This page is where Cruise Critic Members, and others,give a review of their Alaska cruise.
Yellow highlighter for shore excursion. Please note that not all these excursion are offered throughout the season. We may have different ones at the end of the season than those cruising at the first of the season.
Comments in italics are mine.
Read these reviews mindful that everyone experiences things differently. Use these to just get a flavor of the experience
Skagway :
White Pass Railroad. We did this on our last trip to Skagway. While I enjoyed it, I thought that it was a bit overrated. I would recommend it for someone who is really into trains. It was frustrating to attempt taking pictures from a moving train. The train did make some very short stops for some scenic photo ops, but with the viewing platforms filled with platform hogs, it was hard to get out there to take pictures. We are doing the car rental this time and can pick and choose when and where we stop.
The train was fine - the views were amazing, but it was a bit dull and I actually fell asleep part of the way back
Chilkoot Charters for the White Pass Summit rail and bus tour It was a very nice and scenic tour, plus the bus was a 25 passenger maximum, so we were able to make several photo stops on the way up to the summit. We received a bonus on the bus portion as well. We encountered a brown bear walking along the road to the summit, and were able to take photos and video of him! I highly recommend Chilkoot Charters in Skagway.
Float Plane We did the floatplane in Skagway very cool experience!
Shuttle to City Skagway charges $2.00 per person each way to shuttle into town. No one told us you could walk it in 5 minutes.
M&M Tour (not certain of the tour name) The trip was $209. For two and included a lunch at Caribou Crossing in the Yukon. This time we had a driver from New York who was actually very good. For the most part the Bus follows the train route up to Frazier Canada. On the way up we saw bears goat’s eagles and very spectacular Yukon wilderness. Our driver stopped for plenty of Photos and wildlife. We also stopped at carcross desert. Lunch was at Caribou Crossing BBQ Chicken, rolls and cookies ‘I paned for gold here.
$2 Shuttle into town or $5 for an all day pass which includes ride to gold fields, gardens and cemetery. Well we were suckers and bought the all day pass, just so you know you need to pay an entrance fee at those places, or the cemetery you have to walk more than .5 miles from the bus stop. The main town was pretty cool, nice shops, some authentic.
Prince Rupert:
Walked the town We walked into town to the grocery store, bought some candy bars and walked back to the harbor. A fishing boat had just arrived and there must have been at least ten Bald Eagles flying around and diving at the water. I have one picture that has three eagles swooping in. We also visit one of the pubs on the water for a few refreshments and the best fried Halibut plate. There was so much food, we shared one plate. It's really nice just sitting there having a drink watching for Bald Eagles to fly around.
Where you dock is what we call "Cow Bay" and when you leave the ship it you turn left you can walk along to a coffee / internet cafe and some gift shops...if you turn right there are stairs and a walk way that takes you up and over the rail lines and into downtown Prince Rupert. Here you will find the Museum and Native carving gallery. Go behind the court house to view a nice but small garden. As you walk around town you will see many totem poles...the main shopping street is 3rd Avenue.
Prince Rupert was a dud - it didn't help that this was the day we got overcase skies and drizzling rain. Unless you plan an excursion, there isn't much to do here.
Waste of a stop, some really cool stores, but nothing I would buy on a cruise. The only highlight was the eagles
Prince Rupert was pretty disappointing as we just walked from shop to shop. In fact we commented they were basically dollar stores charging $6 per item. We did however get a potato tornado (fried spiral potato on a stick) at a vendor stand that was fantastic
Sea Life Discovery & Crab Extravaganza NCL Tour we walked around and did a little shopping. It's a pretty town, but you can see what you need to see within an hour or so. Our ship excursion started at 6:30PM. This is a very informative boat excursion, and the crew and naturalist were very knowledgeable. With the blessing of (British Columbia's version of U.S. Fish and Wildlife?) they are allowed to feed the American Bald Eagles around the bay on this tour. This made for some very exciting photo and video opportunities for me. I would have never imagined seeing bald eagles in this quantity in my lifetime. The crew also pulls up crab pots that have been set out earlier in the day, returns the female crabs to the bay, makes sure the remaining crabs caught are of legal size and cooks them up on the back of the boat for all the passengers. This was a very good excursion.
