For the Mendenhall Glacier, you can take either the Blue or White bus (same locations, same price of $16 RT) to see the glacier (free admission).  the drive takes only about 10 minutes and the driver is kind enough to point out landmarks along the way.  agree that you should definitely check out Mendenhall glacier + Nugget falls.  only went to the visitor center to use the restroom.

Didn't care for the shopping or the Red Dog Saloon so we had some nice coffee at a local cafe and used their free wi-fi.  went to the Juneau library and got a great view of the harbor with the 4-5 ships parked there.

Juneau

I like Sitka because it was the least commercialized of all the ports and the national forest was a joy to walk through.  The town is small enough for walking, but there are buses / shuttles / bicycle carriages to help you get around.

Sitka National Historic Park (free admission) is full of great trails.  We saw bald eagles everywhere, it was ridiculous.  Wonderful scenery that should take you about 2 hours to fully enjoy.

The Raptor Center ($12) is right across the street north of the forest and houses at least 30 different eagles, hawks, falcons, owls for you to check out.  Good for kids and animal lovers alike.

The Bishop's House is supposedly more than 100 years-old but the restoration made it look totally new, which made me kinda disappointed.  First floor exhibits are free but 2nd floor costs $3 if i remember correctly.

I had a reindeer hot dog (about $5) from one of the street carts and it tasted EXACTLY like a regular beef hot dog.  It was good, but i was expecting reindeer to taste different, oh well.

Castle Hill offers a good view of the town, harbor, bridge, and snow-capped mountain in the background.  a good place to swing by real quick before heading back to your ship.

Sitka

Took the city bus (blue line) north to Totem Bight State Park as advised by fellow CCers.  Round trip was $2 each and also served as a nice tour of the city.  The park itself was a let-down compared to the one in Sitka because it was tiny.  We blazed through the totem poles, wooden structures, and gift shop all in less than an hour.  The same group of people who came with us also went back with us on the same bus.

Didn't care for shopping so didn't care for Creek Street.  took some pictures and that was it.  the funicular ride ($2 all day) up to Cape Fox Hill was kinda cool but there's not much of a view from the top.  you have the choice of a couple trails down the hill or just take the funicular again.

Ketchikan library next to Creek St offers free wi-fi and both are a 5-min walk from the pier.

Ketchikan

Right at the pier, there are detailed maps giving you transportation options into downtown.  Walking is very feasible, but it was rather cold that day and all the horse carriages were booked by excursion operators so we decided to take the CVS shuttle bus ($8 all day) which took us about 2 blocks north of the Empress Hotel on Government St.  Ride itself was less than 10 minutes but waiting in line for the shuttle took almost 30 minutes due to somewhat sloppy crowd management.

Arriving at 7pm made it too late to attend most of the famous tea times, plus we've been to Victoria before so we just walked around aimlessly.  sad that a surprising number of shops were already closed by then.  we spent maybe 2 hours and made our way back to the ship.

on a side note, Canadian officials were incredibly lax with security.  we brought our passport but nobody asked to see it.  our room card was all that was needed.  hrm.

Victoria

Pros :

* plenty of storage space
* great views on port side
* comfy beds

Cons :

* can hear bass playing at around 10pm to midnight
* sofa bed not as comfy as regular beds
* complimentary soap/shampoo/conditioner but no toothbrush/toothpaste

In fact, most of the crowd got off the ship so fast that our group was able to disembark about 10 minutes early.Our group : 3 young ladies in their 50s and 60s plus me in my 30s, all first-time cruisers

Weather : everybody hit the jackpot this week, almost no rain for the whole cruise.

Westerdam Review

Great Cruise

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Large Ocean-View Stateroom

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