SE Alaska Excursions

[Dora~Jean]

I could sure use some advice from others that have visited or live in the SE. We've decided a commercial cruise is the family's choice [this year]. Our cruise ship stops in Sitka, Tracy Arm (glaciers), Skagway and Juneau. I'm content just getting off the ship, walking around, seeing what we can see and leaving it open to see the sights. Are there some particularly interesting paid excursions that I should consider at any of these places?

[Aiviq]

In Juneau there is a cable car that's worth taking for the great view. In Skagway, the White pass and Yukon narrow guage railroad excursion up to the summit is great. There are also some nice (and free) national park service guided walking tours that are interesting (skagway has a lot of interesting history).

[K7MXE]

Skagway Street Car co provides a bus tour that is very good and has
big old looking yellow buses and can be booked right on the ship. They
may even have a web page, don't know. Train tour can also be booked
on the ship both are full of history. Remember you will enter Canada
and will need proper paperwork to get back on the bus tour. In Juneau
you can also visit one of the few state capitals without a dome, unless
they built one recently.. Bob Heselberg Eatonville Wa

[Jeff and Julie]

Steve,

When do you leave and what cruise line? Our family leaves on July 7th on Holland. We are going to Sitka as well. It will be the first time my boys get to see where I grew up!
The nice thing about Sitka is that so much is accessible by walking. I love Totem Park and the museum at the visitor's center there. We are actually going to take one of the Sea Otter tours through Allen Marine. This is a great tour if you want to see marine mammals. Last time we were out we saw a young brown bear down near the shoreline. The area around Sitka is sheltered and reminds me a lot of Puget Sound for boating. I don't think my kids could handle big ocean swells like we had out of Depot Bay in Oregon.
Hope you have a wonderful time on your cruise!

Julie
23 days and counting!

[Dora~Jean]

Jeff/Julie,
We are with the Princess Cruise line on the Princess Dawn ship. We leave San Francisco July 10, return July 20. After Victoria, I believe Sitka is first stop. Sounds like you'll beat us by a few days, too bad.

Thanks all for the suggestions, we love all kinds of history, trains, parks and animals. Sounds like we have lots of choices. The down side about booking through the cruise line is they add about 25-50% to the cost of booking direct (it seems). However, the 'up side' is that they guarantee they'll get you back to the ship BEFORE THEY LEAVE!

[Jeff and Julie]

We will be in Sitka on July 11th and will probably just miss you!

Julie

[Doryman]

I took my girls to Alaska on the Princess line back in 2000. We then went on to Anchorage and rented a 1/2 ton truck with a camper shell and drove up the Parks Highway, visited Denali but did not go as far as Fairbanks. That was by far the better part of the trip for us.

I was really put off by the pressure and cost of the shore excursions. There was a mad rush to sign up for them as soon as people boarded, and some of them sold out very quickly. As has been pointed out, the cost of the excursions have been highly marked up by Princess.

I couldn't afford some of the more spendy excursions such as a ski plane to the glaciers, etc. Some of the best excursions we took included a tour boat to see wildlife (I think from Juneau but can't remember), a salmon bake and for sure the train ride from Skagway (?).

HTH.
Warren

[Pat Anderson]

Well, you could take the "Hike from Hell" at Meyers Chuck, but somehow I don't think the cruise ships stop there!

[Jazzmanic]

I agree with Warren, the excursions are expensive. We took the Princess Cruise for our honeymoon 4 years ago and it was a lot of fun. We signed up for the kayak excursion in Juneau (saw lots of eagles but no glacier-fogged in), the train ride up White Pass in Skagway (very nice, long ride) and salmon fishing in Ketchikan (Caryn caught a small king). Lots of fun, lots of money. If I were to do it again, I'd probably skip the salmon fishing, it was really expensive and now that we do our own salmon fishing on our own C-Dory, why pay for it?

Have a great time and hope for good weather. When we went up, it was the 2nd week of September and seemed like mid-November in Seattle, very rainy and gloomy. And watch out for those alcoholic beverage sellers, they greet you immediately after boarding the boat, greet you at 5:30 am with kalua and coffee to watch the glaciers, they're everywhere...you get the picture.

