If you’ve ever been on a cruise, it’s likely that you have probably been on at least one excursion. If you haven’t been on a cruise yet, you might be thinking of booking an excursion. On our Alaskan cruise, we went on an excursion at every port (due in large part to having so many COVID cancellation credits with NCL) and learned a few things along the way. In this blog, we’re going to give you some general tips on booking excursions and talk about the specific excursions we went on.
One thing we learned is that excursions take up a lot of your port time. In some places, they take up all of your time. Make sure to check the time you will be in each port and compare that to the length of the excursions you are thinking of taking. Some excursions (booked through NCL) even have to boat you back to the ship if they run long. It is especially important to check times if you are booking excursions through a third party and not through Norwegian directly. The ship will leave without you.
Speaking of leaving without you, your excursions will also leave without you. You are given a grace period from the time you are supposed to be at your meeting point but, if you don’t show in 10 or so minutes, they won’t wait on you. Additionally, if your excursion has multiple stops the same applies. Just because you left with a group doesn’t mean they will wait to take you back. These trips are often on a tight schedule and they don’t want to get behind because people can’t follow instructions. If you get left behind, you will be responsible for getting yourself back to the ship on time. And do not expect any refunds. On one of our excursions, we actually set off to the second portion of the excursion without people who were initially in our group because they were not back to the meeting point on time. (They decided shopping was more important and got mad we didn’t wait on them. Even though we were explicitly told to come straight back to the bus and not shop. We were not sympathetic.)
Norwegian ships do not always dock where other cruise ships do (like in Ketchikan for example). Therefore, don’t always expect to be docked right in the middle of things. Often, you will take shuttles to your excursion’s destination and the same shuttle back to the boat. If you want to do any shopping or other sightseeing, you may have to arrange your own transportation. Some excursion shuttles will drop you off ‘downtown’ but don’t expect them to make unscheduled stops.
Now on to the excursions we took!
Tongass Rainforest Hike (Sitka, AK)
Cost– $95
Length– 3 hours
About this Excursion– Our first excursion was a hike through the Tongass Rainforest in Sitka. From the boat, we hopped on a shuttle to take us to the trail head. Our guides led us through the lush green rainforest where we enjoyed the scenery while trying not to step on endangered slugs. The trail led us in a semi circle, past a large lake and back. We then ventured to another nearby trail to check out mudflats, that work similarly to quicksand. Overall, this was an enjoyable hike and we had some interesting conversations with two of the guides. We had a little time after the hike to explore downtown Sitka before taking the shuttle back to the boat.
Conclusion– This was a cool hike and we are glad we did it. However, if we’d been paying out of pocket, we might not have been so inclined to fork out $95 for a hike. The trail we took was open to the public, as we saw other hikers. But, we did feel safer in a group since black bears are spotted often in this area.
Mendehall Glacier & Whale Quest (Juneau, AK)
Cost– $184
Length– 5.5 hours
About this Excursion– Once again, we hopped on a shuttle bus to take us on our adventure. Our bus driver was quite funny on the ride to the glacier (he told stories of wandering bears). Our first stop was the Mendehall Glacier. We learned some interesting facts about the glacier that we could see across a lake of now melted glacier ice. They had a small museum and even smaller gift shop. However, you can grab a stamped piece of paper to add to your National Park Passport if you want because this is a National site. Afterwards, we headed to our whale watching boat. Out on the water, we were able to see several humpbacks, a family of orcas, sea lions and bald eagles. This was by far the coldest part of our whole trip. The wind really does whip by when you are on the small boat. The guide was very informative and we really enjoyed this tour.
Conclusion– Though this excursion did take up all of our port time in Juneau, we had literally no time for shopping or anything else, it was still worth it to see all of the wildlife. If you’re interested in seeing the whales, this is a great excursion. There were whale watching excursions at almost every port we went to, so you don’t necessarily have to go in Juneau if you want to see more sites here.
Icy Strait Point Kayaking (Icy Strait Point, AK)
Cost– $135
Length- 5.5 hours
About this Excursion– We decided to try a more adventurous activity in Icy Strait Point. Neither of us had ever been kayaking before and, since we had a lot of credits to use, thought why not? They gave us a very brief crash course on kayaking (we might have been the only newbies) and set us off. And y’all… we were not prepared. At one point, the girl on the emergency boat thought we were throwing in the oar because we were so far off course from everyone else. The guy who was supposed to be bringing up the back apparently thought we were a lost cause because even he left us!
