Shore Excursions

Before I review our excursions and the experiences we had at the ports we stopped at, I wanted to take a little time to share about excursions in general.  For those new to cruising or haven't done it much, a shore excursion is something you CAN do when your ship stops at a port (in most cases).  You do not ever have to do them.  You could actually stay on the ship the entire time and never get off until it is time to disembark.  However, doing that would rob you of the chance to experience the port you stopped at.  

For most, pretty much all, cruise lines, show excursions are an extra cost outside of the price of your cruise (Note: The only cruise line off the top of my head that includes shore excursions in their cruise tickets is Viking).  After you book a cruise you will have the opportunity to choose and purchase your excursions.  It is a good idea to book these early because the more popular ones can fill up quickly.  Please note that many of the ports your ship will go to will typically have multiple other ships at port at the same time.  Meaning there could be literally 10,000 extra people in a port town on that day.  At one of the ports in Alaska, our driver shared they get around 6 ships at port everyday during the busy season.  The shore excursions are not specific to your ship and can be filled with other people from other ships, so if you know you want to do a specific excursion at a specific port, it is smart to get it booked.  Something else to think about is who you book your excursions with.  For all of my clients and myself, I recommend booking with the shore excursions group.  There prices are good, they run their excursions with smaller groups, and they are guaranteed return to ship. 

The guaranteed return to ship is super important for obvious reasons.  I have heard some people say they will just walk around when they get of port and find an excursion.  That is an option, you could do that, but keep a few things in mind...  They may or may not be insured, they may have no relationship with the port or the cruise provider, they also may not limit the amount of people on the excursion making for a very crowded, uncomfortable experience.  For example, say you are driving away from port for 30 mins, this is not uncommon, and the van or bus you are in experiences an issue which causes you to miss your return to ship time.  If the excursion provider has no relationship with the port or ship, they have no way to communicate what has happened or your approximate eta to the ship.  So I would recommend you chose your shore excursions in advance and get them booked, preferably through me :).  I can book excursions for you whether I booked your cruise or not.

Ok on to me and my wife's experience.  Our stops at port were Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria.  We booked excursions in Juneau and Ketchikan.  For the Juneau excursion we went whale watching and went to a salmon bake.  We went out on a boat that was probably 20 mins away from our port.  The captain and guides were great.  We were able to see probably 5 or 6 whales in the span of about 2.5 hours.  We saw some breaching (when a whale comes up out of the water to some extent, head first), and we saw many spouts and fins as they came up to the surface.  It was really cool actually and every moment is pretty ripe with anticipation of seeing something.  In addition to whales you see a ton of bald eagles.  I had never seen a bald eagle in the wild, but you see them everywhere in Alaska.  After the whale watching was over, we went to the Gold Creek Salmon Bake.  My wife and I are not big fans of salmon, but the salmon at this place was really nice.  It was a buffet that had other items that were honestly ok, but not great. but it is named after salmon and the salmon was good. 

We did not do an excursion in Skagway.  We instead walked the whole town, looking around.  There was a few cool shops, but I was amazed that at every port in Alaska we stopped at, probably 80% of the shops were jewelry shops.  So if you like jewelry, this is the place for you.  You would at times have multiple different jewelry shops side by side by side, which you would never see where I live.  Really, the main options in Skagway was to take a train ride that lasted around 2-3 hours.  I am sure that would have been pretty, but we elected not to do it.  Overall, Skagway didn't do much for me and I would prefer a different stop in the future 

In Ketchikan we went zip lining.  This was a lot of fun and the people administering it were great, helpful, and made us feel safe during the whole thing.  We went on probably 5 zip lines and walked over a few ladders and ropes along the way.  My wife is afraid of heights and really wasn't excited about it coming in, but she had a good time as well

In conclusion. I would again mention the size (amount of people) of the excursions.  Often when you book through the cruise lines, you are going to be with a ton of people, which gets crowded on boats and buses.  When you book through me, which would be through the shore excursions group, you will have smaller numbers and a more comfortable experience.  Booking private excursions with your family or group is also something that can be done.  If you have a cruise upcoming or are contemplating a cruise, check out my website to look at cruises and excursions offered for those cruises.

Excursions - https://www.vialandorsea.com/pages/excursions---activities-29351

Cruises - https://www.vialandorsea.com/#cruise-tab

Shore Excursion Rating = 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest)