Alaska Cruise: Juneau of Course I did!

Alaska's capital city is the quintessential Alaskan port. There is a trip here that will please almost everyone and staying on the ship even has its rewards.

Juneau the Setting

Juneau is located on the Gastineau waterway. The ships that visit here, and almost all of them do, are rewarded by a pleasent city that strings itself along the waterway for many miles. It is very close (20 miles) to the Mendenhall glacier. A glacier that is about 150 feet tall and 20 miles long. As a walking town there is plenty to see and do as the state natural history museum is about 10 blocks away just a couple of blocks away from the harbor.

Mt Roberts Tramway

Mt Roberts, a gigantic mountain fronts the dock area where an Indian built and supported tramway takes vistors on a pretty exciting trip right up to the top of the mountain. An Indian center is located and a small  raptor/nature center provides science and geology information. Several trails start at the top of this spot. It is interesting to see the flora of this area. Incredible photo may be made from this spot as visitors can spot their ships from the top side down from this lookout.  A wonderfully produced movie shows here near the gift shop. The movie is free and well worth the time. A cafe is also available here. The last time we were there, a spotting scope was aimed down on a bald eagle nest that was half way down the mountain. A couple of eagle kids were being tended to by their loving parents. Its a part of nature that you seldom see. The gift shop is pretty extensive but not particularly dominate in the scope of this adventure. Passengers may purchase excursion tickets ahead of time, but there is no advantage to do this. If the wind blows this excursion shuts down. Tickets may be purchased at the gate in the middle of the tourist mall.

The ship arrives in this narrow gap between the big mountains. That is the best way to describe the Juneau arrival. It can be rainy, it often is, or beautifully sunny, it often is. This port does not disappoint. As many as 6 ships may spend the day here.

 

 Excursions

A 20 dollar bill will get to the glacier and back without going though the ship's excursions. 3 dollars more sends you into the interpretive center (highly recommended).

Becoming a Musher

One of the  ship's excursions will get you with enough money to the top of a glacier by helicopter (weather cooperating) to meet up with a dog sled team on the glacier for a do se do of a half mile being pulled by the anxious to cooperate dogs. For a lot less money, there is an excursion that takes about 35 people at a time up to the summer dog sled training camp. A small bus goes up a one way road to get to the base camp of the dog sled grounds. About 75 dogs yelp at once to be a part of the group that gets to pull a chopped off VW bug equipped with  seating for 6 to be pulled with its tires around a 1/2 mile circuit from the entrance to the old Juneau mine to a view point of a rainbow falls. An interpretive center sit up in 5 wall tents supports the background of the sport prior to the trip. The docents are actual sled dog racers and provide visitors the inside narrative of dog racing. Our female docent had a team that she was training from Montana. At the end of the tour, visitors are encouraged to enter the dog nursery and love the new puppies that are being trained to race. This last part was by far the most popular piece of this excursion.

This excursion may seem a little pricy from the ship, but believe me this is the one that keeps people coming back on the cruise to Alaska. If you decide to to this one, sign up early and bring cameras along. It is one of the excursions that get filled up fast.

Fly Fishing Alaska

Sue treated me to a fly in fly fishing adventure from Juneau one trip. We met at the dock and were transported over to a hanger area by the airport. We bought a one day fishing pass and were decked out in chest waders and fly fishing gear. They were using Sage equipment which is pretty high quality equipment. We walked out to the float plane and soon we were in the air. We traveled about 35 miles away and dropped down to fish this pristine freshwater stream heading into the salt water narrows for dolly varden, a long skinny member of the trout family. I caught 2 and returned them to the water, as did everyone else. They were about 22 inches in length. We were fishing in the delicate inter tide zone between the fresh and salt waters. Our guides carried rifles in case there were bears that would approach us in the shore. The local bald eagles swoop down to give us the once over but headed off to hunt in the bay.

