Looking for tips on Alaska cruise

Chris you need to go on the cruisecritics forum.. I have cruised 8 times and sorry.. the RS forum is the wrong place for answers.. not a lot of cruisers here..

And yes.. its almost always better pricewise to book private excursions.. but you must check out their reputations.. you must be back on ship on time or ship WILL leave ( if you are on a private excursion,, they will hold ship for ship excursions).. so booking a reputable and reliable private excursion is important.

www.cruisecritic.com/

they have separate forums for each cruise line.. and each port of call.. so you can get some very specific answers.. and possible even arrange to meet up with others on same cruise.. but most importantly you will get lots of answers to read through instead of two or three here.

It is almost always more expensive to take the ship sponsored excursions. However, if that excursion is late coming back the ship will wait for you. Not so if you are on a private tour. The ship will leave you. We've seen people actually running along the pier as the ship was pulling out. Just food for thought.

I visited via the Alaska State Ferry. There were no organized tours. Ketchikan and Sitka were easy to just walk around on my own. Don't miss Dolly's House in Ketchikan.

I stayed overnight in Juneau. One of the locals took me out to the Mendenhall Glacier for an hour. Other than that, it was again very easy to get around the town on my own. My faves were the State Capitol building and the State Museum.

The Alaska State Ferry is smaller than the cruise ships, so I guess it's possible that we docked closer to the town centers than the larger vessels can.

We spent most of our time on deck enjoying the scenery and watching for wildlife, in the water and on shore. The only tip I can think of is when sailing along the island around Sitka, watch the trees - when you see white dots use your binoculars - those dots are bald eagles.

We travelled independently last summer and booked several excursions (most also worked with the cruise ships). In Juneau, we flew with Wings Airways to see the glaciers. If you have time, check out the museum by the capital. In Ketchikan, we flew with Dave of Family Air through the misty fjords. His flight was awesome and he knows the area very well. The SE Alaska Discovery Center is also worth a visit (free if you have a National Parks Pass). Be sure to check out Creek Street while you are there.
Have fun!!

Thanks so much your replies everyone. I appreciate it!

Per Chani, "The Alaska State Ferry is smaller than the cruise ships, so I guess it's possible that we docked closer to the town centers than the larger vessels can." The context appears to be visiting Juneau, and if so, please note cruise ships dock downtown and ferries dock at Auke Bay, which is well beyond the turn to Mendenhall Glacier (a must visit).

We cruised to two of those ports last July. Suggestion: google "shore excursions in Juneau" or Sitka or Ketchikan, and begin comparison shopping. You'll probably find companies that operate in all three of those ports, as well as excursions that are almost exactly the same as the cruise line is offering. After the comparison shopping, telephone the shore excursion outfit and ask what they can do pricewise for four people. You might get a break! We did! Good luck.

You can get excellent and detailed advice on the Tripadvisor Alaska forum; I suggest you visit there and search, or ask your question.

One thing I have seen recommended a lot for Juneau shore time is a whale-watching boat trip with Harv and Marv. But depending on the amount of time you have in port, you may have to choose between Mendenhall Glacier and whale-watching.

Are you doing the HAL found-trip cruise from Seattle? Or a one-way cruise to Seward or Whittier?

Another vote for figuring these towns out on your own. I haven't been to Ketchikan, but for Sitka and ESPECIALLY for Juneau, the town is small and it's so easy to navigate. I don't know how long you have in port but to the extent that you want to do something more than the "basic" stuff, you should be able to find someone local to take you in a small group. We were on the Alaska State Ferries and stayed in a hotel in town. We did all our in town wandering on our own. We hiked a bit on Mount Roberts trail, saw the history museum. We took a cab to Mendenhall Glacier and back.