Alaskan Ports of Call Questions..

JoeyandDavid · May 20, 2008

Help needed...We are booked on the Mercury for a seven night Alaska Adventure..

any suggestions as to what to see or do in any of the following ports would be greatly appreciated..

KETCHIKAN, ALASKA

JUNEAU, ALASKA

SITKA, ALASKA

This itinerary gives us two opportunities to cruise through HUBBARD GLACIER (CRUISING)

Suzila · May 20, 2008

Are you adventurous, Joey? In Ketchikan my hubby and son went salmon fishing and they had a great time. Each caught the limit, and then we were able to have the fish smoked, canned and sent back home. My youngest son and I did the totem pole tour...it was nice to see once, but I wouldn't do it again.

In Juneau, I recommend doing the white water rafting down the Mendenhall Glacier. It's a fun, wild Class III rapids. We've done it twice, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

JoeyandDavid · May 20, 2008

In Ketchikan my hubby and son went salmon fishing and then we were able to have the fish smoked, canned and sent back home
In Juneau, I recommend doing the white water rafting down the Mendenhall Glacier. It's a fun, wild Class III rapids. We've done it twice, and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

Sue thanks.....Tell me more about the salmon canning thing...that might be fun....was all the smoking canning and shipping included in teh excursion price or is that*extra?

sailingrose · May 20, 2008

Ketchikan.......Lumberjack show & Flight over Misty Fjords are both good. Ketchikan is such a cuite little town, a great place to roam around. By far our favorite excursion was the flightseeing over the Fjords. My DD and I loved it, soaring above the mountains and the glaciers and landing on an island in a remote part of the fjords........Beautiful green mountains on one side and snow covered mountains on the other, simply gorgeous and very very peaceful!

Juneau, you can go to Mendenhall glacier, go whale watching with Orca Enterprises, take in the museums, etc.

JoeyandDavid · May 20, 2008

By far our favorite excursion was the flightseeing over the Fjords.

I imagine it was breathtaking...they have one that does a water landing....i think i will be looking into that one..It's pricy but .. OIAL (once in a life)

Joanandjoe · May 20, 2008

We're less adventurous than many people: we're unlikely to take either a helicopter or a small plane. This is what we're planning to do in the three ports. We'll let you know how we liked our choices.

Ketchikan. We'll go to the lumberjack show. By the time it's over, Regent has no excursions that don't involve flying; so we'll walk around the town, with particular attention to the totem poles in town. We won't be in town long enough to go to Saxman or Totem Bight, or to take the duck tour. If we can find a short tour on the dock, we may take it.

On our trip to Ketchikan 10 years ago, we walked around Creek Street, spent quite a while at the fish ladder, and took a wildlife bus ride and boat trip. It was great.

(Joan thinks the wildlife trip was in Juneau, and she may have been right. In any event, we saw hundreds of eagles. The driver guaranteed that we'd see 100 eagles before lunch. After we saw far more than that, he explained that, if people got hungry, they would "agree" that they had seen their 100 eagles.)

Sitka. We're taking a private excursion to Russian Sitka, including the Russian dancers. After that, we'll either walk around the National Park, see the Tlingit dancers, or both. 10 years ago, we saw the Tlingit dancers, went to the PO to mail stuff home, then took the shuttle to the totem pole park.

Juneau. We'll go to Jueau after taking the Tracy Arm catamaran. That will get us to Juneau at 2 p.m., about an hour after the ship. If the weather is good, we'll take the Mt. Roberts tram and probably the shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier. If the weather is bad, we'll go to the state museum.

A lot of people go whale watching in Juneau; but we thought that two small boat trips on the same day were a bit much. If we weren't going to Tracy Arm, we'd probably book a whale watch through Orca tours or some other private provider.

10 years ago the weather in Juneau was putrid. We went to the State muesum, and had other activities that I don't remember. (Joan thinks that'w when we took the wildlife tour.) We must have had two inches of rain in the 10 hours we were in port. The weather the rest of the trip was wonderful, and warmer than we were prepared for. For Alaska, one rotten weather day out of nine days is pretty good - I hope we do as well this time.

Six days until we leave for Vancouver! SDMs.

