Taking a cruise in July and wondering if anyone has shore excursion suggestions? Will have my 2 neices 15 & 17 (athletic) with - Juneau 1pm-11pm, Skagway 7am-3pm; Hubbard Glacier 6:30am -11am; Ketchican 9am-3pm; only 1 hour at Prince Rupert. Looking to experience all that we can of Alaska!! Thank you.

You will love this trip! My husband & I did a cruise and land tour through Princess two years ago. Our itinerary was a bit different but it did include stops in Ketchican, Juneau and Skagway.

We spent all day in Juneau and elected to do the pilot's choice helicopter ride with landings on the glacier. It was a great trip, but a bit pricey for the actual flight time. We also did the whale watching trip in the afternoon. Again, a great trip. Saw plenty of whales and other sea critters! Neither of these trips were particularly physical but we were very happy with our choices. Souvenir shopping was certainly better in Juneau (variety and prices) than Skagway.

In Skagway we did an excursion which included a high speed ferry ride to an island and then a canoe trip up Davidson river to Davidson Glacier. Somewhat physical (we are active and in our late forties) and unbelievably beautiful! This trip got us out in the wilderness and was truely unforgetable--I highly recommend this one. The shopping in Skagway was disappointing for the most part. Limited shops/variety and higher prices.

In Ketchican we decided on the Back Country Jeep Safari which included a canou trip accross a lake and then a short hike through an Alaskan rainforest! Absolutely stunning!!! Once back accross the lake we took off in Jeeps for about 45 minutes of wilderness sightseeing from differnet areas outside town. Again, only somewhat physical, but one of our favorite excursions.

We sailed out of Vancouver with Ketchican our 1st port, followed by Juneau and then Skagway. The souvenir shopping was best in that order, but I did not realize that until we reached Skagway and I was left with limited choices at higher prices.

We did much more between Anchorage and Fairbanks if your trip includes the land portion. Don't remember if visiting a husky dog camp was an option from any of the ports, but we visited one from Denali and it was another fun experience worth considering.

Enjoy your cruise. Alaska never disappointed us!

J Mac: We will be doing the dawn princess cruise starting 5-16 and doing the same ports. What souveniors do you recommend and best places to buy them. Thanks for your help. WE are doing the Helicopter and dog sled tour, Mendianhall(spelling) whale watch, skagway railroad and street car and Ketchikan Totem Park. Any tips on what else to see.

Iris, Princess is a terrific choice. We sailed on the Sun Princess 5/12. A friend had gone the summer before on Holland America and he helped in our selecting Princess. From what he learned in speaking with other cruisers in ports the ships were newer and better maintained, staff more friendly and naturalist more helpful.

I can only comment on the excursions we selected. Our train of thought was to pack as much activity into each port as time would allow. We chose what were described as "moderately strenuous" activities hoping for some exercise to counter the eating and relaxing on ship. We found "moderately strenuous" to be pretty laid back and relaxing, but enjoyable none the less. Also, our "dinner mates" were about 15 years older and did not do many excursions--they waited to hear about our adventures each evening! As I mentioned to FLheart, we are fairly active, young in spirit 48 YOs and we wanted to get out there and really experience Alaska!

Shopping depends on what you're looking for! With a blended family of 6 children and 6 grandchildren, we tried to pick up stuff for everyone, plus my coworkers. As I mentioned, we packed our stops with excursions which left little time to shop. In Ketchikan and Juneau the shops are right at the dock so we ducked in on our way back to ship. Again, the prices and variety were excellend at these two ports. My advice would be to do the majority of your shopping here. Once up to Skagway, where we had the most time to browse, I was disappointed.

I am a quilter and made a special point of visiting quilt shops in Juneau and Skagway. My husband is a hunter and into primative weapons. He shopped for nice knives for himself and our son. We had those shipped home to Florida rather than deal with airport security and possible theft.

Advice on clothing would be to tell you to layer! We were on the 2nd cruise out for that year and it was quite cold, but being from Florida and all its humidy, the cold was a wonderful bonus to us. We took winter jackets and gloves. Primarily wore jeans (didn't use longjohns and didn't miss them) and layered the upper body. Camisole, under shortsleeve or longsleeve t-shirt, under sweatshit or sweater with our jackets. It was perfect in the morning and we peeled layers as conditions permitted. Worked out well for us. Also, hiking boots with nice heavy socks were comfortable when outside or on the deck of the ship (Glacier Bay).

