Hiking in Alaska Week of May 7 aboard the Norwegian Pearl

Looking for experienced hikers that want to avoid the typical shore excursions and instead share expenses on hiking Mendenhall Glacier, Skagway, and Ketchikan. We will save money and have more time to experience nature unimpeded by the many tourists.

Check out your roll call for your sailing--that's where you'll find people who'll be on the same ship the same time as you. Good luck!

Looking for experienced hikers that want to avoid the typical shore excursions and instead share expenses on hiking Mendenhall Glacier, Skagway, and Ketchikan. We will save money and have more time to experience nature unimpeded by the many tourists.

What are you referring to with " hiking Mendenhall Glacier"???

Do you have hiking areas already known? That's the first thing you need to know and plan. There aren't really a lot of "expenses" to share with a lot of free hiking available.

Beware the NCL port calls at Juneau offer limited time for personal hiking excursions.

Ship arriving early AM and departing early afternoon - not much time for your own

personal hiking plans albeit even if on the cheap side.

Take to the trails above Mt. Roberts and see your ship sail away -

Darn I hate that when that happens !

Remember to plan your non NCL excursions with care !

I certainly do not recommend hiking from the piers/berths in Juneau to Mendenhall

without having a vehicle at hand to expedite the return to the ship.

Beware the NCL port calls at Juneau offer limited time for personal hiking excursions.

Ship arriving early AM and departing early afternoon - not much time for your own

personal hiking plans albeit even if on the cheap side.

Take to the trails above Mt. Roberts and see your ship sail away -

Darn I hate that when that happens !

Remember to plan your non NCL excursions with care !

I certainly do not recommend hiking from the piers/berths in Juneau to Mendenhall

without having a vehicle at hand to expedite the return to the ship.

Juneau is from 2pm till 10pm.

To those negative responses, you make assumptions that I have not cruised because I don't feel the need to list every ship that I've been on. Yes, Juneau ports 2 pm to 10 pm and when you rent a car, you can do either the West or East Mendenhall Glacier trails. As an experienced hiker who leads hikes to the Las Vegas peaks at Red Rock, Mt. Charleston, and Lake Mead, 2 to 3 days a week and people trust me with their lives on hikes where there are significant risks unlike the trails we would hike in Alaska. Researched all the hikes for the three Alaska ports and have the choices narrowed down to 2 at Juneau, 2 at Skagway, and there is only one Deerfield Trail in Ketchikan. As far as hiking free Ms. Budget Queen, you still need to get to the trailhead and renting a car for $60 vs taking the bus and having to walk the extra mile to the visitor center gives you more flexibility and if you are in shape and can hike at a fairly brisk pace, photography included, then you have tremendous opportunity in Juneau. And I have never missed a departure on a ship while in port and I never book tours through the cruise line as I dont believe in paying the commission.

If people want to hike and have a great time exploring without the cost of shipboard excursions, please feel free to respond, otherwise, please keep your comments to yourself as I am not interested.

I think you're really overreacting to what was posted. I don't see any negative responses at all. We have no way of knowing what your hiking experience is or how much research you've done, and many people have signatures turned off so even if you've been on 1000 cruises, a lot of people wouldn't even know that since they'd never see your sig. BQ has been to Alaska many, many times and is kind enough to share her experiences and advice with other cruisers. If you're going to post on a public message board, you're going to get answers and you may not like some of them. But don't bite the heads off of people who are trying to help you!