To Alaska with Girl Scouts

[JoKen1]

I'm a leader of a girl scout troop. My girls are 13 and we are planning on going on a cruise this coming summer.

 

We are in CA and will fly into Seattle to get the ship there. They are so excited.

 

We are a small troop of only 5 girls and with me and my co-leader will be a group of 7.

 

I'm trying to plan out the full budget. The girls have worked hard and earned the money for the trip by selling cookies and having other fundraisers.

 

Are there things that they can do for free at the different ports? Or at least not cost a lot?

 

Any tips or advise would be great. Thanks!

[garycarla]

Make sure you visit the PORTS OF CALL boards and checkout ALASKA. You wil find some more options.

 

There are a number of lower cost or cheap options for you.

[sdmike]

Most official excursions in Alaska are pretty pricey. I think it stems from the fact that they have a very small window of time to earn money.

 

One thing you can do on the cheap that's a lot of fun is renting a van in Juneau and driving out to Mendenhall Glacier and the fish hatchery. The ship docks right next to an Alamo/Budget rental kiosk, and it's a quick walk over to get a 7 person van. It will cost you under $100 split among 7 of you, instead of an official excursion of $150 or more per person.

 

Check out my Alaska review for more information and pictures

[garycarla]

..One thing you can do on the cheap that's a lot of fun is renting a van in Juneau and driving out to Mendenhall Glacier and the fish hatchery. The ship docks right next to an Alamo/Budget rental kiosk, and it's a quick walk over to get a 7 person van. It will cost you under $100 split among 7 of you, instead of an official excursion of $150 or more per person.

 

Check out my Alaska review for more information and pictures

 

 

For sure. Nice visitor center and hike towards the glacier.

[JoKen1]

Thank you! That sounds like a great idea! Any one else?

[sdmike]

For sure. Nice visitor center and hike towards the glacier.

 

Nice easy walking path too, and a neat waterfall once you get out there.

 

 

 

 

On the way back the can stop by the fish hatchery. They have tours, exhibits, and depending on the time of year, fish heading up the salmon ladder

 

 

 

[JoKen1]

Wow! Great photos! I can't get over all the salmon! What month did you go? We are going in July/Aug

[electricron]

Which NCL ship are you planning to sail on? One will enter Glacier Bay National Park, the other will not.

 

If you're on the ship sailing to Glacier Bay National Park, I wouldn't spend any money in Juneau going to its glacier. Instead, I suggest taking the aerial tram up Mount Roberts - there's lots of trails up there they can hike on, the whole park is run by native Americans - a great education opportunity. The tramway's entrance is a short walk from the nearby piers, but a long walk away from the far pier, which can be reached by the free shuttle bus NCL usually provides if moored at the far pier. That's a big if. If you're on the ship that doesn't visit Glacier Bay National Park, the only glacier they may see if the one in Juneau - because the ship may not make it all the way up the arm to Sawyer Glacier.

Shopping is my recommendation for Ketchikan and Skagway where you can avoid the cost of excursions easily, many of the stores are within walking distance to the pier. The train ride at Skagway is a very popular excursion, but I believe some of the bus excursions are cheaper, and they provide just as much scenery. Whale watching boat excursions, totem poles tour, and the logging show are the very popular excursions in Ketchikan. They are not cheap. I believe the totem pole bus tour is cheapest, and another opportunity for a native American education.

I agree with the earlier responder who recommended visiting the port of call forums. There are many different excursions to choose from at different prices, it's difficult to suggest which is best for the girls without knowing the depth of their purses. There's a reason many take multiple cruises to Alaska, there's really too much to do and see on one cruse.

Edited January 18, 2014 by electricron

[sdmike]

Wow! Great photos! I can't get over all the salmon! What month did you go? We are going in July/Aug

 

We were there at the beginning of August

[Lerin]

Wow, impressive. When i was a Girl Scout we earned enough money to go camping and maybe a trip to the zoo.

