Celebrity Eclipse July/Aug 2023 to Alaska

[cruisejune]

This will be my first trip on Celebrity, having been to Alaska once on Princess many years ago. I would like to do a bear viewing tour but I am having trouble as I do not know if Celebrity offers these tours. Based on what I can find online, there is no such bear tour. Can anyone help? 

The other possibility is to get a private tour out of Juneau or ketchikan. Does anyone have any recommendations to see bears close up from these 2 ports? 

 

We plan to book Eclipse because of its different itinerary to see hubbard glacier. Many thanks for all your help!

[Alakegirl]

No bear sightings are guaranteed.  Being wild, they may or may not be in any given location depending on weather, food supply, and other factors.  It would be hard to schedule a tour to see them

[cruisejune]

Thanks for your reply Alakegirl! I understand that there is no guarantee but does Celebrity offer such a tour? Bear sighting is one of my bucket list! Usually cruise ships will have such excursions. Please let me know the options available on Celebrity Eclipse or any other private tours. Thanks

[Jeremiah On a Cruise]

We've been to AK many times (8?), have probably seen over 1000 whales, done many nature-based excursions/drives, and only seen bears in the wild once in AK - and that was on a float plane tour to Traitors Cove out of Ketchikan.  This was a great trip for multiple reasons (float plane, nature walk, and bears - oh my!), and was one of the two best excursions I've ever had in AK. These trips are very spendy (~$450/pp) and I don't recall seeing them offered through the cruise ships, but if this is a priority, check out Island Wings Air Service in Ketchikan.

 

Herring Cove, which is a 20 minute drive from Ketchikan, tends to be one of the best, free, places where you may spot bears on your own.  This is right next to a fish hatchery, so fish, and hence bears, frequent the area.  However, viewing isn't guaranteed, thus there aren't a lot of excursions from the ship that take you there.  And, getting there-and-back on your own is actually a bit of a logistical challenge that I've never bothered to solve.  We've only been to Herring Cove once, and frankly, didn't have a great time.

 

I also know that there are bear viewing excursions out of Icy Straight Point, but in the past when I've looked at those, they have not had glowing reviews. 

 

I know that many others have had better luck than us spotting bears from the ship, in fishing trips, from a train, on other boats, on hikes, etc..  So, there's a chance that you'll spot a bear by simply being engaged outside of the towns.  I just haven't been that lucky yet.