My only disappointment in regard to trip timing was that I was too early for the Alaskan wildflowers. I hear they are beautiful. The leaf buds were just starting to pop out on the trees in mid-May. However, this really left the woods more open and the wildlife was easier to spot. Also, a bit too early for the salmon and in turn, the bear. We did however, see a mama and cubs on the train to McKinley. A highlight was the snowfall while at the husky dog camp the Thursday before Memorial Day!!!

Are you doing the land portion of the trip. If so I have several tips and excursion advise in this area as well. Hope I have been helpful!

There are many excellent tours in Alaska to consider. But to help you best- you need to NARROW down your interests - look over a shore excursion list. There is no point in going on and on in raves over a tour you would not consider. I am a firm believer in budgeting fully. Tours are just excellent here and it's really not the place to skimp. Myself, I never book ship tours and always direct with venders. Superior for more personal tours and smaller groups, also locally run. A lot of cruise tours use seasonal guides.

Hubbard Glacier is not a stop and you won't be let off the ship in Prince Rupert- it's only a foregn port stop to satisify the Passenger's Services Act.


For any wildlife you need tours. I also recommend always having plans and reservations in place before you go. With the explosion of Alaska visitors, over 10,000 in ports, there is not much available to book in ports outside of a few bus tours. For more information also request visitor guides. www.traveljuneau.com www.skagway.com
www.visit-ketchikan.com

For clairfication it is Ketchikan.

Princess has a shore excursion booklet available or you can go online to their website and download the excursions well in advance of your trip. BudgetQueen is correct in stating you should determine your interests and plan from there. We booked our excursions online prior to sailing and were even able to drop one trip and add a different one in Juneau once on ship. While I am sure there are advantages to waiting and booking through locals at each port, we wanted to optimize our time in port. We did three separate excursions in Juneau and could not have managed that without prior planning. Excursions were all excellent and guides knowledgable. My experience was, even though the trip was booked through Princess the excursion was always a local vendor which also used seasonal guides. May have paid a few bucks more, but definitely felt we were able to take full advantage of every minute on shore.

Try posting in the cruise forum, you might get even more hits.

PS-I took my first cruise on Princess Lines this past November and had a terrific time.

Thank you everyone- very helpful information. Did not think to schedule more than one excursion per port, but will look into what our budget will allow. One of the whale watching trips guarantees sightings or refunds $100 cash, or so they say, figuring that is the one to go with. I know the girls will love the jeep trip - I was wondering about that and it sounds great. Thank you for your response. We are trying Celebrity, I too, was not pleased with our last Holland of America ship.

A side note to the Davidson Glacier canoe trip I forgot to mention...on the way back we went by a spot the crew called "seal island." It was actually an area of rock at the foot of the cliffs where hundreds of seals gather and lay in the sun. Also saw two whales that hung around for quite some time. Got better pictures of the whale diving and the seals then on the actural whale watching trip! As I remember, the trips have to operate under regulations about how long they can stay in an area when the whales are present and they don't get very close. Do consider the Skagway trip if your time permits. You will canoe fairly close to the mouth of the glacier (safety is observed in case the glacier claves) and will be next to large icebergs/hunks of ice. Saw several artic wren in the area too. Not sure I can pick my favorite between this trip and the jeep safari!

Jmac, thanks, I have checked into the Davidson Glacier trip (dont' see it offered through Celebrity) but found it I think, through Skagway Excursions. $216pp, 5.5 hours. Sounds worth it by your description! Jeep tour saved me $75 by going direct. Thank you for the great suggestions. Looking at Orca Enterprises as suggested for whale watching. Did you by chance speak to anyone who did a floatplane trip?

Just want to make the point that you do not need to wait until you are in port to book an independent excursion. As a matter of fact, that's probably NOT a good idea as little would be left. Most guide books list other vendors and their 800 numbers. So do the city/town web sites. I have had great fun talking/emailing these vendors directly. Did you mention sea kayaking for those athletic nieces? We're doing that in Ketchikan.

Absolutely- you want all plans and reservations in place before you leave, including independent tours. Extremely simple to go on your own. Also- any "whale" guarantee is useless. Humpbacks are seen 100% of the Juneau whale watches. My preferred vender is Orca Enterprises, I gone with them for years on several trips- including a double coming up in a few weeks.

I haven't been on it but on cruise critic, the jeep tours get consistant poor reviews. They have a big base of posters- who have BEEN on the tours.

Thank you Budgetqueen and peggi- I do intend to have everything booked asap. BQ, I am going with your suggestion of Orca Enterprises- I have read on some postings that some people have not seen whales... maybe that was not Juneau? Thanks again-- any suggestions for a moderate hotel (saving for our excursions) in Seattle? Thinking of the Comfort Suites...