Plan your own excursions? Alaska

[daisylee]

Has anyone planned their own free or very cheap excursions out of Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan or Juneau?
Is it easy to get around the villages if you don't book an excursion? Can you do the State Parks without a guide?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Mainsail Minnie]

Has anyone planned their own free or very cheap excursions out of Icy Strait Point, Ketchikan or Juneau?
Is it easy to get around the villages if you don't book an excursion? Can you do the State Parks without a guide?

Thanks in advance!!

In Juneau, there is Mendenhall Glacier. You can easily get to that on your own by taking the free 5-minute shuttle bus from the ship to the main tourist section of Juneau. Once you set foot off the bus in the tourist section, you will immediately see stands with people hawking round-trip bus transfers to Mendenhall. Just walk up and book one. It's that easy- no thinking required. The bus will take you to Mendenhall, & will continue looping between Mendenhall and the tourist area all day, so that you can explore Mendenhall park at your leisure, and then head back to the bus stop when you're ready to return to the tourist part of Juneau.

Once you're back, you might want to have lunch at Tracys King Crab Shack, which is awesome & will always have a well-deserved (but tolerable) line of people waiting. Impeccable fresh crab, and casual dining. I'm a Texan & to me it's reminiscent of a good barbecue joint.

Another attraction is the Mount Roberts Tramway. You pay at the base for the tram, which takes you up the mountain, where there are trails you can hike and amazing views. The tramway is right there at the tourist part of Juneau, where the shuttle bus drops off & close to Tracys King Crab Shack.

Juneau was the best port of our trip, & we explored it on our own. It was great.

 

[Ronneeaght]

Ketchikan is very easy to walk around without an excursion. Not necessarily cheap if you pop into all the shops, though

 

[disneylove69]

Alaska is very easy to do on your own. If you want to do excursions they are costly any which way you do it.

 

[i18mulan]

Walked around Ketchikan (it’s literally right outside the ship). Booked Inlet Lodge Crab Feast directly on their website. It was the BEST crab we’ve ever had! And unlimited! (If you’re into crabs). Pick up and drop off at the port is included in the price.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Walking around Ketichen is free and fun. In Juneau we rented a car and drove to Mendenhall and surrounding areas. About $100 for rental, nominal fee for the state park at Mendenhall and the price of gas. Family of 4, less than $150 for the day.

 

[daisylee]

Thank you!!! Those are the kind of suggestions/advice I was looking for!

Any other suggestions for Ketchikan or Icy Strait Point?

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

We've done 4 excursions in Alaska and booked them all on our own. I've never booked anything through Disney actually. So far, so good and we save money.

 

[Geomom]

Ketchikan--Great Alaskan Lumberjack show is right near the ship. Creek street is in walking distance--lots of shops and a former bordello--we just looked in the Alaskan shops there and took a bunch of pics of the area. There are a couple of totem places in Ketchikan (Totem Bight State Historic Park and Saxman Native Village)--if you're interested in that, you should look into how to get to them as neither is in walking distance. Ketchikan was the 1 port we did as a Disney excursion--Saxman Native Village and the lumberjack show and we enjoyed both.\

Juneau we did one of the 'glacier shuttles'. I paid for/booked it in advance through Juneautours, but it can just be done that day as the shuttle stop is right where the free disney shuttles drop you off at the start of town. In 2016 it was $30/person roundtrip for the shuttle and admission to Mendenhall. They had buses running every 1/2 hr.

 

[Conorama]

We rented a car in Juneau- and so we got to the Glacier before the crowds, which was great, came back to downtown to have awesome crab, then explored an incredible rainforest that the teenager working at the car rental hut (it's literally a little hut at the port) recommended to us. It was magical - even though it was raining- we didn't mind.

Worth it to rent the car for us- still way cheaper than any actual excursions.

We did a DCL excursion in Ketchikan and kind of wished we didn't after.