I'm so excited for my first Alaskan cruise! The details:
Carnival Luminosa out of Seattle, June 8th, 2023.
Ports are Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria, BC.
There are 3 of us: me (39), my girlfriend (49), and my mom (turns 70 on debarkation day!).
I am a moderately experienced Caribbean cruiser, but learning fast this is very different. I'm comfortable planning and managing my own excursions, but it looks like in Alaska, ship excursions cost about the same and in some cases might be the only option. My mom is a first time cruiser. I'm the planner, and getting others to tell me what they want is hard because they just don't know, but I love the researching, and will present suggestions to them!
We are pretty adventurous, and my mom is in good health/shape, but she is turning 70, so that will dictate some of our activities. For example, I'm super interested in snorkeling in Ketchikan, but doubt anyone else will want that! I'm paying for most of this trip; I recognize this is the trip of a lifetime, and am not trying to do it particularly cheap...but I also work in K-12 education, so it's hard not to look for some lesser-expensive options as I plan.
I have some ideas for things I want to suggest to my companions, but I'm having trouble deciding WHERE to do what, and that's where I need some advice. We want to experience a wide range of what Alaska offers. Here are some of my hopes:
I want to step on a glacier, and am looking at helicopter/glacier tours. I am right at 250lbs, so anticipate paying a surcharge, but everyone else is under. This is probably the splurge excursion, assuming I can get mom on a helicopter.
See wildlife, especially bears and whales.
Enjoy views.
Eat excellent local food.
Learn from/support businesses of indigenous people wherever possible
What am I missing? Where, given the ports we are visiting, should we do each thing? We aren't going to rent a car--I want everyone to enjoy the views, and not have to worry about navigation. If we do the train/bus for the suspension bridge in Skagway with Chilkoot, are we missing out on any must-sees there? I think my mom would maybe be interested in sled dogs, but I've read mixed things about the ethical implications, so I'm iffy there without a solid recommendation. I don't want to see sad dogs in miserable, small spaces!
I'm reading the boards pretty thoroughly, but would love any feedback if there's a "do X here, not there" kind of suggestion.
Thank you!