Spontaneous Excursions

[gointostpete]

Well, thanks to reading this board, I have bagged the land tour through the cruise line and am now planning a 1-week land tour on our own before boarding our ship for a southbound cruise. So, I am busily planning and booking car rental, hotels, excursions, etc, but my husband is concerned that I am going to have every minute of every day booked with no wiggle room for doing something spur-of-the-moment. I am going to book ahead for the things we absolutely do not want to miss, but there are some places where I'm planning to leave the day open for whatever we feel like at the moment. Can anyone suggest activities in the following places that you can do without booking ahead:

 

Denali (we're already planning on the shuttle bus for one day, but have another partial day open, after about 3:00 or so)

Whittier (before sailing)

Skagway (not sure we want to do the train, but if we do, can we decide that when we get there?)

 

We like active things like hiking, rafting, kayaking and do NOT like being part of a "herd". We're specifically interested in wildlife and scenery - no shopping or museum or indoor stuff.

 

Any suggestions?

[NancyIL]

Yay - another independent land trip convert! :) These are companies whose sites I bookmarked, but have not personally experienced.

 

If you're interested in a more close-up view of glaciers in Prince William Sound than what you'll see from your cruise ship in College Fjord - consider a PWS cruise:

http://www.princewilliamsound.com/

http://www.26glaciers.com/http://majormarine.com/alaska-day-cruises/prince-william-sound-glacier-cruise/

http://majormarine.com/alaska-day-cruises/prince-william-sound-glacier-cruise/

 

Kayaking:

http://www.pwskayakcenter.com/

http://www.honeycharters.com/

 

Hiking:

http://www.akhs.atfreeweb.com/Hikes/PortPass.htm

[Chat Noir]

Denali has a nice short 'sled dog' demonstration that we thoroughly enjoyed. It is offered up to 3 times daily, depending on when you travel. The shuttle/tour (whichever you decide upon - shuttle was fine for us) is one thing you'll definitely want to plan ahead for.

 

Whittier, I'm not sure how early you'd need to book a PWS glacier day cruise... but if you're going to do it the day of the cruise, it won't cut into other plans anyway. How do you plan to get to Whittier?

 

As far as Skagway goes, with your penchant for being out on your own, I'd certainly recommend the car rental over the train, and a car should be advanced booked. There are numerous places to stop and hike or just enjoy scenery along the Klondike Highway. We used Yukon's guide to Emerald Lake. The Skagway cemetery is interesting, and there is hiking nearby.

 

Have you looked into purchasing the TourSaver? Without it, there are likely activites you can walk-up to with no problem for your land portion. However, if you'd like to use the coupons, most do require advance booking. We purchased 2 booklets (family of 4) and by the time we finished using the coupons, our savings was significant.

[Toyz711]

yes, if you decide to do the round-trip train, you can purchase the tickets while on the ship. but look into the multi-different tours that include the train one way and a bus/van the other. some are smaller tours. also, car rental out of skagway. for hiking trails google "dewey lake".

http://www.skagway.com/

don't know your other ports, but all of them have website..have their visitor's center send you a guide and maps.

juneau has much to do...hiking trails out at mendenhall glacier, which you can get to with a $6 shuttle (per person each way).

http://www.traveljuneau.com/

http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/districts/mendenhall/

http://www.visit-ketchikan.com/

sitka and icy straits points (hoonah) has website, also.

[Budget Queen]

Either consider arriving later in Whittier, going through the 5:30pm tunnel is more than enough time, will need a costly one way car most likely?

 

Or consider, out of Whittier, a Prince William Sound boat tour- no you don't "need" it, but it is WAY superior to anything seen from your cruise ship and just a spectacular tour.

 

listings of Denali Park activites http://www.nps.gov/dena also when you get there, check out the visitor center activites and ranger stuff. (different buildling from the Access Center, where you get the shuttle buses)

 

In Skagway, generally there is space for the train. But I would suggest getting off your ship early, and inquire about space starting with the 8:30am run. Then you have a least 2 chances to get on.

[thawan]

When we were on the train/bus combo (Skagway) the train stopped to pick up (as the conductor said) some bear bait on the way back. So I know there is a hike/train combo. But boy they sure looked tired. ;)

[thawan]

duplicate

[gointostpete]

Thanks, everybody, for the suggestions. I've got that Prince William Sound cruise on my list, depending on what time we get to Whittier (we do have a one-way rental and will be coming from the other side of the Kenai peninsula). It seemed like the only reasonable cruise times were around 1:00 and I wasn't sure if we would have enough time to drop off our luggage, return the car and check in first (how early can you start checking in?) Does anybody know how late you can go rafting in Denali and can you just walk-up without a prior reservation? Or how about the fast ferry to Haines from Skagway? Is there enough time to do this and is there anything worth going to Haines for? I've gotten some information on hiking trails in Skagway and I also see that you can rent bicycles by the hour.

 

So many possibilities, so little time!

[Chenega]

Given everything you listed, I'd give the priority to the Prince William Sound cruises, most of which depart around 1pm (there's an earlier one at 11:30am though Esther Passage that is a personal favorite).

 

Whittier is very small and you'd have plenty to time to check-in with luggage, return the car, go on a small boat cruise, and return before the ship sails out of port. Everything is within walking distance.

 

As far as the Denali Rafts, during mid-summer they often go as late as the early evening hours (7-8pm) since there's so much daylight.