Northern Aurora

Another DIY option in Ketchikan is the Tongass Historical Museum. This museum and the Totem Heritage Center are operated by the City of Ketchikan, and have small admission fees. The SE Alaska Discovery Center accepts a number of different park passes. Check their website for the list as you may have one, so would have free admission. While we also enjoy the George Inlet Lodge dungeness crab, we generally dine at Annabelle's Keg & Chowder House. Located right downtown in the old Gilmore Hotel.

Generally the hours for seating for breakfast in the MDR, Blu and Luminae end at 8 AM on disembarkation day. The stateroom attendants have very busy days and want folks to clear out of the staterooms at 8 AM. Depending on the disembarkation port disembarking passengers will need to leave the ship somewhere around 9:30 AM. The final call will be very clear.

And again -- many of the AMH stops are very brief. Friends boarded a AMH ferry on Saturday in Haines. While they will stop in Sitka for four hours many of the ferry stops are just long enough to offload and load before they are other way to the next stop.

The Celebrity Edge would also make the friend happy -- this ship is definitely not your grandparent's cruise ship. At least in 2024 it will be based out of Seattle so doesn't have the best itinerary, but will have naturalists on board, trivia, an excellent gym, spa and so forth.

To expand slightly on the Alaska Marine Highway -- in 2016 we flew to Kodiak for a few days before boarding the AMH ferry the Tustamena. We were on the "Trusty Tusty" for several days before reaching Unalaska/Dutch Harbor. Living in the interior of Alaska we rarely use the AMH system, but that trip put us on the AMH e-mail list. When we started to receive those e-mail updates we quickly realized how many times the ferry schedules are altered. Sometimes slightly altered, but other times significantly changed. Storms cause problems during the winter, but even during the summer months it was surprising how often the routes and times are changed. Folks would need to be extremely flexible in their plans to use the ferries.

@cruiseout2sea: You may receive more responses if you indicate what type of tours you are interested in doing. So many times during the years posters have responded with suggestions regarding flight seeing options or whale watching option only to be told that someone won't fly in small planes or ride in small boats.

I also think this post should be in the Cruise Critic Alaska Forum. But a quick comment from someone who lives in Alaska -- layers are the key. The outer layer needs to be waterproof -- not water resistant. For our OP, in September southeast Alaska can be quite rainy. Historically, May in SE Alaska is one of the drier months.

I have been in southeast Alaska in May, June, July, August, September and even in October (on business -- not on vacation). May tends to be a drier month but may not be as chilly as you anticipate. But be prepared for wind in Skagway. Skagway is located at the head of Taiya Inlet and the winds can just howl down the inlet.

While we book based on itinerary I suspect that for a great number of people the ship itself is the primary attraction. Last fall we spent 40 days on the Celebrity Edge as it was repositioned from the Mediterranean to Australia (yes -- we went through the Suez Canal). The ship itself is drop-dead gorgeous. Innovative theater and bars. Venues suitable to multiple uses including the moving Magic Carpet which makes tendering so easy. I suspect the E-class ships are designed for those who are drawn to a ship itself. It will be deployed to the Alaska market this coming summer.

Great news indeed!

We don't eat as much at meals as we did when younger, but still occasionally order a entree to share between the two of us in addition to each ordering an entree.

Given your wife's interests she may find the Liarsville tourist trap feeling annoying at best. Research the Klondike National Historical Park website, paying attention to the Skagway Unit. Through the years the NPS has acquired more and more of the old buildings, and a number are open to the public. The Jefferson Smith Parlor Museum is extremely unique. Given its size entry is limited. Try to obtain tickets. Another interesting building in Skagway is the Skagway Museum. The building dates from 1899. The interior of the building has changed significantly since I first saw it in 1983 or 1984. The other competing community with Skagway was Dyea. While I love the area only remnants of the townsite still exists. If you are in Juneau check the status of the Wickersham State Historic Site. While the Wickersham House Museum in Fairbanks is furnished with items which were essentially in Fairbanks (there are a few exceptions) during the time Judge Wickersham and his first wife Deborah owned the house, the Wickersham State Historic Site in Juneau is just the house. But it is an interesting house. The Alaska Division of Natural Resources manages the site, and through the years has struggled with a viable plan for operations.

Our OP hasn't posted itineraries, but the NCL option has two major negatives -- docking at Ward Cove in Ketchikan and the Seattle departure.

