In July 2022, we embarked on our 7-Day Alaskan Cruise on the Norwegian Bliss out of Seattle, WA. This cruise had 5 port of calls (6 if you include Seattle) with a scheduled overnight passage through Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier. Unfortuenly during our journey, our ship could not make it to Dawes Glacier due to excessive ice in the water and had to turn around.
Everybody is going to cruise differently. Some people are going to opt not to go on excursions at all and explore the towns or hike nearby trails, others are going to book the very adventurous (and expensive) excursions, while others, like me, are going to book moderately priced excursions to get a little taste of what the area has to offer without breaking the bank.
Within this blog post is my review of the towns we visited (when we had time to explore them) as well as the excursions we participated in. It is important for me to note, that if my review for an excursion is not glowing, that does not mean that there aren’t others in that port that would be. But when you’re on a cruise, you usually only have time for one single excursion.
The Port of Calls:
- Sitka, Alaska
- Juneau, Alaska
- Icy Straight Point, Alaska
- Ketchikan, Alaska
- Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Sitka – 11 am to 5:30 pm
Excursion: Best of Sitka (Scenic & City Tour)
Activity Level: Moderate
Length: 3.5 hours
We arrived to Sitka at 11 am and our excursion left at 1:15 pm. When we arrived to the port, we didn’t rush off of the ship because we knew we had some time, and with the vast majority of people lining up to take the complimentary shuttle to town or immediately going on their excursions, I think we made the right choice. By waiting a little bit, this gave us crowd free time to explore all the shops at the port, and there are a lot!
The excursion itself had three stops. The first stop was a visit to the Alaska Raptor Center. The second stop was a visit to the Fortress of the Bear, and the last stop was to Sitka National Historic Park.
Alaska Raptor Center: Here we got to see all the wildlife birds that are being rehabilitated with the end goal of being released back to the wild. There are some that sustained too severe of injuries that live there full-time and they are called residents. We loved seeing the bald eagles up close and from that point on during our trip we were able to easily spot bald eagles in the wild. The stop here was short and I wish we had another 30 minutes.
Fortress of the Bear: This non-profit rescues orphaned and sick bear cubs to nurse them back to health and then provide to them a full life at their facility or somewhere else. This stop was also quite short, but the unlike the Alaska Raptor Center where there are two informational presentations, there are none here and you get to explore the premises on your own. We had about 20 combined minutes of spare time. Pro Tip: Get a snack outside before you head inside to avoid the mad rush of people afterwards.
Sitka National Historic Park: This park is right on the water and the views are lovely. There are several trails around, but our stop here was about 45 minutes and time simply did not allow for a proper exploration. If time is on your side though, I would highly recommend the “The Totem Trail,” which is 1.6 mile loop trail so you can see the 18 original and replica totem poles carved by Alaska Natives. I wish I could have done this during my visit, but next time for sure.
Juneau – 7 am to 1 pm
Excursion: Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest (Wildlife Tour)
Activity Level: Easy
Length: 5.5 hours
Juneau is the capital of Alaska and is one of the more popular ports for cruise ships. Because it is one of the more popular ports, there are several locations that ships dock throughout the day. On the Norwegian Bliss, we docked quite a ways down from downtown and shuttles were not provided. We arrived at 7 am and our two part excursion met at 7:10 am right outside the ship.
Mendenhall Glacier: There are a handful of different types of Mendenhall Glacier excursions you can book, but with this excursion in particular was just a stop at the visitors center and the surrounding area to view the glacier. We had a little over an hour at this stop and we had enough time to go to a couple viewing areas and then visitor center center before it was time to return back to the bus. If you’re a fast hiker and pre-planned what trail you want to take, you could probably get a good hike in closer to the waterfalls and glacier.
Whale Watching: These type of tours and excursions are very dependent on where the whales are. There are several companies that the cruise lines partner with, and unfortunately I didn’t capture the companies name, but I do know the company we were with does not use sonar to track whales and relies on other boats radioing that they found whales. During this part of the excursion we saw about 3 humpback whales.
