Alaska excursion - when to book

[didan]

I've been checking this board out for a while and have gotten much good information. My husband and I are booked on our first cruise to Alaska on the NCL Star leaving August 29. Many posts have suggested booking excursions outside of those offered by the cruise lines. One tour we are interested in is the horseback ride to Emerald Lake with Southeast Tours. How far in advance does one need to book these tours? How accurate are the arrival and departure times posted for the different ports? Thanks for any insights you can give!

 

[PEB]

Booking excursions early is always a good idea because popular excursions fill up fast. The ships usually arrive early or on time in Alaska and they will leave ontime. The exceptions would be if there was an emergency that caused the ship to possibly return to a port they just left, such as a medical emergency, or the ship may leave port a little late if a SHIP tour was held up for some reason.

If a ship leaves port late it usually can make up the time and still arrive in the next port ontime in Alaska.

When a ship gets in port it will take about a half hour to forty five minutes once they are tied up before they let anyone off the ship. This is the same even if the ship arrives early.

Whatever time the ship says it will leave port they usually expect you back on the ship about a half hour a head of that time.