Alaska Cruise Excursion Advice-August 24, 2009

[booksmadebymedotcom]

I am going on an Alaskan Cruise on the Island Princess on August 24. My husband and I are in our 30s and we are on a budget but want to really experience this cruise. From what we have heard, all three ports of Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan are pretty small and you can experience a lot on foot on our own. We are thinking about doing the White Pass Rail and Experience Yukon combo. Has anyone done this excursion? It is $200 per person so it would be our only excursion if we did it, is it totally worth it, or should we choose white pass rail or experience Yukon individually.

 

[karobis]

This is our 2nd time to Alaska (going this week). First time at Skagway we did the White Pass Rail and enjoyed it. The day was beautiful but didn't see much wildlife. 2nd time around we are taking the bus to summit to suspension bridge and Liarsville along with doing the dog sleds. Mainly because my wife loves the animals and wants to see how they are trained. In Juneau you should at least take the tram at Mt. Roberts right as you get off the ship. The scenary is great and rates are reasonable. Wife and I spent a lot of time at the time on the trails and had a great time. We are also doing the Juneau underground. We did the Mendenhal Glacier and Salmon Hatchery the first time and really enjoyed the glacier. Would have liked to spend more time and even though we enjoyed learning about the Hatchery we could have lived without. We said if we went back to the Glacier we would go on our own to spend more time there. At Ketchikan we did the Zip Line due to our teenager wanted to do something daring and actually had a great time.

The Red Dog Saloon was a fun place to visit at Juneau and the Reindeer Sausage was good. We actually had a bear come into town that day and was just walking down the street from the Saloon. Lots of fun places to visit both at Juneau and Skagway without spending any bucks. The gardens at Skagway had some of the prettiest flowers and colors you'll ever see. Ketchikan is a very small town and has a few nice shops. You'll be able to walk the whole town in a day easily.

Have a great time in Alaska, you'll never forget it.

 

[Loydene]

We've just returned from those 3 ports.
We took the White Pass & Yukon trip -- down from Fraser. We took a van up with Dyea Dave. The scenery is different - it seems to be more scenic from the train -- and dramatically beautiful. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to experience it. But, it is still "just a train" ride ... and a slow one at that! I'm glad to have done it once, but doubt that I'd do it again.

 

[spindrift]

We will be on your same cruise, but doin the land tour first. This will be our third time. We took the train ride the first time, and we enjoyed it. (We were in Sitka the other time). But let me mention if you want to spend your money on a worthwhile trip, and that is the Wilderness Crab Feast in Ketchican. It was fabulous--service, scenery, food--everything. We were going to do this again, but our friends who decided to join us have another plan.

We did the Totem Pole trip the first time, and that was nice--very rainy (early Sept.). We haven't done the Mt. Roberts tram and will do so on this trip. We are also playing golf in Skagway.

Anyway, take a look at the Wilderness trip. Beautiful, beautiful scenery and wildlife also.

A group of us on the "boards" are meeting the first morning at sea at around 11 a.m. on the 2nd level of the covered pool area. Do join us.