Please comment on our shore excursions for Alaska
 

I am planning for two families (2 adults one child 7) and (2 adults and 5 and 9 year old)

We are crusing to the following and I wanted to know if we will get a good feel for Alaska or if I need to consider other excursions, obviously in these economic times we are trying to watch our spending.

Sitka - plan to see the Orthodox church and and possibly the castle, wander around town. - inexpensive day

Juneau - we are going to do the whale watching tour for 7 people $713 for a tour from 9:30-1pm. After tour grab lunch (somewhere??) and take the bus up to Mendenhall Glacier and get some photos and a short visit.

Skagway - rent a car and drive to Emerald Lake - car rental, gas $200

Ketchikan - really wanted to do the sea plane bear excursion but at $495 each (ouch!!) hope to see a bear somewhere else, even though this sounds wonderful at Anan.
Misty Fjords sea plane tour 2 hours - $1500 for all of us.

Am I missing anything and are we going to miss out by trying to not take such expensive excurions?

Appreciate any feeback and thank you!

You are saving a lot of money over the train trip in Skagway and, IMO, your experience will be a lot better. We really enjoyed having our own car and driving to Emerald Lake. We were able to go at our own pace, stop where we wanted and go further than the train went at the time. Skagway is mostly the usual touristy shops and won't take you long to walk.

Whale watching excursions are worth it but bear excursions are really iffy. I did tons of research and very few people I read about saw bears at Anan during the summer. I'm guessing that's when you are going since you have school age children with you.

Ketchikan is a fun town to walk around in--lots of totem poles and a fun venicular up to the top of the hill with neat trails a good view of the area.


Didn't do Sitka so I can't help you there. Have a great trip!
When we were in Juneau it was totally socked in by heavy fog/rain so we didn't take the tram to the top of the mountain or go out to the glacier. We ended up spending time in a good historical museum in town--just an idea if the whether doesn't cooperate with you.

Sitka: St Michael's Cathedral, Russian Bishop's House, Sheldon Jackson Museum, Raptor Rehab Center, semi-submersible boat ride, National Historic Totem Park

Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier, State of Alaska Museum, Mt. Roberts tram, Juneau Douglas City Museum, Tracey Arm boat trip to see the glaciers calve, State Capitol

Skagway: White Pass & Yukon RR (which we loved), Park Service guided walking tour, City Hall Museum, Corrington Museum, Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park

Ketchikan: SE Alaska Discovery Center, Totem Bight State Park, Totem Heritage Center, Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery and Eagle Center

Thank you all for the responses, I guess I feel better about skipping the bears now :)

Abram:

Did you do all those things independently?
You sure packed alot into each port.

What was your timing for these days, and when did you go?

In Juneau we took the helicopter tour onto Mendenhall Glacier and it was the highlight of our trip. However, others in our group took the whale watching tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Mt. Roberts tram is located very near the cruise ship dock and is worth the minimal price. The kids would really enjoy it.

In Skagway one of the best ways to spend the day is to take the White Pass & Yukon Railroad.

In Ketchikan the children in particular might realy enjoy
the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. It's relatively inexpensive and 1 hour and 15 minutes long. This leaves you plenty of time to do other things.

We loved Alaska and loved everything we did there, but our favorite of everything we did in Alaska was the helicopter/glacier landing in Juneau. What a great memory! We also did the whale watching while in Juneau. You can't get real close to the whales (against some kind of law, they can come close to you but boats are only allowed to get so close to them). What was fun on the whale watching trip is the crew threw some kind of small fish into the air and the eagles would drive down and catch it!

We also enjoyed the Misty Fjords sea plane tour that you are taking. The best part was the lake landing.

You have some good tour choices, but I question the "group" travel?? No one has other touring priorities?? I say split up if you do. :) You do not mention when you are going, BUT bear watching is EXCELLENT from early July until about the beg. of Sept.

Out of Sitka, in my opinion, since you aren't going with the bear touring, Varied wildlife is excellent via a boat tour, with sightings of sea otters, puffins - which you have no other access to on the Inside Passage, and humpbacks.

The "church" which does charge a few dollars is a short look. :) If not taking any tour, I suggest you consider the Sitka National park, small admission, and take the loop 1 mile walk among totems. Purchase the cheap guide book for more information. Take a hike up hill and stop at the Raptor Center, close up bird of prey looks.

In Juneau, don't know what your port time is, but you are "wasting" at least an hour by NOT cobooking your whale watch and either getting picked up/dropped off direct to Mendenhall. Going back and forth isn't the best idea if you have other sightseeing you wish to add.

Necessary for your Klondike Highway drive is to purchase www.murraysguide.com