Great info for Planning Cruise to Alaska

[satex]

I was reading that in Skagway they have a walking tour that is offered by the Parks Dept. It is about an hour tour of the city. They leave from the vistors center (2nd and Broadway) four or five times a day and best of all, its FREE:D.

[TheCalicoCat]

I was reading a thread or 2 & saw someone say to "search" for GREAT INFO ON PLANNING CRUISE TO ALASKA which I did & did not find it. The I went to google & searched for GREAT INFO ON PLANNING CRUISE TO ALASKA & now here I am. So I have to ditto the sticky idea... ( & hope that this counts as a "bump.";)

[jasminelee]

I was reading that in Skagway they have a walking tour that is offered by the Parks Dept. It is about an hour tour of the city. They leave from the vistors center (2nd and Broadway) four or five times a day and best of all, its FREE:D.

which site did you find this on? thanks!

[vbmom87]

which site did you find this on? thanks!

 

 

http://www.nps.gov/klgo/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm

[jasminelee]

http://www.nps.gov/klgo/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm[/

 

thanks a bunch-do you know if there is a link for Ketchikan and Juneau?

[mapleleaves]

http://www.nps.gov/klgo/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm[/

 

thanks a bunch-do you know if there is a link for Ketchikan and Juneau?

 

A great place to find info on a specific town is to google 'ketchikan visitor information' or ' chamber of commerce' or 'tourism'. Most towns are happy to provide information about sights and activities in order to encourage tourism. Ketchikan has a great walking tour.

[vbmom87]

http://www.nps.gov/klgo/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm[/

 

thanks a bunch-do you know if there is a link for Ketchikan and Juneau?

 

 

Here are some basic places to start, but I am not sure what you are lookin for:

 

Ketchikan:

 

http://www.visit-ketchikan.com/

 

http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/totempol.htm

 

 

Juneau:

http://www.traveljuneau.com/

Edited March 11, 2011 by vbmom87

[satex]

Here is the one for the free walking tour.

http://alaska.org/skagway/skagway-tours.htm

[mapleleaves]

looks like this thread might need another visit to the front page.

[Miss3]

Thanks for the great info!!

[rugerdog]

Thanks so much for the link. I am trying to plan shore excursions for my 75 year old parents and aunt and uncle for Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. I am looking for low activity shore excursions, and reading everything I can get my hands on. Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

[vbmom87]

Thanks so much for the link. I am trying to plan shore excursions for my 75 year old parents and aunt and uncle for Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. I am looking for low activity shore excursions, and reading everything I can get my hands on. Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

 

I suggest you talk with them about the activities and see what they are most interested in doing.

 

In Ketchikan the ship offers a boat tour to Misty Fjords. There have been good reports about this tour. With a ship's tour they will receive their tickets in the cabin, show up at the meeting place and be taken care of from there.

 

Here is the website for the vendor who sponsors this ship tour:

 

http://www.allenmarinetours.com/sightseeing/ketchikan/tours/fjord-wilderness/index.html

 

For Skagway the big tour is to take a train/bus combo up the White Pass Railway. These tours are very scenic. They could do this with either the ship or independently. As many others we went with Chilkoot tours and loved our day with them.

 

http://www.chilkootcharters.com/

 

What is nice about taking this tour with Chilkoot is their buses are much smaller than the big tour buses the ship will be using. It is much quicker to load and unload the passengers. Because of this, the Chilkoot tour will make many more stops along the Klondike Highway. With Chilkoot, all they have to do is walk off the ship and wait on the dock for the Chilkoot bus. The driver will return them to the dock after the tour is over.

 

For Juneau, they could sign up for a tour of Juneau. One independent is M&M tours which my sisters and BIL took and really enjoyed to get a taste of the area. Again you meet the tour company at the dock. They had a van that they use for this tour and visited the shrine and Mendenhall Glacier. They also took a driving tour of Downtown Juneau. Here is the email for this tour.

 

mmcummings1@aol.com

 

All of these tours would be low activity. I also suggest you take a look at the shore excursion list for each port. It will give you more ideas of what is available.

