Alaska Excursions

Sigh. I'd been entertaining the idea of booking a terrific-sounding 14 day Mariner Alaska cruise next May. We did a 7-day Mariner cruise in Alaska some years ago and loved it , despite not-so-great weather. As I became ever more interested, I began to explore the excursion options, as those were our happiest part of the experience, though of course we love the ship too.

Here's where the sigh comes in. One of us (ha- maybe both!) isn't any longer able to do excursions of any real vigor or length. When I went port by port and reviewed the various excursions, I realized that the niftiest ones aren't accessible for both of us. (And we're kinda joined at the hip.) The shorter and more sedentary excursions seemed pretty boring to us (at least not our cuppa).

So here's the question. For those of you out there who are in a similar situation and have done those lovely Alaska ports, did you find that some of the tamer options were actually quite pleasant? I know that the scenery is splendid, and being in all that splendor is enjoyable in itself-- but I'm not sure this particular itinerary is worth doing unless one is fairly fit.

Thanks!

Hi, Poss,

Having been to Alaska many times, I know that there are excursions that both of you could handle, even with mobility issues. There were a couple of people on our last trip in wheelchairs, and they were able to do things.

In Ketchican, you could definitely do the Misty Fjords cruise. I am very fit and enjoyed it, but it is really mostly sitting on a boat and seeing beautiful scenery.

You could do the rail trip for sure, and I think the Tracy Arm excursion, which is my favorite excursion ever anywhere, is accessible.

Go for it. George and I are going as are Travelcat and her husband, I believe. Some of my favorite cruise memories are withOrpington and his wife who had had a stroke and was in a wheelchair.

Hi, Poss,

 

Having been to Alaska many times, I know that there are excursions that both of you could handle, even with mobility issues. There were a couple of people on our last trip in wheelchairs, and they were able to do things.

 

In Ketchican, you could definitely do the Misty Fjords cruise. I am very fit and enjoyed it, but it is really mostly sitting on a boat and seeing beautiful scenery.

 

You could do the rail trip for sure, and I think the Tracy Arm excursion, which is my favorite excursion ever anywhere, is accessible.

 

Go for it. George and I are going as are Travelcat and her husband, I believe. Some of my favorite cruise memories are withOrpington and his wife who had had a stroke and was in a wheelchair.

Agree with your comments and, yes, we are booked on the same Alaska cruise next year. While we have done all of the excursions that we are interested in, we look forward to repeating the Crab Feast (via seaplane). Rachel - looking forward to meeting you and also discussing memories of OrpingtonT. When we met him and his wife - about a year before his passing -- we were told that that she was in a wheelchair for a different reason. In any case, he was completely devoted to her -- they were such an amazing couple!

We find Alaska very easy to do - whether you want to climb a mountain, take long walks through town or view the amazing sights from a boat, bus or plane. Dennis and I had no desire whatsoever to visit Alaska ........ until we visited Alaska. This will be our forth trip (one on the Navigator, one on the Mariner and one on Silverseas Shadow) - all wonderful experiences.

P.S. Poss - really think you should book this one. If you need any assistance while on the cruise, we would be more than willing to help!

I am here to help too, poss, as well as George, who is on the board of the largest senior assisted living facility in Oklahoma.

Travelcat, I took a shortcut in stating the reason for mrs. Orpington's being in a wheelchair. It was due to a fall which resulted in a bleed which led to stroke like results. But at any rate, they were absolutely able to enjoy cruising on Regent.

The sea otters cruise! I don't remember which port it went out of....maybe Sitka? We saw so much more than just otters....whales, every imaginable sea bird, etc. Didn't need to do anything except look out the window!

Thank you, Oldies and Goodies.

Mudhen: Yes, the sea otter cruise was the one we did last time in Sitka-- very pleasant indeed. That's no doubt what we'd have to do again. Not like twice-around would be any sort of punishment!