 

Have fun and check out the Alaska board.

[deladypilot]

What a wonderful trip. All 3 towns will have free walking maps that will point out the historic sites of the town.

 

In Skagway, you can walk to the National Park office (its just as you reach town). There the girls can go through the small building and learn about the gold rush. You can sign up to do the walking tour with a Park Ranger (its free) or you can grab the walking map yourself and strike out on your own. Im not sure where it is but while walking around town, I noticed many people carrying pink boxes with cupcakes. They must be pretty good as there sure were a lot of them. The girls might enjoy a break with a good cupcake. Just ask around, im sure someone can head you in the right direction.

 

Ketchikan has Creek Street which is a pretty neat walk. All the buildings are built on the water. This was once the red light district but now full of shops and you can often look in the water there and see the Salmon. You can walk around the town and see lots of totems and if your lucky, see the eagles in the trees or flying about.

 

In Juneau, the first 1/3 of the town is shops and if the girls and adults are up to the challenge, you can walk up the hill to the old Russian Orthodox church. You can catch the "Blue Bus" to Mendenhall Glacier. It seems its about $16.00 per person round trip, but I agree, rent a van and go for a drive to see all of the sites.

 

I do hope that once your trip is over you will come back here and tell us all how the trip went with the girls. Have a fantastic time

[nadeki]

In Ketchikan you can catch the city bus for $1.00 and go to Totem Pole Park and in Skagway there is a company that has sled dog puppies and gold mining.

 

Wow, our troop could not sell enough cookies to get to Disneyland, good job!!

[silvercrikhix]

Wow...we got to camp once or twice as GS's.

Lucky Girls (and chaperones)!

 

Since you have many months to go, I would suggest you all save up money for the trip and excursions. Even inexpensive port options add up. You are going all the way to Alaska! There is plenty to see walking about the towns, but, yeah, try to rent a vehicle and get out and enjoy!

 

In Ketchikan, the Totem Park is really neat....we watched a carver at work and learned a lot about the totems....very cool...thought I would not like it, way wrong!

 

Enjoy!

[cruisingiwish]

How wonderful! Good job to your girls. If your ship is going to Sawyer Glacier rather than Glacier Bay, I would suggest taking the ship excursion from Juneau out to the glacier. It is expensive but so worth it! Many times the ship cannot sail in close enough to see much. It was like that the first time I travelled that itinerary. Last May we went again and took the excursion. Whole family agreed it was the highlight of the trip. Close to glacier and wildlife. Excursion departed approx 15 min earlier than the ship for Twin Sawyer Glaciers and we boarded ship in the fjord before it set sail for Victoria. I would choose to do this excursion again even if I would not be ableto do any others because of cost.

[kcwingwalker]

Wow, impressive. When i was a Girl Scout we earned enough money to go camping and maybe a trip to the zoo.

 

Have fun and check out the Alaska board.

 

Same for my troop and we had to visit nursing homes too. Glad to hear things have been kicked up several notches.

[Mrs. Squirrel]

OP, I am a former Cub Scout Leader of many years. If I was doing what your troop is doing, I would make my port plans early, then contact each and every stop I was planning to make well ahead of time. I would also contact both the local newspapers, and if there is such a thing, the largest state newspaper organization. Add in as many conversations as you can have with the Alaskan travel and tourism department and the local bureaus.

 

You have a real human interest story here. Very few troops raise enough money to do a trip like this and you could have gone anywhere, but you've picked Alaska. I am sure that with a little work, you could, at the minimum, get some very nice, customized tours scheduled low cost. At best, your troop may get some media coverage for the girls with some freebies in exchange. What a highlight of their Girl Scout years that would be!

 

Good luck and thank you for the time you and your co-leader are investing in those young lives.

[DDMau]

Both NCL ships are very similar, one will leave Seattle on Saturday and the other on Sunday.

