So many decisions! Planning Alaska

[sarahj203]

So many decisions to make! Lucky I have plenty of time. We are not really cruisers. We’ve done a couple, enjoyed them but decided it’s not really ‘our thing’. I guess hubby was surprised when out of the blue I up and booked an Alaskan cruise for August 2021😂

 

We will be flying in from Australia and the very loose plan at this stage is : 

 

- Fly into Seattle and spend approx 5 nights there. City sights and maybe a day trip or 2 in a hire car
- Passenger Ferry to Victoria. Hire a car and stay a night. 
- ferry to Vancouver, embark Celebrity Eclipse ( possibly overnight in Vancouver pre cruise)

- Vancouver, inside passage, icy straight point, Hubbard glacier, Juneau, Ketchikan, inside passage, Vancouver. 
- Shore tours ???? at this stage. My wish list is bears, whales and glaciers. The closer the better.  We’ve done a heli tour before landing on top of a snow covered mountain. Not sure if this would be similar to landing on a glacier. Wondering if water based tours would be better? Open to all options. 
- Vancouver approx 5 - 6 nights including a hire car drive and stay a night in Whistler. 
 That is what i am working with at the moment. If the budget allows I would also love to fly across to Toronto and see Niagara Falls, then transfer and fly home from Chicago. ( hubby is airline staff so cheap standby flights with many airlines ) 
 

Ive already got so many ideas from the CC forums and would love to hear your thoughts. 
 

Note. Non refundable deposit paid for celebrity. Concierge balcony, classic drinks, AUD$900 OBC and unlimited internet included. 
 

 

[Jnsplace1]

For ISP: check out Glacier Wind.   https://www.g-wind.com/

I booked my tour with them based on reviews on this site.  In my email exchanges with them, they have been fabulous.

 

For Juneau.  it depends on how long you are there.  If you get there by 8am, consider a tour to Tracy Arm via Adventure bound.  https://www.adventureboundalaska.com/

If not, another option is Northstar they do helicopter tours on top of the glacier.  Which is pretty cool, and highly memorable.

https://northstartrekking.com/

 

For Keitchan:  I recommend Island Wings if you want a misty fjords flightseeing tour.    Also amazing.

http://www.islandwings.com/

 

Good luck!

[Ferry_Watcher]

I also booked Glacier Wind out of ISP.  Small group Whale & Wildlife Excursion.  ISP also has the world largest Zip-Line ride.  I know that my Celebrity Solstice excursion options offers a Whale Watching & Zip-Line package.  If Glacier Wind is sold out, you might consider the Celebrity excursion.

 

For a day trip out of Seattle, consider visiting Mount Rainier.  It is the tallest mountain in the continental US.  https://www.nps.gov/mora/index.htm

[Italy52]

Here are a few of our favorite vendors:

 

Whale Watching - Icy Strait - https://www.g-wind.com/ 

 

Whale Watching - Juneau - https://jayleensalaska.com/

 

Bear Viewing - Ketchikan - http://www.islandwings.com/

[sarahj203]

22 hours ago, sarahj203 said:

So many decisions to make! Lucky I have plenty of time. We are not really cruisers. We’ve done a couple, enjoyed them but decided it’s not really ‘our thing’. I guess hubby was surprised when out of the blue I up and booked an Alaskan cruise for August 2021😂

 

We will be flying in from Australia and the very loose plan at this stage is : 

 

- Fly into Seattle and spend approx 5 nights there. City sights and maybe a day trip or 2 in a hire car
- Passenger Ferry to Victoria. Hire a car and stay a night. 
- ferry to Vancouver, embark Celebrity Eclipse ( possibly overnight in Vancouver pre cruise)

- Vancouver, inside passage, icy straight point, Hubbard glacier, Juneau, Ketchikan, inside passage, Vancouver. 
- Shore tours ???? at this stage. My wish list is bears, whales and glaciers. The closer the better.  We’ve done a heli tour before landing on top of a snow covered mountain. Not sure if this would be similar to landing on a glacier. Wondering if water based tours would be better? Open to all options. 
- Vancouver approx 5 - 6 nights including a hire car drive and stay a night in Whistler. 
 That is what i am working with at the moment. If the budget allows I would also love to fly across to Toronto and see Niagara Falls, then transfer and fly home from Chicago. ( hubby is airline staff so cheap standby flights with many airlines ) 
 

Ive already got so many ideas from the CC forums and would love to hear your thoughts. 
 