Travelcat and Rachel: Yup, I know that you're on this cruise (what! You haven't met before this?) (and where, btw, is the roll call for Eagle?) It's very gracious of you both to say (and I know you truly mean it) that you're available to help should need arise; Rachel, I remember your mentioning that earlier as well-- really good of you. But we're sort of the opposite of George, i.e. the George "who never met a stranger." For better and for worse (no doubt mostly worse), we're not very social, especially now that my dear husband (and he is so VERY dear!) isn't, um, quite what he was back in the day. (As who of us is?) OrpT, btw, was such a sweetheart-- I always felt that, even though I never had the chance to meet him and his wife.

Many of the ports I'm not much concerned about (despite the fact that the active outings almost always have more appeal than the more sedentary ones). In Skagway, I guess we'd do Scenic Rail and Bridge again. Interestingly, last time that was at no extra cost; now, I believe, there's a fee. Similarly, unless I'm mistaken (unheard of) our glacier helicopter landing in Juneau and our float plane in Misty Fjords were also included last time. Btw, I didn't see a cruise to Misty Fjords, just the plane?

Ketchikan: Which is better: Cruise George Inlet and Crab Feast, or Alaskan Lodge and Seafest?

Wrangell: Nothing non-active looks interesting.

Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest, or Mendenhall Glacier and Garden?

Skagway: anything besides the rail and bridge?

Achorage: noproblem

Hoonah ??

Prince Rupert??

Thanks!!!

We just got back from a May Alaska trip on Regent. The rail by itself is free, adding the bridge part puts it into a cost.

In Wrangall we did the extra cost Jet Boat cruise, enjoyed it very much. We just set. Well we did get out on the ice, but it was optional.

We did the Misty Fjords plane, that was a big hit.

We enjoyed the Glacier.

We did the Crab feast, so I can't compare, but we enjoyed.

Skagway, about the only other thing is shopping.

Enjoy your trip, since ours was pretty recent, happy to answer any questions.

Only have been to Prince Rupert on a fishing expedition (not really my thing). I have not looked into excursions there yet.

Have not been to Hoonah or Wrangell at all.

In Victoria, the gardens are great, and as I recall, pretty accessible for wheelchairs, at least part of them are.

I'd go for it, poss. Sounds like a lovely itinerary. Most of what we did was pretty sedentary (the train, the otters, the Misty Fjords). The only strenuous thing we did involved the Mendenhall Glacier, and they probably have a less strenuous tour.

I assume this is the Vancouver-Vancouver trip. I looked at the list of excursions and I can't tell which are paid and which are included--how did you figure that out, I see two identical icons and nothing marked.

Thanks for replies.

Troban: We enjoyed the rail trip, and especially the bridge (where we could spend time and actually luxuriate in the fine scenery instead of chugging on by.) Curious that the two combined were at no cost last time. Difficult for me to understand why the bridge now costs additional. Likewise, we loved the Misty Fjords floatplane-- which was also at no extra cost. (I'm not 100% sure I'm remembering correctly about this one.) I can imagine happily doing that again (or maybe the boat excursion), though my husband wouldn't have the fun this time of standing out on the pontoons and being there in that very immediate sense. I'm afraid any jet boat cruise is out for us, since the description warns about sudden stops and turns, etc. My husband's delicate back surgery (and resultant other problems because of incompetence in diagnosis!) precludes that sort of adventure. We're not crazy about speed anyway (we were sailors-- but not racers), so it doesn't hurt too much to miss that excursion. Wrangell doesn't seem all that interesting to me-- at least the things that'd be available to us. No great problem: On no cruise have we ever gotten to enjoy the ship as much as we'd like to (too many great places to explore on land); I think we'd be very happy campers to just "hang" in some of those ports. And eat! (Don't like shopping at all.)

Rachel: We've been to Victoria on several land trips, and I agree-- the gardens are wonderful. The whole place is so handsome. It's been decades, and I'd love to see Victoria again. My husband is so far not in a wheel chair, though who knows what'll be a year from now (cognitively as well of course). Since we don't travel anymore (except close by for short periods), I "vacation" by drooling over various cruises and land tours. That's why I've been immersed already in the excursions for the Alaska cruise: just dreamin' along.

Wendy: Yup-- the Vancouver-Vancouver. When I look at the excursion list, some of the tours have the binocular symbol. I believe those are the ones with extra cost. It's not noted yet what the cost is, but those are not among the included ones. (I think.)

