Excursion or DIY?

[newbiecruiser09]

We are taking our first Alaska cruise/cruisetour in 2 weeks. Have not booked any excursions yet (don't judge :roll eyes: -been dealing with a lot here) Funds are not overly abundant but we do want to do some "must not miss" excursions if possible. Our ports are: Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway, Seward. We know we will probably do the "upgraded" Denali part of the land tour but don't know about what else todo.

 

Veteran AK cruisers--- Which ports are good to not book anything and just DIY for the day?

 

If you could only book 1-2 excursions, which ones would you do and in which ports?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated (and don't tell me I should have booked months ago-I know that, just wasn't happening-dealing with what is now)

[AKStafford]

In Hoonah (Icy Strait Point), I would do a whale watching cruise.

http://visithoonah.com/tours_charters.html

Are you doing Seward & Denali as part of a pre-packaged tour from the cruise lines, or are you doing that DIY?

[xlxo]

On my trips to Alaska... I often booked the night before on the ship...

• can't decide so I visit the tour desk and ask which one is a near sell-out to help me decide.
  
• marine and flight trips are the first to sell out because the vessels are smaller than the cruise ship...
  
• if your cruise ship goes by Tracy Arm on route to Juneau (Glacier Bay is the main glacier view stop), one popular sell out is the mid-cruise transfer that meets the cruise ship in the morning and takes you deep into the Arm to meet Sawyer. That is one excursion you want to book pre-cruise because the tiny boat can only take few dozen lucky cruisers who book early.
  
• love the ship tours.... they only take a dozen cruisers each trip into the bridge, engine control, backstage and where they hide the beer. If you are interested... this one should be planned early to.
  

[Budget Queen]

We are taking our first Alaska cruise/cruisetour in 2 weeks. Have not booked any excursions yet (don't judge :roll eyes: -been dealing with a lot here) Funds are not overly abundant but we do want to do some "must not miss" excursions if possible. Our ports are: Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Skagway, Seward. We know we will probably do the "upgraded" Denali part of the land tour but don't know about what else todo.

 

Veteran AK cruisers--- Which ports are good to not book anything and just DIY for the day?

 

If you could only book 1-2 excursions, which ones would you do and in which ports?

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated (and don't tell me I should have booked months ago-I know that, just wasn't happening-dealing with what is now)

 

Your first change to make is your Denali Park add on. That isn't cheap, but with RCI, they do not refund. You have two options- go on your own for less money, BUT will require you to split off from the group and also have on you, the transportation issues. Are you willing to do that? Would offer some savings.

 

As for "must not miss" is more choices than you can do in 10 trips. You first need to determine YOUR interests, and what is the most important to you.

 

I'm also not sure what you mean by DIY? Do you mean free/low cost? Are you going to rent cars, interested in going by foot, museums, fishing etc etc etc A huge possible list. Again, you need to way narrow down the list.

[newbiecruiser09]

Your first change to make is your Denali Park add on. That isn't cheap, but with RCI, they do not refund. You have two options- go on your own for less money, BUT will require you to split off from the group and also have on you, the transportation issues. Are you willing to do that? Would offer some savings.

 

As for "must not miss" is more choices than you can do in 10 trips. You first need to determine YOUR interests, and what is the most important to you.

 

I'm also not sure what you mean by DIY? Do you mean free/low cost? Are you going to rent cars, interested in going by foot, museums, fishing etc etc etc A huge possible list. Again, you need to way narrow down the list.

 

Sorry to not be as clear as I could. For the Denali, I meant we would do the upgrade that RCI offers (as I understand it) to go deeper into the park. By DIY I mean no formal excursions but exploring on our own in the port. Probably won't rent cars and go too far afield but take tours and such as offered in the towns/ports/areas as we arrive vs booking excursions. I guess I am asking which ports is it possible to explore on your own (much like Key West and Nassau) and not feel like you are just walking around a tourist trap.

[lynncarol]

We were also on a budget, rented a car in Anchorage for a week, and did Denali on our own as well as take a train excursion to Seward. (Our ship came in at Whittier). It was a fabulous experience but I think you are wise to take the ship's land tour to Denali at this late date. I doubt you could find accommodations near the park otherwise.

As for port excursions, our big splurge was in Ketchikan for Island Wing's bear-watching flight tour. That left us limited funds for Juneau and Skagway. Fortunately, in Juneau the white bus shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier was reasonable, and there we thoroughly enjoyed our hike to Nugget Falls. Also our National Park pass got us into the special viewing area of their Visitor Center at the Glacier.

At Skagway, we took the town bus to the rail terminal and hiked from there to Gold Rush Cemetery and Lower Reid Falls. Fascinating! Then once back in town, we signed up for the one-hour free walking tour starting from Klondike Gold Rush N.H.P headquarters which was a lot of fun. Incidentally, in Seward we took the Kenai Fjords boat tour and ran into a big pod of orca whales. (Just lucky).

[Budget Queen]

Sorry to not be as clear as I could. For the Denali, I meant we would do the upgrade that RCI offers (as I understand it) to go deeper into the park. By DIY I mean no formal excursions but exploring on our own in the port. Probably won't rent cars and go too far afield but take tours and such as offered in the towns/ports/areas as we arrive vs booking excursions. I guess I am asking which ports is it possible to explore on your own (much like Key West and Nassau) and not feel like you are just walking around a tourist trap.

 

You can "explore" all the ports on your own. Again, I would suggest you find out about each of your ports and determine what is of interest to you there. Head to your library and take out some ports of call books, they are very detailed with walking tour maps etc. also

 

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

 

I think it can be a mistake to look for booking tours in ports, unless you know, ahead, what tours you want to book. This idea works for bus type tours/transits, museums etc. Not so well with some other tours. You also are using up valuable port time.