Recommended Alaskan excursions

Skagway - do the Whitepass train ride - it is stunning.

Juneau is great for whale watching. We typically book our own thru Jayleen's Alaska, but she often books up over a year in advance - she has a webpage or you can follow her on facebook.

I have taken two Alaskan cruises sailing Norwegian and I choose to take the excursions offered through Norwegian.

Ketchikan is so endearing. A lot of people loved the Wild West Show but I did not. Last time I went to Totem Pole Park and did love that. It was beautiful and on my first cruise, I took a rainforest excursion. Also beautiful.

I do not remember the name of The Wild West Show.

Juneau, I went to Mendenhall Glacier. Awesome. I do not know if you are allowed to get close to Mendenhall Glacier any longer. Juneau is very pretty and there is a lift that takes you to the top of the mountain.

Skagway. The White Pass excursion whether by tran or bus. Beautiful. Loved the Klondike. I took the bus excursion and we had a nice meal as well.

EDIT: I said that I went to Totem Pole Park in Ketchikan. It is actually called Totem Bight State Park.

While there are some posters here who have also cruised to Alaska, you will find a lot more information on the Cruise Critic website. You can check out the forum that is specific to your cruise line, as well as the Ports of Call forum for Alaska: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/33-alaska/

You can also get lots of help from the well-informed people on the TripAdvisor Alaska forum.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g28923-i349-Alaska.html

You don’t even have to post your question if you do not wish to; just search for posts by Maple_Marshmallow, a Canadian who seems to know every cruise ship itinerary and what excursions are best.

While it has been several decades since we took an Alaskan cruise, what we remember as truly special was the helicopter trip up on a glacier to go dog sledding. My advice is to sign up for that at the first port you can, because it is not uncommon for fog to keep the helicopters from flying, then you will at least have other ports where the helicopter/dog sledding combo would likely be available.

In Skagway take the Ghosts and GoodTime Girls walking tour. Anyway, it is a very interesting tour explaining how many women ended up in Alaska during the gold rush. Some went with their husbands who never returned from the mountains. With no money or income they were left with little choices. Besides being a little cheesy, it is very informative. We booked directly with Red Onion Tours (redonion1898.com). There is a link.

And yes, my daughter and SIL did the dog sledding excurstion in Juneau. They loved it.

In Ketchikan, the boat trip into Misty Fjords National Monument, or a visit to Totem Bight State Park. Downtown Ketchikan is also interesting and fun if your ship docks there. Some of them dock further north in Wards Cove, which offers nothing worthwhile by itself.

In Juneau, Mendenhall Glacier or the Mt. Roberts Tramway. I think the tramway has another name now, but it takes you up the mountain overlooking Juneau and vicinity. Great views and nice hikes if there isn't too much snow.

In Skagway, the train ride to the border or beyond, and back of course. The town is fun to explore, and just beyond it is a cemetery where some of the gold rush characters are buried. Skagway is a place where something interesting and colorful happened about 125 years ago for a couple of years, and the place has been milking that ever since.

Not much to Whittier, maybe an excursion to Seward which has a good aquarium and, if time allows, boat ride into Kenai Fjords National Monument. There's also the Begich-Boggs Visitor Center which used to have a view of Portage Glacier, but now the glacier has retreated around the corner so you see just the lake.

I remember the boat trip into Misty Fjords National Monument as being very good. When in Juneau we went whale watching in the morning, and went to the Mendenhall Glacier in the afternoon. If my memory is correct, they were both part of one combined tour. The Whitepass train ride has some really fantastic scenery - would take it again just for that. I believe we went up on a bus and returned by train.

For our Alaska cruise, we did ziplining in Tongass National Forest (cool to see black bears below us in the forest) and in Juneau we did the dog sledding training (on wheeled vehicles in the forest), and learned a great deal about dog sledding and the care and training of the dogs. Our trip also included Glacier Bay, Sitka (had to skip because we were in a storm), and Victoria.