Excursions and scenic views are definitely the highlights of any cruise, even more so in Alaska. Here are Alaska shore excursions we did along with a few others I recommended and one to avoid.

Alaskan Excursions

Cruises are always a fantastic deal! The joys of paying everything beforehand so you can have a stress free time throughout your vacation is amazing. An Alaskan cruise is definitely a once in a lifetime cruise but does tend to be a little pricey. We decided to splurge and we are so glad we did. There was definitely some planning involved,you can use our tips for what to pack and plan for an Alaskan cruise here). We did try to be budget concise on the excursions so we kept it to a minimum. We enjoyed our time on our Alaskan cruise. It was the last stop on our extended vacation and it ended with a bang! (Read more about the rest of our vacation start here).

Cruise line

Our Alaskan cruise was through Carnival Cruise Lines. We are pretty bias to Carnival Cruise lines as that is the only cruise line we have used. I do intend to try other cruise lines to really decide which I prefer better. This was a 7-day cruise that left out of Seattle, Washington.

Cruise Ports:

The cruise featured 3 ports: Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan. Another day was spent cruising through Glacier Bay, which was included with the trip. So, most of our days were at sea, and only 3 days were at port but Glacier Bay almost seemed like an excursion in itself.  Tourism is their main source of revenue in Alaska, especially for those ports. If you are able to do excursions in all ports, I highly suggest it. There isn’t much to do outside the different excursions besides visiting a few gift shops and stores. We did do a few cheaper end tours (below $50 but some I wouldn’t recommend). See my recommendations below:

Cruise Port to Juneau:

Since the cruise is pretty expensive, we opted to not book an excursion in every port to save money. However, I do suggest if you have the money to definitely book excursions in every port. We opted to not book any in Juneau and instead walked around. We found their Museum of Library Archives. It was full of rich information artifacts, and even had things for kids to explore and create artwork to hang there. It was nice to be out of the cold and had a lot of things to look at and explore.  However, many other guests went on helicopter tours, whale watching and stated it was amazing! Whale watching and going to see a glacier up close tend to be the most popular.

 Cruise Port to Skagway:

Skagway was our  favorite! (Of course, it may be because it was our biggest excursion we book and filled with the most adventure!) We met our tour guide as we got off the boat. She was standing with a note and greeted us warmly. A group of about 25 boarded a bus where we traveled up to Fraser, BC where the population is 12. (Yes, literally 12. The only people that live there are the border security officers).

There, we boarded the white pass railway, which took us on a scenic tour through the Alaskan wilderness. It was beautiful! (The White Pass Railway is one of the most popular excursions to take because you can stay in the comforts of a warm train and still see the sights. It costs about $120 just to take the train, I would suggest getting out there on excursions that include the train with other things to really get a taste of Alaska).

On the train, we were given a butt pack filled with trail mix, candy, and water. We also made our own lunch which consisted of sandwiches and veggies. Then, we enjoyed the scenery as the train took us down to our stop. Our bus was filled with two different tours, one tour went hiking towards a glacier, our tour went to hike in the wilderness. Our tour guide said both are good for different reasons, but to note that you aren’t guaranteed to make it to the glacier: that depends on how quick the group hikes.) We chose the wilderness excursion as it was a few dollars cheaper.

The train stopped at the Denver Wildness where we got off to start our hike! We were excited to find our group was very small. We were a group of only 5 total: our tour guide, and one other couple (from Germany!), so it was nice that was a nice perk. We all hiked about the same pace and all got along really well. The tour guide goes at your pace and you are free to stop and take pictures as much as you like, and boy did we! We hiked a total of 5 miles: 2.5 in and then 2.5 miles back out. We ate our lunch out on a cliff next to rushing water and amazing views, and it was just magical. It definitely made me want to hike everywhere we go now. I just love it. We went in early September. The temperatures were in the low 50’s which is a little cold for us Southerners. But as we hiked, we shed some layers to where I was comfortable just in a long sleeve shirt and pants.  It was definitely my favorite part of the whole trip. Here are a few pictures below of our hike.

After the hike, we boarded the train again and it took us back into Skagway. The total cost of this tour was $259.99

The other tour that goes to the glacier is $279.99 but doesn’t guarantee you’ll see the glacier. Our tour provided us with the railway pass, our tour guide, a butt pack, lunch, water, and snacks and it lasted approximately 8 hours. So a full day of adventure!

Glacier Bay Excursion

Even though, you don’t actually get off the boat. I still count glacier bay as an excursion because it is a full day of checking out the beauty outside your room. I do recommend a balcony room. It was nice to go back into the comforts of our room from the cold every now and then. Here are more tips for when you planning an Alaskan Cruise. Although pictures never do it justice, here are some of my favorites.  I even caught video of ice breaking off the glacier and saw another cruise boat in glacier bay as well.

Cruise Port to Ketchikan

The last port we visited was Ketchikan. Fun Fact: Ketchikan is actually considered a rain forest and receives rain 300 out of 365 days a year. It drizzled or rained on all our port days, so I do suggest investing in a nice raincoat like this one. We did two different excursions in Ketchikan. The first excursion we rode the trolley to learn about Ketchikan and explore the sites. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and told us about famous people that have visited and about the Native Americans that inhabited there. This was probably my least favorite excursion. While it had some information, I felt I could have done without this one but it was the cheapest being less than $40/person.

The last excursion was the lumberjack show. The lumberjack show is out in the weather but you are seated on bleachers under an overhang so you are not in the rain. There are also heaters blowing but if you are towards the bottom, you don’t really feel the warmth. The show starts with a simple rivalry. The audience is split to cheer for the Americans and the Canadians. We were on the Canadian side. It was very entertaining. They interacted the whole time with the crowd and it was very family friendly. The whole show was about 2 hours and they do have a gift shop along with time to take pictures with the lumberjacks at the end.

I hope this gives you some good information for excursions you might enjoy and some you might avoid. I can’t wait to hear your stories!

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