Travel plan idea blog

I live in Juneau and unless it's a clear day, I wouldn't go to the top of Mt. Roberts. The views are good only if it's clear (which chances are it won't be). And while the video up top is nice, it's not really worth the $25 tram ride to the top. If it's nice, and you're so inclined, you can hike up to the top (takes about an hour if you're in good shape, 1 1/2 - 2 if not) and then pay $5 to take the tram down.

Please email this article to my wife as I don't know how. She will find this very helpful in planning our trip later this year! What is the best cruseline for the inland passage trip? Thank you Pat Chambers

what about barrow point? or the village of barrow?
I've been thinking about going to Alaska to watch their dog-sledding race.

Sweetheart - I don't know your wife's email. Just talk to her about this great travel blog she should start reading...

Don't waste your time and money for a trip to Alaska if you don't plan to get off the ship! You have to go ashore to truly appreciate the beauty of Alaska. The whale watch tour was great and we enjoyed the White Pass RR. Mendenhall Glacier was awesome. We were VERY disappointed with Holland America. Check out Celebrity or Princess. Spend more time picking a cruise line than shore excursions, if you get a bad deal you are stuck for days! Next time we'll fly in, rent a car and enjoy everything at our own pace.

You HAVE to get off the ship on an Alaskan cruise! This is not like a Caribbean cruise, where eventually it's "seen one beach, seen 'em all." Every stop of full of natural sights and wonderful history to soak up!

That said, look at your cruise excursion itinerary, decide what you'd like to do, then GET ONLINE. Nine times out of ten, you can find the same thing offered by a private company for a fraction of the cost.

Here's my advice based on my cruise (on the Norwegian SUN, highly recommended. I love Norwegian) a few years back:

If you plan to drive to Mendenhall Glacier, do NOT take the cruise line bus excursion! There is a bus that runs back and forth all day from the cruise dock to the glacier for a fraction of the price--and you get to stay at the glacier park as long as you want! It's not just the glacier--there are marked paths through the forest to explore, too (provided there haven't been any bear sightings recently!).

Absolutely DO ride the White Pass Railroad in Skagway. NOT to be missed. And if I remember correctly, booking that through the cruise line was not significantly more expensive than booking it yourself, and the train basically came right to the cruise dock to pick you up if you booked through them. I cannot stress enough that this is NOT to be missed! The natural beauty you see coupled with the history of the Alaskan gold rush you learn makes it worth every penny.

Ketchikan is an adorable little town, and this is where we booked a float plane tour of the Misty Fjords National Monument, which was without a doubt the HIGHLIGHT of our trip. There are plenty of operators in both Ketchikan and Juneau, but we used Family Air in Ketchikan (http://www.familyairtours.com), and they were GREAT. They were waiting to pick us up when we got off the ship, and drove us back afterward. And in between were two of the most exhilarating hours of my life. Helicopters are fine, but can they come to a silent, gliding stop on the surface of a completely unsullied lake in the middle of a national forest, and then let you disembark for half an hour to soak up the solitude and beauty of nature at its most pristine? Didn't think so! I can still hear the silence there. Unbelievable. And on the way back our pilot made several passes by a mountaintop so we could see the mountain goats at eye-level. THAT doesn't happen every day!

Whale watching is a MUST, but I'd actually recommend arriving at your departure port early (or stay late) and do it out of there. The cruise excursions are LONG, and if you take one, you don't get to see ANY of the town you're docked at, and that is a shame. We went round trip out of Vancouver, and went whale (Orca) watching before the cruise. It was AMAZING. Tours go out of Seattle, too. We went in late July, prime Orca season. From the cruise ship we saw many humpback whales swimming alongside the ship. Also amazing!

Our cruise did not stop in Victoria, but I have been there, and it's a beautiful little city. We were there for three days on our own, and could have easily filled three more on our own. I don't think there's any need at all to book an excursion there. Just get off the ship and wander about. We took a little boat that's almost like a ferry around the harbor to various stops, getting on and off--getting fried fish at one stop, feeding a harbor seal off the dock at another, etc. And there is a fantastic museum there, the name of which I'm forgetting right now, sorry! Museum of Anthropology, I want to say, but that makes it sound boring, which it is not! And someone already mentioned having tea there.

The only thing we did NOT do that I really regret, and will be sure to do next time, is take one of the small boat excursions right up to the base of a glacier, either Mendenhall or ones that you approach on the ship (and yes, DO pack scarves and hats for that part of your trip--only wimps try to watch from inside. You want to be OUT THERE on the bow of the ship, feeling the cold!). I really would have liked to get closer to a glacier. Next time. ;-) People who did that and people who took helicopter rides to land on top of a glacier all seemed to prefer the boat--you "get" the size and grandeur of theses things better when they're towering over your head than when you're standing on top of one, I guess.

I actually don't like cruises much, but my Alaskan cruise was one of the vacation highlights of my life. Can't wait to do it again (summer 2009, probably!).

Donna

Thanks Donna - that helped! I will certianly do the railroad and consider the rest (when I finish grading papers!).

Thank you so much for the great info Donna. Im so glad i read what you had to say. We are going this Sept 13 2008.