cmmaxwell03

I just finished reading your AK trip report and stumbled across this one 🙂 I'm so excited to follow you on another journey!!!!!!!

Dang! They took pizza off the menu too 😞

I agree with others above to check out Youtube. There are lots of reviews and videos that cover the good and the bad of many excursions. For Juneau, we booked external of our cruise line for the Taku Lodge Feast and Seaplane excursion with Wings Airways. At first I wanted to do the Mendenhall Glacier tour but after watching videos on Youtube from this year, I realized the glacier has receded so far that it was not worth the price of admission. In Ketchikan, we are doing the Bering Sea Fisherman excursion. Huge fans of the Deadliest Catch so it was a no brainer. However, our cruise ship isn't in port very long so ALL we can do is that excursion 😞 I think that city is one that we could have enjoyed by simply walking around and experiencing the location.

Apologies for going off topic....which AK sailing are you on? We are on the September 7th cruise. I found the the Seaplane and Taku Lodge excursion in Juneau offered at a better price directly through vendor (Wings Airways).

I know we only have a couple of AK sailing left this year but I am thankful we are keeping this thread alive 🙂 Any feedback on the excursion offered through Viking?

Any update on the entertainment? Wondering what to expect when we sail this September.

Is The Restaurant open for breakfast everyday or just on sea days?

Another question for you....Are there 2 different times for the entertainment in the theater each evening? I'm guessing and early (6ish) and late (8-9ish) show?

How has the evening attire been on your current cruise?

I'm so happy that I did not schedule an excursion to the Fjords. We are doing a a 5 hr Resurrection Bay Wildlife Cruise as our excursion in Seward. One of the first few lines in the description talks about the calm waters of the bay (woohoo!).

@CILCIANRQTS I was happy to read on another post that you currently on the Orion 🙂 How has it been so far? It looks as though today (July 12th) was a sea day. Did they do anything special? Beverage tastings? Unique dinners?

That's great to hear. I was secretly hoping that was the case. When we arrive in Seward we are not taking any excursions since our cruise is in Seward for day 1 and 2. We are signed up for a tour in Resurrection Bay on day 2.

I have also booked the gold star class rom ANC to Seward. Before I had learned that our ship would skip Skagway, I was also going to try the White Pass train excursion. However, we like trains more than most people and do not want to travel much by bus if it can be avoided. If you skipped the train in Skagway, is there something else your group would prefer to do? When planning out trip, I tried to vary our excursions so that we did not repeat similar things too often. We chose the following: Anchorage - Helicopter/dog sled trip Seward - Resurrection Bay wildlife cruise Valdez - on our own (2 museums, taco truck/brewery for lunch) Haines - on our own Juneau - Seaplane to Taku Lodge (includes lunch) Sitka - RIB/Zodiac ride to Fin Island Lodge (includes lunch) Ketchikan - Bering Sea Fisherman's tour

I have not been able to confirm that tickets purchased directly with Alaska RR are taken straight to the boat. That might happen if you are on the cruise line sponsored train. However, it's always best to ask when you hand over your luggage in Anchorage.

@islandchick How is your cruise going?

Is this the wildlife boat tour to Resurrection Bay? If so, now I'm worried, lol.

You are in the right place to discuss plans 🙂 It sounds like you have a solid plan for your trip.

GTJ has a good point. It is pricey. We paid $426 for the two of us in the Gold Star section. A few things helped in our decision to take the train as opposed to the bus: I hate bus transfers and do my best to avoid them when possible We are considering it an excursion Our cruise line did not include a transfer from Anchorage to Seward since we arranged our own flights Skagway is not on our itinerary so we would not have the chance to take the popular train excursion there It is scenic and has a chance to see wildlife (this comment is based on youtube videos I have watched where people give a review of their experiences) The price of our tickets include 2 adult beverages and 2 meals Some other random things: Our cruise line does not offer the 'cruise line train' so we booked directly through the Alaska Railroad website If the Gold Star tickets were not available, we might have reconsidered taking the train even though I hate the bus 😞 The train leaves Anchorage at 6:45am and they ask you to check in around an hour early 😞 I agree that if you are going to be sleeping most of the train trip, it might be good to determine if it's worth it

SCORE!! That's awesome. Also - thanks for letting us hijack your planning thread to share our plans. 🙂

I found a helicopter/dog sled tour out of Anchorage with a company called Alaska Helicopter Tours. I watched some videos/reviews on Youtube and thought it looked like fun. We are also signed up for the Taku Lodge/Seaplane trip. I have read that there is always a chance of the helicopter/seaplane tours being canceled if the weather is bad, which is why I wanted to choose 2 different 'flight' options in two locations. Also - if you have not already booked the Taku Lodge excursion, I found the company that performs the excursion and booked with them directly. Their price was $100pp less than through our cruise line. In Juneau, they are located right at the dock. The company is called Wings Airways.

I had the same question and spent some time watching Youtube videos about it. There were videos that showed both 'classes' available on the train, along with the food/beverages, and the view. I was sold!

For those of you with US phone plans, did you turn on airplane mode when the ship leaves port?

Me too 🙂

Also, if an excursion you want is sold out, there is a fairly good chance you can find it through another vendor. I was able to do that with the Taku Lodge & Seaplane excursion. Same vendor as the ship and I saved about $100 pp.

Wishing you the best of luck. When do you sail?