But never fear. Once we figured out how to steer, we managed to catch up and even pass several people in our group. By the time we were on our way back, we had pretty much mastered our technique. We definitely deserve the most improved award. Pro tip (that we are now qualified to give): work together and try to paddle on the same side at the same time and relatively same speed. The person in the back should try to match the person in the front since they can see. Dig on the right side to turn your kayak left and vice versa. Hopefully, you will have more luck than we did at first. The guides call the kayaks “divorce boats,” and, we thought that might have been prophetic for a few of our peers.
We didn’t see any wildlife on this adventure, aside from eagles and other birds, but there’s always a possibility (according to the guides). It was quite strenuous, especially on the way back going against the wind. We were sore and tired, but overall we actually really enjoyed it. The guides do stop and tell stories along the way (partially to give everyone a breather) which was interesting. We also had plenty of time to walk around the shops before and after the excursion. The boat was only a short walk or gondola ride away from the ship so we didn’t have to worry about taking a shuttle. Just a note, you will get a little wet and salty (literally we had salt all over us) on this excursion. Wear something you don’t plan to wear again, unless you are doing laundry.
Conclusion– We had a good time, after we got it figured out, on this kayaking adventure. And we’ve even thought about going kayaking again closer to home. Now would we have done this excursion if not for the credits? Probably not. There are other things to do at Icy Strait, like taking the gondolas up to the top of the mountain (which was about $10 we think) to sightsee. There were also a lot of shopping opportunities that we took advantage of and tasty donuts (get you some of those).
Lumberjack Show and Totem State Park (Ketchikan, AK)
Cost- Unknown (this particular excursion is no longer offered and we couldn’t find the price)
Length- 3.5 hours
About this Excursion– Ah, Ketchikan. The land of missed shopping opportunities. This was our last stop in Alaska and we had, thus far, not been able to do a ton of shopping. Since we had decided to buy souvenirs for everyone we know (j/k but seriously), this was our last chance. A friend of ours, who had gone on a cruise to Alaska with a different cruise line, had told us that there was a lot of shopping right near where the ships dock. Well… not our ship. We docked far from downtown with only one warehouse of souvenirs to pick from. There were shuttles to take you downtown, but we had an excursion so we just did our shopping at the warehouse before it started. Word of advice… if you are doing a similar excursion that stops first at the lumberjack show or anywhere downtown, check to see if you can meet your excursion downtown. We had about two hours before ours started that we could have spent in any of the many shops Ketchikan has to offer. But alas…
Anyway, the excursion itself was cool. The lumberjack show was entertaining, funny and an all around good time. It’s sort of interactive, with the audience split and cheering for one of two teams. After the show, we had to immediately board the bus to go to Totem State Park. Here, our guide told us the stories behind several of the totems and we had a little time to explore and go in the gift shop.
Conclusion- Though we did enjoy the park, the lumberjack show was the best part of the excursion. And you can get a ticket to the lumberjack show by just showing up and the ticket booth. If we could do it over, we probably would have just gone downtown to shop and to see the lumberjack show on its own.
BC Bites & Sites (Victoria, BC)
Cost- $109
Length– 2.5 hours
About this Excursion– The bites & sites tour is listed as ‘meal included’ on the NCL app. That, my friends, is not the case. We met up with our guide expecting a food tour like the many we’d been on before: with multiple stops at significant restaurants where we would be served local cuisine and told great stories. That is not what happened. We made exactly two stops… both at bars. Not significant-to-Victoria bars. Just bars. We were fed fish dip (not bad) at the first stop along with a drink made with vodka, Kahlua and coffee (not good). At the second stop, we had a lamb and rice fritter (very good) and a beer (fine). And that was all. The city tour was decent and the guide was fine, but overall this was a real bummer.
Conclusion– This was the biggest letdown of all of our excursions. We were excited because we love food tours, but this was not a food tour. It was a city tour with snacks. And for $109? Not worth it. We had to order room service when we got back to the ship because we were so hungry and most everything was closed since our tour started at 7PM.
Overall, we learned that excursions are expensive and not always worth the cost. You can find cheaper excursions if you don’t book through Norwegian, but we were nervous to do that. Things will always cost more at ports because they know tourists are coming. Just be prepared. If not for our credits, we probably would have only done one or two excursions instead of five.
Check out our other posts about cruising with NCL here.
Our McTravels 