JoeyandDavid · May 20, 2008

We're less adventurous than many people: we're unlikely to take either a helicopter or a small plane. This is what we're planning to do in the three ports. We'll let you know how we liked our choices.
Ketchikan. We'll go to the lumberjack show. By the time it's over, Regent has no excursions that don't involve flying; so we'll walk around the town, with particular attention to the totem poles in town. We won't be in town long enough to go to Saxman or Totem Bight, or to take the duck tour. If we can find a short tour on the dock, we may take it.

On our trip to Ketchikan 10 years ago, we walked around Creek Street, spent quite a while at the fish ladder, and took a wildlife bus ride and boat trip. It was great.

(Joan thinks the wildlife trip was in Juneau, and she may have been right. In any event, we saw hundreds of eagles. The driver guaranteed that we'd see 100 eagles before lunch. After we saw far more than that, he explained that, if people got hungry, they would "agree" that they had seen their 100 eagles.)

Sitka. We're taking a private excursion to Russian Sitka, including the Russian dancers. After that, we'll either walk around the National Park, see the Tlingit dancers, or both. 10 years ago, we saw the Tlingit dancers, went to the PO to mail stuff home, then took the shuttle to the totem pole park.

Juneau. We'll go to Jueau after taking the Tracy Arm catamaran. That will get us to Juneau at 2 p.m., about an hour after the ship. If the weather is good, we'll take the Mt. Roberts tram and probably the shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier. If the weather is bad, we'll go to the state museum.

A lot of people go whale watching in Juneau; but we thought that two small boat trips on the same day were a bit much. If we weren't going to Tracy Arm, we'd probably book a whale watch through Orca tours or some other private provider.

10 years ago the weather in Juneau was putrid. We went to the State muesum, and had other activities that I don't remember. (Joan thinks that'w when we took the wildlife tour.) We must have had two inches of rain in the 10 hours we were in port. The weather the rest of the trip was wonderful, and warmer than we were prepared for. For Alaska, one rotten weather day out of nine days is pretty good - I hope we do as well this time.

Six days until we leave for Vancouver! SDMs.

Enjoy and thanks for your Plans.. I look forward to your reviews.....those Russian Dancers sound interesting..

zebra · May 20, 2008

One of our most memorable excursions ever was in Ketchikan. We went on a deluxe fishing trip. It was just 2 couples from the ship plus the skipper. He took us in between little islands to fish, we couldn't go wrong - a fish on every cast. After we had caught our ample sufficiency, wheich was about 2 hours, we were taken to their private island. It was heaven. No buildings, unless you can call the restroom built into the base of a mammoth Sitka Spruce, a building.... They had a kitchen setup and fillet our catch, cooked it - both a bouillabaise and a grilled fish dinner, plus home baked crusty bread, for afters there was a blueberry cobbler made over the fire and plenty of hot chocolate or any other drink or libation for the asking....... it was our "dream excursion".

In Juneau I would highly suggest the whale watching. There are many tours - we went out on a Whale Watching/Dinner Cruise..... it was breathtaking and spectacular. We saw 5 different pods of whales, one almost alongside our boat. If you go on this excursion later in the day you could still go up the Robert's Tram earlier which is right in town.

hazelson · May 21, 2008

Joey - in Juneau we did the photo safari - it took us out to see the whales and seals. I can't believe how close we got to the whales. Hugh has photos of the branacles on their tails :o) Then they took us to the glacier - I even got some video of a bear eating a salmon. If nothing else do not miss the Glacier. It's one of those things you can't explain to anyone. Just the sheer size and beauty was AWESOME!

We found Ketchikan the best place for a good wander. Creek street was very pretty.

The beauty of the voyage was unbelievable - and I see the same kind of trees and mountains everyday from our home. But it was so peaceful - and unlike other cruises there was always land in sight!

Just be prepared for the rain :o)

rogue · May 21, 2008

Tha whale watch and Mendenhall glacier tour in Juneau was truely one of the highlights of our Alaska cruise. Thenumber of whales that we saw amazed us. Mendenhall glacier is the first close-up of a glacier that you have, and it is impressive to say the least.

On our 1st Alaska cruise,, we just walked around Ketchikan. We really enjoyed that. We stopped in the Totem museum and the salmon hatchery. On our 2nd cruise, we did the Totem Bight Park tour. Very nice, but a bit too expensive for what it is.

In Sitka, we did aN Otter Quest. It is not something I would recommend. You see quite a few otters, but not much else.