Please, give me your top 5 excursions, under $200 pp.

[cruisePack842]

Nieuw Amsterdam, inside passage, late August. Stops at Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, and Ketchican. We're too old for the real physical stuff, but we could do a fair amount of walking. The scenic and cultural excursions would be great. Love a good beer, as well, so your "best bars" would also help.

Any tips on the best way to purchase are appreciated, especially the White Pass train.

 

Thank you for any and all help. Our second cruise in 20 years. I love planning trips.

[SuperCrewBear]

I don't have a top five, sorry. For where you're going and something I've done I'd pick Alaska Canopy Adventures - the "Rainforest Canopy & Zipline Expedition" at Ketchikan. $189. I'm *NOT* a person who likes heights but made myself do this - I'm glad I did. I could have went through the course a second time as soon as we finished. On a scale of 1-5 of for being physical I'd give it a 3. I don't know your age but they told us they have had some fairly elderly people do it - I could be completely wrong but I'm thinking they had a lady who was in her late 80s or maybe early 90s before. Good luck!

[imacruiser99]

Nieuw Amsterdam, inside passage, late August. Stops at Juneau, Skagway, Glacier Bay, and Ketchican. We're too old for the real physical stuff, but we could do a fair amount of walking. The scenic and cultural excursions would be great. Love a good beer, as well, so your "best bars" would also help.

Any tips on the best way to purchase are appreciated, especially the White Pass train.

 

Thank you for any and all help. Our second cruise in 20 years. I love planning trips.

 

Personally, when in Skagway I always go to Skagway Brewery. About 1/2 mile walk from the dock at Broadway & 7th. In Ketchikan, my new best place is the The Asylum Bar on Water Street across from Berth 3. Ensure you order the fish and chips from Burger Queen which is next door.

 

Both locations tend to draw a good local crowd as well.

[SuperCrewBear]

Personally, when in Skagway I always go to Skagway Brewery. About 1/2 mile walk from the dock at Broadway & 7th. In Ketchikan, my new best place is the The Asylum Bar on Water Street across from Berth 3. Ensure you order the fish and chips from Burger Queen which is next door.

 

Both locations tend to draw a good local crowd as well.

 

I will 2nd Burger Queen. After being on the ship for over a week it was nice to have a good old fashioned hamburger - I didn't notice the fish & chips but I will next time! I ***THINK*** Burger Queen will bring food to you at The Asylum...

[imacruiser99]

Burger Queen will bring food next door. If you go to The Asylum Bar website they do have the menu for Burger Queen. Need to watch your time, depending on port arrival, Burger Queen may close early. I think it caters more to local hours, which means it must be good

 

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[martincath]

Personally, when in Skagway I always go to Skagway Brewery. About 1/2 mile walk from the dock at Broadway & 7th. In Ketchikan, my new best place is the The Asylum Bar on Water Street across from Berth 3. Ensure you order the fish and chips from Burger Queen which is next door.

 

Both locations tend to draw a good local crowd as well.

+1 to both! Asylum is often almost empty of tourists when we've visited as it's the 'wrong side' of the tunnel so most folks who wander around simply never find it or Burger Queen - you need to know they're there (NB: we cruise May - in peak season with multiple ships in port, I'm sure there are more fellow cruisers who visit).

 

Excursions - the Whales, Mendenhall, Photosafari excursion (Gastineau Guiding, booked through ships) was hands-down the best one we've ever done in that price bracket. It was only $20 more than a regular 'big boat' Allen Marine whalewatch when we took it and used superb boats, 14-seaters with generous outdoor space front & rear plus huge fully-opening windows that made photography easy in all directions. Having a pro photog along to give tips on camera settings was valuable to me (I'm a vaguely-competent user of a long-lens Point & Shoot), still useful to my wife (SLR and multiple lenses, many years experience and taken photog classes before), and INCREDIBLY useful for the couple of folks who had bought a brand-new camera for their trip and had not one clue how to use them - the photog literally just took the camera from them, optimised settings for the whales, then did the same again for our photowalk through the rainforest and then again when we got to the Glacier.

 

Skagway the trips up to White Pass and beyond are also great and in your price-range, even if you take the train both ways. But rent your own car, or do bus one or both ways, and you can shave a good chunk of change off the price while even adding value in terms of flexibility of timing - route-wise, it's more about how FAR do you go than which road;-)

 

 

But the best bang for your buck is definitely to walk around and make use of the various town museums, signed trails, ranger walks etc. that are free or dirt-cheap, educational, and interesting. Maybe if you consider doing mostly those you could even free up enough budget for one real 'splurge' trip like floatplane/choppers?

[cruisePack842]

Thank you. Great information.