Are there many tour vendors in ports?

[llarsen]

Hello,

 

We are taking our first Alaska cruise in August.

We have one excursion booked with Chilkoot Charters for Skagway.

We would like to wait until we get off the ship to find tours in Juneau and Ketchikan, rather than book through Princess.

 

Are there many tour operators still offering tours since Covid hit?

Any you can recommend for Juneau and Ketchikan? 

 

Thanks!

[JT1962]

There are tour booths at the pier in Juneau and Ketchikan. I prefer to book a well-reviewed independent tour rather than taking a chance on what is available at the pier. 
 

I did the whale watch & Mendenhall Glacier combo tour when Juneau Whale Watch in May and enjoyed it. They do the whale watching first and give you flexible time at the glacier, with buses returning every 1/2 hour. 
 

The Deadliest Catch tour in Ketchikan is excellent, but sometimes the same price as booking it through the ship. We had a great experience with Southeast Kayaks a few years ago. You can also pick up a free walking tour map at the Visitor Center on the pier and tour on your own.

[Cali Viajera]

Alaska Shore Excursions has the Mendenhall canoe trip. We did it two weeks ago, highlight of trip. On the water, paddlinhpg to the glacier, spray of Nugget Falls. Incredible 🛶

[surreymum]

This largely depends on what sort of things you want to do. The port days aren’t particularly long so whereas there are tour operators at the ports you may have limited choice. We did this at Skagway and were able to get onto the White Pass train easily but that can accommodate a lot of people. There are lots of excellent independent operators offering more personal, but not necessarily cheaper, tours.

Check out Snorkel Alaska in Ketchikan if you fancy a very different experience from snorkelling in the Caribbean or Mediterranean. They use thick wetsuits so you don’t get cold. We had a very good trip with them.

Also take a look at Harv and Marvs in Juneau - very good small boat whale watching.

[Ashland]

45 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

There are tour booths at the pier in Juneau and Ketchikan. I prefer to book a well-reviewed independent tour rather than taking a chance on what is available at the pier. 
 

I did the whale watch & Mendenhall Glacier combo tour when Juneau Whale Watch in May and enjoyed it. They do the whale watching first and give you flexible time at the glacier, with buses returning every 1/2 hour. 
 

The Deadliest Catch tour in Ketchikan is excellent, but sometimes the same price as booking it through the ship. We had a great experience with Southeast Kayaks a few years ago. You can also pick up a free walking tour map at the Visitor Center on the pier and tour on your own.

Our Deadliest Catch tour would have been much more this time booking it directly for our September port stop. I must say this has never happened before as it's usually been cheaper. We booked with our ship.

[SightCRR]

I tend to be an over planner and want to read reviews of what I am going on. 

Spend some time on youtube to view the excursions you are thinking about. 

In Ketch go on the crab boat tour and walk town if time allows. Even more so if you are at Ward Cove and not downtown Ketch. You will never see bald eagles like this again. 

Juneau glacier and whale. Find the one with the smallest boat for best viewing (not the best for motion sickness) that works for you time in port. 

sightcrr

[SightCRR]

2022 Schedules | Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska (claalaska.com)

This link will tell you what pier you will dock at and how many and which other ships are in the port at the same time. This will give you a rough idea of how many other people will be trying to go on tours. Taking a quick look it looks like Princess does not use Ward Cove which is a really good thing. Some rccl ships have 4k people. 

sightcrr. 

Edited July 11, 2022 by SightCRR

[Northern Aurora]

We did B2B Alaska cruises in June.  On both legs there were vendors offering "walk up" excursions in both Ketchikan and Juneau.  I didn't pay much attention so don't know the extent of the offerings.

[tetleytea]

8 hours ago, Cali Viajera said:

Alaska Shore Excursions has the Mendenhall canoe trip. We did it two weeks ago, highlight of trip. On the water, paddlinhpg to the glacier, spray of Nugget Falls. Incredible 🛶

 

I just passed this up.  It was $200/pp, and I thought that was a bit much to go canoeing.  No?   Should I do it after all?  I haven't sailed yet.

 

[Cali Viajera]

Read other reviews to get an idea. It was four hours, two hours on the lake.

our guides were insightful and funny. You do need to paddle though the guides do the steering. It was such a closeup experience. It was a highlight for the three of us.

[disneylover89]

My Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer excursion was cancelled by NCL, did anyone happen to notice if the excursion was offered at the Juneau port by a private vendor?

[goldie099]

On 7/11/2022 at 12:35 PM, surreymum said:

Check out Snorkel Alaska in Ketchikan if you fancy a very different experience from snorkelling in the Caribbean or Mediterranean. They use thick wetsuits so you don’t get cold. We had a very good trip with them.

Agree on the snorkelling! I did it back in 2014 and loved it so much it's booked for my port stop in Ketchikan two weeks from today.

On 7/12/2022 at 11:21 AM, Cali Viajera said:

Read other reviews to get an idea. It was four hours, two hours on the lake.

our guides were insightful and funny. You do need to paddle though the guides do the steering. It was such a closeup experience. It was a highlight for the three of us.

I was debating doing this excursion, but it wouldn't have left time for whale watching, which I missed last time I was in Juneau and wanted to do this time. Ah well, next time!