Favorite excursions in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway?

[Anonymous]

Juneau - Helicopter to Mendenhall. If you’ve ever considered a helicopter or a big splurge, this was worth it to me.

Skagway - we rented a car and drove up to Emerald lake and back, stopping along the way. Easy drive. Similar route as the train and busses go but being able to make our own stops was really nice. My kids favorite stop was to see the sled dogs. We went to the smaller, less touristy facility, not the huge lodge.

[Anonymous]

We did a week on land and a week on the cruise. We found that we could book similar experiences much cheaper during our land portion.

For example, we did the helicopter to the glacier for dog sledding through Seaveys/Alpine Air in Girdwood for around $575 a person, compared to the $700+ it was in Juneau. (Also note it was cheaper to book through Seaveys vs Alpine Air for the exact same trip). Highly recommend a dog sled experience, absolutely worth the money!

Also, we did the 6 hour Kenai Fjord boat trip out of Seward for under $200/person. Major Marine will have a big Black Friday sale to get discounted tickets. This tour allowed us to see up close: so much wildlife! Lots of whales, orcas, porpoises, sea mammals etc. we even saw a group of 8 or so whales bubble feeding. You also cruise very very close to a sea water glacier, can have the ice margaritas etc.

[Anonymous]

PP, sorry accidentally hit the submit button!

So that Seward cruise gets you right up to a glacier and to see a ton of wildlife at a much cheaper price compared to the cruise.

In Juneau we rented a car to explore at our own pace, went to Mendenhall, a local brewery, hiking on Douglas Island. A great day.

Ketchikan we did a fishing and wildlife dining excursion which I read about on here. Such a fun day! And we are not normally fishers. It is run by Baranof Fishing, compare prices with your ship cs booking directly through them.

Skagway we rented a car and drove to emerald lake, stopping a few times. It was fine, beautiful scenery but boring for my kid. if I ever go back to Skagway I would do something more adventurous.

[Anonymous]

Our favorite excursion was a small boat that took us right up the glacier at Icy Strait Point. One of the most spectacular things I've seen.

Also went on an excursion to see otters. A long boat ride through beautiful places but we saw 3 otters. Very underwhelming and duplicative of the first excursion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Juneau, we rented a car with Turo and drove to Mendenhall Glacier and went to the salmon hatchery. It was much cheaper for us to rent a car for the day than take a taxi or do a planned excursion, and the driving is super easy.

In Ketchikan, we did the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour. It was awesome and SO much fun for the kids.

Our cruise ship also went to Icy Strait Point, and we went on a small whale watching boat, which was incredible. Definitely plan to go whale watching at one of your stops.

We did a Disney excursion that went to these two places in Juneau, along with the Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure. Our kids loved that day. So much fun walking a short trail at Mendenhall, exploring the small "beaches" just off the trail, etc. The hatchery is interesting, and the rainforest (isn't really an "adventure," but it took us through a cool forest and we saw a ton of bald eagles, etc.

We really liked Juneau.

I don't understand all of the folks on cruises who want to get on another boat for a whale watching tour. We saw whales from our ship.

We saw whales from our cruise ship but all from a distance and we were up high b/c cruise ships are tall. On our small whale watching boat, the whales literally swam up to and around the boat. Like, I could nearly have touched the whale if I reached my hand over. We were also able to quickly move to different locations when a pod of orcas was spotted a little ways away. And, we drove past so many adorable sea otters that you would barely have been able to see from the cruise ship. Much different experience than just staying on the cruise ship.

We had a similar experience. We saw nearly 90 whales on our whale watching excursion out of Juneau. It spoiled us for life. More recently, we went whale watching in New England. We saw about 25 whales and were like ho-hum, lol.

Our dog-loving kid really enjoyed musher summer camp in Skagway and throwing axes on their birthday after the lumberjack show in Ketchikan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Juneau, we rented a car with Turo and drove to Mendenhall Glacier and went to the salmon hatchery. It was much cheaper for us to rent a car for the day than take a taxi or do a planned excursion, and the driving is super easy.

In Ketchikan, we did the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman’s Tour. It was awesome and SO much fun for the kids.

Our cruise ship also went to Icy Strait Point, and we went on a small whale watching boat, which was incredible. Definitely plan to go whale watching at one of your stops.

