AKfamily

If the weather is wet (which it very well may be), you will find all the locals going about their business in rain coats, hiking included. However, if you want an indoor activity I suggest the Alaska State Museum. It is fantastic. There is also the Juneau Douglas City Museum. Both are within walking distance of the ships. 

I never really worry about Seattle. We come from Juneau and that’s always more of a concern to me. But after seeing this I’m glad I bought travel insurance for our trip that starts two weeks from today! Yikes. 

Favorites from a local: Bawden St. Brewing in Ketchikan (it’s the only brewery there and right in the main tourist part of the city). Devils Club Brewing in Juneau is my favorite. It’s better than Alaskan. And, it’s also right downtown, so no need for a shuttle. Barnaby Brewing in Juneau is getting ready to reopen after being closed for a year due to a fire. Also right downtown. Amalga Distillery in Juneau is on the same block as Devil’s Club and is ahh-mazing! 

15 hours ago, terrydtx said:

Is the king crab served locally the same frozen crab we get in the lower 48? On our cruise in July we have one night in Fairbanks and would love some great King Crab, is there a place you recommend?

It is cooked and flash frozen when caught. It will be fresher here than what you would get elsewhere. We caught our own a few times this year (personal use fishery is extremely limited and you only get a couple of crabs per household per year!) and we had to figure out how to cook it fresh, as it’s not a common thing to get king crab that hasn’t already been cooked and frozen! If seafood is frozen properly it will taste like it was never frozen. 

I completely sympathize! Coast Guard family here, working with no paycheck. We cruise at the end of February and I sure hope it’s over by then. If not, I maybe looking into my travel insurance policy. 

PLEASE get off the ship at every port. Even if it’s just to walk the town. Talk to some locals, have a cup of coffee. It’s a complete waste to stay onboard. 

Just pay attention for the “Made in Alaska” polar bear label rather than “Made in China”. Lots of the trinket stores don’t sell authentic stuff. In Juneau you can visit a little shop near the food trucks called The Port. It sells only locally made stuff, including locally harvested kelp made into salsa. 

Here in Southeast Alaska, most “real” food is seafood. Halibut, Dungeness crab, king crab, rockfish, and salmon (in season).  We don’t have caribou (reindeer sausage is all you’ll find) or many moose. Seafood is where it’s at! You may find that once you have eaten fresh, Wild Alaskan salmon, you will never buy farmed salmon again-at least I hope you won’t! In Juneau, hit up Tracy’s Crab Shack, or Alaska Fish and Chips for cod and chips. It’s no less expensive to buy here than it is in the lower 48, but it’s FRESH. 

On 1/4/2019 at 5:28 PM, EntrechatatSea said:

BudgetQueen,

 

Thank you for your honest input, I do appreciate that.

 

  I chose the Skagway train trip because my son and I absolutely loved this excursion last May.  Interesting train and history, I had forgotten how small it really was so thanks for that reminder. Truly beautiful mountains and the numerous waterfalls were spectacular.  

 

Based on your information regarding the crab and Hoonah I will keep the George Inlet crab feast.  69.00 pp for all you can eat Dungeness crab is a bargain.

 

Keeping the Sawyer Glacier Tracy Arm tour and also the Hoonah small boat whale tour but I have decided to cancel the Major Marine Kenai Fjords tour and look at other options.  May choose a smaller tour operator.  There is the possibility we may go more low-key for that last day prior to the train to Anchorage, visiting Exit Glacier, a nice walk along the shore, do a little shopping and have a good fresh halibut meal.

 

Whatever we choose, we will enjoy ourselves very much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you are making a great call. All of your tours sound perfect, but the Kenai Fjords will be redundant. Have you ever been to Seavey’s Ididaride in Seward? It’s a fun place if you want to learn about sled dogs. It’s also off the road to Exit Glacier. 

We are going next month and booked with Roatan Trips and Tours after scouring tons of reviews. You can book a tour that you can make up as you go along, based on suggestions from your driver. There are a couple of other similar companies, and they all have similarly great reviews. 

Uber is spotty at best here. You can take a taxi to the airport for about $25. Why not look into the rental agencies near the Norwegian dock on Mill St or the new Jeep rental place right by the Tramway? I live here sonhavent looked into their prices to know if they are more expensive than airport rentals. Or call the airport car rental agency and ask about a shuttle. The airport is over 10 miles from the pier. I can see this costing you some valuable time, depending on your hours in port. There is also the Capital Transit city bus system. 

You could do both. It’s only about a 3 hour drive between the two. Homer Spit wandering can take a day, a day trip to Seldovia would be nice (but it is very, very small...), there are plenty of wildlife tours in the bay, or you could go to Halibut Cove for an afternoon/evening. If you like to fish, both towns are great. Homer also has a fishing hole on the spit, and you can rent poles nearby. A wonderful day adventure is taking a water taxi to go hike to Grewingk Glacier Lake. 