Juneau
Shrine, Glacier and Town Tour through M&M tours Well worth it. We had an amazing local guide (Kevin) who showed us all through town, the creek where they first found gold, small churches, the state house, governors’ mansion, etc. Then we went to the lake that Mendenhall Glacier feeds, we got to grab some glacier ice and eat it, it was very cool. Then we were off to the Shrine at St Therese, http://www.shrineofsainttherese.org/ which seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere. There were seals, eagles, salmon and I guess sometimes whales, but we were there at low tide. It was a great tour because we got to see the “valley” or “banana belt” where the regular people live and we learned a lot about the marine highway
Mendenhall Glacier There is a great visitor center $2 per person, it offers topographic maps, viewing scopes, interpretive displays, a terrific short film about the glacier, books, cards and rangers who will not only answer your questions but help you find and identify any wildlife that is hanging around the glacier. Don't forget your camera!
You can not walk on the glacier because there is a giant lake in front of it, but the view is amazing and you can walk to a waterfall if you want. The trail can be slippery, though, so be careful. Ramps, paved pathways with railings, elevators, benches and restrooms make it accessible for visitors of all abilities. The glacier is spectacular and since it is receding you may never see it quite the same on a future visit. This is also as close as you are likely to get to a glacier on your trip. If you want either a short walk or a longer hike, there are clearly marked trails offering more views of the glacier as well as the flora and fauna. This is also the local place where it is often possible to get a close view of black bear, beaver and a variety of birds. You may even spot a mountain goat. . ! Bring an umbrella and good boots, a hat, gloves, in general your warmest and most waterproof stuff.
Mendenhall Glacier. We opted for the 75 minute tour and we were glad we did that one. They have a little gift shop which doesn't have much and even though the glacier is spectaculer, the only other thing you could do would be to hike the 45 minutes to a waterfall. Because we were told that there was a stong possibility that you could encounter bears on the hike, we opted not to do that
Helicopter / glacier tour from NCL. We took the helicopter/glacier tour through the ship. This turned out to be the highlight of our cruise. We were fortunately and had blue skies, no wind and perfect weather. The glacier was awesome and the views from the helicopter were amazing.
Whale watching. did whale watching in Juneau also cool because we got to see a large pod of Orcas hunting and several humpbacks.
Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer. This NCL excursion leaves directly from the ship, 15 minutes before the ship sails for its "Scenic Cruising" portion of the itinerary. Of all our shore excursions, this one was the most scenically spectacular. Though we had to go to the Dawe's (I believe it is called) Glacier instead of Tracy Arm due to ice, I cannot even describe how magnificent it is to go within a quarter mile of a glacier, and watch it calving, or to get within 5 feet of a cascading waterfall created by snowmelt. The boat captain and guide/presenter were outstanding. You would not be disappointed with this shore excursion. Since the excursion was about 5 1/2 hours long, we were dropped back off at the ship pretty late. (the exursion boat meets up with the Star in the glacier area and you board the ship from the smaller excursion vessel - you do not return to Juneau on the excursion vessel
NCL Excursion: Tracy Arm Glacier!!! AMAZING!!!! You leave the ship around 1pm and board directly onto a waiting catamaran. It was really cool to walk through the crew areas. The first 20 minutes are boring, take a nap, just sailing to….WHALES!! I think we saw about 7 total whales, the captain was very generous giving us lots of time with them. We saw a humpback jump and quite a few whale tails. Once you start going up the arm you really get to admire the beauty of your surroundings. There are beautiful icebergs, waterfalls, eagles, etc. We got to spend about an hour at the actual glacier; we saw a few small pieces drop and then a huge drop about 20 minutes before we left. There was also a seal swimming about. The girls on the ship were really informative about the area, native people and wildlife. They gave us free hot chocolate and coffee. Bring warm clothes, gloves; it is so beautiful you will want to be outside as much as possible.
