the only group there, and we had about an hour to walk around,

On the way back to Skagway we had a couple more stops, including the welcome to Alaska sign, and a stop at a pull out on the other side of the road timed to catch the train on one of its afternoon return journeys in the canyon below which made for more great pics,

When we got back to Skagway, around 3pm, we had the option of being dropped in the center of town or at the port. Most of us got off at the center of town, which was the north end of the business district. Since the Skagway stop is usually 12 hours, we had over three hours to walk the mile back to the ship and to explore the town visiting shops, restaurants, the NPS Office, museums, etc. Skagway is small so this was plenty of time to see what we wanted in town and the walk was nice.

We felt this tour was great as it included so many things with a small group, and we still had sufficient time to explore Skagway so we felt we didn’t miss out on seeing the town. If you did the later 0930 start option with bus first and train second, you’d get back to town too late for casual wandering and nothing much is open in town before 09:30 so you’d miss seeing the town.

Enjoy Alaska - it is an amazing place!

 

[Disnsyncey]

Love Chilkoot too! And the last car on the train?? AMAZING

 

[woody64]

In Juneau we did Harv & Marv's whale watch in the morning. We saw many humpbacks and 1 orca. It was very cool and they were great. We then did a little shopping downtown and then hiked to the waterfall at Mendenhall glacier on our own. We took a cab but it can only take you so far and then you have to walk into the entrance to the park. They then met us when we called to be picked up. Picture below is from our whale watch.



We did the Sled Dog Adventure and Pan for Gold with Klondike Tours in the morning in Skagway. It was a fun trip. We then had plenty time to grab lunch at the brewery and walk around downtown.

In Ketchikan we had booked a kayak tour with Southeast Sea Kayaks but it cancelled due to weather. We had a good time walking around and decided to take in the lumberjack show. It surprised us and was very entertaining. We had some great pizza at Fat Stan's right downtown.

Congrats and enjoy the cruise.

 

[jimmymc]

- Is the Glacier Explorer truly worth the money? Its the most expensive excursion on our shortlist and I am very curious about what you actually experience.
In May specifically, I think yes. Ice in the early part of the year often means the ship can't get a great view, but the explorer gets you much closer.

- In Skagway whats the real difference between All Aboard Steam Train ($299pp) and White Pass Scenic Railway ($159pp). Is it just the steam train pulling you? Looks like its the same route and you're in a vintage rail car no matter what
I haven't done the steam train, but that looks like the case.

- I think we'd probably do whale watching in Juneau as it seems to have the best options, but if you have a third party that you'd recommend in Juneau (or any of our stops) I'm happy to listen!
I can personally recommend Alaska Whales & Rainforest Trails in Juneau. You get a nice view of the Mendenhall Glacier and short hike, followed by whale watching on a much smaller boat with great views from every direction.

If you wanted to just explore a port, Ketchikan is the best for this. There are plenty of places to eat and shop. If you wanted to do a short tour, the Alaskan Rainforest Sanctuary has some great wildlife viewing opportunities. This should still leave you with time to explore town.

In Skagway, you can also rent a car and follow a similar route the train does. The advantage of a car is that you can stop wherever you want and explore or even do a short hike.

 

[cruisehopeful]

The White Pass Railroad prices vary a lot. You do pay a lot more for the stream engine. Fwiw, you can book directly through White Pass Railroad and save a little. When I did that, I was in the exact same train car as the people who booked through DCL and I had the exact same experience.

 

[ironz]

- Is the Glacier Explorer truly worth the money? Its the most expensive excursion on our shortlist and I am very curious about what you actually experience.
In May specifically, I think yes. Ice in the early part of the year often means the ship can't get a great view, but the explorer gets you much closer.

I just want to caution that this is not  always the case-- in May 2022, there was quite a bit of ice on the way to Dawes Glacier and the excursion boat did not get very close, making several passengers quite angry. We didn't take the excursion that year, but took it in 2017 and got fairly close. My thoughts are in my cruise trip report from 2017 in the trip report section.