The chest waders were used to walk out to the float plane to fly home and to give us a little more time in the water as the tide rose about 10 feet as we were fishing.  This was not a cheap excursion as it was almost 500 dollars for a couple of hours of fishing. It was pure fun however.

 There are two hour whitewater adventures off of Mendenhall river. There are salmon bakes which most everyone I know that has been on one truly loves. There are trips to the fish hatchery fish ladder and aquarium which was as expected was pretty Alaskan oriented, not that it is a bad thing just not a major event in my book. On the VIP tour the first time we were in Juneau we were taken to the glacier, an Alaskan rainforest and a visit to the Alaskan state museum in a big Greyline type tour bus. Overall it was not a great bargain, but it gave us an overall look and feel for the area.

Juneau Shopping

Just as you get off the ship, maybe a couple of blocks away there is a big warehouse building full of Alaskan merchandise. It is a place to get something to bring back home if that is a requirement of yours. A tee shirt factory is also located there that sells not only tee shirts but sweatshirts and jackets too. They practically give away red plastic parkas that will somewhat protect you from the rain. It might be wise to pick up a few of these for other adventures back home or later on the trip, 

Further into town is the Red Dog Saloon. While I have not been in there, by daughters thought that it was kind of cool. There is a saloon with people writing messages on every square inch of wall space and a saloon show recreating a turn of the century show.

Juneau has its share of down and dumpy resident saloons and small local craft stores. Up on the hill above town there is a small town movie theater and an artist store that sells art made by local artists. A couple of non chain book stores are available up there too. You may have to venture up there to find an ATM machine. You use an ATM card to let you into a glass inclosed kiosk that houses the machine. Sue and I found a food truck style barbeque that put out a decent halibut sandwich.

Eating on Shore

My daughters used Yelp to find a wonderful crab and seafood spot right down by the wharf. It seems to be called Tracy's Crab shack. They fly in their king crab from North Alaskan ports each day so it is really fresh. There always seems to be a crowd there so if you are going be patient for the wait. It made one of my daughters, a devout non seafood eater, a devotee.  It looks like they have expanded their presence so maybe it will be easier to get in to eat there.

Sue and I were pretty beat after prowling the town of Juneau one afternoon in the cold wet. We stopped off at the restaurant, fish cannery (a green building hanging over the dock). We ate some pretty fine chowder near a crackling fire. It just hit the spot.

On most Princess cruises the Juneau stop is the place that Libby Riddles the first woman to win the Ididorod race stops by the ship and gives a talk about the race and sells some of her books autographed. She is on board most of the afternoon and is willing to talk to the passengers about her adventures.

Juneau is a big enough city to have a Costco and a Walmart. You can pile in with the crew that generally heads for these stores in a shuttle bus, or you can hire a taxi to get you there if you want what these places provide. They are not reachable by foot.

I am happy to hear about your adventures in Juneau. If you write in the response, I may copy and paste them into the next entry. 

Alaska Cruise: Ketchikan and other oddities

Almost all Alaskan Cruises stop by Ketchikan on the Alaskan circuit. Ketchikan is the first Alaskan port that passengers arrive from the ship. Just like all the other ports on this circuit, it is small. It hugs along the side of the land on an island. Up from the port are some steep hills and a number of houses that are situated on the cliff. This requires multiple flights of stairs to get to these houses. If a fish dinner is on your request there are several nice places here. You may want to use Yelp at homeand collect a list before you arrive. Most of this town connected to the tourists is walkable. 