[rugerdog]

vbmom:

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this information. I am the only one with access to the internet, so I have been put "in charge" of planning. I have asked them repeatedly and they just tell me they will be happy with anything I plan - grrrrr. I will check out all of the websites you posted and I appreciate your suggestions. I keep reading that many people prefer booking your own excursions rather than through the cruise line, for both price and size of groups. That sounds like the way to go for us as well. Since there will be six of us, I do want to be mindful of the costs involved. Thank you again for your input.

[mapleleaves]

vbmom:

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this information. I am the only one with access to the internet, so I have been put "in charge" of planning. I have asked them repeatedly and they just tell me they will be happy with anything I plan - grrrrr. I will check out all of the websites you posted and I appreciate your suggestions. I keep reading that many people prefer booking your own excursions rather than through the cruise line, for both price and size of groups. That sounds like the way to go for us as well. Since there will be six of us, I do want to be mindful of the costs involved. Thank you again for your input.

 

If the others don't have internet, you could borrow a few Alaska travel books from the library and have them look thru the infornation on each port. There are a couple of books specific to Alaska cruises so it might be worthwhile to buy one and pass it around.

[vbmom87]

vbmom:

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this information. I am the only one with access to the internet, so I have been put "in charge" of planning. I have asked them repeatedly and they just tell me they will be happy with anything I plan - grrrrr. I will check out all of the websites you posted and I appreciate your suggestions. I keep reading that many people prefer booking your own excursions rather than through the cruise line, for both price and size of groups. That sounds like the way to go for us as well. Since there will be six of us, I do want to be mindful of the costs involved. Thank you again for your input.

 

Glad to get your started. There are many other tours that are good and really wouldn't tax them physically, but some people are not into small planes and helicopters. If they are, there are other great adventures to try: Float planes in Ketchikan or Helicopters with glacier landings in Juneau. A whale watch in Juneau would also be a good choice. Harv and Marv have a small boat that holds six. Your group could get a private tour. :) If you are going in 2011 though, they could be booked already. You could easily combine the tour I mentioned in the other post for Juneau with a whale watch. There are many other vendors for Whale Watches. Orca is another one that gets good reviews on this site. The cruise ship also offers whale watches. All these tours would allow your relatives to be sitting most of the time if they wanted.

 

Here are a couple more links for the whale watching:

 

http://www.harvandmarvs.com/alaskawhalewatching.html

 

http://www.orcaenterprises.com/

 

 

I understand your situation with your family wanting to leave everything up to you. I run into the same thing and it drives me crazy. Good luck and have a great trip to Alaska.

[rugerdog]

Again thank you to you both for your suggestions. I am looking up travel books now from the library. I guess I forget that there are still paper and ink out there :o. Is there a specific book or travel guide you can recommend?

[vbmom87]

Again thank you to you both for your suggestions. I am looking up travel books now from the library. I guess I forget that there are still paper and ink out there :o. Is there a specific book or travel guide you can recommend?

 

 

For a quick read I like the Frommer's and Fodor's books on ALaska. It is clear, concise and to the point.

 

Several on this board have recently been recommending Alaska by Cruiseship by Anne Vipond. It is not my favorite, but if you can find it at the library, give it a lookover. You may like it.

 

The other book I really enjoy is The Alaska Cruise Handbook: A Mile-by-Mile Guide by Joe Upton. It is very different than the others. It comes with a map of the Inside Passage and is a guide of what you will see along the way.

[vbmom87]

I don't know if you saw this thread on the Alaska Board, but it is about the Misty Fjords Boat Excursion I mentioned to you for Ketchikan. It might be helpful in making a decision. This tour is only available booking through the cruiseline.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1389056

[rugerdog]

Perfect! I found the book at the mail order library and it is on its way. By the time I am done researching and planning this vacation, I will be needing a vacation.

[vbmom87]

Perfect! I found the book at the mail order library and it is on its way. By the time I am done researching and planning this vacation, I will be needing a vacation.

 

LOL!!! You will!!!!

 

Planning a trip like this is a lot of work if you want to get the most out of your trip. Plus when you are planning for others there is a bit of extra stress trying to make sure everyone will enjoy your choices. Don't forget that you could split up if someone has their heart on doing something that the others aren't interested in.

 

Which book did you end up finding?

