Shore Excursion Advice - Holland America

[Connecticutnewcruiser]

My family will be on an Alaskan Land Tour/Cruise in late May with Holland America. Does anyone have advice on the best shore excursions for Denali, Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Ketchikan? It will be our first time to Alaska. Many thanks in advance for your help!

[Skye23]

We're going at the same time, same company slightly different tour - Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, Juneau, Haines, Ketchikan... And I haven't had much luck with excursions either. I've picked a few I really want to do like the Salmon Bake, and possibly either the White Pass Railway, or the Seward - Cruise ship train upgrade, and maybe the Saxman village. But otherwise I'm stumped.

 

My mother does not want to go on a catamaran, helicopter, and as she put it she used to fly small planes so no puddle jumpers.

[CanCanCase]

The options are really too many to list. If you can narrow your priorities a bit, I'm sure folks here will toss out a BUNCH of suggestions... Do you want to:

- See glaciers?

- Fish?

- Have a "cultural" experience?

- View wildlife?

- Whale watch?

- Eat seafood?

- Learn about gold rush history?

- Learn about Russian/American history?

- Visit an aquarium & Fish Hatchery?

- Visit a botanical garden?

- Canoe?

- Kayak?

- River Raft?

(And that's just a few of the things for one or two ports!)

 

Oh, in between all of this decision making, don't forget to have fun!

 

-Case

[GlacierLady]

or the Seward - Cruise ship train upgrade

 

You'll pay alot more to take the train through the cruise ship and miss a great opportunity to see Seward. So unless you have a same day flight...the regular passenger train leaves at 6pm arrives Anch 10:20pm, for almost 1/2 the cost on exactly the same tracks. Lots of things to do for a day or 2 in Seward.

[Budget Queen]

In Denali Park, get to the visitor center, will be ranger activites available, also the sled dog demo is worthwhile.

 

Whale watching out of Hoonah is superb. But an independent is superior for longer tours. Plenty to consider in every port, hundreds of tours. so definately- narrow down your interests and relist.

[Budget Queen]

You'll pay alot more to take the train through the cruise ship and miss a great opportunity to see Seward. So unless you have a same day flight...the regular passenger train leaves at 6pm arrives Anch 10:20pm, for almost 1/2 the cost on exactly the same tracks. Lots of things to do for a day or 2 in Seward.

 

Although this advice is definately superior- the poster is on a cruisetour, which unfortunately misses out completely on wonderful Seward. :(

[F19810]

Both Anchorage and Fairbanks have good museums. When I took HAL's cruisetour, they offered the 6 hour Kenia cruise as an option. I enjoyed this but I did get a little seasick evan after taking bonine for 7 days. In Skagway, if you have time, take a national park walking tour. They are offered several times a day and are very interesting.

Judy

[Connecticutnewcruiser]

Thanks so much for the info thus far. Our HAL CruiseTour starts in Fairbanks (we'll be arriving a day early so will have time on our own - is the Arctic Circle one day tour worth it?).

 

From there we will be about a day and a half in Denali. We'd like to do one flightseeing tour at some point in the trip (can't do more than that due to cost x4 adults).

 

I've already booked the Kenai Fjords excursion on the day we transfer from Anchorage to Seward to get on the ship. I've also booked the White Pass & Yukon Railroad tour from Skagway.

 

So, between Icy Strait Point, Juneau and Ketchikan, we'd like to do some or all of the following for which I need your help and advice:

 

1) Mendenhall Glacier Tours (worth the helicopter?)

2) Is Saxman Village worth the trip?

3) Whale Watching - which port and which tours are the best?

4) Misty Fjords - Floatplane, jetboat, both?

5) Best tour for dog sledding/observation?

 

We would probably not be interested in the canoe/sea kayak tours, fishing, and perhaps not river rapids etc.

 

Many thanks in advance everyone! I hope that narrowed it down enough.