The short version of my opinion is that, if the ship isn't held up by ice, you may see the Glacier well enough from the ship. If there is a lot of ice, you may not have the ideal view either way. Mother Nature will decide!

Have fun!

 

[Disnsyncey]

I also want to encourage you to get to Alaska on NOT a cruise, or at least do a one way to have some land time. I did two one way southbound trips from Seward, and our 6 hour glacier tour which was $100-200 less than the 2 hour glacier explorer from the cruise line was WAY more impressive than the same experience for such a short amount of time from a cruise ship. I agree that the May time has a lot of variables on the distance the full ship can get. Our Kenai Fjords tour from Seward got about 1/2 mile away from the glacier (it is so massive I thought we were within 1/4 of a mile, it is HARD to have correct estimates of distance haha) and the Glacier explorer for our ship the following day got about 1/2 mile away as well. The whole ship, because of the ice in the water, did not get close and I can believe that we barely got within 6 miles of it. The next year, same distance from the glacier in Kenai (1/2 mile), but for the cruise ship glacier explorer day, the weather was overcast and we were VERY lucky to get the full ship within probably 2-3 miles away, which seemed SO CLOSE. There wasn't much ice in the water strangely enough the second time (obv to allow us closer). The explorer got about 1/2 mile away again.

I think paying to get close to the glacier is worth it, but it just makes me sad when its SO MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE than other trips from ports in Alaska for a longer time.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I just want to caution that this is not  always the case-- in May 2022, there was quite a bit of ice on the way to Dawes Glacier and the excursion boat did not get very close, making several passengers quite angry. We didn't take the excursion that year, but took it in 2017 and got fairly close. My thoughts are in my cruise trip report from 2017 in the trip report section.

The short version of my opinion is that, if the ship isn't held up by ice, you may see the Glacier well enough from the ship. If there is a lot of ice, you may not have the ideal view either way. Mother Nature will decide!

Have fun!

oooo yes, my first time to hubbard in May was 2022, that was when the ship was SO FAR......compared to same week 2023, about 2-3 miles.

But the glacier explorer got 1/2 mile each time for our sailing (we didn't go, obv, as we spent our glacier money on the 6 hour tour haha)

 

[jimmymc]

I just want to caution that this is not  always the case-- in May 2022, there was quite a bit of ice on the way to Dawes Glacier and the excursion boat did not get very close, making several passengers quite angry. We didn't take the excursion that year, but took it in 2017 and got fairly close. My thoughts are in my cruise trip report from 2017 in the trip report section.

The short version of my opinion is that, if the ship isn't held up by ice, you may see the Glacier well enough from the ship. If there is a lot of ice, you may not have the ideal view either way. Mother Nature will decide!

Have fun!

Good to know. Mother nature always has final say in a lot of Alaska excursions.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

I just want to caution that this is not  always the case-- in May 2022, there was quite a bit of ice on the way to Dawes Glacier and the excursion boat did not get very close, making several passengers quite angry. We didn't take the excursion that year, but took it in 2017 and got fairly close. My thoughts are in my cruise trip report from 2017 in the trip report section.

The short version of my opinion is that, if the ship isn't held up by ice, you may see the Glacier well enough from the ship. If there is a lot of ice, you may not have the ideal view either way. Mother Nature will decide!

Have fun!

We might have been on that cruise in May of 2022. The excursion boats at Dawes Glacier only got a few hundred yards closer than the Wonder did. Everyone up on Deck 10 kept commenting that the pilot kept trying to reach to tour boats that were in front of us. One of the pictures I took from up on Deck 10 and you can see one of the excursion boats in front of us.

Psy

 

[ironz]

We might have been on that cruise in May of 2022. The excursion boats at Dawes Glacier only got a few hundred yards closer than the Wonder did. Everyone up on Deck 10 kept commenting that the pilot kept trying to reach to tour boats that were in front of us. One of the pictures I took from up on Deck 10 and you can see one of the excursion boats in front of us.

Psy
View attachment 967155

Yep-- first Alaska DCL of 2022. It was spectacular, but different from 2017. Photo is 2017 on the top, 2022 on the bottom. Both in May.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Glacier explorer excursion is worth it!