Land tours in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway?

[zipporah]

We are trying to decide on land tours for our cruise to Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We range in age from 10-69 (very active and fit seniors).

Did anyone fly to see the bears. If so, out of which place? Any suggestions for all 3 towns would be appreciated.

[orchestrapal]

We are trying to decide on land tours for our cruise to Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We range in age from 10-69 (very active and fit seniors).

Did anyone fly to see the bears. If so, out of which place? Any suggestions for all 3 towns would be appreciated.

 

Try your roll call and the Ports section of CC. Is this 10 year old coming on Oceania??

[thorntor]

In 2008 we booked an excursion with http://www.classictours.com with the owner Lois Munch. The tour is in one of her 1955 Chevy's so it can hold up to 5 guests. It was the best part of our Alaska trip.

 

Lois was wonderful and really makes all of her guests feel special. She picked us up at the ship, showed us around Ketchikan and the totem "park", and even took us to a roadside park for salmon and cheese lunch.

 

Lois is retired school teacher and has lived in Ketchikan for about 35 years. Everyone seems to know her, especially the young people many of whom were her students.

 

thorntor

[santacruiser1]

Hello all

We are looking for recommendations for land tours in Alaska. We are arriveing in Faitbanks on August 25th and sail out of Whittier Sept 2 at 9pm and are looking for a 7 or 8 day land tour around Alaska and we like trains and want to do a lot of rail time. Any suggestions on economical tours?

Noah and Anna

[bbwex]

In Juneau, we had a fairly full day and did a whale watch first thing with Harv and Marv and then did a one-hour glacier trek with Northstar Trekking. Both were incredible. There are other whale watch operations, and they can tie Harv and Marv but would be very hard pressed to do any better. The small boat and intimate size allowing lots of discussions with the boat captain/guide was great. Lots of whales, bald eagles, seals and other stuff. We told them that we had a helicopter trek scheduled, and there was no problem -- they made sure we got an early start. The helicopter trek was also incredible -- you get a totally different view flying in over the glacier, and then the walk on the ice and seeing crevasses and hearing the short lecture were fascinating. It was a full day, but I wouldn't have done it any other way.

 

In Ketchikan we used Island Wings to go on a Misty Fjords floatplane flight. Michelle was great! It was awesome to see the small lakes created by the glaciers at radically different altitudes with waterfalls in between. Then there was a landing on a small lake and we got out on a tiny island.

 

In Skagway we used Dyea Dave's tour to Emerald Lake. I think Dave did a great job, but the overall trip was not all that terribly exciting. It was interesting, Emerald Lake was pretty unique, and there are things to see along the way. The small town in the Yukon was somewhat interesting but not terribly so in my opinion. From what I understand there is not a whole lot to do in Skagway anyhow, but let's just say that of all the tours we took in Alaska (and Canada) this was the least interesting thing to look back upon.

 

There are lots of places to eat in all three places, and you can get lots of recommendations on the Alaska board in the Ports of Call section.