[Connecticutnewcruiser]

Thanks thus far for your help - here's a stab at narrowing down my inquiry:

 

We're arriving in Fairbanks a day before the Tour starts and thus need advice on Fairbanks activities.

 

We'll be in Denali about 1 1/2 days - which tours are the best. We'd like to do one flightseeing tour during our vacation, is Denali the best place to try this or elsewhere?

 

I've already booked the Kenai Fjords trip (all day) on the day we transfer from Anchorage to Seward to embark on the ship.

 

I've also already booked the White Pass & Yukon railway trip out of Skagway.

 

Other items of interest:

 

1) Whale watching - best port? best tour? for this

2) Bear watching - ditto

3) Mendenhall Glacier - worth the helicopter trip?

4) Dog Sledding/observation - best location?

 

Additional ports are Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Ketchikan.

 

We'd probably not be interested in fishing, sea kayak/canoe, or river rapids. 4 adults on the trip - all active types.

 

Many thanks in advance for all the assistance!

[plantlady095]

We are on HAL Cruise Tour #6 beginning the end of May in Anchorage. We hope to see whales when we take the Major Marine 8 hour boat tour of Kenai Fjords from Seward (prior to joining the cruise tour group). As whales are wild animals, who knows if we shall see any? In Ketchikan, we booked a Misty Fjord boat tour (Wilderness Explorer).

 

Have you looked at the excursions offered by HAL? You go to their site and click on the link for booked passengers. You will need your reservation number and then you can go stop by stop to see where you will have time in the itinerary. After you browse their offerings, you can go to each town or area and see what tours are offered by independent vendors. Then, you can select the ones that seem the most interesting between HAL and the independents. We chose the log cabin dinner at Denali for the first night because we decided that we would need to eat dinner anyway and it would be likely to cost about what they were charging.

 

I have a feeling that all of us will need to return to Alaska to see as much as we want! Happy travels!

[Toyz711]

juneau and icy straits points are mentioned as the best whale watching. in juneau the most talked about vendors are ocra enterprises (capt larry) and Harv & marv. both have great reps. look down the list the threads posted the last couple of days and you should see 1 or 2 that talk about this. both these companies have website if you want to look at them.

http://www.orcaenterprises.com/

http://www.harvandmarvs.com/aboutus2.html

[Budget Queen]

Thanks thus far for your help - here's a stab at narrowing down my inquiry:

 

We're arriving in Fairbanks a day before the Tour starts and thus need advice on Fairbanks activities.

 

We'll be in Denali about 1 1/2 days - which tours are the best. We'd like to do one flightseeing tour during our vacation, is Denali the best place to try this or elsewhere?

 

I've already booked the Kenai Fjords trip (all day) on the day we transfer from Anchorage to Seward to embark on the ship.

 

I've also already booked the White Pass & Yukon railway trip out of Skagway.

 

Other items of interest:

 

1) Whale watching - best port? best tour? for this

2) Bear watching - ditto

3) Mendenhall Glacier - worth the helicopter trip?

4) Dog Sledding/observation - best location?

 

Additional ports are Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Ketchikan.

 

We'd probably not be interested in fishing, sea kayak/canoe, or river rapids. 4 adults on the trip - all active types.

 

Many thanks in advance for all the assistance!

 

 

Since you are on a cruisetour- isn't there a Denali park tour included?? Hopefully the Tundra Wilderness??

 

 

And are you going on your own to Seward, leaving the cruisetour??? You will not get to Seward in time using the cruisetour transfer in time for any Kenai Fjords tour. You will need to book the Alaska RR on your own, and no time for the "all day" tour which is the Northwestern fjords. I'm assuming you are doing something else??

[Marie321]

In Juneau, we had a wonderful time last year with Captain Larry and Orca Enterprises whale watching. We also thoroghly enjoyed zip lining. Links below. We whale watched in the AM and zip lined in the PM

 

http://www.orcaenterprises.com/

 

http://www.alaskazip.com/

 

:D