This was the Departure Port. I have to say it was one of the most beautiful ports that I have seen. It was in rural Whittier surrounded by water, mountains and trees. It was a nice scenic drive from Anchorage as it took about an hour to get from the airport to the ship but it was such beautiful scenery the time flew. We traveled along Seward Hwy and saw part of the Kenai Peninsula along the way. We even had to travel through this one way tunnel that Whittier is known for as it shares the tunnel with the train.
We arrived at Skagway and our shore excursions we booked. Princess was very organized once we disembarked. Our bus was waiting and we boarded. We drove through the town of Skagway it is just a little town spanning only a few blocks still very rural. We took the Yukon & Whitepass Railway excursion. At the time of booking it was about $179 per person. It included a scening bus ride for about four hours with a stop for a BBQ lunch at Caribou crossing. You do need your passports as you cross into Canada on this excursion. After lunch we drove back into a town of Whitehorse and boarded the train back to Skagway about a 2 hour train ride and there are restrooms on the train and on the bus. Please bring your own snacks and drinks on the train as there was nothing available to eat or drink. The train ride was scenic as you went through the Yukon Pass. I highly recommend this excursion as this is good for anyone of any age including people with disabilities as there was not a lot of walking involved. Once back in Skagway we walked through the town and walked through the stores and they had several bars and restaurants. It was also a short walk to the ship. Very enjoyable.
This port was a short walk to town. Juneau was a very nice town plenty of places to shop and eat. My personal favorite was the Glacier Smoothie Soap company handmade soaps from Alaska. Lot's of handmade Alaska items for sale. We took the Best of Juneau Shore Excursion at the Time it was about $179 per person. Very organized by Princess. We boarded a bus through town and received the Highlights and than we went to the pier to board our boat for the Whale Watch and they guarantee you will see a whale or get back $99 so you know you are pretty destined to see a whale. We saw five. Included was a stop at Orcas Lodge owned by the Whale Boat company for a delicious salmon back some of the best Salmon that I have had. After our whale watch we boarded back on the bus to go to see the Mendenhall Glacier. This glacier is disappearing slowly so it is well worth to see it before it is gone.
This port was the furthest port from town during all of our stops. We decided on the Canopy Zip Line Tour for this stop once again Princess did a fantastic job of having it well organized. You zip through the rainforest in Kethcikan it had 5 zip lines and a rope bridge challenge, these zip lines were not for the fain of heart. I would call it an extreme zip line as they had the fastest one and long one. I had never gone and was scared but did conquer my fear. It was well run and never felt unsafe but it was still scary and at the end they give you a medal and snacks for you feet. You can also purchase a picture of you on the last zip line. The tough cost about $179 per person at the time we went and the souvenir photo cost about $20.00 Once back in town we walked the fishing town of Kethickan and it was a beautiful scenic town lined with shops art galleries and restaurants. We walked a further back into town and that is where they had some really reasonable souvenir shops as well as a little cafe called Ketchikan Coffee where we stopped for a latte on our way back to the ship. But stated earlier it is a walk back to the ship so allow time so you don't miss you boat. FYI there is a shuttle that is at the port but beware he only make two stops and he is paid to stop at these two souvenir shops and you will need to walk from there and if there is not enough people he will not be back for you so do not wait for him start walking back to the boat as you may miss the boat as we waited and than realized he was not coming back so glad we walked as once we boarded we were one of 10 passengers not accounted for as we had the other 5 with us and encouraged them to walk back we soon left port as we boarded so we cut it close.
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