Alaska Excursons with Princess

[yags]

We are going with friends who said the Taku Lodge Float Plane excursion through Princess was their favorite - in Juneau I believe.

 

Has anyone done this one in particular?

 

thanks

On a different thread I asked about Alaskan excursions and got a lot of responses for the Taku Lodge Float Plane. Nit sure if I will go on that one only because of the small plane trip. Sounds like a great trip for those who want to fly.

[ml1986]

We did an excursion through Princess at each port in June 2015, and every single one was excellent!

 

In Ketchikan, we did a Coastal Wildlife Cruise. We got on a high speed boat with about 8 other passengers and two guides, who had a wealth of knowledge about the wildlife in the area. The cruise takes you through the inlets around the area with the goal of viewing wildlife. Immediately leaving the port we ran into a pod of orcas! We saw many eagles, seals and deer. We were looking for bears, but June wasn't quite bear season so we weren't successful in that regard. In all, it was very fun and we saw some beautiful scenery, waterfalls and animals.

 

In Juneau, we did the Best of Juneau excursion and it was fantastic! We boarded a bus that first took us to Mendenhall glacier. The bus driver gave some great knowledge and stories along the way. We had a short time to view the glacier and the visitor center. Some people were able to make the hike all the way to the waterfall and back--we didn't try it because we were worried about time. We then headed to get on a whale watching boat. The scenery as we headed out of Juneau to whale watch was just incredible--snow capped mountains all around. We saw a large number of humpback whales and fin whales and even some baby whales! The boat driver spent a good amount of time at each whale sighting and turned the boat so everyone could have a view. The boat then took us to this little island that has a very nice lodge on it for a salmon bake. We had this whole beautiful island and beach to our self for lunch and the food was really good. We even had some time after we got back from this tour to do some shopping and we went up the Mount Roberts tram. We did a short hike and enjoyed the view from the top- definitely worth it!

 

In Skagway, we decided to do the Chilkoot Lake Kayak experience. First, we boarded a ferry to Haines. It was a very scenic and enjoyable ride, and the town of Haines is gorgeous! I was glad we didn't miss it. We then got into a van with a group of about 6 people and headed to Chilkoot lake for an afternoon of kayaking with our guide. The kayaks were large and easy to use. We had this entire beautiful glacier lake to ourselves. It had the bluest water and was surrounded by snow capped mountains. There were eagles everywhere. It was awesome. We then got a quick tour of Haines and stopped for a picnic lunch.

 

In Victoria, we did the Butterfly and Butchart Garden tour. Both places were really neat. My only qualm was since the amount of time is port is so short, this tour was rushed. You are just taken to both places and able to explore them on your own. Butchart gardens is huge, so it was difficult to see everything. But, I thought it was worth going there to see all the flowers and landscaping.

 

With the exception of Victoria, even after taking these tours, we had time to explore the ports and do some shopping to see what the towns offered. I would highly recommend any of these tours!

[WVBill]

Skagway -

1) Chilkoot Horseback Adventure - absolutely a blast! I am 65, my wife is 62 our Daughter is 34 and has CMT. No riding experience required.

2) Buy your own tickets on the railroad.

 

Juneau

1) Book your own whale watching. I concur with another poster about Harv & Marv, though. I booked our family group 7 of us with them and they cancelled as the ship was pulling into port due to "weather". They were the only whale watching company to cancel that day but everyone else was booked.

2) For "Plan B", wife, daughter and I hired a cab "for the day". He took us to a quilt shop , then to Mendenhall Glacier , then to Alaska Brewing Company , then to the fish hatchery. We took our time at each place. He was a great tour guide. Total cost as I recall was $125 (plus tip).

 

Ketchikan

We only had 6 hours in port

1) just walk around downtown and visit Creek Street in the rain

[downsmead]

Not Princess tours but we did the Misty Fjords float plane in Ketchikan and the helicopter / dog sledding tour in Juneau and felt both were exceptional. The helicopter / dog sledding was expensive but worth every penny and certainly was a 'once in a lifetime trip' though we would do it again in an instant, the memory still brings a smile to my face 😁

[knbcruisers]

In Ketchikan DH and I did the zodiac boat tour which was terrific. We booked it through princess because we could go very early and leave time afterwards to walk around downtown. It is a small group of four person zodiac boats and everyone can take a chance driving you will get a very up close view of wildlife and nature and excellent information from the guide about the daily lives of people who live there.

 

 

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