Just Back from Excursions

[andovertravelers]

Hi Everyone,

 

We are just back from an amazing Alaska experience aboard the Celebrity Infinity and I thought I would share my personal thoughts on the excursions we took:

 

1. Ketchikan - Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour. This was very disappointing to us, especially given the great reviews this tour gets on this site and all other sites. It was, as Dennis the captain said on the way out, a "Las Vegas Show" and not a real wildlife experience. We have previously been out on a real lobster fisherman's boat in Maine and were expecting this tour to be as realistic. It was not in any way a real experience, definitely just a tourist experience. Basically they have animals trapped in underwater traps (crabs in one, octopus in the other) and they pull the traps out of the water, show you the animals, then put the animals back in the traps and put them back in the water. Made us so sad, especially the kids. Couldn't wait to get off the boat.

 

2. Ketchikan - Lumberjack Show. Definitely corny and a tourist show, but our kids loved it. Only lasts an hour. If you have younger kids, as we did, they will have fun at this show.

 

3. Salmon Fishing - only a few in our group did this, but it was a great experience. Chartered a boat and went fishing. Simple, not touristy, and according to the ones who went, very cool. They caught 17 salmon and bought some to be cleaned and shipped home. True Alaska experience!

 

4. Juneau - Taku Lodge Float Plane Trip. Our entire extended family did this - 16 of us - and we all absolutely LOVED it. The float plane ride takes you over glacier after glacier and gorgeous scenery. The perspective from the air was incredible. The Taku Lodge sits across the river from the Hole in the Wall glacier and is a beautiful spot. The staff are a group of young adults who live there together for the cruise season and they were all great - nice, friendly. There are several dogs at the property to help control the bears, and my kids loved playing with the dogs. Dinner was fresh salmon which was delicious. A black bear was also on site (right up close) and that was another highlight for all of us. All in all an amazing day none of us will every forget.

 

5. Skagway - White Pass Rail up and Chilkoot tour down. We had a private bus for our family which was nice. This day was mostly just scenery, but the scenery was gorgeous. We went all the way to Emerald Lake which I don't think was necessary - all the area lakes were equally gorgeous. Some of our pictures from this day simply don't look real, the scenery is so beautiful. We went on a sunny clear day, not sure how it would be on a rainy day. We stopped at Caribou Crossing for lunch and the kids did the dog cart ride. The dog cart ride was great, as Caribou Crossing is a summer camp for dog sled dogs. The gold panning at Caribou Crossing was not realistic and we skipped it. Chilkoot was great to work with. One caveat for anyone doing the train/bus combo -- US customs has as of this year been incredibly understaffed and backed up. We waited in the line to get back into US for over an hour. So plan accordingly so you don't stress about making it back to your ship on time!

 

6. Victoria - we went on an orca whale watch excursion which was nothing short of magical. Amazing animals (which we learned about on board the ship via a lecture by Brent Nixon, the ship's naturalist) and we were transfixed by them out in the water near Victoria. Definitely a highlight of the trip for all of us. We chose Eagle Wind Tours based on on-line reviews and they were fantastic - they have smaller speedboats so the experience is much more intimate than the larger boats.

 

 

Thank you to all the cruise critic members who helped us plan this trip - I would be happy to answer specific questions for any of you who haven't gone yet and want more information about what we did.

[sharecruises]

Sounds like a great cruise..thanks for the report

 

Maybe that "Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour" has gone downhill...I read another report THIS year that said it was not great, no longer see the eagles and just not worth it

thanks for the head's up on that

 

I am thinking about that trip up to the Yukon/railway one way, bus one way thru Chilkoot....glad to hear the dogs were fun <grin>

 

Gold panning is probably the least appealing thing to me...it reminds me of the "find a pearl" tourist traps where people pay to open an oyster

[reney313]

 

Gold panning is probably the least appealing thing to me...it reminds me of the "find a pearl" tourist traps where people pay to open an oyster

 

I have one of those pearls...where did I put it? LOL