Question So from what I understand you board the catamaran from the ship and while the excursion goes off, those on the ship go to view Tracy Arm as well. I understand the difference is that the catamaran experience is more intimate and you get closer than the ship possibly can. Is this true? Ans. Yes the catamaran gets about 300 yrds from the glacier depending on the ice pack. The ship gets within a mile of it. I didn’t talk to anyone on the ship about seeing it from the ship. On the boat they provide binoculars which was pretty cool. they also had free hot chocolate and free coffee. you could purchase snacks for a small price. The Star comes within about 1/2 mile of the face of the glacier, depending on how much ice is floating in front. This is a picture from our small boat of the glacier. http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac320/bigfootehs/alaskaandbsb416.jpg Here is a picture of the Star going up to see the glacier http://i911.photobucket.com/albums/ac320/bigfootehs/alaskaandbsb488.jpg
Red Dog Saloon We ate at the Red Dog Saloon, and had excellent service (even though it was really crowded).
If you're looking for a great place to soak up some of the downtown Juneau atmosphere, have a bite and try some local brews, I definitely recommend the Red Dog saloon. It does get busy when there are a lot of cruise ships in port, but then, all of Juneau's downtown area can get a bit crowded. I was last there on a day with 3 ships in port. The bar was a bit crowded, but service was efficient and friendly, and the food and drinks were very good at a reasonable cost (which is more than I can say for other meals in touristy areas on the cruise -- notably, Ketchikan). The singer/piano player was an older gentleman with a great sense of humor and a gravely voice that completely fit with the historical mining town ambiance of the bar. After his set, he visited with several groups of patrons (mostly fellow cruisers). We enjoyed our Alaska Amber and french dip, looking at all of the memorabilia and thinking back to what Juneau might have been like during the mining heydays. 2 pints of Alaska Amber (which, incidentally, originates in Juneau, as well), 2 french dips (w/chips), and a 2 glasses of coke, we paid ~$30-35. (by comparison, fish and chips platter + clam chowder + the same Alaskan ale in Ketchikan cost almost double.
TRAM My wife and I asked people coming down in cloudy, rainy weather about views and they weren't enthusiastic at all. We went up on an extremely nice, sunny day, and were rewarded by utterly spectacular views! We had a couple of drinks in the bar/restaurant, not unreasonably priced. We saw a cruise ship leaving the dock and heading south down Gastineau Channel and a parasailor's gentle descent, and got an incredible photo or two or three. A big bonus was buying two small, certified authentic, carved and signed by Tlingits, totem pole replicas for one quarter the price of fake ugly junk sold down in town to the cruise ship jewelry. I don't know if it would be worth it on a cloudy day. I would wait and buy your tickets on land, not on the ship, to see what the weather will be like that day. Trip w @ $10. Tram was packed and there can be a long wait
Glacier Gardens saw all the upside down trees with flowers in them. They were beautiful. Maybe the sign saying don't photograph until you pay the admission fee should have been a tip. Because after the flowers, there was nothing to see. We went up the mountain into the Tongas rainforest, which you will see all over Alaska and don't need to pay to see. They took us up in a golf cart that we weren't sure would go up the hill. The kid driving it was turning around talking to us and I was sure it was going to be the end of the road for us. They're wasn't actually anything to see when we got up there other than the back of Fred Meyers food store and Juneau Airport. Luckily, we used our Alaska Tour Saver book so it only cost us $25 instead of $50. My advice would be to skip it.
We went to Glacier Gardens expecting (for the price) something like a small Butchart Gardens and were so disappointed to find that the most interesting thing there was building where you buy your way overpriced admission ticket. The rest is a fraud. You speed up the mountain in a golf cart to look at a view which you can get from any number of places for free. The guides just give a speech they know by heart and are unable to answer the most basic questions if they aren't part of the memorized speech. The whole thing is basically contrived to hoodwink the cruise passengers.