 Marine Hardware

Most of dockside is devoted to the tourist industry. There are some pretty cool stores that you would not expect here. One of these stores happens to be the most prolifically stocked hardware store that you can imagine. Dockside the bottom floor stocks marine hardware for all sorts of boats. This is a major fishing stop for this part of Alaska and it clearly represented here. Upstairs in this hardware store is a clothing store. Major brands of weather clothing is represented here. It is not just a look what mom and dad brought me back from Alaska type clothing store. On one of our trips it was pretty rainy when we arrived at Ketchikan. Sue had made up her mind that she was not going to get off the ship because it looked too uncomfortable. I jumped off the ship and found here a first class rain jacket to wear to the excursions that we had signed up for and paid for. This port is somewhat plagued by its own success. Passengers of several ships may dock here at the same time. A 20 foot difference in tides between getting off the ship and getting on the ship may leave you scratching your head. Sometimes we got off the ship on the 4th deck and got back on the deck on the 6th deck.  Ketchikan is also home to the classic tourist niches. There is a Diamonds International and Del Sol tee shirt shops, a ton of other quasi gift shops on the port main street. There are some rather touristy attractions that are really kind of cool.  This is a port that you will have time to do a couple of excursions if you want to. You may sign up for them on the ship or you can save a couple of dollars and easily get hooked up for them when you get there by walking off the ship and signing up with the hawkers as they roam the street. You may just want to get off the ship and walk around.

The last time we were there, we had delayed signing up. The cruise line said they were full but I think that they were trying to spread out the attendance so that everyone would not overload the first shows. Even when signing up on the street, the hawkers will take down your name and your ship. There is a good reason for this. On our last trip, the ship decided to sail out of town 45 minutes earlier than it had scheduled. Notification was made to the vendors of the shows and we were retrieved from the middle of one of our excursions that we paid for on the street and were spirited back to the ship so that we would not miss its departure. Our excursion was refunded, even though we had not booked it through Princess. The inside passage to Juneau is can by particularly knarly if you they have to take one of these big ships through during low tide. It is a spectacular trip. The big mountains come right down to the sea's edge on both side of the ship as the ship motors through it at 24 miles an hour.

What to Do in Ketchikan?

There are Three really nice things to experience in Ketchikan. A cable car on wheels is pulled by a couple of draft horses through town as college age docents describe the features of the town. A group of really big draft horses (like clydsdales) are kept during the summer so that this tour can be made available. A husky dog accompanies the tour along with a horse driver and a narrator. At the end of the dock area these horses pull the carriage up a pretty steep hill. We were at the top of the hill when we were intercepted by the owner of the operation. He picked us up with the manual wheelchair in the biggest pickup truck I have ever seen. He explained to us the we had to get back to the ship so that it could sail right away.  We saw another part of Ketchikan.
The tour allows passengers to see the classic sights of Ketchikan. The wooden dock area, the old time prostitute gulch and the salmond ladder built right in town. The various totem poles are explained and a glimpse of living in this town even in the summer are explained. We have enjoyed this tour a couple of times and it does not really get old.

The other cool show at this port is the lumberjack show. Still photography only (or so they say) It is at a little rustic outdoor theater that has a wooden roof to protect the audience and an arena that is setup for the various lumberjack events. One side cheers for the Canadian champs and the other side cheers for the American champs. A mc narrates the show and everyone has a great time. The performers are actual college aged competitors that put on the show. They climb the tall pole and run the axes and the chainsaws.  A big part of the show is the rolling logs. What a sight! Access to the show is through the little gift shop that sells tons of Alaska branded rustic souvenirs.

After a couple of hours of out on our own in the little town, Sue and I begin to feel hungry. There is a domino's pizza franchise in the little mall area. Please don't compare the prices with what you would pay down in the lower 48 for the same thing. Prices are high because most of everything need to be shipped here. And here is a long way from Seatttle.

I asked the keeper of the draft horses what they did with them in the winter. They barge them down to Washington for the winter. It is too expensive to ship feed for them in Alaska.

We have also visited the TotemHeritage Center. It is a pretty low key place visitors may see some Indians working on totem poles. There is a nice museum of very old totems and some stories about battles around Ketchikan.

