Worst excursion EVER- Ketchikan, Alaska

[misseulalie]

Worst excursion EVER!!!!

In Ketchikan, we did the Annette Island Cultural Celebration. It is supposed to be a Disney exclusive. It was just awful. I complained to the shore excursion manager and he gave back 25% of our cost. $225 was way too much for this. Don't go!!!! We have done 14 DCL excursions and I have never had a bad excursion. DCL said they were going to send in an undercover cast member to check it out.

Here is the description and I will write in red what actually happened:

•Upon arrival at Annette Island, your Native guide will give you an intimate and rare glimpse of a working village as you discover the heritage of the Tsimshian people. It is not a "village", it is reservation land. It looks like any small town in the U.S. But, it is run down, condemned buildings, old junk cars on lawns and bars on the windows.

•Search the village with your native guide for various totem poles, standing throughout the community where they were originally raised. We drove past 2 totem poles that we could barely see out of the van window. One was in the middle of a school playground

•One of the many ways native people teach their children about the lives and language of their ancestors is through song, dance and drums beat in loud rhythm. Learn northwest coast art and traditions, and construct your own drum. In the longhouse, the entire family is invited to dance and drum with the native dancers in the cultural traditions. The art activity took way too long and everyone was sitting around checking their cell phones. It is a basic coloring on fabric with regular Crayola markers (that bleed on fabric). Really bad.•Ceremonial dress is worn for naming and adoption ceremonies, potlatches, totem pole raisings, memorials and other special occasions. In the longhouse, discover the significance of each clan's regalia, masks, hats and unique crests used in a potlatch (celebration) ceremony. There was not one mention of the clothes or what they represent. In fact, most of the "villagers" who were dancing wore street clothes under their costumes. Some didn't even bother putting on costumes/ceremonial dress.
•Keep the spirit of native culture alive and learn to speak Smalgyax (Sha MALL ee yah) the language of the Tsimshian people. The few words you take home from Alaska will help preserve the tradition.
•Browse the Artist's Village and visit with artisans as they create unique native crafts. They dropped us in front of the gift shop in an old warehouse and left us there for 15 minutes. No artisans to watch and the shop was filled with touristy crap.

 

[for my family]

Yah, it looked crappy based on the description. I'm surprised you booked it. We took a float plane trip through SeaWind Aviation when we were in Ketchikan. It was great!

 

[twindaddy]

Yah, it looked crappy based on the description. I'm surprised you booked it. We took a float plane trip through SeaWind Aviation when we were in Ketchikan. It was great!

Come on dude, that is harsh. It looks touristy but something kids might enjoy / do once but not again. It does NOT look like the OP described and I would be livid if I paid that much for it.

That is one of my vacation nightmares, because my wife would be all over me because I am the planner. That is why I need something to have many many good reviews before I plunk down my money!

To the OP, sorry that happened. I would contact corporate, maybe they will give you a future cruise credit or something.

 

[Racer X]

Come on dude, that is harsh. It looks touristy but something kids might enjoy / do once but not again. It does NOT look like the OP described and I would be livid if I paid that much for it.

Agreed - no need to rub to rub their nose in it!

 

[plutosbuddie]

I would definitely call corporate. List exactly what you told us! Maybe disney can give you a credit or a refund. I wouldn't let it go, not only to help yourself but future cruisers as well. Maybe disney will toss that excursion so other people won't have to go through it..

~I'm really sorry to hear you had such a bad time!!~

 

[plutosbuddie]

Yah, it looked crappy based on the description. I'm surprised you booked it. We took a float plane trip through SeaWind Aviation when we were in Ketchikan. It was great!

Really was this necessary?! ~rude~

 

[bats]

The OP already got a 25% refund so has already been compensated for the bad time.

 

[Purplejewel]

In my opinion, Disney should do better than a 25% refund especially since it is an excursion they endorsed and it was quite expensive and practically nothing like the description.

 

[for my family]

Agreed - no need to rub to rub their nose in it!

Sorry, not trying to be rude, just my 2¢ that the descriptction of the excursion looks like a real yawner. I guess not all Disney excursions are winners. And the price for that is more than a floatplane trip.

 

[misseulalie]

I booked it because I needed a non-active excursion with my younger daughter while my husband and older daughter went ziplining. This was also scheduled approximately the same time as ziplining, so we thought it was a good choice. I may contact corporate- not for the money, just so nobody else has to go through it.

 

[Dug720]

Just one comment... It looked like "reservation land" because it IS reservation land. Disney did not create it for your enjoyment a la something in a theme park. This is where the native people live.

Yes, the rest sounds like it could be improved, but as for it being a happy little Disney village, nope.

 

[jetskigrl]

Worst excursion EVER!!!!

In Ketchikan, we did the Annette Island Cultural Celebration. It is supposed to be a Disney exclusive. It was just awful. I complained to the shore excursion manager and he gave back 25% of our cost. $225 was way too much for this. Don't go!!!! We have done 14 DCL excursions and I have never had a bad excursion. DCL said they were going to send in an undercover cast member to check it out.

Here is the description and I will write in red what actually happened:

•Upon arrival at Annette Island, your Native guide will give you an intimate and rare glimpse of a working village as you discover the heritage of the Tsimshian people. It is not a "village", it is reservation land. It looks like any small town in the U.S. But, it is run down, condemned buildings, old junk cars on lawns and bars on the windows.

