OT Alaska cruise

For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have any
not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, and
Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train trip in
Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen

On Mar 4, 6:41 pm, "Gen" wrote:
For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have any
not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, and
Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train trip in
Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen

We took that cruise out of S.F. and stopped in Victoria BC and then on
up the inland passage. One of the things you can do if you stop in
Juneau is take a Helicopter ride up to the Mendenhall Glacier. It is a
4 passenger helicopter that lands on the glacier and you get out and
walk around. It is very dramatic. There are plenty of tours that are
offered by the Ships to choose from so you should not be wanting for
things to see. Deep see fishing expiditions, stores with Native things
to buy, ect. I will say that it is not a cruise like a Caribbean
cruise in that even during the summer it is not as warm on the decks
as the other more temperate cruise. The view outside during the Inland
Passage part of the trip is one of endless mountain ranges on shore
followed by endless mountain ranges. The White Pass Railway out of
Skagway is a truly scenic one and should not be missed. It is amazing
to think that that roadbed was carved out of the overhanging cliff
face. The most expensive, per mile, railway in the world. Hope this
helps.

John

In article , "Gen"
wrote:

For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have any
not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, and
Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train trip in
Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen


We took a similar cruise out of Vancouver a few years ago. DH and I took
a bus trip in Skagway, and DT and her DH took the train. They were very
disappointed in the train, since it didn't ever stop for them to take
pictures; it was hot and noisy, too. OTOH, DH and I enjoyed the bus trip
immensely. It was comfortable (though not as intriguing-sounding G),
and we stopped in lots of places for pictures. Just MHO.

We didn't get to stop in Victoria with our itinerary, since we left from
Vancouver, but we'd been there once before. It's a delightful place! If
you hit it on Canada Day, you may get lucky and see bagpipers and all
sorts of celebratory "stuff". We were thoroughly entranced by the place
and by the hospitality of the residents.

--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
sfoster 1 (at) earthlink (dot) net (remove/change the obvious)
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

In article , "Gen"
wrote:

For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have any
not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, and
Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train trip in
Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen

We did a similar cruise last summer.

In Juneau we walked the main drag and there's a quilt shop :-) Then we
went on an excursion to the glacier and took a hike and wandered the
nature center and finished up with a salmon feed. The glacier was
beautiful especially if you are into hiking. The dinner was delicious
and I do recommend that - many of the excursions offered in Juneau were
offered with that dinner stop on our cruise.

Ketchikan we did our own walking tour of the town. The town library has
a nice totem pole outside and a small museum in the building. We are
museum fans and find joy in looking at old photographs and such. It's
small but interesting if you are into that type of thing.

Skagway I highly recommend a stop in the ranger station. Parts of the
town are owned by the national park service. You can hit the ranger
station and look around and they offer a free walking tour that was
really fun. Free is always good. There are also two quilt shops in
town that we walked past and into.

Enjoy!

marcella

My brother took that trip years ago and loved it....I hear food is expensive
in Alaska.
Pami

We took the train trip in Skagway and loved it. I took lots of pictures -
shooting out the window. They all turned out good. We were there in late
August & it was pretty cool. I enjoyed the trip even though I had stubbed
my bare toe really bad the day before and could hardly walk.
--
Donna in Idaho
Reply to daawra3553 at yahoo dot com

"Sandy" wrote in message
...
In article , "Gen"
wrote:

For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have
any
not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway, and
Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train trip
in
Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen


We took a similar cruise out of Vancouver a few years ago. DH and I took
a bus trip in Skagway, and DT and her DH took the train. They were very
disappointed in the train, since it didn't ever stop for them to take
pictures; it was hot and noisy, too. OTOH, DH and I enjoyed the bus trip
immensely. It was comfortable (though not as intriguing-sounding G),
and we stopped in lots of places for pictures. Just MHO.

We didn't get to stop in Victoria with our itinerary, since we left from
Vancouver, but we'd been there once before. It's a delightful place! If
you hit it on Canada Day, you may get lucky and see bagpipers and all
sorts of celebratory "stuff". We were thoroughly entranced by the place
and by the hospitality of the residents.

--
Sandy in Henderson, near Las Vegas
sfoster 1 (at) earthlink (dot) net (remove/change the obvious)
http://home.earthlink.net/~sfoster1

Thanks to all that answered my questions. At this point I'm not going to
schedule any walking trips due to the foot surgery. I hope by July it will
be healed enough to get back to normal. For some reason the travel agent
wants our choices by next week----they'll just have to wait on mine.
Gen

"Gen" wrote in message
...
For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have
any not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway,
and Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train
trip in Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen

DH & I drove to Alaska about 15 years ago, and we are thinking of doing it
again this summer. We are also looking at cruises. I have friends who have
taken Alaska cruises at least once, and they all say not to miss the train
ride. Be sure you take lots of mosquito spray for when you are outdoors.

Sherry Starr

"Gen" wrote in message
...
For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have
any not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway,
and Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train
trip in Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen

On Mar 5, 12:51 pm, "Sherry Starr" wrote:
DH & I drove to Alaska about 15 years ago, and we are thinking of doing it
again this summer. We are also looking at cruises. I have friends who have
taken Alaska cruises at least once, and they all say not to miss the train
ride. Be sure you take lots of mosquito spray for when you are outdoors.

Sherry Starr

"Gen" wrote in message

...

For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have
any not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway,
and Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train
trip in Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen


If you are up for walking and you enjoy walking around gardens,
Bouchard Gardens in Victoria is very nice. I believe it was part of a
bus tour of Victoria as well. I think we spent something like 1-2
hours in the garden, stopped off at a large park for some more
walking, and then traveled downtown by bus for a short history lesson.

Ketchikan has a nice bus tour that included a stop at a native culture
location and then takes you downtown to the "Red Light" district of
the past. The district is now all little boutiques if you are looking
to do some shopping.

In Juneau, there is a bar not far from where the cruise ships drop you
off. If you do a self walking tour of Juneau or if you have time
after another tour, we had a fun time sitting in the bar listening to
the locals chatter as well as sing as there is a small stage where a
band was set up. Can't remember the name of the establishment but I
remember it was about 1.5 blocks from the ship and was painted red.

We were on one of the Princess line cruise boats so I'm not sure the
other lines do the same tours or not. Of course, this was back in
1993 so I'm sure things have changed a lot.

Marilyn

Gen, you might consider renting a wheelchair for the duration of the
cruise. G I had foot surgery a few years ago and did that. I am
pretty sure that if there are walking tours around towns, at least, that
they should be wheel chair accessible. That way you would not put undue
pressure on your healing and still be able to see the sights. You could
walk when/if you felt like it and use the chair at other times. And
they do fold down fairly small for when on board.

Pati, in Phx

Gen wrote:
Thanks to all that answered my questions. At this point I'm not going to
schedule any walking trips due to the foot surgery. I hope by July it will
be healed enough to get back to normal. For some reason the travel agent
wants our choices by next week----they'll just have to wait on mine.
Gen

"Gen" wrote in message
...

For those that either live in Alaska or have cruised there, do you have
any not to be missed excursions? We stop in Juneau, Ketchikan, Skagway,
and Victoria, NC. The trip is in mid July. I think we'll do the train
trip in Skagway. Does anyone on RCTQ live in these towns?
Gen