Alaskan Excursions Questions

[GsR80]

I'm staring to plan which excursions I want to book for my upcoming Alaskan cruise, I've been watching videos, but am hoping to get some information from people who have done the following excursions we're considering.

Glacier Viewing

Curious about the difference between the Hubbard Glacier and regular explorer.


Skagway:

We're interested in the Yukon Expedition, but are a little concerned about it taking up the whole day. We'd like to have some time to explore the "village" a little, particularly with a visit to the Red Onion Saloon for...a quickie. I'm wondering even if we had time after if we'd be too worn out. Also, the video I watched of the tour seemed a little underwhelming. It seemed like it was a really a long time on a bus, with a few stops (I understand a directly booked tours might have a few more stops, but still a long time on the bus) to a staged tourist area in the Yukon for food and a small museum. The video I watch had a second stop that actually looked neat, but wasn't mentioned in the description on DCL. I'm wondering if the expedition is worth taking up all the entire day for people traveling to Alaska/Skagway for the first time?


Juneau:

Was interested in the Mendenhall Glacier, but it seemed underwhelming in the video and we don't really want to do the 2 mile hike down to get closer. We're also interested in the Tram ride, but it doesn't look that scenic in videos and I can't find any information about what the hikes are like at the top.

We were considering skipping Juneau because Icy Strait Point has a drum making excursion. We're leaning toward a Juneau itinerary instead because of sailing dates, but I'm interested if anyone has done the drum making? My husband and I are drummers and we're kind of bummed to be missing that.


Ketchikan

We're definitely planning on the Saxman Native Village, but I'm not sure what else we might do. The Rainforest Adventure seems cool, but maybe a bit rugged?

Also wondering if anyone has done any of the photography excursions. I'm a photographer and would love to get some great shots, but not sure it's worth it as I'm not really interested in the instruction.

We were really interested in doing Dog Sledding at some point but don't want to get on a helicopter. I watched videos of the camp, but I ended up just feeling bad for the dogs, so I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it.

We are trying to stay away from boating excursions since we want to enjoy the time we can being on land, but might be open to them. We are just two adults. And we're not interested in anything really athletic like kayaking or long hikes. Am wondering which experiences felt the most "Alaskan" to folks?

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[Mathmagicland]

Skagway:

We're interested in the Yukon Expedition, but are a little concerned about it taking up the whole day. We'd like to have some time to explore the "village" a little, particularly with a visit to the Red Onion Saloon for...a quickie. I'm wondering even if we had time after if we'd be too worn out. Also, the video I watched of the tour seemed a little underwhelming. It seemed like it was a really a long time on a bus, with a few stops (I understand a directly booked tours might have a few more stops, but still a long time on the bus) to a staged tourist area in the Yukon for food and a small museum. The video I watch had a second stop that actually looked neat, but wasn't mentioned in the description on DCL. I'm wondering if the expedition is worth taking up all the entire day for people traveling to Alaska/Skagway for the first time?

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.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I was on a Royal cruise (one way, the best way to get to see Denali too!) through Skagway and we did Chilkoot as well. I don't know your port times, but if there was a 2 hour later departure as well, it makes sense that the ship would be in port at least 2 hours more than your end time, and 2 hours is a good amount of time to explore the town. Get a doughboy, then pop in a few shops, and then if you needed a drink, that would be just enough time. Chilkoot dropped us off in town instead of taking us all the way to the ship, so we had a nice stroll back to the ship. (I was bummed that we weren't at the railroad dock, but they came and picked us up in their van and took us to the train and we luckily had the last car with some great views out the back!)

We did the Royal tour of the Saxman totem area and it didn't take long at all, MAYBE like 2 hours. We actually booked the lumberjack show tickets on our own for the afternoon show with about 2 hour buffer at the end to walk back to the ship (we were in town, not Ward Cove). Nothing in Ketchikan WOWed me with the options, so these were the best things for us to do.

Mendenhall is neat, both times I was in Juneau we did a combo tour with whale watching and transport to the glacier with Juneau Whale Watch which worked out well. The "hike" is more like.....a stroll along a well worn path. The only problem with that was the distance, as the scheduled shuttles back to town were either enough time to basically RUN there and back, or wait a longer time to go back to town. It was neat for us to just go to the closer overlook and see it from afar. Jayleen's Alaska and Harv and Marv's whale watching always get good reviews as well.

If you do Icy Strait Point, try to time it so that you can take the bus into town and go to the Fisherman's Daughter for the salmon tacos! WOW! The whale watching was great in ISP, though I didn't feel like the boats "kept their distance" like the ones do who stress in other places that they won't interfere with the wildlife.

I don't know about the different explorers, but I always say that my 6 hour tours out of Seward to see all the glaciers in the Kenai Fjords National Park beat any 2 hour tour that is way more expensive from the ship (I know that there aren't any options on DCL for one way sadly). I went on 2 cruises to Hubbard Glacier and one, it was sunny and we were SO FAR AWAY (like 6 miles) but then the other it was gloomy, cloudy, and rainy, and we were probably less than 2 (we looked SO CLOSE) where the tiny boat probably got within a half of a mile, so the money spent was way more for the small difference in closeness the second time. Maybe you can take another land trip to Alaska and get more of those glaciers!

