Some thoughts, looking back on our trip...
- If one needs to fly across multiple time zones to take an Alaska cruise, make sure to arrive at least a day or two in advance of the cruise to: (1) Get used to the new time zone, and (2) Have some wiggle room in transit arrangements, so that a delayed flight won't cause a person to miss the cruise.
- San Francisco is a wonderful city to spend a few days exploring. We loved our visit to the De Young museum to see the exhibition of Paul McCartney Beatlemania era photographs.
- San Francisco is a mass transit friendly city. However, like New York, rerouted bus routes are poorly communicated to riders via their transit authority's app.
- San Francisco's Passenger Cruise Terminal is near the heart of town, and relatively inexpensive to reach via local ride services or cabs.
- One should book all Alaska shore excursions way in advance of one's trip. Several excursions were sold out by the time we boarded the ship. We were glad that we booked our trip on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad months in advance, as this 2½ hour excursion often sells out.
- In Juneau, there is an area in the center of the tourist district where cruisers can buy independent tours. Most of these tours are professionally run, and are priced lower than those tours sold by the cruise line. We bought our Juneau excursion via shoreexcursionsgroup.com, and had only the minor inconvenience in finding the bus that would take is to the glacier and back.
- Although one can take Juneau's public bus system to the Mendenhall Glacier park, I would not recommend it, as one would still need to walk a distance before reaching the park's tourist center. I'd rather spend more of my time walking within the park, than spend it walking to the park.
- Glacier Bay is only reachable by ship. Only 2 ships may enter the park in a single day. One may see wildlife while cruising in the park, we weren't that lucky. Focus on getting a cruise where one spends as much time viewing glaciers as possible - seeing a glacier calve is an amazing sight.
- In Ketchikan, we went to see the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. We could have booked our tickets on our own, and used Ketchikan's free seasonal bus system to get from our pier to the show and back. From the show, it's a short walk to Creek Street and the town's arts district.
- At many of Alaska's ports, one can book excursions for whale watching. If one hasn't seen a whale breach before, it's an awe inspiring sight. As for me, I've seen enough whales on my trips to Cape Cod, that I don't find breaching interesting anymore.
- Many people will enjoy sled dog mushing and glacier fly-over excursions. These tend to be expensive, but most people who take these excursions feel they are well worth the money.
- Our cruise gave us a full day in the 3 Alaskan ports we visited. We didn't visit any of the more popular ports (Vancouver, BC and Victoria, BC). Instead, we spent ½ day in Prince Rupert. And that was the perfect amount of time to spend in this port, as there isn't much to see except what's in the Museum of Northern British Columbia.
- Assuming one is returning to the East Coast after the cruise, one should book flights as close to 12:30 pm to arrive in one's home city to get home by midnight. With this being said, I prefer to return from San Francisco on a "Red-Eye" flight, so that I can sleep on the plane AND have more options when I get home.
I highly recommend visiting Alaska's inside passage if at all possible. The landscape and wildlife are unique and can be awe inspiring when the stars align just right.
