I'm having a hard time picking excursions in Alaska.

[PrincessShmoo]

The gardens excursion is still listed because the Vancouver to San Diego cruise at the end of the Alaska season stops in Victoria. Alaskan cruises themselves do not stop in Victoria with DCL.

THAT's what I was trying to find. I was only looking in the Alaska cruises. Thanks.

 

[Imedley200]

We rented a car in Skagway and drove the Klondike Highway. That was our budget excursion (family of 4 adults) so we could splurge on something else.

 

[cruisehopeful]

I though I could book Butchart as a pre or post cruise thing. It is listed as an option when I look up Alaskan cruise excursions. If not, I'm sure it's cheaper to go on our own.


I think I'd be happy just wandering and exploring around the towns on our own.

You have to do on your own as it is in Victoria and the Alaska port is in Vancouver. You'll need to take buses on your own or purchase a tour package that does all the driving for you.

 

[RedSox68]

Ketchikan is a nice little town to do on your own. Annabelle's is a great place for lunch. We did hire a tour right off the boat there -- very cheap and took us outside of town and to Totem park.

Skagway -- the train excursion is amazing; the town is walkable and lovely and we did the Red Onion Saloon tour on our own.

Juneau we did whale watching, but that included lunch. Check on Cruise Critic for suggestions as many people on their book their own cheaper excursions. You could even rent a car and do some ports on your own!

 

[Ofinn]

We havent cruised to Alaska yet, but dont feel like you have to do expensive excursions to have a good time. We just returned from the Iceland/ Norway cruise, and didnt do any excursions. We rented a car, hiked, rode public busses. Im a runner so I ran through the cities. We did do one tour not booked through dcl. We had a fantastic time, and I dont feel like I missed anything. I think seeing Alaska would be amazing enough.

 

[Davistigers]

In Ketchikan, we did the greatest canoe excursion that I would highly recommend. My family of 4 loved it (me, DH, DS-14, DD-12). There were about 15-20 of us from DCL. We took a bus from the port to a lake (about a 20-minute drive I think). Then we broke up into smaller family groups, got our life vests on and a quick tutorial, and got into the canoes. We canoed around the lake for at least 30 minutes. It even started to drizzle very lightly and it was so beautiful and peaceful. Then we stopped at the guides' camp across the lake where they had a large tent canopy set up. They had hot clam chowder, biscuits, jam, hot cocoa and a few other snacks. They told us all about the area and the lake. Then we went with one of the guides on a very short-distance nature walk around the camp where he pointed out different plants that were unique to the region. we were at their camp for 60-90 minutes total. Then we canoed back across the lake to the starting point and bussed back to the ship. It was a great opportunity to get into nature and do something semi active with the family.

 

[Mrs Green]

In Ketchikan, we did the greatest canoe excursion that I would highly recommend. My family of 4 loved it (me, DH, DS-14, DD-12). There were about 15-20 of us from DCL. We took a bus from the port to a lake (about a 20-minute drive I think). Then we broke up into smaller family groups, got our life vests on and a quick tutorial, and got into the canoes. We canoed around the lake for at least 30 minutes. It even started to drizzle very lightly and it was so beautiful and peaceful. Then we stopped at the guides' camp across the lake where they had a large tent canopy set up. They had hot clam chowder, biscuits, jam, hot cocoa and a few other snacks. They told us all about the area and the lake. Then we went with one of the guides on a very short-distance nature walk around the camp where he pointed out different plants that were unique to the region. we were at their camp for 60-90 minutes total. Then we canoed back across the lake to the starting point and bussed back to the ship. It was a great opportunity to get into nature and do something semi active with the family.

That sounds so wonderful! We are traveling with our kids age 8 and 3, but I hope to do Alaska again when they are older so we can do some of those more active adventures!

 

[Melissa_E]

We weren't on DCL but Holland America, however, we had the same ports of call that you did.

Skagway- I rented a car in town and drove to Emerald Lake, this was far less expensive than buying tickets on the train, or taking an excursion. I want to say we paid about $130 for the car for the day. We did need to remember our passports off the ship, but it was easy! The drive was absolutely breathtaking, we stopped where we wanted, and I took lots of pictures. We stopped at Carcross and continued to Emerald Lake, then drove back to Skagway. We had plenty of time to look around the town.

Juneau- we splurged with a four hour whale watching ship with Juneau Adventures. It was just the 3 of us on the smaller boat. I loved that I didn't need to push anyone out of the way when a whale appeared and I wanted to take pictures. It was truly the highlight of the trip! We were dropped off at Mendenhall Glacier, had time to walk around, hike to Nugget Falls, then took a taxi back to the dock.

Ketchikan- We took the city bus to Totem Bight Park. It was $2.

 

[Mazz519]

Duck tour in Ketchikan about 45 bucks Mendenhall Glacier walking tour about 50 bucks... we didn't do anything through the ship... we went online and booked everything ourselves you will save a lot of money

 

[scrapperkimmydee]

Guess I got some garden planning to do!