Edited March 30, 2011 by vbmom87

[rugerdog]

I ordered Fodor's 2011 Alaska and the Joe Upton book. They did not have the Anne Vipond or Frommer's available. I also ordered a couple others that turned up when I did searches for Alaska travel. We can pass them around and see what valuable information can be learned.

 

As for the suggestion on splitting up, that really is a great idea. I will make sure everyone realizes that if someone wants to remain on the ship longer, go back to the ship earlier, or just walk around town on a port day, so be it! Having never been on a cruise, the idea of everyone doing exactly as they wish really appeals to me. Who knows what the weather will be like in May as well, perhaps that will end up helping to make some of our decisions.

[vbmom87]

;)

As for the suggestion on splitting up, that really is a great idea. I will make sure everyone realizes that if someone wants to remain on the ship longer, go back to the ship earlier, or just walk around town on a port day, so be it! Having never been on a cruise, the idea of everyone doing exactly as they wish really appeals to me. Who knows what the weather will be like in May as well, perhaps that will end up helping to make some of our decisions.

 

We had five on our trip, ages 59-70 at the time and the only port we stayed together was Skagway for the Chilkoot tour to Carcross. This is SO scenic. It is their longer tour that goes to Bennet Lake....amazing scenery. The rest of the ports we split up. My one sister was the only one who wanted to do the floatplane in Ketchikan, so she did that while my DH and I went to Saxman Village. We met up after that for lunch and a self guided walking tour of Ketchikan. My other and sister chose to just walk around town. It makes for some great dinner conversation when everyone chooses something different to do.

 

Early May will likely be very cool. Make sure you have warm layers, hats, gloves, warm socks, waterproofed shoes, etc. Most the tours I mentioned are inside a boat, bus, train etc, so if it is cold you have a warm place to be out of the elements. I do hope your group will want to get off the ship and really see Alaska. Getting away from the ports and all their stores is the way to experience the rugged and majestic scenery of Alaska. Of course, it does depend on why everyone is going. Some people, do just like to relax on a ship. Whatever floats your boat. ;) I am sure you have already realized that Alaska excursions are expensive. We are busy trying to save diligently for our August Cruise. I am one who can't see going all that way and spending all that money, only to walk around the ports.

 

Have fun planning!!!!

[Rysam]

There are new inquiries re: this subject - giving it a bump.

[olemissreb]

Thank you for bumping this thread up today! I printed off the information from the Trip Advisor link. I am planning our Alaska trip for 2013. There is so much to see/do that my head is spinning! Right now there will probably be 5 of us ranging in age from 13 to 76. As I did with our So. Caribbean cruise last year, I will strongly suggest that we split up if we want for the excursions and then meet up for dinner to discuss them all. I really don't expect my mother to want to do float planes or helicopters, but who knows - it is Alaska after all.

 

My biggest worry is booking excursions that are similar - such as Kenai Fjords in Seward and then Misty Fjords in Ketchikan. We are doing a one way southbound with a week in interior Alaska before. Glad I'm giving myself 2 years to plan and save for all of this!

[vbmom87]

My biggest worry is booking excursions that are similar - such as Kenai Fjords in Seward and then Misty Fjords in Ketchikan. We are doing a one way southbound with a week in interior Alaska before. Glad I'm giving myself 2 years to plan and save for all of this!

 

I had that concern in 2008 and so did not do as many small boat tours as I could have. I ended up regretting it. We fell in love with Alaska's magnificent scenery, especially from the small boat tours, and could not get enough of it. We are now going back to Alaska on the 14 day HAL tour and we are going to spend lots of time on the water. We have the Misty Fjords Boat tour in Ketchikan, a whale watch in Icy Strait, a glacier tour out of Whittier, a transit boat in Homer (it will take us to a bay where we will be on a tour with a ranger), possibly kayak in Kodiak, but that is still in the planning stage, and a wildlife marine boat tour out of Sitka. I know we will love it all.

 

I have been on the Kenai Fjord tour and from what I understand the Misty Fjords tour to be, I am expecting it to be a different kind of boat tour. Kenai Fjords is all about wildlife. I am expecting the Misty Fjords to be more about scenery. I will know better this August and will be sure to write a review.

 

Enjoy Alaska!!!