General Questions

[wickedawesomemom]

I am enjoying reading the boards and getting information and opinions from everyone. As a first time cruiser, this site has been a huge help to me.

 

I will be on RCL in June. Ports are Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, and Icy Strait Point. Can you help me out with the following questions?....

 

Where is the best salmon bake? Either at a port or in the Anchorage area.

 

Where is the best place for a whale watching cruise? Would love to see all kinds of marinelife and wildlife, but orcas (killer whales) would be a huge bonus. I know everyone raves about Capt Larry in Juneau, but I've heard that Icy Strait is an excellent place to spot whales, and also around Seward.

 

Will we definitely see bald eagles or should we specifically set up a shore excursion for this?

 

What is the difference between the "White Pass Railway" and the "To The Summit" excursion (BESIDES the obvious 'one is by rail and one is by bus')? I'm asking because the rail trip travels to the 2,865 ft summit, whereas the bus trip travels to the 3,292 ft summit. Do you see most of the same stuff or are they very different? Most likely will do the rail one but would like to know the differences.

 

Also, a tour book I've been reading says if it is an overcast day then you won't be able to see anything on the White Pass Rail trip. Any thoughts on this?

 

Thanks for your insights.

[Host Caroline]

IMHO only the best salmon bake is Thane Or in Juneau and if you book whale watching with Capt Larry they can arrange for both. Never been to ISP so don't know about the tours run from there as compared to Larry's.

Have been to the Summit both ways and greatly prefer train .. we did on an "overcast" day and had no problems with viewing scenery; however it was very foggy up at Lake Bennett. If you get the train at the ship, sit on left side of car (facing toward the engine) you will get the best scenery on the way up and excellent narration re what you are seeing. Other option is to rent a car in Skagway?

[wickedawesomemom]

Thanks Caroline. Is the Juneau salmon bake that you're referring to the Gold Creek Salmon Bake? I have also heard of something called the "Original Salmon Bake", but I have no idea where that is. I have emailed Capt Larry for information as the only info on his site that I can see is for 2004. I think I'm on the right website but who knows. :rolleyes:

[Budget Queen]

Gold Creek is a different bake, very big and good salmon, but Thane Ore is a resturant with Excellent salmon. :) Orcas are rare, with humpbacks sighted 100% of the time out of both Juneau and Icy Striat, (from what I've been told). I'll be on an Icy Strait Whale watch in August. :) Seward is not guaranteed for whales and my sightings there have been less than 50%. :(

 

The views from the rail are superior of the White Pass.

[hooked-on-travel]

We saw oodles of eagles while kayaking in Ketchikan. I never saw them without going on excursion, but it wasn't an eagle viewing excursion. (And it wasn't just the same eagle following us b/c we saw multiple at the same time.)

[jstducky]

I think you're most likely to see eagles in Juneau, followed by Ketchikan. In Juneau you can sometimes see them right along the banks of the river right by the salmon hatchery a little ways north of where the ships dock. I've seen tons of them just sitting along the shore line. If you take any sort of excursion at all in Juneau, even if you take the bus to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center you should be able to see the bald eagles from the bus. All the times I've seen bald eagles have been on excursions, but none of them have specifically been eagle watching excursions.

[tetleytea]

Most eagles I saw were in Skagway (actually Haines) and Seward.

 

Best salmon bake we went to was actually in Seattle, at Tillicum Village. A nice land-tour thing to do.

 

I might add, if you have a land tour, I personally recommend (rather strongly, to be honest) doing your salmon bake during that. There tends to be a lot of FOOD on the cruise ship.

[jstducky]

Tetleytea:

 

Ahh thats right, isn't there an eagle preserve over in Haines?

But unless you ferry over to Haines, then you won't see any eagles in Skagway.

 

To the OP, Haines is very nice though if you've never been. Quaint little town. Ferry only takes about 15-20 minutes to get there.