Hello,
Just wondering what your experiences have been on cruise excursions and whether or not I should look into some excursions of my own. I'm open to anything except for the zip lines. Unless I get my courage up!

Thanks-
SB

It depends on how adventurous and independent you are. You are likely to save money doing it on your own....you definitely pay for the security and prearrangements.

If it were me, I would want to look at the cruisecritic.com site. They are a very active forum for all things cruising. You might "meet" some people who will be on your same sailing. (I did once) There are discussions about every cruise line, every ship, every port... give it a try.

I'm going on my 5th Alaska cruise in June, and only book independent excursions unless there's no choice. Independents don't always save you money but they almost always get you smaller groups and you're much more likely to get a guide who lives in Alaska.

You can see lengthy photojournals of my previous Alaska cruises at http://www.youralaskacruise.com/reviews/ - they may give you some ideas for excursions.

Murray

I too am an advocate of independent Alaska tours. Plenty of excellent long time consistant vendors to choose from.

There is no "security" issue to contend with here. You are in the US and these recommended vendors have an excellent history.

I always go with independent cruise excursions unless there's a big chance I won't make it back to the ship on time. Private tour companies make their living by making sure passengers aren't delayed so don't worry about that.

by "security", I meant making sure the boat doesn't leave without you if you don't get back in time. If you take the cruise excursion, if anything happens and you're late, they'll hold the boat for you. With an independent tour, they may work their best to get you back on time but if something goes wrong and you're late, they won't hold the boat.

That being said, I always go independent or on my own and just try to get back 1-2 hours early.

We did helicopter landing and walk about on Mendenhahl glacier - very expensive, but worth every penny. I do not like heights, hate small aircraft, and I still enjoyed it. Booked thru cruiseline - wish I remember name of helicopter company (there was only one) but I might google it and see if you can get it cheaper directly thru helicopter service - but then there is issue of how to get to helicopter, which is quite a way outside port.

TEMSCO is the only helicopter company that has Mendenhall permits.

temscoair.com is their website.

Every excursion we took during our Princess cruise was independently booked. CruiseCritics will be a real help to you. We booked helicopter landing on a glacier, bear watching at Anan Creek, whale watching with Capt. Larry. All were booked and paid for before we left home. Alaska is not a place to skimp on sightseeing. Breathtaking. Forgot, also went on the Railway ride.