 

Their Itinerary -- each ship will go to the same cities, might not be the same day and time. One will go to Glacier Bay and the other to Sawyer Glacier, you and the girls will enjoy either, I have been to both and enjoyed each.

 

You might want to plan your excursions / outings ahead of time to see if they fit into the times each ship will be in port.

 

Mendenhall Glacier lies nearly 12 miles outside Juneau so travel time will be a factor.

 

Below is the port times for both the Pearl and Jewel, I have been on the Pearl twice and the Jewel last August in Alaska both great ships, you will be happy with either.

 

NCL Jewel r/t Seattle Saturday to Saturday

 

Day Port Arrive Depart

SatSeattle (EMBARK) --- 4:00 pm

 

 

 

Sun At Sea--- ---

Mon Ketchikan 7:00 am 3:00 pm

 

 

 

Tue Juneau 7:00 am 1:30 pm

 

 

 

Sawyer Glacier --- Overnight

 

 

 

Wed Skagway 7:00 am 5:30 pm

 

 

 

 

Thu At Sea--- --- Fri Victoria, BC, Canada 2:30 pm 9:30 pm

 

 

 

 

Sat Seattle (DISEMBARK) 8:00 am ---

NCL Pearl r/t/ Seattle Sunday to Sunday

Day Port Arrive Depart

Sun, Seattle (EMBARK) --- 4:00 pm

 

 

Mon, At Sea--- ---

Tue,

Juneau 2:00 pm 10:00 pm

 

 

 

Wed, Skagway 7:00 am 8:15 pm

 

 

 

Thu, Glacier Bay --- Overnight

 

 

 

 

Fri, Ketchikan 6:00 am 1:30 pm

 

 

 

Sat, Victoria, BC, Canada 6:00 pm 11:59 pm

 

 

 

Sun, Seattle (DISEMBARK) 8:00 am ---

 

 

Thank You for all the time and things you are doing for the Girl Scout. You are giving them something they will remember for ever.

Edited January 18, 2014 by DDMau

[DDMau]

The Itinerary didn't come out liked I typed it, itgot spaced out and times pushed together. You should be able to understand it.

[em-sk]

The Itinerary didn't come out liked I typed it, itgot spaced out and times pushed together. You should be able to understand it.

 

On the way back you will have a stop in Canada (usually Victoria for Seattle cruises). The ship docks at Ogdon point. It is probably 15-20 minute walk from the pier to the inner harbor. The James Bay neighborhood is predominantly residential and very safe.

 

Some options:

- The legislature building has free public tours around 30 minutes (may be closed if you are on a ship that docks late in the day)

- Lots of boats and float planes going in out of the habour

- Plenty of one of a kind shops and a Chinatown within walking distance.

- Victoria has a very British feel to it and the architecture around the inner harbour is mostly historic.

 

The Butchered Gardens are the most common attractions. There is a bit of a bus ride to get out their, they are bit pricy to get into and you have to figure out if that is something that would appeal to the girls or not.

Edited January 18, 2014 by em-sk

[cw2go]

OP, I am a former Cub Scout Leader of many years. If I was doing what your troop is doing, I would make my port plans early, then contact each and every stop I was planning to make well ahead of time. I would also contact both the local newspapers, and if there is such a thing, the largest state newspaper organization. Add in as many conversations as you can have with the Alaskan travel and tourism department and the local bureaus.

 

You have a real human interest story here. Very few troops raise enough money to do a trip like this and you could have gone anywhere, but you've picked Alaska. I am sure that with a little work, you could, at the minimum, get some very nice, customized tours scheduled low cost. At best, your troop may get some media coverage for the girls with some freebies in exchange. What a highlight of their Girl Scout years that would be!

 

Good luck and thank you for the time you and your co-leader are investing in those young lives.

 

 

Took the words right out of my mouth/fingers...:p

[nadeki]

In Victoria there is a BEAUTIFUL park that is a close walk to town and can be walked to from the ship if you are energetic. It is called Beacon Hill Park, there are play grounds, a petting zoo and great botanicals.