Note. Non refundable deposit paid for celebrity. Concierge balcony, classic drinks, AUD$900 OBC and unlimited internet included. 
 

 

 

16 hours ago, Jnsplace1 said:

For ISP: check out Glacier Wind.   https://www.g-wind.com/

I booked my tour with them based on reviews on this site.  In my email exchanges with them, they have been fabulous.

 

For Juneau.  it depends on how long you are there.  If you get there by 8am, consider a tour to Tracy Arm via Adventure bound.  https://www.adventureboundalaska.com/

If not, another option is Northstar they do helicopter tours on top of the glacier.  Which is pretty cool, and highly memorable.

https://northstartrekking.com/

 

For Keitchan:  I recommend Island Wings if you want a misty fjords flightseeing tour.    Also amazing.

http://www.islandwings.com/

 

Good luck!

Thanks so much for the reply. All sound fantastic 

[sarahj203]

13 hours ago, Italy52 said:

Here are a few of our favorite vendors:

 

Whale Watching - Icy Strait - https://www.g-wind.com/ 

 

Whale Watching - Juneau - https://jayleensalaska.com/

 

Bear Viewing - Ketchikan - http://www.islandwings.com/

Thankyou. All great ideas. Looks like the whale watching at Icy Straight is a popular fan favourite! 

[sarahj203]

16 hours ago, Ferry_Watcher said:

I also booked Glacier Wind out of ISP.  Small group Whale & Wildlife Excursion.  ISP also has the world largest Zip-Line ride.  I know that my Celebrity Solstice excursion options offers a Whale Watching & Zip-Line package.  If Glacier Wind is sold out, you might consider the Celebrity excursion.

 

For a day trip out of Seattle, consider visiting Mount Rainier.  It is the tallest mountain in the continental US.  https://www.nps.gov/mora/index.htm

Thankyou very much. Mount Rainer has been added to the Seattle list

[crystalspin]

Whales at Juneau are guaranteed -- there is a resident pod. There is also Mendenhall Glacier, which unfortunately has retreated so it's farther away, to see or to hike to. 

 

Brown (grizzly) bears highest density population is on Chichagof Island near ISP. The touring company is named for the nearby town of Hoonah. Their representative steered me to book the morning tour. 

 

We have not done anything too active in Ketchikan; last trip was in August and should have seen bears and sea lions 'fishing' for salmon, but the salmon run was very poor (2018). If you go to Totem Bight State Park, you will see bald eagles thick as crows!

[katrina915]

I was on the Eclipse this summer.  Check to see if you have enough time to do Adventure Bound cruise from Juneau as mentioned above.  I highly recommend.  See Tracey arm fjord and lots of whales.

[katrina915]

Depending on when in August, there are bear fly ins to traitors cove from ketchikan.  Pricey but good chance of seeing bears. Island wings or other operators will have dates on their website. 

[misguy]

Here is a video that talks about some of the choices in each port. 

 

[Diggerof4]

We booked our excursions through Alaska Shore Tours.  So far so good, really good! Communication has been wonderful from phone to emails.  Booked for June 2020. So, we will see.  

[newcruisefamily]

Mount Rainier is absolutely a lovely day trip from Seattle - just be warned that it is an ALL DAY trip. It's at least a 2 hour drive from the city, and we have some truly awful traffic. On the plus side, if you are going to Rainier in the morning and back to Seattle in the evening, you will be going opposite the worst of the commute. August is usually our best weather (so long as we aren't smoked in from wild fires. Last summer was fine - fingers crossed)! And the wildflowers at Rainier peak in early August 🙂

[hapster85]

ISP also has the world largest Zip-Line ride.

I see they make that claim on their website, and at 5495 ft, it may have once been true. But the current record holder is Jebel Jais in the UAE, at 9291 ft. ISP is still in the Top 10 though, and I still regret not giving it a try when I was there in 2015. Unfortunately, next year's cruise with Princess won't be stopping there. I guess that means we'll just have to go again after that. Lol