Questions regarding Alasks shore excursions from 1st time cruiser

[CruiseCriticNoob]

Hello,

 

My spouse & I booked out 1st ever cruise today on the Nieuw Amsterdam for the 11th of June ( I know! :( Very short notice since we had some changes on our job front and will be making a move soon ).

 

As I tried to book my top 3 excursions for the trip, I found that all are sold out :( and I can only be waitlisted for now.

 

Port - Tracy Arm

Excursion - Tracy Arm Fjord & GlacierExplorer

 

Port - Juneau

Excursion - Dog sledding the Mendenhall Glacier

 

Port - Skagway

Excursion - White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad

 

 

My questions for the seasoned cruisers are -

 

1) What are the chances of getting a spot if you're on a waitlist?

2) Can I independently find & use providers for the same excursion on the ground directly ?

 

THANK YOU :)

[cb at sea]

Yes..you can do those things independently....got to your library...get a guidebook. Rarely is a ship's excursion needed for anything.

[paul929207]

Also, join the Roll Call for your cruise. There may be people there planning a private tour and have room for you.

[CruiseCriticNoob]

Yes..you can do those things independently....got to your library...get a guidebook. Rarely is a ship's excursion needed for anything.

 

Thank you for the quick response :)

Where can I find my 'library' though? Sorry this is my first time on a cruise and I'm not aware of the lingo :)

[Hlitner]

Thank you for the quick response :)

Where can I find my 'library' though? Sorry this is my first time on a cruise and I'm not aware of the lingo :)

 

Surely you jest. But you apparently live in San Francisco where you pay some of the highest taxes in the country. Part of your taxes should go to support your local library, which you can Google at San Francisco Public Library.

 

Hank

[CruiseCriticNoob]

Thanks for that :) I mistakenly assumed that you were referring to a virtual library that cruise critic members or HAL customer have access to..

[Essiesmom]

As far as Cruise Critic is concerned, your 'library' might be the Ports of Call boards, in this case the Alaska board. As for the White Pass and Yukon Railway, google them. They have a website and you can book passage online. Only difference, other than a few $, is you have to board the rain in town rather than on the dock beside the ship. EM

[Pharry]

Hello,

 

My spouse & I booked out 1st ever cruise today on the Nieuw Amsterdam for the 11th of June ( I know! :( Very short notice since we had some changes on our job front and will be making a move soon ).

 

As I tried to book my top 3 excursions for the trip, I found that all are sold out :( and I can only be waitlisted for now.

 

Port - Tracy Arm

Excursion - Tracy Arm Fjord & GlacierExplorer

 

Port - Juneau

Excursion - Dog sledding the Mendenhall Glacier

 

Port - Skagway

Excursion - White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad

 

 

My questions for the seasoned cruisers are -

 

1) What are the chances of getting a spot if you're on a waitlist?

2) Can I independently find & use providers for the same excursion on the ground directly ?

 

THANK YOU :)

 

When I did the same cruise last year I used Trip Advisor for each location, looking up "things to do " I read a lot,of reviews. There is usually a website that you can also use. I also googled each destinations tourist site. We were able to book excellent excursions at a cheaper rate than the cruise ship. I hope this helps, Good luck .

[Tutu cruiser]

We are going the same week as you and just booked a few days ago. But we will be on the Norwegian jewel. Today I booked a rental car in Skagway for $100 for the day from Sourdough car rental. We are planning to drive to emerald lake and a few other locations. It's the same road that all the busses take for the bus/train tour. If you look at the map it's the only road with in a 100 miles so I don't think we can get lost 😜🤔. I'm really excited about that day as we are more independent and are not entirely sure how much we will like the cruise, but we wanted to try it. I also like that we will be able to stop and take pictures when we want and for how long we want.

I also just booked a whale watching cruise with Harv and Marv in Juneau but they may be booked now...

Good luck and I hope we all have a great trip!

[Cruisin' Chick]

Thanks for that :) I mistakenly assumed that you were referring to a virtual library that cruise critic members or HAL customer have access to..

 

when planning ports for a cruise or going on a road trip, I see what books my public library has. If there's any books that I want to keep referring to (rather than just taking notes from), I would see if there's a latest edition on Amazon.

 

I also google each port. Usually there are many tourism sites with a lot of info.

 

Most of the time we don't do any excursions (even though we would tend to go through the ship for these), so I'll come up with a list of sights to see and check with my family as to what they think.