Ketchikan

[Quagmire]

Any recommendations of what to do at this stop? Thanks.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

Any recommendations of what to do at this stop? Thanks.

That depends on your budget, interests and ages/abilities. If you provide more information I can make a few suggestions.

 

[dcassetta]

In Ketchikan, I would recommend a trip to Misty Fjords either by boat or seaplane. We also greatly enjoyed the Bering Sea crab fishing experience. I have not done this personally, but my BIL and his dad went halibut fishing and said it was a great day.

 

[Intr3pid]

The easiest thing to do is watch the lumberjack show in town. Most likely, it will rain, and you will want to be back on the ship soon.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

We’re looking at the lumberjack show and possibly adding the trolley tour that takes you by creek street as we will have an unvaccinated toddler and need to stick with DCL excursions

 

[lovingeire]

We've booked the Bering Sea Crab Fsherman's Tour direct through the company. Disney uses the same company. We booked direct though to save a little and they have a good cancellation policy.

 

[Geomom]

In 2016, we did Saxman native village and lumberjack show with Disney. Enjoyed both! The guide told us about various totem poles, we watched one being carved, saw a performance by the Cape Fox dancers, had a little time to shop there, then I think they dropped us off at port, but we had plenty of time before the lumberjack show, so we walked to Creek St and shopped/walked. Lumberjack show was kitschy, but fun, it was the Disney exclusive one, so it had a couple Disney touches/jokes.

 

[belle032]

DH & I were just there this past September. It was our last port and only port where it rained HARD the entire day! (Which it completely normal, so expect it!) It's supposed to be an awesome port for fishing, so DH had originally booked a fishing trip through a third party, however, it was cancelled due to weather. We absolutely would have done the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's tour, but it wasn't running due to the pandemic. If we get the chance to visit again we would definitely book!

We ended up just walking up to Creek Street (too cute!), seeing the salmon swim upstream, and shopping. It's very walkable-the lumberjack show is right there. If you're just doing the show, I would book directly through them to save a few dollars. In fact, every excursion we booked was third party and I wouldn't hesitate to do that again.

 

[Cheburashka]

We flew with Island Wings over the Misty Fjords. Great company. Plane is loud but that's typical for a vintage prop plane.

 

[anricat]

We went kayaking and had an amazing day. Our family of three were all able to be in one kayak and they took us right under the bow of the ship, which was super cool. My daughter was 8 at the time and loved it. We were on our tour with Southeast Sea Kayaks with one other family (4 of them) with kids around the same age. The mom was in a kayak with one kiddo and dad was in a kayak with another. We had two guides and they ended up splitting us up (one family with each guide) so it was basically like a private tour.

I have a trip report here on the DIS, this is the link directly to our day in Ketchikan: https://www.disboards.com/threads/w...-extra-fun-in-vancouver.3537617/post-56347098

 

[Keyser]

I'd just recommend - have a backup plan. We had planned a Misty Fjords visit, but arrived on an incredibly rainy day (a few inches), and many excursions (both Disney and independent) got cancelled. We just wandered to the visitor center and found someone giving tours, so we did that last-minute. Let's just say it was a little bizarre (but memorable...), and very very wet (nothing the tour guy could do about the rain, and we didn't have an accident or anything!). I think if we'd done some advance research to have some backup plans it would've been a whole lot better, though. Overall, we still enjoyed it, but just realize some excursions can get cancelled pretty easily.

 

[Cruising Engineer]

We did KE 31 Wilderness Exploration and Crab Fest. A nice long boat tour of the area, pull up a crab basket with crabs in it. Learned a lot about crab fishing. Saw eagles flying and nesting in the treetops. Returned to the dock and ate crab legs non-stop. The table with the tallest pile of empty crab leg shells won (applauds, applauds). Yes, it started off drizzle to rain, and by the time we docked it was pouring down. Coming from New Mexico, we have never seen so much rain and were excited to walk through it. Everyone else ran to the dining area.

 

[Colo17]

Floatplanes to Neets Bay hatchery leave from here. Great flight if weather is clear. We have also seen cases where planes went out in the morning and they had to retrieve guests by boat due to clouds and fog. Neets Bay usually has a bunch of bear hanging around it and the adjacent river. Sticker shock warning - last (and only) time we went it was $399pp.

 

[Lillebelle]

We did a floatplane over Misty Fjords and it was one of the highlights of the trip - so breathtaking. +1 to having a backup plan though (really for any excursion in Alaska). We also enjoyed walking around the town a bit.

 

[zmom]

We did the Wildlife Safari and Beach Bonfire for a more budget friendly excursion and really enjoyed it.

 

[KashasMom]

We've gone with Island Wings 3x - Misty Fjords, and to see bears (we did!) at Anan Creek and Traitors Cove. Great pilots/company - highly recommend!

 

[iheartglaciers]

I did a rainforest walk through WIld Wolf Tours (https://www.wildwolftours.com) and it was great! We were a small group (my family and one other) and was away from the crowds.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

didnt' do an excursion. spent a lot of time at the Soho Coho art gallery on Creek Street.

 

[bcwife76]

We did KE 31 Wilderness Exploration and Crab Fest. A nice long boat tour of the area, pull up a crab basket with crabs in it. Learned a lot about crab fishing. Saw eagles flying and nesting in the treetops. Returned to the dock and ate crab legs non-stop. The table with the tallest pile of empty crab leg shells won (applauds, applauds). Yes, it started off drizzle to rain, and by the time we docked it was pouring down. Coming from New Mexico, we have never seen so much rain and were excited to walk through it. Everyone else ran to the dining area.

We did that one in 2019 and loved it!! So much so that we are considering doing it again this July. In 2017, we did a jeep and canoe excursion, drive yourself in a convoy of jeeps which was fun but extremely bumpy. One of our kids ended up getting sick She was not up for the canoe part so she actually stayed behind at the lake side with another passenger who stayed behind (she was a nurse and very kindly looked out for our daughter, they ended up having a lovely time lake side ).

 

[miguelgar83]

My parents went fishing with a local who is a school teacher during the non-cruising season. It was great and she had lots of information to share about what regular life is like there.