Alaska Local Knowledge Request
 

Six of us are on a Princess Cruise in September to Alaska and we have reviewed the itinerary presented to us. Like many travelers we ask anyone we know, who has been to Alaska for their review and advice. We are getting mixed signals as to what is offered through Princess and what we might find locally. Some folks say book now through Princess to make sure we have reservations, while others say Princess is more expensive and the side trips are more crowded and rushed. Others chime in that if we wait until we get to port we can find better deals through locals, including costs and crowds.
We will be in Skagway, Juneau and Kitchikan on 3 successive days and want to use the knowledge that the members of this site can bring on these concerns. Oh, and did I mention that our travel agent has been a waste of time?
Thanks for your suggestions and if possible, names of locals that you have used that we should consider.

Former Alaska resident and now-and-then visitor to SE Alaska towns (mainly business trips, a couple for tourism, once as a cruise passenger.) A couple of budget suggestions -

Ketchikan - take the city bus ($1) to Totem Bight State Park.

http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/totembgh.htm
http://www.borough.ketchikan.ak.us/145/Transit

Juneau - Walk around downtown, Bus to Mendenhall glacier, or rent a car for the day and include the glacier, Shrine of St. Therese, and maybe drive around the north end of Douglas Island for great views.

http://www.shrineofsainttherese.org/
Douglas Hwy - http://gardyloo.us/20100708_7s.JPG

Skagway - Rent a car and drive over the border into the Yukon, stopping at Emerald Lake (pretty but not all that amazing) but continue on a few miles to Robinson Roadhouse, an interesting ghost town.

http://sightsandsites.ca/south/site/robinson-roadhouse

My observation was that the same folks that were selling excursions onboard had booths on the dock. Same thing with the jewelry shops on the ship and on the dock....same ownership.

Re Skagway. We stayed in town and regretted it; our neighbors just came back from a cruise (Princess, as it happens) and they took the White Pass railway. That's what I would do if there is a next time.

Do take the White Pass railway in Skagway. Second the car rental in Juneau.

if you want to take any of the really pricy trips, like the whale watches, the helicopters, the flightseeing, its worth booking in advance. Prices for Princess excursions and independent operators will be pretty close for these, but you might prefer the independents for other reasons...smaller tours for one thing.

Helicopter tours do book up. The smaller whale watch boats do as well. we did both of these in Juneau, and booked both through Orca Enterprises which runs the whale watch and coordinated our helicopter glacier trip with Coastal Helicopters.

I really recommend doing the helicopter trip if you can swing it. It was very expensive, but worth every penny to me, just an amazing view and the only way I (a non-hiker) was ever going to walk on a glacier.

Quite a few years ago we departed the Alaska Marine Ferry in Skagway planning to drive from there to Anchorage. I think we spent 2 nights because months in advance I was not able to get a reservation on the White Pass railway until the afternoon of our second day. There were cruise ships in town and the streets were crowded until about 5pm. We were worried about finding a table at a restaurant but no problem at all in the evening. You could try getting a reservation on the train on your own if you call far enough ahead. A friend just came back from a cruise and said they took a bus out of town and then came back on the train. Guess the cruise ships and train must be get double duty that way by having passengers just go one way. His cruise include about 5 days via bus from Seward to Denali.

When I did a cruise with Celebrity, we booked all excursions through cruise company in advance- except the Mendenhall Glacier which we took the bus too.

It may have cost us more, but as far as I am concerned, it was worth the convenience. As we got off the cruise ship, there were several vendor booths selling their excursions with many people milling around and trying to decide what they wanted to do.

We had our tickets for our excursion in hand, and wandered into town for a beer- much more relaxing in my opinion!

Thanks to all for the great ideas. You have given me what I wanted and that was OPTIONS. I can now more readily book and prepare for the trip.

Bob

I have been to Alaska 4 times and loved it - their are many options for what I think you are going to experience - peace of mind is a big consideration. One thing to remember - if you book a tour through the cruise line -- the ship will always wait for you - if you book on shore and you have a problem - car breaking down or late in getting back to the ship - the ship will sail without you. I agree some of the places on shore might be cheaper, but I would recommend you book your excursions on board AND do it asap once you get on board - many of the more popular ones fill up fast.

Another thing to keep in mind -- many of the stores lining the docks are actually owned by the cruise lines.

Like others have said walk around and explore the cities you are in - take the White Horse Pass trip - if you can afford it take the helicopter in Juneau and land on the Mendenhall Glacier and hike on the glacier.

Have fun!

The cruise we were on provided a list of excursions prior to departure- we booked all our excursions before we left, when we arrived to our room on the ship, all of our tickets were there waiting - only thing left to do was relax and enjoy.