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Any suggestions for activities in Juneau or Sitka? I posted on the Alaska board but I know sometimes the port boards give a slow response. This will be a June departure -- 1st time cruise on HAL.

Mendenhall glaciar tour is ok. They basically bus u there and back and pay admission. It may be cheaper to do this by taxi but I don’t know for sure.

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Juneau -- whale watching excursion or take the blue bus out Mendenhall Glacier.

Sitka -- Sea Otter and Wildlife tour.

We were on the Amsterdam when we stopped in Sitka. It was a tender port and so beautiful. We went on a private excursion that made a stop at the Fortress of the Bears Sanctuary. We quite enjoyed it. We also enjoyed the Russian Orthodox Cathedral. The Totem Pole visit was a bust. We were there in July 2014.

Juneau: the Taku Lodge and 5 Glacier Tour with a Salmon Bake at the Lodge are genuine winners! Not inexpensive, but worth the money.

If one does not want to buy a tour in Juneau, the city is very walkable with free and interesting tours of the Alaska State Capitol available. The Governor's Mansion is not far away as well and is a good site for a photo. Lots to experience in Alaska's Capitol City without spending much money if one does not wish to do so.

We don’t do Any ship tours but I wasn’t sure if you were asking about HAL tours. That being said, we loved our private boat fishing and whale watching trip in Juneau. It was pricy, but they picked us up right at the dock and we spent 6 hours on board, caught some nice salmon and saw some amazing whales. They processed the salmon for us and it arrived home two days after we did. After, we went to the Alaskan Brewing Company, which was also a great facility. Taxi from there back back to the ship was about $20.

In Sitka, they have an amazing National Park within walking distance from the docks. On they way, you can also do their aquarium and fish breeding facility. We also walked up the the raptor center, which was nice but the other two stops were much icer. We taxied back to town for $15 or so. A great day and one I would repeat because the NP was amazing.

I highly recommend whale watching with Harv & Marv. Also, there's a great view from atop Mt. Roberts via the tramway.

Thank you all for the suggestions. It sounds like it will be a beautiful cruise!!

We don’t do Any ship tours but I wasn’t sure if you were asking about HAL tours. That being said, we loved our private boat fishing and whale watching trip in Juneau. It was pricy, but they picked us up right at the dock and we spent 6 hours on board, caught some nice salmon and saw some amazing whales. They processed the salmon for us and it arrived home two days after we did. After, we went to the Alaskan Brewing Company, which was also a great facility. Taxi from there back back to the ship was about $20.

 

In Sitka, they have an amazing National Park within walking distance from the docks. On they way, you can also do their aquarium and fish breeding facility. We also walked up the the raptor center, which was nice but the other two stops were much icer. We taxied back to town for $15 or so. A great day and one I would repeat because the NP was amazing.

Did you tender into downtown Sitka? On Amsterdam last fall, we were docked out of town and nothing was walkable. I would guess we were about 10 miles from downtown.

In Juneau, we did "discover alaska's whales." It was billed as a research boat, which wasn't quite true, although they do participate in identification and record-keeping. Small group, good boat, and we did get a lot of history and ecology on the tour.

Did you tender into downtown Sitka? On Amsterdam last fall, we were docked out of town and nothing was walkable. I would guess we were about 10 miles from downtown.

 

In Juneau, we did "discover alaska's whales." It was billed as a research boat, which wasn't quite true, although they do participate in identification and record-keeping. Small group, good boat, and we did get a lot of history and ecology on the tour.

We were parked right downtown on the Amsterdam when we went two years ago. We walked right out and the aquarium was a 5 min walk and the National Park was maybe 10 mins farther.

Rented car in Juneau and went to Mendenhall glacier and St Therese's. Great ride came back ate at Tracey's crab shack. Very touristy but Delish!!!!!. In Sitka took taxi to c Fortress of the Bears, loved this place and got to stay as long as we wanted. Great shopping in town and bought some bubushkas very reasonable. We loved Alaska.

In Juneau we did a helicopter up to the glacier once, that was fun. The other two times we took the bus out to the glacier and walked up the trail as far as you can go. I seem to also recall wandering through shops prior to getting back on board. In Sitka I know we did the Sea Otter and Wildlife tour and we really enjoyed that as well. We've repeated other boat shore excursions but I don't remember where...

Sitka has a dock now, fairly new -- within the last few years.

Go here http://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Sitka-%E2%80%93-SIT-2018.pdf

to check whether you will be docked, or tendering, in Sitka.

We've done the Sea Otter Quest in Sitka a couple of times. We've also gone to the Sitka National Heritage Park. https://www.nps.gov/sitk/index.htm and walked the trails, viewing the totem poles. Last year there we saw eagles in flight, fighting, which was an impressive experience.

There is a LOT available to do in Alaska, you need to figure out what is and isn't of interest. Small plane? Helicopter? Zodiac?

We went on a gold panning expedition in Juneau and even managed to find some small gold pieces. It was an interesting trip. I would also recommend visiting the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau while you're there...it's different.

Paul