Just under the port/city name, on the excursions page, are two blacked in items. Free Excursions, and Regent Choice Excursions.

When you first get to this page, both items are "checked". Uncheck either one to see the free excursions or the ones requiring payment.

Hope this helps.

Is it not correct that the Regent Choice Excursions have the little binocular symbol? I found that an even easier way to tell. (But, as noted in my previous post, I could be mistaken about this detail.)

You are both right. I had tried clicking those boxes before, but couldn't get it to work--now I have, thanks. And yes, the binoculars refers to Regent Choice.

The binoculars are very easy to spot. If you are trying to list only the included excursions, or all of the fee excursions, unchecking the radio button does the trick.

I could be wrong about the bridge. We did go over a long bridge thru Tunnel then up to border, but we never got off train, they said since we were in Canada that was not allowed. The plane ride was a cost as was the Jet boat, just found my invoice.

Wrangell is fairly small, it was nice to walk the few blocks thru town, but not much. There was a community room with some local crafts I enjoyed. Not sure it's open everyday tho.

We just got back from a May Alaska trip on Regent. The rail by itself is free, adding the bridge part puts it into a cost.

 

In Wrangall we did the extra cost Jet Boat cruise, enjoyed it very much. We just set. Well we did get out on the ice, but it was optional.

We did the Misty Fjords plane, that was a big hit.

We enjoyed the Glacier.

We did the Crab feast, so I can't compare, but we enjoyed.

Skagway, about the only other thing is shopping.

 

Enjoy your trip, since ours was pretty recent, happy to answer any questions.

SADLY the BIG HIT was sightseeing plane on HAL tour that crashed and 9 killed!!!!

It was terrible to hear about that crash. What a heart-breaking disaster for everyone, whether those most closely involved or even those somewhat farther removed from the horror.

I remember that when we did our Misty Fjords float plane excursion (one of our all-time favorites), we were the only group who actually got to do it that day. There were a number of trips supposed to leave through the day, but the weather was prohibitive for the others; right when it was our time, the weather cleared enough to make the trip. I remember being fairly nervous (I'm not in love with flying even at best) because I was aware how changeable weather can be in that area.

Dreadfully sad news.

It certainly is horrible. Having done the Misty Fjords by boat, I have images of those cliffs in my head. Reminder to future self: if we ever go back, take the boat again, not the plane!

So sad to hear. George and I try to avoid small planes if possible as we have had so many friends killed in them.

You know, I'm even more uncomfortable around helicopters-- no matter how many years go by, I think I'll always have that association in my mind of Vietnam. And yet in Juneau we did the helicopter glacier landing -- wonderful excursion.

(Same with hot air balloons: Because I have trouble with heights as well as with flying, I was virtually certain that I'd not be able to get myself to climb into that basket. But we were in Aspen some decades ago during the balloon festival, went out to the field very early in the morning and watched dozens of balloons being set up-- and couldn't resist when two places opened for us. Everything was so gorgeous, all those balloons floating through the beautiful sky, that I found I wasn't even the tiniest bit nervous. I was, however, nervous on both the floatplane and the copter. But both were exciting.)

We are also saddened by the news. We have taken a plane out of Ketchikan (to the Crab Feast) and planned to repeat the excursion. Today I have been looking at options. We do not want to do the included excursion as it is not as good as the one that includes the floatplane. So, I've been checking out crab restaurants in both Ketchikan and Juneau. Unfortunately, the best one I found does not open for the season until 3-4 days after we are in port. While we are not ones to be scared off, and, these planes may be scrutinized so well that they will be safe, at this point, we don't think we will be flying on small planes in Alaska.

For those of us on the Vancouver to Vancouver itinerary, we book excursions in September so we need to figure this out!

George is wanting to go fishing in Ketchican. If I can't find someone to go with him, I will be stuck doing it.

I am going to have to figure out which is best price wise, getting our own boat, or doing the excursion from the ship that costs extra with 4 people in the boat. Anyone want to come along? I am not a fishing person at all, but George loves it.

My father did not fish or hunt nor did I.

I was attracted io skiing and sailing..