For Seward, the boat tours to the glacier areas are wonderful. But there’s plenty to do on land as well. Exit Glacier, the SeaLife Center, walking the town, driving out the Miller’s Lansing area and hiking, etc. 

My kids are 11 and 13. We live in Juneau. They loved the Carcross Desert north of Skagway this summer. They also loved taking the train to the Denver stop and getting off to hike. The train comes back by and you can get a ride back to town. Just call the railroad to get the most accurate details on how to do this. In Juneau, go to the Mendenhall Glacier and walk to Nugget Falls. My kids love building rock cairns on the beach near the falls, or ice sculptures if there is glacier ice  floating close enough to snag. Bring tall rain boots!!  He will be able to wade and explore like the local kids. You can also do a canoe trip on the lake or kayak excursion in Fritz Cove. He would also enjoy the tram, if you venture out along the trails at the top. Go at least to the cross, or further if you have time. Visit the library or order some books ahead of time and learn about the wildlife and landforms you will be seeing. And please don’t be afraid to ask local parents and kids you see for tips! We generally all love to give pointers. You’ll recognize locals by the boots- brown Xtra-Tufs 😀

Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, and Taku Glacier Lodge if you want a worthwhile splurge. The tramway is nice, and spectacular alpine hiking is available at the top, even on a cloudy day. The mountaintop is often above the cloud layer. The Alaska State Museum is great. You will have plenty of time to wander downtown. Go up the hill from the ships to access more local businesses. 

As someone who has lived in Sitka and Juneau for the past 5 years, don’t count on averages or typical weather patterns to dictate when you go. The past several years have been all

over the place, weather wise. I like the end of July for fishing and whale watching. It’s still plenty light enough in August. Sitka would be my choice for a family. It’s more of a small town than ISP. There are wonderful cultural opportunities, the Sitka National Historical Park, Fortress of the Bear, and plenty of options for tours on the water. It’s on the outer coast, right off the Gulf of Alaska, so it’s different from the other places you will see on the Inside Passage. And there are lots of budget-friendly ways to fill a family day. The ships that dock have a bus ride ahead of them to and from town. Those that tender pull right up to the downtown harbor. 

We have two kids, 13 and 10. They can swim but aren’t strong swimmers (we plan to bring their own life vests from home). We have two busy port call days before our stop in Cozumel and want to just relax at a beach and then maybe shop in town in the afternoon on the way back to the ship (Carnival). I was planning to go to Paradise Beach as I don’t think we need an all-inclusive $200+ day, but that can’t be reserved in advance. Will I be better off going elsewhere with  an advance reservation? If so, where? We’d like a beach, pool, lunch and drinks available, and maybe SUP or kayaks. 

3 hours ago, bbtbear said:

Can't you just keep cruising until Feb 24 on the Dream so I can just keep living vicariously through you until our cruise? Or, better yet, stay on board until March 3 so I can buy you a couple of those cocktails? 🙂 Thanks so much for the review. I have loved it!

Us too!! Alaskan winter escape. Except so far, no winter to escape from. 

2 minutes ago, lennythenose said:

We took this tour with our then 10 or 11 year old son and he loved it. He has since said it is one of his two favorite tours ever, along with whale watching in Alaska. 

Thanks! He and my husband put visiting the ruins at the top of the must-do list, and I debated between all the options for awhile before deciding on this one.

We live in Alaska. 🙂

Was the ruins tour worth taking up the whole day? Were the guides onsite able to answer questions (think curious history hound 10-year-old boy type questions 😂)? And, could you take your beer with you back on the bus for the return trip?

Looking forward to this one. Taking our kids on this same cruise as their first at the end of February. 

We booked a private tour with Rostand trips and Tours. They will take us touring, snorkeling, and to the sloth/monkey place plus anywhere else we decide to check out. My kids are 10 and 13, and the price was reasonable. We go in February. 

The fast ferry is no more. It was taken out of service due to costs as of September. I was on the last run from Skagway to Juneau. I would wait and see what the new ferry schedule looks like for next year when it comes out on the Alaska DOT website. 

Just so you are doubly aware, the Denali Hwy is not IN the national park. It’s actually a bit of a way away. It is scenic and mostly unpaved, but it’s a regular highway. We are renting an RV Inn anchorage and driving it next summer as part of our travels. 

Experiencing wilderness in in its true form is the best part of the national park. And as others have said, going to at least Eielson is a must. My best advice is to order yourself a Milepost book from Amazon. You can see every single thing there is to see in every single highway in the state, with lots of travel planning ideas. We always use it to plan our adventures. 

Sitka fishing is hands down the best  option. You don’t have to go far from shore to get halibut, and king salmon will still be around. You won’t know salmon regulations until much closer to the time you leave, as they differ every year. Sitka is on the gulf coast, so the fish get there before the rest of the areas in Southeast. 

Just to keep this recent, I just submitted a claim and got the same answer from Scott. Out of curiosity, has anyone contacted the competitor to see if they really don’t use this special facility or include the $20 admission in the price as Carnival claims?

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