We have also overnighted in Kona, albeit a number of years ago. The tenders did run all night but not as frequently. A number of the crew will be off. Bars and restaurants near the tender pier will be busy that night.

Did you click on the "more details?" If so, what were the details?

Ideas in Ketchikan which would fit your target for excursion spending include the Tongass Historical Museum, Totem Heritage Center and the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center. There are small entrance fees to the Tongass Historical Museum ($6) and Totem Heritage Center ($6). The Southeast Alaska Discovery Center also has a small entrance fee but check their website as there are a number of park passes which they accept for free admission. Through the years the National Park Service has acquired a number of old buildings which are now operated as small museums. Check the website for the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park for opening times, ranger led walks and times for films in the visitor center. Capital Transit is the public bus system in Juneau. Their website will provide information for trips to Mendenhall Glacier. In addition to the Alaska State Museum the Sealaska Heritage Institute has a gift store which has museum quality items, and also a cultural gallery (small admission fee for the exhibit gallery of about $7).

Whale watching from a small vessel is no comparison to seeing a whale from a cruise ship. While we have done whale watching in Juneau our best whale watching excursion EVER was out of Icy Strait Point. We have also done whale watching in Iceland, Hawaii and Cabo, but nothing compared to ICP where we watched 12 or 13 whales bubble feeding for ninety minutes.

Don't let other posters lecture you on what is a "must see." There are no perfect itineraries, so select the one which most fits your individual interests. That being said, I much prefer Sitka over Ketchikan and NCL docks at Ward Cove in Ketchikan which is miles out of Ketchikan itself. Also pay attention to the times in port.

We were on the Eclipse for a B2B2B2B last spring. We were in two different staterooms. Both staterooms were in excellent condition but the color scheme was rather dated. Crew were happy and upbeat. We are scheduled to spend a month on the Eclipse later this year and have no concerns.

What happened to Alaska Auto Rental? Their website still lists Denali as an option.

We use the laundry service every three days or so when cruising. I doubt that your request to deliver the items to your stateroom so that you can hang them will be honored. The laundry crew process so much each day this would be very difficult for them. We have had great service from the laundry folks but travel with easy care items.

Good restaurants walkable from the Westmark include the Thai House, Soba (Moldovan cuisine but be aware that service can be slow), Jazz Bistro and Lavelle's Bistro (which is where we are going to night with friends). Salty's would be another possibility, but I personally find them very sandwich focused so don't like them for dinner. And yes, I would rent a car in Denali and drive to mile 30 on the single park road. Also consider the hiking trails around Mt. Vista. The NPS visitor center at the park entrance is also worth a visit.

Which Fairbanks hotel will you be at? The drive from Fairbanks to the Chena Hot Springs Resort takes 90 minutes to two hours. It seems to me that every summer there is some sort of road construction on the Chena Hot Springs road. The first 22 or so miles is through some strange and funky subdivisions, but at mile 23 you enter the massive Chena River Recreation Area. Great moose habitat area. The resort itself has decent food. Their massive greenhouses, which are heated with a system using their thermal hot springs, grows their own lettuces, herbs and tomatoes. They can keep the greenhouses warm until the outdoor temperatures reach about -60F. They offer a tour of their energy facility, and, of course, the Ice Museum is very popular. The Pioneer Park Salmon Bake is one of those restaurants which has a very hard time attracting locals. In my opinion, it is over priced for what it is.

We disembarked twice in Sydney in 2023 -- both times on Celebrity ships. The international airport is about a 30 minute drive from the Overseas Passenger Terminal. We have disembarked in Sydney several times and the line for taxis is always long (one time it took about an hour in line). Celebrity will have motor coach transfers to both the international and domestic airports, but since folks have to wait until the coach is about 3/4 full there will be a delay there too. I also think you will have a hard time with a 11AM flight. Book a later flight. We rarely fly the same day we leave a ship. In Sydney we take a Hawaiian Air direct flight to Honolulu where we stay for several days before flying home to Alaska. The international airport has a Rydges Hotel directly across from the terminal. We stay there overnight and pay for a late checkout. About 6 PM we check out and move to the airport. The HA ticket counter is preparing to open, so a short wait before we check our bags.

We hit Zenith in 2016. "Achieving" a cruise loyalty level was never some sort of goal for us --just happened. We never travel with the "pins" and we also haven't bothered with the Facebook "official" site.