Ketchikan self exploration

[Lenron]

My cruise is in Ketchikan from 11am-7pm. Is there much to do for self exploration as I'm not keen on the excursions offered for my cruise.

[Northern Aurora]

Use goggle to find the Ketchikan visitor's bureau.  Should be able to locate a nice self guided walking tour.  There are also a number of attractions located right downtown (assuming you are not on a NCL cruise which docks at Ward Cove).

[Lenron]

1 hour ago, Northern Aurora said:

Use goggle to find the Ketchikan visitor's bureau.  Should be able to locate a nice self guided walking tour.  There are also a number of attractions located right downtown (assuming you are not on a NCL cruise which docks at Ward Cove).

Thanks. I'm on Holland America 

[nordicacres]

We will be ziplining in the morning (my son said this was his must do). In the afternoon we plan to visit the SE Alaska Discovery Center and Creek St! We chose to do ziplining here for precisely this reason. 

[SightCRR]

If going in Sept-Oct look into Herring Cove to see the bears. Much earlier won't have salmon and likely no bears. 

[Glaciers]

Ketchikan has a city bus for $2 that runs out to Totem Bight and Saxman Totem Park as well as several other areas in town.

[smarterman64]

self guided ketchikan map from visitors center is good. creek street is also neat. if its in season you can see salmon swimming upstream

[sharon_pei]

If using city bus to go totem park, how many hours should be budgeted pls? We won't have too much time in this port (scheduled for 6am-2pm, but for late risers who plan to eat proper breakfast, it's probably more likely 8:30am-2pm) and our must-dos include totem park and creek street.  Optional items are rest of the city walk tour plus lumberjack show. 

[jean-lynd]

Here is a map of the walking tour of Ketchikan. It is very easy to do on your own. I hope this helps!

[wolfie11]

On 3/6/2024 at 1:00 PM, sharon_pei said:

If using city bus to go totem park, how many hours should be budgeted pls? We won't have too much time in this port (scheduled for 6am-2pm, but for late risers who plan to eat proper breakfast, it's probably more likely 8:30am-2pm) and our must-dos include totem park and creek street.  Optional items are rest of the city walk tour plus lumberjack show. 

You take the Silver line to get to Totem Bight.  The buses run once an hour although not always on time, and it’s about a 40 minute ride.  So figure you have to allow 1:45 each way (in case you just miss a bus or it’s running late)for a total of 3.5 hours transit and an hour at the park for a total allowance of 4.5 hours to be safe.  

[sharon_pei]

2 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

You take the Silver line to get to Totem Bight.  The buses run once an hour although not always on time, and it’s about a 40 minute ride.  So figure you have to allow 1:45 each way (in case you just miss a bus or it’s running late)for a total of 3.5 hours transit and an hour at the park for a total allowance of 4.5 hours to be safe.  

Thank for so much for the information! to spend 3.5 hours on the way for an hour in the park seems a pretty bad ROI. is there uber or taxi service that would make the trip more efficient?  If not, looks like with for time we have in Ketchikan, we will have to skip totem park to make time for creek street and other parts of downtown. 

[wolfie11]

16 minutes ago, sharon_pei said:

Thank for so much for the information! to spend 3.5 hours on the way for an hour in the park seems a pretty bad ROI. is there uber or taxi service that would make the trip more efficient?  If not, looks like with for time we have in Ketchikan, we will have to skip totem park to make time for creek street and other parts of downtown. 

I highly recommend a local company called Wild Wolf tours.  You could call them and see what they offer.

 

[edinburgher]

On 3/6/2024 at 6:00 PM, sharon_pei said:

but for late risers who plan to eat proper breakfast, it's probably more likely 8:30am-2pm)

If you planned to cruise Alaska for the sights, scenery and experiences, just this one time perhaps you could consider rising earlier and eating breakfast more quickly😀

 

 I don't recall the public bus taking an hour to Totem Park, thinking it was more like 25 or 30 minutes, but you could check that online.

 

Past threads mentioning Totem Bight and transportation to and from can be found here

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search/?q=totem bight&quick=1&type=forums_topic&nodes=33&updated_after=any&sortby=relevancy&search_and_or=and

 

 

Edited March 8 by edinburgher

[sharon_pei]

thank you both, wolfie11 and edinburgher, for the quick replies! I took a look at the tour option and it's cheapest offer is $75/pp. That's over budget for us unfortunately. One of posts in the link shared above include a very detailed trip report/review including how to get to the totem parks by bus. it's such a wonderfully informative post that i would like to add the link of this post just in case anyone else find it useful: 

 

 

[edinburgher]

4 hours ago, sharon_pei said:

I took a look at the tour option and it's cheapest offer is $75/pp. That's over budget for us unfortunately. One of posts in the link shared above include a very detailed trip report/review including how to get to the totem parks by bus. it's such a wonderfully informative post that i would like to add the link of this post just in case anyone else find it useful: 

No tour is needed for Totem Bight as so easy and inexpensive to visit independently.  Multiple past posts and threads have explained the bus, I think still only $2 or $3 pp each way and entrance is only around $5pp.

 

But thanks for including the link above as others hoping to visit may find it useful.

[Coral]

If it helps - I have done a ton of tours in Ketchikan and none have been that great. This is my least favorite port for excursions. Though it is a nice port to walk around.

[wolfie11]

9 hours ago, Coral said:

If it helps - I have done a ton of tours in Ketchikan and none have been that great. This is my least favorite port for excursions. Though it is a nice port to walk around.

Deadliest Catch tour is one of my favorites as is the crab feast at George Inlet.

[Coral]

33 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

Deadliest Catch tour is one of my favorites as is the crab feast at George Inlet.

These are 2 tours I have not done. I can't eat seafood/shellfish so the crab fest is out. I keep looking at the Deadliest Catch as everyone raves about it but it doesn't interest me. If I have excess OBC, I should do it next time because it does get high reviews, consistently. I haven't read one negative review yet.

 

I have done most of the other tours. I personally would love Ketchikan get replaced with another port on itineraries. On the other side - I do enjoy walking around this port and not planning anything anymore. I have been lucky and most of the time I am in port on beautiful weather days.