Alaska Excursion Questions

[StuckInOhio]

Hi All,

I'm going to Alaska for the first time a year from now (Aug. 2024). I would love to hear suggestions for Sitka (7.5 hrs), Skagway (10 hrs), Juno (7 hrs), and Victoria (5 hrs) excursions. There will be four of us, kids are 19 and 16.  I could see doing one excursion that was $150-200 per person with the others being less expensive.  I really think we'd like to go to Mendenhall in Juno. There has been posts about limiting the trips there and I don't want to be rushed with some of the combo packages being offered.  Any help is appreciated.

[KJones]

My suggestions:

• Skagway: White Pass Yukon Train
• Juneau: We rented a car and toured the town on our own

[Ryan79]

Skagway: White Pass Yukon Train with the VIP car

Juneau: Helicopter onto a glacier for a hike

Sitka: Wildlife Adventure with Fin Island

Victoria: Buchart Gardens,

Those are my favorites regardless of price. 

[OCSC Mike]

17 minutes ago, Ryan79 said:

Juneau: Helicopter onto a glacier for a hike

We did this elsewhere but highly recommend it wherever. Wife also went ice climbing on the glacier.

Helicopter onto a mountain glacier for dog sledding was also pretty amazing. We did that in Skagway after our original dog sledding excursion during our pre-cruise land portion was cancelled due to bad weather.

Obviously these aren't cheap excursions but Alaska is the one place I was not and would not be frugal. That's what the Caribbean is for.

[Cactus527]

When my spouse and I visited Sitka, we did not have an excursion or a plan. We ended up walking around the port area, exploring the town, climbing the hill, and eventually found a hiking path through a forest with a lot of totem poles. It was fabulous. I highly recommend just wandering around the port area. I remember the walk by the waterfront had a whole bunch of different sea creature statues, which were fun to pose with.

[martinez78717]

@OCSC Mike and @Ryan79 where did you book these excursions outside of RCCL? What company did you use?

Booked a trip in May 2024 and the Cruise Planner's selections are very limited, only two are sold out, it looks like all the excursions are just not loaded yet.

Thank you!

[OCSC Mike]

https://www.alaskacollection.com/

This company helped my wife plan our entire 10 days on land (over the course of a year)... from trains to hotels/lodges (some of which they own) to excursions.

That's not really going to help you though, sorry.

Some other excursions my wife just found via research or recommendations. She put a ton of time into our trip given how special it was.

I'd suggest checking out the forums at another popular cruise site, check TripAdvisor, and maybe ask about specific ports/activities here.

You may even get more helpful responses than mine from what you just asked.

We actually did less in the cruise ports than we could have because we did so much on land. Off the top of my head, we went kayaking in Ketchikan with https://ketchikankayakco.com/ and dog sledding in Skagway straight through Royal because it was a last minute replacement (I don't recall the company they used).

[wordell1]

I went to the same ports as you this year on Ovation.  It may be helpful for you to read the live blog I wrote here.  

 

 

[Ryan79]

@martinez78717 mine were booked with RC and another cruise line directly. I’ve been to Alaska multiple times. Your excursions will populate in a couple of months. I just got back from Alaska with RC and the majority of excursions didn’t populate until about early November 2022. Of all my cruises, Alaska was the longest for excursions to show up. One even showed up 15 days before we sailed. I’m sure it has to do with the way their contracts are with the 3rd party tour companies. 

[StuckInOhio]

@wordell1 Thanks for the great live blog! Your pictures are amazing.

[Stephanie]

In my opinion, a whale watching excursion with Harv & Marv's Outback Alaska https://www.harvandmarvs-juneau-whale-watching.com/ in Juneau is an absolute MUST. It was by far the highlight of our trip. We rented a private boat and had Captain Liz. It is a bit pricey, but I promise you, it is worth every penny.  Captain Liz was phenomenal! So passionate & knowledgeable about the whales - she was taking pictures right along side of us, even though she does these yearround - she literally follows the whales to Hawaii & does Hawaiian whale watching tours in the winter months. The private tour was so much nicer than one booked thru the cruise b/c our group of 6 were the only ones on the boat, which meant we weren't fighting with strangers to get a better view. (We actually saw another tour on the water that had probably 50 people on the boat and that's exactly what they were doing - no thanks!)

The highlights from our tour popped up on my Facebook feed just yesterday & I sat and watched & re-watched the videos.