Opinions on Alaska Excursions?

[wsdwsd]

My family of 5 (including 3 "kids"-ages 21,20, 18) are booked on Radiance of the Seas out of Vancouver on July 8. Any suggestions on the best excursions to take on this cruise or any to avoid? Has anyone taken the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari? Is there sufficient time to do this AND go on the White Pass Railway? Has anyone booked an independent excursion on this cruise & if so, how did it go? Thanks.

[maxs mom]

Check out the ports of call board for Alaska. It's the best POC board on CC. Loads of wonderful information there. If you are sailing this July 8th, then you are pretty much out of luck for independent excursions.....most anyway. They book up fast. Independent is a great way to go in Alaska, but you should be able to book something through the cruise line. We've cruised to Alaska twice and it is fabulous. You'll love it. I highly recommend doing a helicopter glacier tour if you can. Have fun.

[jobrien]

My family of 5 (including 3 "kids"-ages 21,20, 18) are booked on Radiance of the Seas out of Vancouver on July 8. Any suggestions on the best excursions to take on this cruise or any to avoid? Has anyone taken the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari? Is there sufficient time to do this AND go on the White Pass Railway? Has anyone booked an independent excursion on this cruise & if so, how did it go? Thanks.

 

We booked all of our Alaska excursions independently.

 

Skagway- TEMSCO helicopter/dogsledding on glacier

Juneau- Capt. Larry Whale watching

Ketchikan- Island Wings floatplane in Misty Fjords

 

Fantastic stuff. My kids really enjoyed the dogsledding and the views on the way up to the camp were tremendous.

 

Here are some of my pics: http://www.orkl.com/cruise/pics.html

[elleluv]

You will love your cruise! :) Both the ship and the itinerary are wonderful! We went a few weeks ago and had a fabulous time!

 

We did two excursions... the Whitepass Railroad through the ship and Capt Larry's Whalewatching (Orca Enterprises) independently http://www.orcaenterprises.com/ I highly recommend both excursions.

 

The independent excursion with Capt Larry went very smoothly.

Their office is directly across the street from where Radiance docked. We walked over there and they bused us all to the bay where we got on their boat. We had a fantastic morning in a boat with a group of about 40 or so people, we saw several humpbacks.

 

I don't think it's necessarily too late to book independently. We booked in about March, but we spoke to one couple that had just walked over to the office that morning with no reservation. I was very surprised there was still availability, because I understand that a lot of the excusions completely book up. I'd book whatever excursions you decide to do as soon as you decide though.

 

We were actually also interested in doing the Misty Fjords flight through Island Wings, but when we checked several months ago, the only flight they had the day we were in Ketchikan was a flight that ran from 5:00 to 7:00 pm.... Radiance was scheduled to leave at 8:00 pm (and to top it off, we were tendered there)... The only reason that we didn't go was that I wasn't comfortable booking an independent excursion that was cutting it so close to the ships departure time.

 

If you want to see Alaska, you do need to make a point of going outside the Port area, whether on an excursion, or on your own. The Ports tend to look a lot like the Ports anywhere else in the world, with a lot of the same shops.

 

We have pictures of our cruise posted here....

 

http://theloves.smugmug.com/gallery/1551628

 

The first 2 pages or so are pictures of Radiance and they are followed by the pictures of Alaska.

 

Have a great trip! :)

[usedtogotowork]

We just got back June 24 from Radiance. I took my thirteen year old son and nine year old daughter. We set excursions on RCC web site and we picked dog sledding in skagway, canopy zip lines in Juneau and Ketchikan, and the lumber jack show. They were all fun, but the canopy tour won the prize. There were 21 people in our group, and half chose this one. They are all still talking about it. That was definitely my kids favorite part of the trip. The day before the trip we did a whale watching trip with Kenai Fjords company in Seward. We did see whales, but we also all saw our lunch twice. If you do this, take your dramamine. ;) I hope you have a great time. If I can answer any more questions let me know.

