Please help with Alaska on budget

[cmlmich]

I won a 8 day cruise to Alaska through my job and even though it is free, I will still be on a pretty tight budget. My 18 year old son will be going with me. We both enjoy hiking and the wilderness in general. Could anyone help with lower cost excursions? Would we be better off hiking on our own? I may be interested in a train ride excursion as well. Here is the list of cities we will be in.

 

Ketchikan

Juneau

Skagway

 

Thank you.

[hawk1972]

My wife and I went on a 7-day cruise last summer and didn't spend a lot on excursions. In Ketchikan you can take your own walking tour of the town. In Juneau we rode the bus to Mendenhall glacier. It was only $15-20 apiece. The Mt. Roberts Tram is reasonable if the weather is nice. You might want to ride the White Pass & Yukon train in Skagway -- that would be the most expensive of the ones I've mentioned.

[Kilgore32]

Here are some hikes in Skagway

http://skagway.com/skagwaytrailmap.pdf

[CALMOM]

I won a 8 day cruise to Alaska through my job and even though it is free, I will still be on a pretty tight budget. My 18 year old son will be going with me. We both enjoy hiking and the wilderness in general. Could anyone help with lower cost excursions? Would we be better off hiking on our own? I may be interested in a train ride excursion as well. Here is the list of cities we will be in.

 

Ketchikan

Juneau

Skagway

 

Thank you.

 

Congrats on winning a Alaska Cruise, that's the best, I think. Did the free trip include auto-tipping too? If not, just make sure you budget for it, about $162 for both of you. There is several options where you don't have to spend anything in port. I would search the board here and also look up each individual port on the internet, they always have a section of "What to do". It also depends what time of year you are going too. When are you scheduled to sail and with which cruise line? You will get more detailed help that way. Have a great time with your son, Memories for Life:)

[cmlmich]

Thanks for some info. We are sailing June 4-11. I will look up ports on the net.

 

Thanks Kilgore32 for the hiking info. Does anyone know about the danger of self hiking? What are the chances of running into Grizzlies? And I thought, even if I was with a guide, what would they do??? :)

[Harley Granny]

Glad you found your way over here. These people are a wealth of information.

 

We're only in Ketchikan for about 6-7 hourse so while my hubby goes fishing, I'm going up to Totem Bright to look around then just do a walkabout.

 

The city bus is only $1. And it even goes to WalMart:p.

 

In Skagway our stop is much longer so we're renting a car thru AVIS ($113.00) and driving up into Canada for a few hours then back in time to check out the town (and not to miss the ship lol)

 

Juneau we've been advised to wait until we see what the weather's like before we buy the Robert's Tram tickets. If it's clear when we get there we'll do the tram 1st and then go to Medenhall Glacier. If it's cloudy we'll just to the glacier.

 

We still have a couple of months to go so some things might be added.

 

Have fun planning!

[slumdogtexan]

Hope this helps:

 

http://www.aarpmagazine.org/travel/the_real_alaska.html

[PennyAgain]

If you have experience hiking, do your research on what you can do on your own. Bears....black bears are in the area and you need to learn the rules on how to deal with them. I've seen tourists walk right by bears that were near to trails and not see them at all.

 

I hope that you have a wonderful trip and a great time with your son. A chance of a lifetime. Enjoy every minute.