Seward, Alaska,shore excurtion advice please.

Hi, My sister and I are booked on the Mariner sailing out of Vancouver on 18 May and we have chosen the 14 night round trip option. We have a dilemma with the port of Seward and are hoping that we can get some good advice from previous Regent cruisers, its our first one.

Because Seward is an embarkation and disembarkation port for those on the 7 night option no day trips are listed on the Regent website. My sister and I would very much like to visit the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Centre in Girdwood and we have found out purely by chance (not through Regent) that this trip is offered to disembarking guests en route to Anchorage plus there will obviously be guests coming from Anchorage so maybe they do this trip en route both ways?. We have a price of roughly $500 dollars to do the trip on our own by taxi. I phoned Regent and asked them if they would be offering this trip or even if we could just tag along and then get the coach coming back from Anchorage later with the new passengers and they just won't give me any infomation at all about any trips that day. The lady on the phone told me to just go to destination services once onboard but that isn't really good enough because we really want to do this trip and if they say we can't do it through Regent it will probably be too late to orgonise this ourselves. Likewise though we will not be very impressed if Regent do decide to offer this trip and we have just paid $500 to do it on our own.

We have all our other trips sorted out now and we do like to have everything planned out in advance rather than just leaving it to chance.

What do other Regent cruisers think would be best to do?

Many Thanks

You can rent a car in Seward. It's about an hour away.

I used a private shuttle service to take us from the ship once and we stopped on the way and it was taking us to Anchorage.

Agree with renting a car. It is easy to get around and not many roads or traffic issues. This will also allow for a couple other stops. Avis is the dominant rental company there and normally has good rates.

I really wouldn't feel confident driving on the opposite side of the road to the UK where we live,plus my sister has a learning disability so I generally need to be keeping an eye on her. The main reason we want to go there is to guarantee some "wildlife sightings" of genuine animals of Alaska which is why my sister chose to go to Alaska.

Absolutely rent a car for the day. It's an easy drive from Seward; cannot get lost. It also allows you to stop at Exit Glacier, just above Seward - fascinating! I'd also visit the big lodge in Girdwood and take the tram to the top of the mountains - kids will be snow-boarding there even in July. In the small town of Girdwood is one of the best small bakeries in the U.S.

Hi Beauty. My husband and I will be on the cruise with you. On Regents website it states that there are two excursions available. When booking excursions I was unable to choose either excursion. I asked my travel agent to please book it for me. She was also unable and is working on this problem now. In past back-to-back bookings if there are at least four or five people they will provide an excursion. Usually they notify you once the cruise is underway. I'm assuming that will be the case again. I'm sure there will be quite a few of us. If I was you I would wait to book the $500 excursion. :D

We are on the cruise with you as well. The wildlife center is really awesome, though a bit further than I would want to drive to and from in a day. We have been there several times.

We are renting a car for the day but won't venture that far. Car rental is about $120. If I were you, given the challenges of driving on unfamiliar side of the road and the distance, I would either wait till on board and see what is on offer or just stay in Seward.

Alaska is very easy to book non cruise line excursions. Even in Seward.

A friend of mine worked for another cruise line and lived in Seward from May to September. I will check with her. Many of the excursion providers actually sub out for Regent and the other lines.

Thank you so much everyone for taking the time to share your advice and its lovely to know some of you are on the cruise. I had a look at the Regent site today and sure enough I found 3 tours available for Seward and one of them is absolutely perfect for us as not only does it visit The Conservation Centre but it goes up through the mountains, takes in a cable car ride and includes lunch. When I switch to my actual Regent account though still no tours are listed so I am hoping and assuming that they will offer the tour at a later date if there are enough people on board wanting to do it. I think I will just have to leave it at that for now as I had already phoned them on Monday about the tours from Seward and they just would not commit themselves to any tours from Seward.

Thanks

Crusin7 please let me know if you have any joy with your travel agent booking a tour

Hi Beauty. My travel agent tried again today and was told they will Not book the excursion. :confused: Why list them if you can't book?? We will wait until we set foot on that beautiful ship. I'm getting excited. Crisy

When I look on-line for excursions for Seward on May 25, I see nothing listed.

?

Oops-- scratch that!

It sounds as though you were able to find an excursion to suit your needs. Having been to the area several times, I think you will enjoy it! The Wildlife Conservation Center is time well spent. I'm guessing the cable car ride is at the Alyeska Resort - it can be quite cold at the top (even in summer) so be sure to take a jacket.

If you have the opportunity to mull about Girdwood, the Bake Shop is a must. They have the MOST incredible homemade soups and bread. We stayed in Girdwood a few years ago at a wonderful B & B ... loved the area.

For anyone renting a car from Seward, another glacier not to be missed is the Portage Glacier. There's an awesome Visitors Center and viewing area. Also, the tunnel to Whittier is a fun drive, but that must be timed ... the trains use the tunnel as well and traffic is not permitted at that time.

We're actually considering a return trip to Alaska on Regent in 2017.

Safe travels.

My TA talked to Regent and their suggestion was once on board to talk to Destination Services (same advise that you received). I will plan to do so as I don't want to be in the crew's way. Right now, happy to back your day trip ideas!

I have been to Seward several times and my favorite excursion prior to boarding the Regent southbound sailing is taking a Kenai Fjords Cruise. I saw more wildlife on that mini cruise than I saw on an entire week on Regent. We saw whales, otters, puffins, wild goats, sea lions, etc

Tallship: By any chance are you able to talk about the differences between cruising Kenai Fjords and cruising Tracy Arm? I ask because we love the Tracy tour and are doing it again. (Conditions permitting; I know that sometimes May isn't good.)

I'd like to do Kenai as well, but I've read numerous times that sea-sickness can be a real problem in those waters, much more than in, say, Tracy. If Kenai is significantly different from Tracy, I may give it a go-- if the conditions don't seem rough the day we're there. Otoh, if they're not all that different from each other, I'll play it safe and do a land tour of some sort.

Thank you.

I'm not tall ship, but have been on both. They are totally different. Tracy Arm is about glaciers calving and ice bergs. Kenai is about the wildlife. We are renting a car for the day in Seward as we want to explore more inland, but if I hadn't done the Kenai cruise before, definitely would do it.

Thanks, Rachel. If the weather gods cooperate, that is what we shall try to do.

Agree with Rachel. I saw minimal wildlife on Tracey Arm but saw the glacier up close, etc

The wildlife I saw on Kenai was spectacular

Great; thanks, tall ship. Hopefully the waters won't be rough the day we're in Seward.

Thanks for this helpful information. I had not thought about doing a day cruise when we disembark in Seward after our Regent cruise, but it sounds like it would a great opportunity to see more wildlife.

We are renting a car in Seward and overnighting in Anchorage before our flight home the next day, so this might be the best way to spend our time.

Specific to the port in Seward, it looks like we could easily walk from the ship (with our luggage) to the Hertz rental car office. Does that sound reasonable to those who have been before? If not, is there a better way to get from the ship to Hertz?

I'm hoping that we can pick up our car, visit the Alaska Sealife Center and then do an afternoon cruise excursion before driving to Anchorage.