[Chivita]

Steve,

For info on Juneau trips try http://www.goldbelttours.com/ They operate the tram, cruises, shops etc. Tram is a great trip, you can take it up and walk down if you want some exercise. Best part of Goldbelt is that they are the local Native Owned organization so you tend to get a much more "local" experience and your money goes right back into that community.

For Sitka, my suggestions would be the following:
From the ship, head towards Sheldon Jackson College- Built in the 1800 to educate Native Alaskans. One of the best Native Alaskan Museums west of D.C. ($4.00 per person) Michner lived here while writing his book on Alaska. There is also a decent (for Alaska) aquarium/hatchery there. This will take you 10 to 15 minutes to walk to, maybe a half hour to hour to tour. From here continue walking (maybe 5 minutes) to Sitka National Park

Sitka National Park- This includes a walk around Totem Park (free) and entrance into the cultural center ($8 per person) www.nps.gov/sitk/ This should take an hour or so. Great place for photos, of the park and of your ship which will be anchored out in front of the park. Once you are finished, head through the park to the Raptor Center

Raptor Center http://www.alaskaraptor.org/ Great place to see Eagles, the show takes half an hour and if you get front row seats you be roughly 5 feet or less from a live one. Beaks look larger and sharper that close. If the movie "Birds" scares you, SIT IT BACK! Walk around the center after the show takes 15 minutes. Carefull out back, brown bears sometimes hang out there. Try not to smell like smoke salmon. From Raptor Center, walk back through park to town. It's lunch time.

Lunch - BAYSIDE! Second floor, you can sit almost over the road and look out at Crescent Harbor and the bay beyond. Lunch probably $8 to $12 plus drinks (pricey for soft drinks and soda, but their milkshakes are worth the $4.00) Bayside is on the way back into town above the first jewelry store from the National Park. You can try the Westmark, but order from their bar menu or you'll pay through the nose. Ludvigs is also a great place, but small and hard to get into. Subway is cheap and usually there are a few hotdog stands if you want somewhat cheap street food (Reindeer Dogs!) There is also a great Sushi place in the middle of town, the cooks are two funny guys.

If you're stuffed from Bayview, walk the docks across the street. You can get onto all of Sitka's public docks, no keys no gates. Cresent has a good mix of commercial, charter and private. Chivita's usually down at the end by the tennis courts, also two or three other C-Dorys.

Downtown next! Sitka has by far the largest collection of "real" Alaskan artifacts. Sitka's in the middle of a pretty serious battle to keep Sitka unique, there are a few stores selling cheap asian crud, but most of what you will find is made by locals or Alaskans and it's sold by locals. There are a few jewelry stores, the one under Bayside is locally owned and operated and the owner (Chris) bets anyone who purchases from his store in December what the total rain for December will be. If the town wins, he refunds EVERY purchase for that month. Town won this past December to the tune of $150,000 plus! They don't come better than Chris!

If you want real local artwork, try the new shop downtown under Alaska Pacific Bank. Will cost a bit more but it is all local made by local natives.

If you want to witness some Native dances, try the Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi Community House. They usually hav a show at 1 or so. The people that perform these dances are brought all over the world to perform. They are worth the time if you have it. The Naa Kahidi house is beautiful and it is Sitka's year around activity center. Very close to what you would have seen 200 years ago.

This should take you till probably three or so. Feel free to stop by the hotel if you still have some energy and want more ideas. I'm across from the Naa Kahidi and usually running around.

Yell if you want more info, I have to go as someone just brought some fresh smoked white king to the desk and if I don't get up there it will be gone!

[Lee]

You have gotten some great ideas here. I would do some searching on the internet for local businesses offering the kind of experiences you are interested in. Lots of kayaking, wildlife viewing, fishing and other opportunities. I would not wait to book tours through the cruise line. You will pay more though the cruise line and much of your money will not stay in SE Alaska.

[Dora~Jean]

Wow, lots of great info, the kind of stuff I was hoping for, more for the self-guided type like we are. The tram and trains sound great, will try to book over the Internet if possible. Also the birds and other animal exhibits, my son is REALLY into birds (he has an African Grey). I'm putting together a matrix on ship's time/itinerary scheduled at each stop.

Chivita, thanks for the details and insight, this will take me awhile to sort through!

Pat, yep, Meyer's Chuck was definitely on my 'original' itinerary with my own boat, wanted a pic in that same spot (one of those 'if you can do it I can do it' moments...).