sydney042904

Cruising on the RCCL Radiance Vancouver to Seward on wondering if there are excursion companies at the ports selling excursions? I have only been in Caribbean cruises and know that here are always companies trying to sell you tours but not sure if this is true in the Alaskan ports?? Thanks for any input!

Hello Elbano,

I just returned from Alaska a week ago. I remember having the same question a few weeks before my trip. Everyone told me to book my excursions ahead of time. I decided not to and was just fine. I visited Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. I was really nervous about waiting until the last minute with Juneau. To make a long story short, I was ableto book the tours I wanted without a problem. I even got off the cruise ship later than I wanted and was able to get the tours at a 10% discount. But I do agree with the fellow cruise members, you may want book special and custom tours ahead of time. I booked the whale watching, Mendenhall Glacier, Ketchikan wildlife and Yukon territory full day tour. Much less than the cruise ship price and 10% cheaper compared to the promotional rate online.

Alaska is beautiful. Have a great time.

Sydney

Missing Alaska:cool:

In Juneau you shoukd see some great deals to go to Mendenhall Glacier. Need the bottom of the sky tram that goes up the mountain and near where ship shuttles drop passengers, there are lots of excursion vendors. You should be able to find something of interest tgat you can do in the time you'll be in port. I'd be leery of doing helicopter or airplane ones that take you to glaciers since you could potentially have a delay and miss the ship. In Skagway we did the White Pass Train. If I had it to do over I'd book an excursion on train going up the mountain and bus coming down. Each cruise line has specific cars their people go on. We got a ticket at a booth near the train to do the round trip. That's something you might consider booking thru ship to be able to do the bus back down mountain. It stops several times so you can get out and take pics. We did one that started after lunch and spent the morning walking down main street in Skagway browsing in shops and went in a little museum run back park service. Make a mental note that the museum is best place aling the street to find restrooms. In zketchican we just walked around town but as soon as you disembark you should see a small terminal building and there are very helpful people who can go through what you might want to do and where to get reservations. We took public bus around town and stopped at a totem museum that was very interesting. They rescue old totems that have been neglected and restore them. They have a whole room of very old ones in climate control glass containers. The lady that guided us thru was a wealth of knowledge. They have modern ones outside for pictures. Juneau is great place to buy coats, tshirts, etc. At very reasonable prices. We used Trip Advisor to research the ports to decide what we wanted to do in each port. Have a great cruise.

 

Cherie

Thank you cganesh!

:D

Hello my family is traveling to Alaska in 5 days. I would like to pick my excursions from the tour vendors at each port once I get off the ship. I'm on the Emerald Princess sailing July 9th from Seattle roundtrip. Is this feasible to do this in the Alaskan ports of calls? Can someone provide advise how to pick excursions for someone on a budget.

Thank you

:cool:

Hello,

Has anyone heard if the Emerald Princess sailing July 9th will be able to enter the Tracy Arm Fjord on Wednesday morning? I received change of schedule from Princess Cruise several weeks ago. I haven't been able to find out anything about the schedule for next Wednesday. Please advise.

Thanks :cool:

This was our 12th cruise to Alaska and we did enjoy just as much as we did the first time. The food was good, I didn’t have any meals that I didn’t like. I think that the best thing you can do is to not go to the buffet unless you absolutely have to and you like crowds. We always eat in the MDR, since Princess started the Club Class the MDR has changed, it used to be the Da Vinci Dining Room for the embarkation and sea day lunch and breakfast, now it’s the Botticelli Dining Room deck 6 aft. We had a wonderful embarkation lunch there as well as breakfast every day and lunch when it was open. The embarkation lunch is served from 12 to 1:30pm in the Botticelli dining room, we got on the ship around 11:45am or so. Only once did we go up to the buffet and that was after about 1:30 or so. The International Café is a great place to grab a snack or a lite lunch. There is limited seating to eat around the international Café and in the Piazza. What ticks me off in the Piazza is when people play cards, read or sleep at the tables while people are trying to find a place to eat. The ship was clean, the inside temperature was pleasant, not hot and not cold. The ship is in overall good condition, a little rust here and there but it’s a ship on the ocean you’re going to have rust. The staff is excellent everyone from the waiters to the cabin stewards were great. The cruise director Steve Campbell was the best we’ve ever had, funny. There are a lot of things to do on the sea days, just read the Patter. I spoke with a friend of mine at Allen Marine and he said they should start going into Tracy Arm in about a week to 10 days, the ice conditions are starting to improve but it’s a day by day call.

Here are the excursions we enjoyed

Ketchikan - Deadliest Catch Crab KTN-610

Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer TA1-660

Juneau - Mendenhall Glacier & Whale Quest JNU-630

Skagway - Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway SGY-180

Victoria - Enchanting Butchart Gardens YYJ-310

On our way into Victoria they opened the dining rooms at 4:45pm for open seating, it was absolute chaos. People lined up waiting for them the open the dining rooms and when they did it was a flood of people. Everyone wanted to have dinner before we got into Victoria. On disembarkation day, don’t go the buffet, to crowded, instead go the Botticelli dining room, it opened at 7:00am

Thank you so much for your review and helpful tips. So much appreciated!

We just got back from our annual Alaska cruise on the emerald. If you have any questions feel free to ask. When I get more time I'll try to do a review.

Hello Eaglecw

I hope you had a wonderful cruise. My family will be on the Emerald in 3 weeks. This is our first time cruising on Princess. I would like to know about dining. Overall, how was the food?

What excursions did you choose to do? Were there a lot of activities to do on sea days?

And anything other information you can provide would be great. Thank you