 

The Bridge to Nowhere

Before you leave Ketchikan, take a look at the landing strip on the other side of the ship from the port. This is the famed proposed bridge to no where. Very few people live on the other side of this waterway. The only place that a plan can land to get people in and out by plane is across the waterway. They have to use a barge like ferry to get to the town. To build a bridge to connect to the town would mean that it would have to be tall enough for all the the cruise ships to pass under it. There is an amazing fleet of float planes docked up beside this airport too.  If you are lucky to see an Alaskan Air jet with a couple a hundred passengers taxi in or take off you can get an appreciation for the dimensions of the air strip in the middle of nowhere. 

It is easy to be put off by the tourist sections of this town of 8,100 inhabitants. But look around and explore a couple of blocks away from the major wooden portside and there are some very nice made in Alaska treasures to be found.

Alaska Cruise: Comments from a reviewer

Linzi has read my comments on this blog regarding tips for an Alaskan Cruise.

Here are here comments:

Hi Dad,

Your article(s) looks good! Solid tips for room choice and stuff. Especially dining and bringing drinks onboard!

My 2 cents- I think bringing a down coat is totally appropriate for Alaska. I guess I disagree with you on that one, maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up on the windy side of SSF J

Also, I think a great thing to do when you get on the boat is to drink the free champagne and hang out in a lounge or on the deck. This is the only time they give out free booze- actually the art auctions are another place, come to think of it.

Also, for your piece on “don’t miss the view” you might want to mention that the underside of the GG Bridge isn’t the red that’s visible from the top. Fun trivia!

 
She has some good tips here. Thanks Lindsay!

Alaska Cruise: Ports of Call

Princess Cruises use the same ports of call with a little variation throughout its Spring and Summer season.

Victoria

The first or last port of the Alaskan cruise is the one required port that is outside of the United States. Victoria is often this port and sometimes Vancouver fits this requirement.

Victoria as a port is usually a half day stop. The other half day is required to get far enough North that Kitchikan is a reasonable arrival the day after the Canadian port. So getting to Kitchikan, the first Alaskan port requires at least a day and a half and two nights of travel. Everyone is excited to get off the ship a little so there is a backup on getting off the ship. This port is one that you can only choose one activity since the time here is so limited. A number of excursions are available at this port. Some are more valid than others. I suspect that the chocolate tasting and the wine tasting, tea at the Empress Hotel  and the pub crawl lack a little authenticity since it all happens between 8:30 and 1pm. The exception to this is when Victoria is the last of the ports vistied before heading back to SF. This set up allows the passengers to be on board in the late afternoon and and early evening.  Our favorite excursion here is the Butchard Garden/butterfly garden combination. Both of theses are exceptional trips and are combined together for an additional 8 to 10 dollars over the Butchard Garden excursion by itself. About 20 big greyhound like buses arrive on the tarmac near the ships (about 150 yards away). These busses head for either the butterfly garden first or the Butchard Garden first.

Victoria's Butterfly Gardens

 The butterfly gardens reside in a greenhouse like environment. Young high school/college aged docents show the visitors the way the butterflies are raised and point out how to attract them to land on your hat or your colorful clothing. Koi fish and flamingos also inhabit the environment. Some pretty exotic butterflies and moths are visible throughout the tropical plant areas. It can get pretty stuffy in this big covered environment. A fairly large butterfly themed gift shop accompanies this place. It is a great place to have a movie camera as movie makers try to capture butterflies in flight.

Butchard Gardens- Victoria

Butchard Gardens is a wonderful stop. These gardens were made on an old limestone quarry that produced raw materials that allowed San Francisco to be rebuilt after the earthquake fire of 1906. If you have ever planted flowers in your backyard you will be amazed at the various themed gardens that are presented here. It is not a sendentary activity so make sure you have some comfortable walking shoes to attack this one. A merry-go-round is a fun activity for kids of all ages. It is on a grassy knoll at the end of the main route. There is even a computer generated design fountain at the end of the formal garden. My favorites are the hanging begonia gardens on an terrace on the left side as you walk down the main trail, and the rose garden with the rose tunnel and the blue delphinium backdrop to the rose grotto, on the right side of the main trail. Make sure your rub the Tuscan pig's brass statue on its nose for good luck for the year.

