Cruise excursions

We are cruising Vancouver to Anchorage in May on the Sapphire Princess.

Are the shore excursions organised from the Cruise ship value for money or is it better to wait to get to each destination - Ketchikan,Juneau and Scagway - and pick up something when you get there?

Mainly interested in seeing the wild life and scenery.

Cruise excursions

Some of your excursions you will need to book ahead of time, or you will be just out of luck when you get there (whale watching is a biggie). You can do some research on your own, we did and booked our own excursions several times. They won%26#39;t necessarily be any cheaper, but probably better quality.

We booked our kayaking trip in Ketchikan and got a much better trip than anything the ship offered...we rode a little skiff out to meet another boat where the kayaks were, our trip was not in the harbor as most others are.

If you are looking at the heli/dogsled trips in Juneau, yes, it%26#39;s expensive, but worth every penny of it, we had a ball (we weren%26#39;t on a cruise ship when we did this one). It%26#39;s nice to talk w/the vendors to get your questions answered ahead of time.

No, you will not chance missing your boat!!! If the vendors don%26#39;t get you back in time, you%26#39;re going to talk about it and they%26#39;ll lose business, plus, they will have to find a way to get you to the boat.

Cruise excursions

Im cruising with Celebrity in September and am now totally confused with the cruise excurisions. We have cruised before and always take a mixture of ship excurisions and independent. We much prefer independent both from experience and cost but last trip we almost missed our ship because the independent company messed up on our return times. I was in complete panic!

Does anyone have recommendations for independents operators? I prefer using recommendations via TA members as they have proved to be fantastic.

HMBNOT

1. Why have you hijacked the thread of someone else?

2. You ask for advice regarding independent tour operators without specifying what ports you will be visiting or what your interests might be.

Frommy,

I%26#39;ve posted an apology to Raewyn. In answer to your 2nd question - we are crusing Inside Passage visiting Junaeu, Icy Point Strait, Skagway, Ketchikcaan and Hubbard Glacier.

Raewyn,

Many apologies if you think I%26#39;ve hi-jacked your thread. It was not intentional. I simply wanted to say that we had done both ship excursions and independent tours and much prefer independent if recommended by TA members.

Check out Trip Advisor%26#39;s sister Board cruisecritic.com and check out the Alaska Board - you%26#39;ll get a ton of recommendations there for independent WONDERFUL tours!! (I can give personal recommendations for Chilkoot charters in Skagway, as well as Coastal Helicopters and Orca Ent. in Juneau and Island Wings in Ketchikan) Do NOT plan to wait until you get there to get the best excursions! And DO NOT let the cruise ship convince you that you%26#39;ll miss the ship if you don%26#39;t take THEIR cruise!

The difference between booking a shore excursion through the cruise company and independent is if the shore excursion fails to get you back to the ship on time the cruise company will take responsibility to get you back on the ship if you booked through them. If you booked independently you are on your own. If your going on a Kayak trip close to town it shouldn%26#39;t be a problem, if your going fishing a long way out of town there is always the chance of a break down on the boat or the weather turns bad and the plane can%26#39;t pick you up, etc. Keep that in mind when booking independently and leave yourself plenty of time to make it back to the ship.

It is my understanding that the only people who ever missed their ship were SHOPPING rather than being on an independent tour. These tour operators%26#39; reputation is at stake, and they%26#39;re going to make SURE you get back there on time.

We had a thread here not too long ago, in which not one of us could recall having heard of passengers who didn%26#39;t make it back to the ship on time. Well, except for one couple I%26#39;d read about who were too busy SHOPPING. But that%26#39;s not an excursion, lol.

But obviously, don%26#39;t book any excursion that gets back close to when the ship has to leave. A simple flat tire could throw your plans awry.

Sniped by cjnky, LOL! :-)