Alaska Ruby Princess. April 2. planning and overwhelmed on excursions...suggestions??

I am sailing on the Ruby Princess on April 28..and the excursion options are overwhelming me! Our thoughts and wants are:

Juneau Mendenhall Glacier and dog sledding???? I was wondering if the helicopter to the Glacier with the dog sledding that I really want to do is crazy at $ 529 per person.. ( Coastal Helicopter) or should I rent a car and go to Mendenhall Glacier on my own and try and find another dog sledding option..

Skagway.. I love the idea of Klondike Summit and Sea Bicycle tour,,Van up and the bike down..but i am a little concerned with weather and how much traffic there is on the road... I am a very experienced biker and that sounds like a good fit for both my husband and I .

The Red Onion Saloon sounds fun...I think we will also do the Ghosts, Good Time Girls tour.

Ketchikan.. Misty Fiords Float Plane...I booked my cruise through Costco and they offer ten percent off so I can do this excursion for $ 230 each...definitely sounds good to me..we are only in Kechikan 7 am to 1 pm.

Victoria BC... Hopefully I will find a nighttime food tour since we are there from 7 pm to 12 pm.

I am most confused about Juneau...I would appreciate any suggestions thanks

We're doing the same cruise but in August. In Juneau, I picked the Coastal Helicopter excursion up to the glacier with dog sledding. Yes - it's expensive but how often will you go dog sledding on a glacier? Once in a lifetime for us, anyway. Coming back later we are doing the Mount Roberts Tram (booked through the cruise - $34.00 each).

Skagway - we are doing the all day dog sledding trip through our TA - Yukon Dog Musher Adventure Tour. It's an all day trip with stops at museums and mountain summits as well as lunch along the way. As I understand it, it takes up pretty much all day.

Ketchikan - shortest stop of the cruise so the DW and myself plan on a leisurely walk through the town and buying trinkets for the kids back home.

Victoria - Staying on board. Nothing there really interests us. :)

Hopefully a biker will comment but that ride down skagway looks like a bit much. Especially when it was raining. I went in July though.

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Skagway.. I love the idea of Klondike Summit and Sea Bicycle tour,,Van up and the bike down..but i am a little concerned with weather and how much traffic there is on the road... I am a very experienced biker and that sounds like a good fit for both my husband and I .

Do you love the idea of "sharing" the road with a bunch of distracted drivers in rental motorhomes, who got no intro on how to drive a motorhome, are learning to drive it as they drive, and are gawking at the scenery? I don't care how experienced a biker you are -- imho it is dangerous. There used to be a bike excursion to Dyea, if I remember correctly. Imho, a less-perilous choice.

I concur with the concerns about riding down the road from the White Pass summit into Skagway. You will be sharing a narrow road with no/minimal shoulders (if I remember correctly) with vans and rental cars driven by tourists possibly spending more time looking for wildlife and at the scenery than paying attention to driving. You also need to be concerned with the weather. In 2012 we had a lovely ride up in the train but on the van drive down we ran into drizzle and fog. It certainly wouldn't have been pleasant to bike down the road.

Our first stop on our first Alaska cruise was Ketchikan in 2007 (also just a half day stop). We took a ship excursion that included a flightseeing plane over the Misty Fjords, landing on the water, and transferring to a boat for the ride back to Ketchikan. I am afraid of heights, not fond of small planes, and had never, ever considered making a water landing in one but the experience was magical. I heartily recommend it!

In Victoria Butchart Gardens are lovely and open late.

We are on our 3rd Alaska cruise this summer on the Ruby and are taking our 2 grown children, their spouses and our 3 1/2 year old granddaughter. We can't wait!

I changed my plans based on your suggestions...PLan for Skagway now is Chilhook Hike and Float Adventure. I want to do the Helicopter Dog Sled in Juneau. We are in Juneau on April 30 and it seems that most of the companies don't start until May. Coastals website isn't working...Any Helicopter Dogsled suggestions for April 30?

I would be shocked if the dog sled camps were set up and ready to go April 30. Tourist season hasn't really started; these camps are not there year round.

I've emailed all the Helicopter Dog Sled companies, but that convinces me to do the excursion through Princess..They have the Dog Sled musher camp available. I am thinking of renting a car for the morning to go to Mendenhall Glacier. I emailed Juneau Car rental and am waiting to hear back from them...If I book a 3:30 Musher camp, that gives me around 4 hours before to explore on my own

You said, "Ketchikan.. Misty Fiords Float Plane...I booked my cruise through Costco and they offer ten percent off so I can do this excursion for $ 230 each..."

We also booked our cruise (Princess) through Costco. How did you get 10% off on your excursion?

I booked all my excursions...I booked the Misty Fjords Flight Seeing in Ketchikan with the Costco code.. It came out to $ 462.60. for two people. Much less expensive than anywhere else. So far I have the Juneau Helicopter Icefield Tour booked for Juneau and the Chilhook Hike and Float Adventure for Skagway. I have been cruising for years, and booking excursions for this trip has stressed me out more than any other cruise. I still have $ 300 OBC but I wanted to make sure that I go on these excursions.. I am hoping that it is the type of credit that is refundable. It hasn't posted to my account yet

can I ask how much the glacier/dog sledding excursion was?

Sure! Just over $500 per person....