Sue has two favorite stops at this place. The gelato shop on the garden side of the Italian formal garden has the best mango gelato in the world. The main gift shop is amazing too. It has a super collection of fine English tea cups for sale. It also has seeds of almost every seed used in the garden. Particularly interesting is the rare blue asian poppy that was discovered an propagated here. They have seeds available for trying at home.

Both of these parks are about 13 miles from the dock. It is really not practical to hire a taxi to take you to these locations. There is really nothing at the dock except a picnic like park area. The town is about 3-5 miles away. It is not impractical to get a taxi to take you to town if you would like to see it. The bus from the gardens usually takes a side trip through the city on the way back to the bus. The bus driver often provides a commentary about living in Victoria.  Do not plan on getting off to shop however. There is usually enough time for passengers to sift through the dock side gift ship before you need to go. Check the next paragraph for more information regarding the gift shop. 

Since you will only be here a half a day renting a car is a little over the top too.

If you want to just get off the ship and plow around, the best Canadian gift shop is located at the end of the dock. It takes and give change in either US money or Canadian (this is a rarity). It is crowded most of the time but the prices are very good and if you need something that says Canada on it or if you want to bring back some of those little English tea biscuits...this is the place. 

Other Ports not of the Docket

Over the years they have included other ports and some ships still dock at those ports. We find that the itineraries for this year have not included two ports that we have enjoyed over the years. Sitka, now served by other lines included many cultural stops. The Russian influence is noted here where the local women have formed folk dancing presentations that the excursions highlighted on this stop. We also had a great experience at the endangered raptor center here and came face to face with an educationally designated adult bald eagle. The visit to St. Michael's Eastern Othodox church was stunning and memorable too. We had great adventures in the many islands that surround Sitka. There are islands that have a remarkable colony of sea lions.

Besides Sitka, princess cruises has also stopped going to Icy Point. These port was great because it had great connections with the Indian culture and provided a out adventure stop with hiking zip cording. Sue and I had an amazing whale watching trip off of this port. The humpback whales of California and Hawaii come here to feed. They are usually around Point Adolphis. While this is often a part of the Juneau package, they are much closer here.

The only reason Ican think of as to why Icy Point and Sitka are no longer included is that they both require a tender trip in. Tenders are little boats that are used in emergency to get passengers to safety. They are also used to get passengers to ports where the dock is suitable for the cruise ship to dock and let passengers off. On two occasions medium sized excursion boats were hired to get the passengers back to the ship in time for the ship to meet its schedule. 

If these ports seem important, check out other cruise lines that make these ports part of their itinerary.

Alaska Cruise: What to pack?

A 10 day cruise going anywhere presents an interesting problem regarding packing for the trip.  Also more importantly, what do you bring to wear on such a cruise? What about wine and soda on the Ship?

Clothing to be packed What is the weather like?

When we first started to do Alaska we really didn't know what to pack. Our first inclination was to pack as though we were spending an extended vacation in San Francisco. This works out pretty well. The climate up the coast in Victoria and Alaska is pretty similar to San Francisco without the wind. There is more rain in the summer so a rain windbreaker or one of the newer micro fabric jackets will be pretty convenient. The idea that you will need big puffy down coats is not supported.  Shorts will probably not be used on the ship or really thin T shirts. So long pants and undershirts are comfortable on the ship and on the shore. Stay layered. The big issue is whether you are someone that would not mind spending some time in the laundry room or not. If you plan to do the laundry room thing use just one machine at a time out of courtesy to others. There are usually about four washers and four dryers in each of the laundry rooms. There are 6 laundry rooms for 3500 passengers. The math is crazy. Packing 10 of everything is kind of crazy too.

