Alaska 10 Day - How easy is it to show up at the dock?

[adventuremom1970]

Hi all,

I'm on a 10-day cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line in August. I'm seeing a record number of cruises go through Alaska this summer.  My family and I want to support local independent businesses, but are afraid we might miss out at the docks if everything is full.

Our itinerary is the following:
 

• Seattle,Washington
• Juneau,Alaska
• Skagway,Alaska
• Hubbard Glacier,Alaska
• Sitka,Alaska
• Icy Strait Point,Alaska
• Ketchikan (Ward Cove),Alaska
• Victoria,British Columbia
• Seattle,Washington

How likely is it we can just hop on whale watching boats / fishing excursions / aquatic adventures?  
Does it vary by locale?
Are independent providers the same price, or less than cruise lines?
If you do find them ahead of time, how do you do it?

Thank you!

[CruiserBruce]

Not sure about the record number of cruises, as many cruise lines sold or otherwise decommissioned ships during Covid. Holland America has at least one, if not two less ships in Alaska than they did pre-Covid. No one else has added any.

 

Each port has a excursion sales desk at the dock. But some things could be sold out. Alaska is heavily dependent on seasonal labor coming in for the summer, and they have not been successful is returning to pre-Covid staffing levels.

 

How do you find tour vendors? Just look down this board...many are recommended here every day.

[ruready]

I have read some of those news articles (mainly on cruisehive), including ones speaking about Vancouver. I think there will be options at the ports, although I picked a few things in advance as I want to make sure there are things my elderly mom can do besides the standard town tour as we have been fortunate enough to have visited Alaska before.  I have stuff booked via cruise line and independently. 

[kitkat343]

Alaska is relatively easy to book independent tours because the distance from the port to the excursions is usually short.  If you tell us what you want to do, we can help you find private tour operators to book ahead of time, or you can look on tripadvisor.

 

In Ketchikan, I'd strongly recommend the Bering Sea crab fisherman tour.

 

If you want to go whale watching, I'd recommend Harv and Marv (but some people love whale watching and others don't so its just something to consider. )  There are other really popular and well reviewed whale watching providers.

 

If you love animals, you might want to consider this very expensive excursion Temsco helicopter to Dog Sled camp in Skagway (please note that Temsco is the subcontractor for the helicopter tours for the cruise ships, and you can save 10% by booking directly through their company. Also, if you choose to visit a dog sled camp, please make sure you do it in Skagway, not Juneau since the phone reps at Temsco told me that the weather is a bit more stable in Skagway. Also, please try to book your helicopter tour in the morning, since helicopter tours are often cancelled due to inclement weather. If your helicopter is scheduled for the morning, you will have a better chance of it being rescheduled for the afternoon, instead of the tour being cancelled outright. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that you will be able to participate in this amazing activity due to the unpredictable Alaskan weather). 

 

You are sailing on NCL, so you need to be especially careful checking either your trip insurance or the cancellation policies for independent tour providers prior to booking, because NCL has been cancelling a lot of ports lately.  

 

[Italy52]

We are big fans of independent whale watching companies.  In Juneau, we like Jayleen's Alaska and in Icy Strait Point, we like Glacier Wind Charters.  Both companies are great vendors and have lots of great reviews on Cruise Critic as well as TripAdvisor.

 

Since independent vendors have a tendency to book up fast, we always book ASAP as we don't want to miss out.  With that being said, do what you feel most comfortable doing for your cruise.

[HalfWhit]

You can check the ports cruise ship calendar to see how many ships will be in port the days your ship will be there. That might help you decide if you want to just wait and see what the weather is like, and what is available. Last year our weather was bad almost the whole week. I am glad I didn't pay $$$ to see fog.  Also Skagway was using tenders because of a rock slide at the port. Those are things to consider. 

https://akcruise.org/port-schedule/