 

ALso the the Hippo ride ( a duck tour in some other towns) is really fun and takes you on land and water.

[rogue bkpkr]

Concur with the above. Very good advice.

 

Even the "cheap" route will involve some spending money.

 

I like the PR aspect of this. I hope you can make it work.

 

E-mail sent, tell me what you think.

 

I'm not a 100% on the ports of call so:

 

Seattle; you could take the tram to the Seattle World's Fair and the Space Needle. The Space Needle is a little pricey. Pike Market is neat.

 

Ketchican: (Blue Line Bus Northbound) to Totem Bight State Park (Verify this, it's been a couple of years. (g) The Boardwalk along Creek St.

if the salmon are running.

 

Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier, salmon run. the State Capital Building.

 

Skagway: They have a pretty neat museum in the center of "town" Trying to remember what it was called. You could also walk to the Gold Rush Cemetery.

 

Alaska ports have a ton of history. Maybe you could assign a port to a couple and have them do a project or whatever it is called. (g)

 

Homework, homework, homework. (g)

 

The Lonely Planet book helped me with walking tours, cheap things, so you may want to go to the library. The other mainstream publishers are fine also. (g)

Edited January 18, 2014 by rogue bkpkr

[rogue bkpkr]

KK. I actually did remember something. (g)

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974366 and

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974371

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1966505

 

and probably a whole bunch more. (g)

Edited January 19, 2014 by rogue bkpkr

[JoKen1]

Thank you guys so much! So many wonderful ideas. I think I will go get a book and have the girls pick places they want to go to.

 

As girl scouts we still do a ton of community service work. In fact that are going to do 15 hours this next weekend.

 

We do go camping and earn badges. Right now we are working on getting their Silver Awards which is the highest award they can get at the level they are at now. For the project they want to earn money to purchase bullet proof vest for police dogs. Here the police department do not purchase them for the dogs :(

 

They are getting donations from several places, going to hold a big event this summer where there will be a class to learn CPR and 1st aid for animals. Plus they will have the police dogs do a show for every one and have vendors also. People will purchase tickets to get in and will have a chance to win prices that were donated.

 

With all the money it will go to the police departments that need vests for the dogs.

 

So you can see, these girls do a lot of hard work. We are a small troop of only 5 girls. We had 10 before but people moved and had to drop out. These girls have been together since the first years as brownies.

 

Even though we are one of the smallest troops in our county we end up in the 10 ten of the biggest cookie and Fall Product sales. We beat out troops that have 25 girls!

 

They are out there daily holding booth sales, going door to door and hunting down companies that will purchase larger amounts at a time.

 

Because they work so hard we have been able to go on a trip each year I've been the leader.

 

The first year was to San Francisco and last year was Washington DC. This year is a cruise to Alaska and next year we will go to New York. Once in high school the goal is to go to Paris.

 

I'm super proud of my girls and am thrilled I've been able to spend time with them and teach them things they normally wouldn't learn. Take them places they wouldn't get to go with their family since they all come from low income families.

 

I know excursions are very costly, most of the time. But I also know there are things to do at every port that can be fun and cost nothing or very little. Things like you guys have been telling me about!

 

So thank you! Everyone for all your wonderful ideas.

 

Also thank you to the one poster (who asked to not be named) for their wonderful offer of sending me a coupon book for us to use. That will help us a lot! They asked nothing in return, except a thank you. Thank you so so much!

 

It's so nice to know there are such kind hearted people that are willing to take the time to help out. So thank you to all of you!

[Arubamoose]

As a former GS leader myself - I too agree with Mrs. Squirrel.

 

Reach out to the local news organizations. Human interest stories are big.

 

I also suggest you reach out through GSUSA to meet up with similarly aged scouts in your ports. What better photo op! You will probably get some good ideas of free or almost free educational opportunities through local leaders.