Community Chat

[dobiesrule]

I did 7 or 8, but the ones that stand out are dog sledding and a float plane ride.

[chickenbutt]

It was quite some time ago when we went, and the excursions probably partially depend on the cruise line, but one favorite for us was out of Juneau.

We took one of those water planes over the glaciers (awesome!) and it let us off at the Taku Lodge, at the mouth of a glacier the name of which I cannot remember, for lunch. They barbequed salmon on this big grill outside the lodge and it was the best salmon I've ever had. While we were eating, inside the lodge, we saw through the window a bear up on the grill, after it cooled, picking bits of salmon off the grill. Of course, that was great - getting to see a bear so close up.

After lunch, and some time to check out the little rainforest there and the glacier, and do whatever, we caught another water plane back to our starting point in Juneau.

[traveler]

On 1/29/2015 raven-blackbird said:

Definitely June..........by September winter is on you...................................raven

not necessarily. I went to the state fair in a sweater although some years are real cloud busters.

[Kachina624]

On 1/29/2015 shy bobcat said:

Thank you to all who responded. Your thoughts have given me enthusiasm. I have never been on a cruise and, am anxious about any "boat" ride. I promised my DH that I would do an Alaskan cruise with him. Please share any more thoughts or excursions that are "not to be missed".

The excursions sponsored by the cruise lines are very expensive. My sister and I learned to wait until we got into a port. Locals set up booths where they sell the same excursions at a considerable savings. For instance in Juneau we took a whale-watching trip for 1/2 what the cruise line charged. We went with a small group of about 6 people in a nice cabin cruiser driven by a knowledgable college student. The excursion boat was open-sided and appeared to be overloaded. All the boats have radios and tell each other where the whales are sighted so they go to the same places.

The railroad trip out of Skagway is not to be missed; in fact, don't miss Skagway. It and Ketchican are our favorite ports. You need to find a ship that goes to Glacier Bay. They limited the number of ships allowed to enter the bay each day so many ships don't go there. It's worth the effort, although we noticed a huge decrease in ice between our '92 and '10 trips.