We did a Disney excursion that went to these two places in Juneau, along with the Glacier Gardens Rainforest Adventure. Our kids loved that day. So much fun walking a short trail at Mendenhall, exploring the small "beaches" just off the trail, etc. The hatchery is interesting, and the rainforest (isn't really an "adventure," but it took us through a cool forest and we saw a ton of bald eagles, etc.

We really liked Juneau.

I don't understand all of the folks on cruises who want to get on another boat for a whale watching tour. We saw whales from our ship.

We saw whales from our cruise ship but all from a distance and we were up high b/c cruise ships are tall. On our small whale watching boat, the whales literally swam up to and around the boat. Like, I could nearly have touched the whale if I reached my hand over. We were also able to quickly move to different locations when a pod of orcas was spotted a little ways away. And, we drove past so many adorable sea otters that you would barely have been able to see from the cruise ship. Much different experience than just staying on the cruise ship.

We had a similar experience. We saw nearly 90 whales on our whale watching excursion out of Juneau. It spoiled us for life. More recently, we went whale watching in New England. We saw about 25 whales and were like ho-hum, lol.

Our dog-loving kid really enjoyed musher summer camp in Skagway and throwing axes on their birthday after the lumberjack show in Ketchikan.

Saw a ton of whales in Juneau and Cape Cod- off Provincetown to be exact. Both were great trips, but Juneau probably wins since you have snow capped mountains in the background.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks! I am so excited as I’ve wanted to do this trip for years.
Any advice on the land portion which will follow the cruise for us? We are doing it in our own versus through the cruise line.

[Anonymous]

Great ideas fron previous posters! We were with grandparents, so our excursions weren't as exciting. The highlight was supposed to be the helicopter ride in Juneau - but it was cancelled because of fog. Which apparently happens ALOT.

[Anonymous]

Ketchikan:
I booked a private walking tour in Ketchikan with Wild Wolf Tours that was outstanding. They picked us up in a van and drove us away from the crowds. We walked through a rain forest and then down on the beach. We were lucky enough to be there at low tide, so we spotted sea stars, tiny Dungeness crab, moon jellies, and an anemone. Our guide Jamie was excellent and provided lots of information about life in Ketchikan, history, and natural science. Then we went to Potlatch Park to see totem poles. I almost never buy souvenirs but I did buy a tiny totem pole at the gift shop.

The 10 year old LOVED the Lumberjack Show! His grandfather said the best show on the cruise was watching the 10 year old enjoy it. It was too cheesy for the 13 year old and some of the adults.

Skagway:
In Skagway, some of us did the two-hour version of the White Pass Railway, where you don’t get off the train. The scenery is very nice. Most people love this excursion; I thought it was fine, but I’m spoiled and have traveled quite a bit in Alaska, so it was a tad boring to me. The train does turn around so that everyone gets to view both sides, but I recommend sitting on the left if you can.

Some of us did the trolley tour and thought it was fine but not amazing. A big hit, however, was the Klondike Doughboy in town, which serves delicious fry bread.

In the afternoon, we booked a tour with Ocean Raft, which everyone LOVED. I would describe this as mostly a thrill boat road with a side of wildlife seeing. You don orange onesies that keep you warm and dry (and make for cute photos!). The boat is a large inflatable with great maneuverability and speed. The captain did lots of donuts and other fun things that made it a fun ride, plus we saw about 10 bald eagles and two groups of seals. The scenery in Lynn Canal (which is a fjord, not a canal) was just beautiful. This was by far my favorite excursion in Skagway. Do be aware that the “seats” are kind of like saddles that you straddle. I would not recommend this tour for anyone with mobility issues or back/neck issues. Two of the grandparents opted not to go on this tour, which was a good idea; they might have struggled even to board the boat.

Juneau:
In Juneau, we went to the Alaska State Museum right as it opened and had it almost to ourselves. This is a new-ish and very well done museum which covers a lot of Alaska history, including much about Alaska Natives. I highly recommend it. It’s about 1 mile from the cruise terminal; we walked it easily.

Then we went on a private whale watching tour with Harv and Marv. We had an amazing day on the water! Some of our group have done a lot of whale tours and they were still impressed with our sightings. Our captain and naturalist identified most of the whales on sight. We saw lots of flukes and some feeding behaviors. We think we saw a mom and calf but they were a little too far in the distance. We were able to see a lot of the other whales much closer. The boat was very comfortable, and our captain and naturalist were excellent. It’s amazing that they can identify the individual whales on sight! We also saw seals and an otter.