[cacky]

We book excursions through RCCL. We booked helicoptor ride up to Demver Glacier and went dogsledding. It is my favorite all time shore excursion and well worth the money (my second favorite shore excursion was the dolphin swim in Cozumel).

[dougp26364]

........The day before the trip we did a whale watching trip with Kenai Fjords company in Seward. We did see whales, but we also all saw our lunch twice. If you do this, take your dramamine. ;) I hope you have a great time. If I can answer any more questions let me know.

 

Most of the whale watching tours offered are in the protected waters of the inside straight. There was very little motion when we did this tour in Juneau and no one on our boat even remotely looked ill. Perhaps the thing to think about with whale watching is the location of the waters you'll be sailing in.

[MrBassBone]

My family of 5 (including 3 "kids"-ages 21,20, 18) are booked on Radiance of the Seas out of Vancouver on July 8. Any suggestions on the best excursions to take on this cruise or any to avoid? Has anyone taken the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari? Is there sufficient time to do this AND go on the White Pass Railway? Has anyone booked an independent excursion on this cruise & if so, how did it go? Thanks.

 

 

You should ask this here...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

[jnnifer01]

Is there any way to do a dogsledding tour that doesn't involve flying in a helicoptor? I'm not too keen on flying anymore, but would love to do the doglsledding while in Alaska.

Thanks!

[bmr12]

My family of 5 (including 3 "kids"-ages 21,20, 18) are booked on Radiance of the Seas out of Vancouver on July 8. Any suggestions on the best excursions to take on this cruise or any to avoid? Has anyone taken the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari? Is there sufficient time to do this AND go on the White Pass Railway? Has anyone booked an independent excursion on this cruise & if so, how did it go? Thanks.

We did the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari. It was pretty good--not much wildlife, but nice scenery, despite rain and cold. I think it took about six hours altogether from the time we got off the ship until the bus plopped us in downtown Skagway. I doubt there is time for a train ride as well, but check with RCCI's web site to see departure times.

 

The bus will take you over to the small boat harbor to the jet-boat. From there, it is another 45 minutes on a boat to the beach where you'll get off, ride another bus for 20 or so minutes to the point where you get your rain gear on and hike through the woods to the canoes. I think we spent 2 or 2.5 hours on the canoe before reversing the whole process (hike->bus->beach->boat->bus).

[elleluv]

Most of the whale watching tours offered are in the protected waters of the inside straight. There was very little motion when we did this tour in Juneau and no one on our boat even remotely looked ill. Perhaps the thing to think about with whale watching is the location of the waters you'll be sailing in.

 

 

We've done the Kenai Fjords wildlife/glacier cruises in Seward several times and yes, it can be a bit rough.... I haven't had any problem, but DH was very seasick the first time we went. We also did the whale watching in Juneau. There's no comparing those two excursions.

 

In Seward, you go to a glacier; we've seen whales (Humpback & Orcas), Stellar Sea Lions, Harbour Seals, Dahl Porpoises, Otters, Puffins, & Eagles...

 

We did have a good time whale watching in Juneau. They are both worth doing, but if I had to choose between the two, Seward would win hands down. The variety of what you see is amazing.

 

Definitely don't rule Seward out because of the potentially rough water if a little dramamine will take care of it... DH has just taken some meds and gone back for more even after his bad experience.

[cacky]

THe cruise we went on in June 2005 had a land dog sled excursion. It takes you to a camp not on a glacier. I didn't do this one, but I don't think there was snow, but they used some kind of sled that didn't need snow.

 

My husband wasn't keen on helicopter flying either, neither of us had done it. The view was so awesome that the fear of the helicoptor was not a factor at all.

 

Is there any way to do a dogsledding tour that doesn't involve flying in a helicoptor? I'm not too keen on flying anymore, but would love to do the doglsledding while in Alaska.

Thanks!

[MrBassBone]

Is there any way to do a dogsledding tour that doesn't involve flying in a helicoptor? I'm not too keen on flying anymore, but would love to do the doglsledding while in Alaska.

Thanks!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55

 

Again...you might just consider asking this on the Alaska Board....