Ketchikan
Ketchikan's best downtown attractions are all within walking distance of one another. See Creek Street, then walk up Park Avenue past the Ketchikan Creek fish ladder and up to lovely City Park, site of the Totem Heritage Center. The park is among my favorite places in Ketchikan. The creek splits into a maze of ornamental pools and streams once used as a hatchery, with footbridges, a fountain, and large trees with creeping roots.
Avoiding the Crowds -- Ketchikan is overrun with as many as 10,000 cruise ship passengers every day May through September, far more than the small visitor attractions or even the streets can comfortably handle. Independent travelers can avoid the crush by planning to visit popular spots in the afternoon. Spend the morning on an outdoors activity instead. Ships usually leave the town in early evening.
The Creek Street boardwalk starts at the Stedman Street bridge, running over the tidal creek. It was Ketchikan's red-light district until not that long ago; now it's a quaint tourist mall. Prostitution was semilegal in Alaska until 1952, recent enough to survive in local memories but distant enough to have made Creek Street historic and to transform the women who worked there from outcasts to icons. Creek Street has some interesting shops, but it's also fun just to walk on the creekside boardwalk, into the forest above, and over the "Married Men's Trail" -- once a discreet way for married men to reach the red-light district
Creek Street is an easy walk (hard to find a bathroom,) there’s Dolly’s, some shopping and a tram up the mountain to a hotel. The tram is $2, well worth it for the bathrooms!! There are some totem poles and you can walk back down to Married Man’s Trail, if you go right you will end up at the fish ladder to see the salmon as well.
Dolly's House Dolly Arthur, who started in business for herself on the creek in 1919 and died in 1975, lived through both eras, and her home became a commercial museum not long after her death. (tel. 907/225-6329) is amusing, mildly racy, and a little sad. Admission is $5; it's open from 8am to 4pm during the summer and when cruise ships are in town.
The Cape Fox Hill-Creek Street Funicular (known as "the tram"), a sort of diagonal elevator, runs 211 feet from the boardwalk up to the Cape Fox Lodge on top of the hill. Take it up and then enjoy the walk down through the woods. The summertime fare is $2, but if no one is around, just press the "up" button and go.
City Tour with Sourdough tours. Ray, a native Ketchikanian, was friendly, knowledgeable and provided lots of fun stories.
Lighthouse, Totems & Eagles. NCL Tour. It was very enjoyable, and we had a great time on the boat with Capt. Rob, his crew and his dog Princess.
Totem Bight Park A 30 minute bus ride (blue line) from downtown Ketchikan, Totem Bight Park is small, free, and well worth spending an hour walking around, reading the helpful information about the many totem poles and lodge house. Beautiful walking path.
Ketchikan by Cab. My family was bombarded by companies offering tours of Ketchikan when we got off the cruise ship. It was overwhelming and expensive. When I kept walking a little farther down the pier, I can across Ketchikan Taxi Cab Tours. There we found the friendly and wonderful driver, Kat. She was so accomadating to our needs with 6 people. Two being children and one adult being handicapped. I recommend taking her up on your very own custom tour of Ketchikan. We saw so many things and spend a lot less money than other people. The best part was at the end of the tour she stopped at a gas station and bought us a newspaper for our souvenior.What a great experience. Thank You
Ketchikan by Duck The duck tour was very fun, our guide was making lots of jokes & was very knowledgeable about the area and it's fascinating history. We had our baby with us and the staff were kind enough to watch our stroller for us while we were on the tour & had it set up for us when we returned. Very friendly & courteous staff, a fun trip for all ages
The Duck tour was bags of fun and just too easy if you arrive by ship (about a 2 block walk). Less our guide was entertaining, knowledgable and quick with a bad joke. Great historical tour and it really is something else when you just drive into the water. Despite other nature tour we got our best eagle photos on this one as 2 were just sitting on the break water as we passed less than 100' away. I really don't see who you can go wrong on this one with adults or kids
Ketchikan Outdoors If you get a chance you really need to go on this boat tour. You get to drive your own inflatable boat to some of the most incredible places you'll ever see. We went out with Captain Dave & saw whales, seals, and more great vistas than a camera can capture. These folks really take care of you, all first class gear, and a real knowledge of the area. This will give you a taste of the real Alaska.