[Anonymous]

In Juneau, we did an excursion that went to Mendenhall glacier, salmon hatchery and a salmon bake. All were amazing but the salmon bake was delish.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g31020-d330401-Reviews-Gold_Creek_Salmon_Bake-Juneau_Alaska.html

[Anonymous]

We had the most amazing whale watching excursion with Jayleen’s in Juneau. We splurged and paid for a private tour. Highly recommend!

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately our whale watching excursion was a dud. Expensive and we only saw a handful, and from far away. It was fun being on a small boat w only about 8 people but hardly any whales!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ketchikan:
I booked a private walking tour in Ketchikan with Wild Wolf Tours that was outstanding. They picked us up in a van and drove us away from the crowds. We walked through a rain forest and then down on the beach. We were lucky enough to be there at low tide, so we spotted sea stars, tiny Dungeness crab, moon jellies, and an anemone. Our guide Jamie was excellent and provided lots of information about life in Ketchikan, history, and natural science. Then we went to Potlatch Park to see totem poles. I almost never buy souvenirs but I did buy a tiny totem pole at the gift shop.

The 10 year old LOVED the Lumberjack Show! His grandfather said the best show on the cruise was watching the 10 year old enjoy it. It was too cheesy for the 13 year old and some of the adults.

Skagway:
In Skagway, some of us did the two-hour version of the White Pass Railway, where you don’t get off the train. The scenery is very nice. Most people love this excursion; I thought it was fine, but I’m spoiled and have traveled quite a bit in Alaska, so it was a tad boring to me. The train does turn around so that everyone gets to view both sides, but I recommend sitting on the left if you can.

Some of us did the trolley tour and thought it was fine but not amazing. A big hit, however, was the Klondike Doughboy in town, which serves delicious fry bread.

In the afternoon, we booked a tour with Ocean Raft, which everyone LOVED. I would describe this as mostly a thrill boat road with a side of wildlife seeing. You don orange onesies that keep you warm and dry (and make for cute photos!). The boat is a large inflatable with great maneuverability and speed. The captain did lots of donuts and other fun things that made it a fun ride, plus we saw about 10 bald eagles and two groups of seals. The scenery in Lynn Canal (which is a fjord, not a canal) was just beautiful. This was by far my favorite excursion in Skagway. Do be aware that the “seats” are kind of like saddles that you straddle. I would not recommend this tour for anyone with mobility issues or back/neck issues. Two of the grandparents opted not to go on this tour, which was a good idea; they might have struggled even to board the boat.

Juneau:
In Juneau, we went to the Alaska State Museum right as it opened and had it almost to ourselves. This is a new-ish and very well done museum which covers a lot of Alaska history, including much about Alaska Natives. I highly recommend it. It’s about 1 mile from the cruise terminal; we walked it easily.

Then we went on a private whale watching tour with Harv and Marv. We had an amazing day on the water! Some of our group have done a lot of whale tours and they were still impressed with our sightings. Our captain and naturalist identified most of the whales on sight. We saw lots of flukes and some feeding behaviors. We think we saw a mom and calf but they were a little too far in the distance. We were able to see a lot of the other whales much closer. The boat was very comfortable, and our captain and naturalist were excellent. It’s amazing that they can identify the individual whales on sight! We also saw seals and an otter.

Thanks for ALL the responses especially this super detailed one!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Juneau - Helicopter to Mendenhall. If you’ve ever considered a helicopter or a big splurge, this was worth it to me.

Skagway - we rented a car and drove up to Emerald lake and back, stopping along the way. Easy drive. Similar route as the train and busses go but being able to make our own stops was really nice. My kids favorite stop was to see the sled dogs. We went to the smaller, less touristy facility, not the huge lodge.

Do you remember the name of the smaller dog place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately our whale watching excursion was a dud. Expensive and we only saw a handful, and from far away. It was fun being on a small boat w only about 8 people but hardly any whales!

It’s so hit or miss. I did it at 2 different ports - one we saw a ton but it was a large somewhat crowded boat. The next time we were on a boat with maybe 15 people right down in the water but we only saw a couple in the far off distance. Best whale I even saw was from the ship itself, full breach several times while approaching glacier bay - incredible.