Alaska cruise tours or private excursions?

[lmrubin]

This is our first time going to Alaska in late August. We are doing cruisetour for 5 days first, then week-long southbound cruise with Celebrity. Does it make sense going with the cruise's tours or book private excursions?

[Texas Tillie]

This is our first time going to Alaska in late August. We are doing cruisetour for 5 days first, then week-long southbound cruise with Celebrity. Does it make sense going with the cruise's tours or book private excursions?

 

I've done both. Be aware that Alaska excursions are much more expensive than those in the Caribbean, for example. Often the private excursions are almost the same price - but are generally (but not always) better because you'll go on a 16 passenger van rather than a 46 passenger bus and/or the guide will provide more personalized service. An example of an Alaskan excursion that is a little cheaper and way better (in my opinion) is the Misty Fiord floatplane excursion through Island Wings in Ketchikan.. This year Michelle is charging $239 and HAL is charging $253 - but with Michelle, she'll land the plane on one of the lakes, take it over to the land area and you'll get out on the land for 20 to 30 minutes. On the HAL excursion you are just offered 10 minutes of standing on the pontoons in the middle of the lake. Also, don't worry about getting back to the ship on time. No one here on Cruise Critic has ever offered an example of a private excursion in Alaska being late and anyone missing a ship.

[chipmaster]

Welcome to CC

 

I'd say do your research. In my research the ship excursion on paper off the same experience, but I think reality is that private tours have a much higher motivation for customer satisfaction. The availability of private seems much lower then when I did Europe either due to much more limited and cruise exclusive tourism locking up the providers. The few places where I'm going private it looks like you can save 20-30% still significant given that you are for sure to get better experience from the providers.

 

Sometimes a big bus tour is fun if crowd is your thing, but if you want time efficiency and custom to your needs/interest private is always the way to go, either thru the ship or booked independent.

 

I agree with the previous poster anyone who misses the ship usually only has to look in the mirror to find the major cause for the miss.

 

Happy planning

 

This is our first time going to Alaska in late August. We are doing cruisetour for 5 days first, then week-long southbound cruise with Celebrity. Does it make sense going with the cruise's tours or book private excursions?

[AShann]

Depends on what you want out of it- I find that the private tours are more personalized and generally have a more exclusive feel. However don't mind doing things with a larger group, the cruise ships tours are perfectly fine and some are quite nice.

[Habubabu]

This is our first time going to Alaska in late August. We are doing cruisetour for 5 days first, then week-long southbound cruise with Celebrity. Does it make sense going with the cruise's tours or book private excursions?

 

Thanks to information from CC message boards, I have taken private excursions on both of my Alaskan cruises. Alaskan excursions, even private ones, are expensive but I always felt I got more than my money's worth.

Spend some time on the Alaska message board and contact some of the companies for pricing and availability.

 

In Ketchikan, nothing was available for that day with the one tour guide I wanted to use but he advised me to stay in touch throughout the cruise which I did (it was a B2B cruise). Luckily, the day before we arrived in Ketchikan, he had openings and as a result, my father and I (along with 2 new friends from the cruise) had a terrific personalized tour in a taxi-van. My father enjoyed it so much because he could ask all sorts of questions. His happiness on that excursion was worth everything! The nice guide even called thrift stores to help me find a bikini to buy for the ship's scavenger hunt!

 

Re missing the ship. The vendor I used in Juneau told me that they are more aware of the cruise ship schedules than the passengers because that's how they make their living. Also, should the ship be missed, he could charter a private plane for very little cost to fly us to the next port of call. Specifically we did the Tracy Arm Fjord excursion and it was amazing!

 

In Skagway, we did a train/bus combo. The smaller van was so much nicer and more flexible than the huge cruise ship tour buses. When bears were spotted on the side of the road, our tour guide was able to execute a superfast Uturn and take us to see the bears (from a safe distance) which the large buses could not do.

 

Best of luck with your research and have a fantastic time in Alaska!

[lmrubin]

This is our first time going to Alaska in late August. We are doing cruisetour for 5 days first, then week-long southbound cruise with Celebrity. Does it make sense going with the cruise's tours or book private excursions?

 

As a followup, we decided to go with smaller groups, so, so far I booked a private whale watch in Juneau with Alaska Galore Tours (owned by Louis Jourgens); a bear watch with Keith, the owner of TECKK Outfitters on Icy Strait; and Husky Mushers' camp in Skagway. I am checking on Ketchikan opportunities, now. I am a little burned out, so I haven't investigated the optional times on the land tour.

 

For last two days in Vancouver, found "Living Earth Eco Tours" for a personalized day trip to Victoria.;):o

[Keith1010]

We typically do a combination of ships tours and we do things on our own. The key is to research each port of call. Be sure to visit the Alaska Cruise Critic ports of call board.

 

Keith

[PrincessE]

This is our first time going to Alaska in late August. We are doing cruisetour for 5 days first, then week-long southbound cruise with Celebrity. Does it make sense going with the cruise's tours or book private excursions?

 

Go with the cruiseline. You will be hard pressed to find availability at hotels, on trains, motorcoaches, etc. if you go on your own.

 

I was born and raised in Alaska. I've worked at hotels in Alaska. I worked for a cruise line here in Seattle that does Alaska cruises and tours. Trust me. Take the cruisetour.

 

It's WELL worth it!!

[Alayne]

As a followup, we decided to go with smaller groups, so, so far I booked a private whale watch in Juneau with Alaska Galore Tours (owned by Louis Jourgens); a bear watch with Keith, the owner of TECKK Outfitters on Icy Strait; and Husky Mushers' camp in Skagway. I am checking on Ketchikan opportunities, now. I am a little burned out, so I haven't investigated the optional times on the land tour.

 

For last two days in Vancouver, found "Living Earth Eco Tours" for a personalized day trip to Victoria.;):o

 

You will love Keith. We went with him last year and had a great time. We saw four or five bears from a distance. By the time Keith parked the van and we walked to the area where they were, they must have heard us and went back into the woods. Keith went into the woods to see if he could flush them out but had no luck. At one point when we were driving down the road there was a bear walking along the road but as soon as the van got close to him (or her) he ran off into the woods.

 

We did this same cruise in 2009 and it was wonderful. That was my second time in Alaska and I can't wait till I can go again. ;)

[mjwcruising]

You may want to stick with the cruiseline while you are doing the land tour portion. They do not let you know what hours you will be a specific place. One tour I highly recommend is:

Denali Helicopter Flightseeing, Out of the 6 excursions we took (3 through Celebrity on our land portions and 3 through independent companies while on the cruise portion) The Helicopter was the best. A truly awesome experience.