I don’t remember which ports these were in, but two excursions I did that are most memorable were Taku Lodge, a floatplane trip to an old wood cabin only reachable by boat or plane. It was a luncheon including King salmon and a hike into the forest with naturists, and we were visited by some black bears back at the lodge. And second was a fijord floatplane trip where the plane landed on the smooth as glass water and we were allowed to get out and stand on the floats so we could peer into the depths. Amazing.
These were Princess trips. I know you said the excursions were already booked, but look for these and if they don’t conflict and aren’t full, I highly recommend you tag along if that kind of thing can be done without booking ahead.
And as said above, binoculars and rain gear, and if you have an SLR camera, a long lens will be really nice if you have one. I had a camera with two lenses, the longest was an 80-300mm, and I could have gone longer. Out at one of the glacier excursions, the awesome dude saw we had compatible cameras, and he just popped his 1000mm lens off (so heavy!) and handed it to me so I could put it on mine and take some great shots. What was I gonna do, run away? Still, dang generous of him!
I’m not great at remembering which town was which - we did two weeks, half land and half sea - but it was over 10 years ago and I still remember so much of it. I just have to get my diary out to remember where the memories exactly were… Oh, and it was August and I got sunburned on a riverboat trip in Fairbanks, it can happen!
If you don’t want to invest a lot in rain gear, you can get these which are cheap and don’t take up much room. They sell them at Walmart, K-mart, Target and most Dollar stores. I did an Alaska cruise about a year ago and we got lucky; it only rained a little bit on one day. The rest of the time it was cloudy and cool but dry.
In a small cabin where space is limited, one of these is a handy place to keep phones, cameras, chargers and all kinds of other things.
The Red Dog Saloon in Juneau is touristy but still fun. In Skagway we took the bus tour to White Pass instead of the train. It was much cheaper and we were able to get out and look around at various stops along the way. The guide pointed out some mountain goats high on a hillside at one stop. In Victoria BC, Butchart Gardens was beautiful and well worth a trip.
My father was a bartender at the Red Dog Saloon back in the 30s/40s, when it was pretty wild in there. He had to do his own bouncing duties, which wasn’t easy with a bunch of miners and Russians in the place. The White Pass & Yukon Railroad is an historic line through an historic place, of course. Juneau has the Mount Roberts aerial tram ride, which I never had time to do on my visits.
Hey, you can go see the house up on sixth street, where I lived until age 10!
We had a great time at the Red Dog even if it was full of cruise ship passengers. The term “rustic” doesn’t do it justice. The top of the Mt. Roberts tram was is clouds so we didn’t ride it. We did go to Mendenhall Glacier and hiked to the waterfall. Well worth it.
If money wasn’t an issue we would have ridden the White Pass railroad. But then if money wasn’t an issue we would have taken the helicopter glacier tour. The bus tour follows the same route as the railroad.
I can’t believe what the prospectors went through to get up there during the gold rush. Our tour guide said they carried 100 lb. packs up that trail and made many trips to get enough supplies to last several months up there. The trail was so rugged that a large number of pack horses lost their footing and fell to their death, earning it the nickname “Dead Horse Trail”.
The allure of gold must have been pretty strong. I wouldn’t even consider going through that just for the chance of striking it rich.
My husband and I also visited the Red Dog. That was a fun afternoon.
I enjoyed the bus tour in Ketchikan. Our tour guide was great. That’s where I learned that Alaska was a good place for single ladies to find a fella. Our guide explained that the odds are good…but the goods are odd.
I also enjoyed touring the Russian Orthodox church in Sitka. I really felt like I was in a foreign country.
Well that is just all kinds of awesome! Your chances of seeing whales are much better in a room with a balcony since you can pop out there any time and don’t have to go up on deck.
Sailing through the Inside Passage is truly spectacular. Breathtaking views on all sides at all times. You won’t be able to count all the waterfalls you see. I wondered about taking a ship that size through those relatively narrow channels but they said it was well over 1000 ft. deep in some places.
Be sure to take advantage of the free room service for breakfast- it was free on Royal Caribbean anyway; I assume Princess is the same. Coffee on the balcony with rugged mountains drifting past and whales beside the ship is something you won’t forget.
I wish I had a balcony when I did the Alaska thing…but that trip was paid for by my parents (mostly), and they didn’t want to spend money on balconies.
We took a family cruise a year and a half ago. I’m in a position to spend my own money now, so I upgraded our rooms to outside balconies. There’s not much more peaceful than drinking your morning coffee on the balcony, watching the ocean. We ordered room service just for the coffee, almost every day.
[old guy voice]When I was a child in Juneau, the front of the Mendenhall Glacier was very close to where the visitor center is now. It has really receded a long way, as has the Portage Glacier outside Anchorage, which can’t even be seen from the parking lot now.[/OGV]
My wife hiked the Chilkoot Trail back in her younger days. She says it damn near did her in. A couple of other hikers recognized that she was becoming hypothermic and helped her out. Those miners in the gold rush not only had to get that two thousand pounds of material up to the pass in order to be allowed into Canada, they then had to make their way to Lake Bennett (a total of 33 miles), build a boat or raft, and go down the Yukon to the gold fields.
While winter months are the worst, it rains a lot in Southeast Alaska. Average rainfall in Juneau in May is 3.48 inches; July is 4.14 inches (chart). For Ketchikan, it’s 8.2 and 6.6, for the same months. So the odds are that you will encounter rain at some point on your trip, but some people get lucky.
Do Harv & Marv whale watching - we did that and on the trip we saw a Killer Whale feeding frenzy - yuckwow!
We also did a Eagle Creek river raft adventure - not really worth it - the purpose was to see Bald Eagles - once you’ve seen 5 it’s just more of the same.
We also took the small plane out to see the bears catching salmon - awesome! You have to hike out a-ways and they tell you how to deal with bear encounters. Once we got the observation platform there were bears close enough to reach out and pet.
As for the ports - lots of touristy and jewelry shops (owned by the cruise lines, I’m told). So, you have to get away from that.
I hope Antinor01 had a great time. We will be leaving Friday Aug 16 from Vancouver to Seward (Anchorage) aboard the Celebrity Millennium…yes, the same Celebrity Millennium that had engine troubles a few days ago.
The tips folks gave about being prepared for rain are duly noted. The forecast for the next week for Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, etc include a significant chance of rain, while last week the weather seemed about 10 degrees warmer and sunnier.
I really struggled with camera decisions. I typically take my DSLR and 3 lenses on trips, but I started noticing (on my Vegas trip) that I was carrying around a lot of equipment and taking few treasure shots. On my last trip (Rockies, which folks here helped me plan) I took my point-and-shoot (a quite capable Panasonic Lumix), and ended up taking some shots I’m proud of. I really want to take my DSLR, but I want to be less-encumbered even more. If I’m clearly wrong, let me know.
Breakfast and coffee on the balcony sounds so amazing.