Ketchikan Kayak Co. My friend and I took an Alaskan cruise with Ketchikan as a port of call. I kayak at home, so I was very interested in this trip. I was not disappointed. Being a cruise novice, I was unfamiliar how strictly the return to ship policy was enforced. I explained our dilemma to the tour guide. She made a quick phone call and assured us we would return on time.
With that, we were taken to the dock and then took a short boat ride to another boat were the kayaks were. We took the Orcas Cove tour. Although we did not see any orcas in the cove, we did see harbor seals, star and jelly fish. It was so interesting. Our guide was quick to point out all the sea creatures, and in certain circumstances, allow us to touch them. We even had the harbor seals followed us for a while. After paddling for about two hours, we returned to the boat and had a wonderful lunch of smoked salmon. Very yummy. They returned us to the ship with time to spare.
Misty Fjords Island Wings Air Service. This is a small business, owned and run by the pilot herself. If you are doing a float plane trip out of Ketchikan to view Misty Valley Fjords or salmon "fishing" by the bears (or to charter her for your own salmon fishing excursion, etc.) - she is the best way to go. If you are arriving by cruise ship, do your own booking with them (Island Wings Air Service); don't book the cruise lines excursion. You will get a more personal, not mass-market experience. She has been doing this for many years - is very experienced and well informed. It is also wonderful to support a small-business operator. There is one downside to Michelle's extensive experience-- she might casually check her phone during the flight, or give you a surprise turbulence demonstration on a very calm day. That's how worry free it is for her. On a sunny summer day you're going to get the turbulence demo naturally, through the whole flight, but on a cool overcast day the flight will be very smooth and she may be tempted to have a little fun and give you the demo. If you're a nervous flyer like my son and I, you might request ahead of time no turbulence demo.
Misty Fjords - Misty Fjords Air Co. My husband and I tend to be kinda thrifty-- so things like float plane tours are usually a bit extravagant for our budget. However, we decided to bite the bullet and booked a sightseeing flight on Misty Fjords Air anyway, and I am SO glad we did. We saved about 25% by not booking a similar flight through our cruise ship; instead, we called MFA (Misty Fjords Air) directly and booked the flight as we were sailing into the port. If you want to be sure that you get a seat, don't wait until the last second like we did-- book it before you leave home. Our plane looked like it was in pristine condition; everyone got a window seat, and the ride was very stable and relaxing. Our pilot, Jim, was very experienced and made the entire flight a pleasure. We landed on a remote lake and everyone who wanted to stretch their legs got out and spent a few minutes enjoying the magnificent beauty surrounding us. I took a ton of amazing pictures, and even managed to record a video of our landing. If I could have, I would have stayed on the plane and gone again! Should we ever come back to Ketchikan, I'll definitely book MFA again
Misty Fjords - Seawind Aviation. My mother, husband, and my 13 year old went on our tour with Seawind Aviation. Leslie was great meeting us near the Ketchikan vistor center. She brought us to where the plane was and we boarded. We were all very excited to experience take off on the water and landing on the water. The flight was incredible seeing the beautiful mountains at Misty Fyords. Steve was our pilot and on the way back he swung around so we could see a bear from the air. Over all we had a great experience and a great memory to share. IT is a little expensive for a large family but I think it is worth it if you can afford it.
The Ship
1. The bed was fine. Not super hard, but not soft either.
2. Sawer glacier was amazing. I don't think we got as close as they have on previous trips because it was early in the season, but it was still very beautiful.
2a. The glacier viewing from the ship was great. We got a much closer look at it than we thought we would. We were out on deck and didn't hear any announcements.
3. No naturalist on board. They announced that because of sound limitations within the park, they couldn't announce things on the decks. It was just a peaceful ride.