 

[Geomom]

I don't believe any of the currently listed cruises visit Hubbard Glacier, they do the Stikine Icecap instead (Tracy or Endicott Arm depending upon the conditions). Hubbard Glacier is further North than current cruises go. When we went in August 2016, first year for the explorer boats, I didn't feel it was worth the extra $, we didn't book it. That time of year the Wonder got close enough to the glacier for us. I think if you're going early in the season, you'd get a lot closer on the smaller boat though due to the amount of icebergs and seal pups.

In 2016, we did Chilkoot Charters Yukon bus and rail in Skagway. At that point you had the option to add the dog cart ride ahead of time for the Caribou Crossing stop, which we did. Those dogs were so excited to pull the carts, they'd bark for a chance to go, and they had mister fans for them there and a wading pool halfway thru the run for the dogs--so I think some of the summer dog camps are fine, but maybe not all. They seemed happy at that location. We did bus first and then rail, which was right for us, we were tired after all the stops, and it was foggy in the morning and partly cleared up by afternoon when we returned by rail, so we could see more on the way back. Chilkoot times the stops so you're not there with the bigger buses (other than Caribou Crossing which is a big destination with lunch, museum, dogs, etc). We had a great tour guide as well! After the tour, We had just enough time to stop at the Klondike national park. My kids had filled out the junior ranger booklets from home (found online on park website), and they got their badges. We were trying to get back for 6pm dinner vs the later all aboard time.

 

[tidefan]

In Skagway, I recommend tntours98.com. It's a husband and wife team that run mini-bus excursions up to the Yukon (or just up to the border). We've used them twice and both times have been some of our favorite excursions ever. When you stop in the Yukon, you can even ride on rolling sleds that they use to train the Iditarod dogs in the Summer.

 

[jimmymc]

The Glacier Explorer vs Hubbard Glacier Explorer are the same type of excursion, just at different locations. IMO the Hubbard Glacier is better, but they're both cool to see.

Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier is worth seeing. The best view is only a 10 minute walk from the visitor center, while the longer hike goes to the base of the waterfall. The tram ride can easily be booked as a walk up, so you can decide later if you want to do it.

Ketchikan: The dog sledding camp is kind of sad. Juneau has a much better one, but the actual sled ride is short.

Both Juneau and Icy Strait have excellent whale watching. I would especially recommend it in Icy Strait, because the port there doesn't have a lot to do aside from excursions. I'm not sure if you'd be able to fit in both this and drum making.

 

[GsR80]

I don't believe any of the currently listed cruises visit Hubbard Glacier, they do the Stikine Icecap instead (Tracy or Endicott Arm depending upon the conditions). Hubbard Glacier is further North than current cruises go. When we went in August 2016, first year for the explorer boats, I didn't feel it was worth the extra $, we didn't book it. That time of year the Wonder got close enough to the glacier for us. I think if you're going early in the season, you'd get a lot closer on the smaller boat though due to the amount of icebergs and seal pups.

In 2016, we did Chilkoot Charters Yukon bus and rail in Skagway. At that point you had the option to add the dog cart ride ahead of time for the Caribou Crossing stop, which we did. Those dogs were so excited to pull the carts, they'd bark for a chance to go, and they had mister fans for them there and a wading pool halfway thru the run for the dogs--so I think some of the summer dog camps are fine, but maybe not all. They seemed happy at that location. We did bus first and then rail, which was right for us, we were tired after all the stops, and it was foggy in the morning and partly cleared up by afternoon when we returned by rail, so we could see more on the way back. Chilkoot times the stops so you're not there with the bigger buses (other than Caribou Crossing which is a big destination with lunch, museum, dogs, etc). We had a great tour guide as well! After the tour, We had just enough time to stop at the Klondike national park. My kids had filled out the junior ranger booklets from home (found online on park website), and they got their badges. We were trying to get back for 6pm dinner vs the later all aboard time.

I was originally looking at May 2026 cruises and it was just the regular Glacier explorers, but the July 2026 cruise we decided on has the Hubbard as well as the usual explorer (and an adult one). The interesting thing is that Hubbard explorer is actually shorter than the other one (2 hrs vs 3 hrs).

 

[Lumpy1106]

Ketchikan is a great place to NOT do an excursion. It's a real town with real shops and restaurants, plus an easy walk up the fish ladder to the hatchery.

Juneau - we have friends that live there and they took us to the Mendenhall glacier. You are right - it's not much to see unless you hike all the way out the face of the glacier, and the cruise tours really don't give you enough time to do that. It was pretty comical watching the cruise passengers practically jogging out to the glacier while we walked out there with our kids in tow, taking our time. We did the sled dog training facility on Douglas Island when we took our cruise years later. That was fun. We got to play with the puppies and got to ride in the dry-land trainer pulled by dogs.

Skagway - meh. It was built yesterday to resemble what could have been there long ago and literally closes down the day after the cruise ships stop coming for the season. You are not missing much if your excursion keeps you away all day. That said, the train seemed REALLY overpriced! We did not do that either.

 

[Calantha]

Also wondering if anyone has done any of the photography excursions.

We did this tour: https://www.stepintoalaska.com/excursions/whale-watching-mendenhall-glacier-photo-safari/ through Disney. They wouldn't let us book it independently.

It was one of my favorite things on our trip. The glacier/park walk allowed lots of opportunities for photography and the whale watching was amazing. I've attached some of the pics I took on the tour below. It was a mix of people with some really fancy cameras, a decent camera (me), and just iPhones. There weren't a ton of tips on how to take pictures, but they did their best to make sure we got the opportunities.