•Search the village with your native guide for various totem poles, standing throughout the community where they were originally raised. We drove past 2 totem poles that we could barely see out of the van window. One was in the middle of a school playground

•One of the many ways native people teach their children about the lives and language of their ancestors is through song, dance and drums beat in loud rhythm. Learn northwest coast art and traditions, and construct your own drum. In the longhouse, the entire family is invited to dance and drum with the native dancers in the cultural traditions. The art activity took way too long and everyone was sitting around checking their cell phones. It is a basic coloring on fabric with regular Crayola markers (that bleed on fabric). Really bad.•Ceremonial dress is worn for naming and adoption ceremonies, potlatches, totem pole raisings, memorials and other special occasions. In the longhouse, discover the significance of each clan's regalia, masks, hats and unique crests used in a potlatch (celebration) ceremony. There was not one mention of the clothes or what they represent. In fact, most of the "villagers" who were dancing wore street clothes under their costumes. Some didn't even bother putting on costumes/ceremonial dress.
•Keep the spirit of native culture alive and learn to speak Smalgyax (Sha MALL ee yah) the language of the Tsimshian people. The few words you take home from Alaska will help preserve the tradition.
•Browse the Artist's Village and visit with artisans as they create unique native crafts. They dropped us in front of the gift shop in an old warehouse and left us there for 15 minutes. No artisans to watch and the shop was filled with touristy crap.

Wow...I'm sorry to hear that (and thank you for lettings others know so that they don't book it). The descriptions are very misleading and I not sure if I would be satisfied with just a 25% refund.

How did the others on the excursion react to it? It may have given more weight if the entire group went together to guest services to complain. But if they do follow through on sending a CM to experience it, then I guess they are taking it seriously.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Just one comment... It looked like "reservation land" because it IS reservation land. Disney did not create it for your enjoyment a la something in a theme park. This is where the native people live.

Yes, the rest sounds like it could be improved, but as for it being a happy little Disney village, nope.

I agree. It's not a Disney made up excursion. I looked it up, and NCL and Carnival both go there. I'm thinking it's their attempt to bring income into the village. But it certainly sounds like not a lot of effort is put into the presentation. Maybe it was a bad day, and the better performers were on their day off?

If they did as the description says, it probably would be a worthwhile trip.

 

[misseulalie]

Just one comment... It looked like "reservation land" because it IS reservation land. Disney did not create it for your enjoyment a la something in a theme park. This is where the native people live.

Yes, the rest sounds like it could be improved, but as for it being a happy little Disney village, nope.

Go back and read my original post. I didn't say it "looked" like reservation land. It is a reservation. I grew up in Minnesota surrounded by reservations.

My point is that the description was so far off of what is actually was. It isn't a "working village", it's just a town that happens to be on a reservation. Somebody mentioned that they are volunteers. So if they are volunteers, why are they charging $225 a person? I told guest services the excursion shouldn't be more that $75 a person- enough to cover the boat ride to the island.

Not sure if other people complained. Everyone looked extremely bored and most people spent most the time on playing on their phones.

Now.... The Eagle Reserve Adventure in Skagway and the Mendenhall Glacier Canoe trip in Juneau were awesome and would highly recommend them.

 

[susianew]

Just off the June 23rd sailing, and I have to say, Ketchikan was a let down in general. There were multiple things I wanted to do and couldn't schedule in Juneau and Skagway, but nothing appealed to me in Ketchikan. I have kids that are too young for the active stuff, so we ended up doing the duck boat tour. It was well done, and there was the whole novelty of driving a bus into the water, but it's just a little town, too early for the salmon, and it was hard to fill 90 minutes. I really wish we could have had 2 days in Juneau

 

[twindaddy]

This thread is just another example of how the Dis has become pretty hostile lately.

The woman was giving crayola markers and a plain t-shirt....as part of a cultural excursion. She could have gone to open house in the kids club for that.

But she is demanding too much, or wants everything to be Disney like.

No, she just wants what she paid for.

OP, remember in the future many people will search based on the excursion title, make sure you mention that a few times. At this point that might be the best you can do, just warning others.

 

[bumbershoot]

Just off the June 23rd sailing, and I have to say, Ketchikan was a let down in general.

That's how I felt back in 2003. We were off the ship for an hour. All the excursions were out of town or were of a sort that didn't interest is (the lumberjack show). After the hour looking around we went back to the ship.



That description vs reality makes it hard to enjoy what it was. If the description were less cute, it would be easier to take at face value.

 

[deanimal]

It sounds like a real let down. Someone at Disney did not do their research!

I'm always a bit surprised when people don't like Ketchikan. I've been twice and enjoyed the town. I've never done an excursion in Ketchikan, but if you walk about 15-20 minutes, past the usual boring shops lining the area where the ship docks, you get to the historic area with a wooden boardwalk winding it's way up a creek and interesting shops in historic buildings on either side. You can spot salmon migrating upstream from the bridges where the pathway crosses the water and read plaques with information about life in the historic part of Ketchikan during the gold rush days. Both times I went I was surprised when my tablemates had spent the day in Ketchikan without ever discovering this neat historic area. You don't need to spend a cent and it's way more interesting than Juneau in my opinion.

 

[kapoof]

This makes me glad we don't do excursions.

 

[disneylove69]

I was on Holland a few weeks ago which offered the same tour with a different name but pretty much the same description. It was new for Holland so no reviews to go by. Their onboard travel professional said the last group loved it. I signed up at $169. Day before the tour I got a note it was cancelled due to not enough people signed up. Glad they did. Had a much better time just walking around the area.