4. Paul was the cd, (cruise director - like an master of ceremonies for the ship) and we really liked him. He was a little abrasive and brash compared to other cd's we've encountered, but we really enjoyed his energy.
5. We ate at Cagney's one night (amazing filet mignon) and enjoyed the other food. We are not fine diners though (Applebees and Chilis are fine by us). I ran every morning and still managed to gain 8 pounds so they must have been doing something right!
5a. My wife and I had the best meal of our trip in Cagney’s very very good and worth the 25.00 pp extra
5b. We had a nice dinner at Cagney's with one exception. My husband ordered Prime Rib medium rare. The server brought Prime Rib medium well...three times. The Maitre D came over to the table. My husband changed his order to a Filet Mignon, medium rare. Not what he wanted, but when it came out from the kitchen it was a huge, perfectly cooked filet.
7. On embarkation day, a tip we got from the tour director we all ate at the Versailles and had a wonderful lunch (instead of at the outdoor grill on Lido deck)
9 after you board, you can drop off your carryon bags at the Spinnaker lounge until 2PM),
10 Room Service. For the last sea day I wrote in "Ham and cheese omelet" on my limited breakfast menu Room Service card, as I had read on the CC message boards you could go off the menu a bit. Sure enough, room service delivered an excellent omelet! Gratuity well deserved
12. AQUA Dining Room. The first night we sailed (Sat), we ate in the Aqua Dining Room. They had lobster that night so we took advantage of that. We never did see lobster again. I'm sure they served it at the restaurants you had to pay for.
12a Great food, very similar to Versailles, but they called it more contemporary. Amazing wait staff, Jonolito was incredible. Friendly, efficient. Never had a problem getting a table at 8:30 for a large group. The only restaurant where we were actually told what the Chef Specialty was every night. I cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed Aqua.
13. The shows on the ship were really good and the best show was "Elements" on the last night. Make sure you see that show. It was amazing!
14. Versailles Dining Room. We went to the Versailles dinning room had a very nice lunch then looked round the ship and purchased a wine package, 6 bottles with 20% discount.
15. Bistro We purchased two specialty meal tickets one for a brunch in the Italian restaurant (bad move) and one for a dinner in the French restaurant (good move)
16. Blue Lagoon This was our preferred spot. I loved the crew members who worked here. It had a great atmosphere and free popcorn.
16a. The only restaurant where I ordered soup and it came out hot.
17. Dress up or not- The question is how many and which nights are they? Is the dress up dining room the Versailles? Is the not dress up dining room the Aqua? ANS. They have a dress up "or not" night. Some people were dressed in formal wear, others were in jeans and a shirt
17a Offically, dress up (or not) night was Sunday, only one dress up night for the whole week. But you can do portraits later in the week and dress up again. That seemed to be popular on my sailing. I believe it's for both main dining rooms.
18. Ladies keep your eyes open! Most of these towns shut down completely once the ships leave. All the shops have "sister" shops in either the Carib or the mainland and they don't like to pay to ship product home! The deals on leather/fur coats and jackets are INSANE. They are expensive to ship so they do indeed dump them in the last few weeks of the cruise season. Jewelry not so much.
19. Market Cafe All the time Interesting selection, part of the group really enjoyed the Indian buffet. Took us a while to figure out that at lunch time the first two sections are the same, but the 3rd is different, sandwiches, etc.
20. La Cucina Best of All (at La Cucina) Friday Lunch $15 each The idea is you get a sampling of the specialty restaurants, while the food was good; there was nothing there that inspired me to go to any of the restaurants featured.
21. Endless Summer – Thursday Dinner – ½ Off Night The only reason we decided to try endless summer was the promotion of ½ Off. And it was well worth it. The best meal of the entire trip, but let me say it wouldn’t have been worth $90 for us, but for $45 it was great. We had very special service because of a food allergy, the only restaurant that offered to make something special because of it.
22. Lobster: Only served in MDR on 1st night and only lobster tail, order more than one
23. You change time while at sea on the way to Alaska and then again the night when you are docking in Prince Rupert
24.
