My family is all from Canada, so we see a lot of wildlife to start with, we also don't have high incomes, we are all just comfortable and as such didn't have money for the excursions. In Juneau as in all the ports, we stopped at the tourist info booth, grabbed the walking tour map, and off we went. My mom, due to her knee injury, would come to a couple of the do not miss spots, and then her and Grandma would take off shopping. In Juneau we found the park bench that we visited 10 years ago on our honeymoon cruise, so that was kind of special in Juneau. The flowers in all the ports were amazing which you certainly wouldn't think of in Alaska. 


Juneau

My husband quite enjoyed Sitka but I wasn't as thrilled. The scenery was nice, the shops were cute, but there wasn't much in way of a walking tour, so we were in the residential areas and such. There was a guy renting out kayaks, and if my family wouldn't have been with me, we likely would have done that, but I wanted to keep track of where everyone was. The tendering process went very,very smoothly and was actually quite quick. It just made keeping track of everyone a little more difficult and as such I don't think I enjoyed the port as much. I don't believe that that was one free thing to look at except a couple of grave site and a part of the fort. There was one unique shop that had whale baleen and pelts and teeth of different animals in it that I thought was very interesting as the gentleman in there represented some of the native people and explained about harvesting the animals, the use of all parts of the animal...that was very unique. There is also a marine biology center to the right of harbour that is walkable and kinda neat as they have some hands on displays for a donation. There is a neat looking museum along the way too. There is also a marine biology center to the right of harbour that is walkable and kinda neat as they have some hands on displays for a donation. There is a neat looking museum along the way too but we didn't have time to check it out and see how much. 


Sitka

this is my personal favorite as there is so much to see as far as uniqueness. I love the variety in terrain, I love the stilt houses that are now all shops and I love the nature walks and the shopping. It is so disappointing that this is a half day excursion. I was also disappointed to see how much the attractions were. We weren't all that interested in doing the attractions like the eagle habitat, but 12.50 to look at caged birds? Really? I think that they are missing the boat, literally, for the mid-range travellers. But perhaps there are not many of us in that category. I can't rate it low for the time allowance, so I give it a 3 for time allowance and a five for the rest. It must be amazing to see when the salmon are running. 


Ketchikan

not there long enough to talk about it...our one and only excursion was a wash. 


Victoria

1946

wonderful windows just above sea level, saw wildlife right from our room.  was quiet and nice.  tight squeeze between closets and the bathroom.

Ports of call 7 out of 10 as I was disappointed with Victoria timing and would want to switch the half day to Sitka rather than Ketchikan, or just do both a full days and simply stop in Victoria later and do an evening tour of something else to fulfill the port rules.The dining room servers for the most part were good, and after day two they were getting the hang of the gluten free.

Zaandam Review

Zaandam...dam good for the money...

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