Pool Stuff

 If you plan to use the pools or the hot tubs be sure to bring your suit. Towels will be provided. It is very cool on board ship and on the open deck. This is not your tropical adventure.  The outdoor pools get very little. There is a demand for the hot tubs. Some of the bigger ships have half indoor and outdoor pools these are often saltwater pools.  The whole thing is off the board if your meet with choppy seas along the way. And you will.  A coat is handy for watching the movie on the outdoor screen at night.  Major sporting events are often screened up on this outdoor venue too.

Dress Code and What to Wear

For most dinners men wear polo or nicer button down shirts. For women they may wear most anything that is considered dressy casual. A lot of casual glitter is worn. On a 10 day cruise there will be two "dress up" nights. Some of the older people make it a formal night with tuxedos and evening gowns. Most of the guys wear sport coats or suits and ties for this night. It is also the time that formal photos are taken both is set ups around the ship's lobby areas and at the tables. A very few people sneak by without the formal set ups by eating at the buffet or ordering in room service. These nights are usually the nights that lobster and steak is served and or the fancy French menu. It is important to pack a nice outfit or two for these big nights. A champagne tower is often set up in the lobby and the captain is there to have his picture taken with you pouring champagne on to the tower. Balloons drop and a new year in the summer is celebrated with free champagne for all that want it. It is important men to bring a pair of nice shoes for this evening. These formal nights are held when the ship is not in port and is traveling for a whole day to get to a port whenever possible.

Luggage Requirements

There are not a maximum requirement for number of bags on the ship. There is not a requirement that the bags are under a certain weight. There are laundering facilities on the ship. They are coin operated and use quarters. An ironing board and ions are available too. People that have dry cleaning to do will find a vallet service. Often on ships that have a long cruise a "deal" is offered so that a bag of clothes could be washed and dried for cruisers at a bulk rate. This is particular nice for people that have traveled across the country by plane and only have a small bag of clothes to bring.

Alcohol and Diet Coke

There is a limitation of the amount of alcohol that you can bring on board. It will vary from ship to ship. Alcohol is a major way the ships keep the prices down on the cruise fares. They are vigilant in monitoring the bags that come on the ship so that they maintain their profit margin. When Sue and I were first cruising in 2003 there was a push to pitch the alcohol even at breakfast. This push has subsided considerably as they noticed that the  sale of alcohol has contributed to missing passengers overboard. There will still be the availability of alcohol at every ship wide event. I often will "nurse a drink and that is perfectly acceptable. The bartenders and waiters make their living at the 15% that they tack on to every drink they sell. Overall the drink cost is not as expensive as drinks that you may buy at the Hilton. It can still add up.

This is  a great time to order a drink that you would not order at home. I was fascinated by big blue drinks. Together with the bartender we figured out that maybe I wanted a blue lagoon.  It was made with Caraquau (sp) I would never would have ordered one at home.  Sue had a Peach Rita once that she had never tried before. Both were cool adventures.

Some passengers have devised ingenious ways to "smuggle" in more booze than the ship allows. It is amazing how much listerine the passengers need on the ship. (for instance)

Our big issue is getting caffeine diet coke on the ship. I usually pack a 12 pack or two in the a rolling cart cube. This has sometimes landed me in the bad kid line on the ship. I had stand in line with all the booze smugglers and explain whey we needed to bring in so much soda... that they also sell at 2.50 a pop (pardon the pun). My excuse is that my wife likes diet soda and cannot handle the caffeine. I have yet had to surrender it. Not so lucky are the booze smugglers. Their stuff is often impounded until the last night of the cruise. By the way I usually buy the soda deal and a coffee card as both are great ways to get liquid that isn't ice tea or weak coffee down me. Once we are on the way, the ship has no problem allowing you to restock your stores of soda at the ports. Many passengers have sopped me as we enter the ship form the port and say,"I didn't know we could bring our own soda on the ship." Yep, you can.

Fresh Fruit For the Room

Some cruise lines offer some pretty nice extras. We always order fresh fruit for the cabin through our room steward. This is free on Princess and we usually order an orange and a couple of pears and kiwis. These can be replenished every day if you desire.