Icy Straight Point – 7 am to 2:30 pm
Excursion: Whale and Marine Mammals Cruise (Wildlife Tour)
Activity Level: Easy
Length: 2.5 hours
Before the cruise, I had people telling me that there is nothing to do in Icy Straight Point and you are forced to book an excursion. That is so far from the truth, but we still booked an excursion. This port has two areas. The first area has one dock (which is where we are told Norwegian prefers to dock) and with a little walking you are at the beginning of several trail heads and both of the entry points for the gondola’s. The red gondola (has a cost) is the one that takes you to the top of the hill where the worlds largest zipliner begins, and the green gondola (free) takes you to the other part of the port where all the shops and restaurants are, plus there are a few additional docks in this area. You will want to give yourself time to explore the shops and try some of the local food. You’ll also want to give yourself additional time for the green gondola to get back to the ship if it is docked in the first area because the line can get very long, but since the gondola never stops it moves pretty steadily.
Whale Watching: We did whale watching at this port as well because you can never see too many whales in my opinion. Our excursion was originally supposed to meet and leave at 7:10 am, but due to the tide, the catamaran could not get out of the space due to a small overhang and we had to wait until about 9:30 am. This turned out to be fantastic because we found a huge group of humpback whales that were bubble feeding and several of them even breached a few times. It was majestic!
Ketchikan – 6:30 am to 12:45 pm
Excursions: Great Alaska Lumberjack Show (Historical Landmarks)
Activity Level: Easy
Length: 2.5 hours
Our ship arrived to the Ward Cove port in Ketchikan at 6:30 am. This is Alaska’s newest cruise port and it is 7 miles from downtown Ketchikan, but there is a complimentary shuttle from Ward Cove to downtown which takes about 20 minutes. Ward Cove has a lot of shopping available, but if you only spent time at Ward Cove I wouldn’t consider that visiting the town. Kind of like flying to a new city, but never leaving the airport.
For our excursion, we had the option of taking the complimentary bus downtown earlier in the morning or wait until 10 am to be picked up from the ship. We chose to take the shuttle downtown to maximize our visit to Ketchikan. The shuttle dropped us off at Dock 4, which is at the beginning of what would be considered downtown. We had a little over two hours to explore all of the shops before the Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show at 11 am, which sounds like a lot, but surprisingly it is not. The show takes place near Dock 1, so we casually walked along Water, Front, and Main Street in the direction of Dock 1, which is roughly .5 mile.
The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show: This show is super touristy, but boy is it amazing! The men are not only very athletic and skilled at what they do, they are funny and full of inside jokes and banter. This is definitely a show to be seen during a stop in Ketchikan.
Victoria – 7:30 pm to 11:30 pm
Excursion: Butchart Gardens Evening and Victoria Highlights (Historical Landmark and Scenic & City Tours)
Activity Level: Easy
Length: 2.5 hours
Our time in Victoria was not the best. Our ship arrived at 7:30 pm, but due to necessary clearances at the port we were delayed about an hour. By the time the ship was cleared, people were trying to exit the ship in troves and created a massive backlog of people. People that had to use the elevators couldn’t and the staircases were packed for several flights. Everybody who booked an excursion was now delayed and naturally we all feared the excursion would leave without us. For us personally, we barely made it onto the bus for our excursion.
I’ll review the excursion itself in just a moment, but I want to emphasize the importance of booking excursions with the cruise line versus with a different company. Had we not booked with the cruise line, the ship would have left without us. I had to run to the ship ahead of my group (and for other people not in my party) to let them know that less able bodied people were coming and to please be patient. We were being yelled at by both Norwegian and Port of Victoria employees to hurry up. The port had forklifts operating removing ramps before everybody was all aboard. I had to yell at them because they were removing the less steep one of two left knowing people in wheelchairs and mobility issues were still coming. The ramp they wanted to leave up was very steep, even for me, and since I drew attention that the less steep one needed to remain up they started removing the steeper one while people were on it. I would hope this is not the norm, but it left me very unimpressed with how this port operated.
The Butchart Garden’s Evening and Victoria Highlights: We got to the gardens around 9:30 pm and were told to be on the bus by 10:45 pm. These gardens cover 55 acres and on average take 1.5 hours to complete, in daylight. Me and the two teenagers I was with literally ran throughout these gardens and still did not see everything. The other two people in my group stayed behind and sat at one of the tables outside the cafe and gift shop (since nothing was open) because they knew they wouldn’t be able to keep up with our reduced time. For what we did see, the gardens are beautiful, but I was disappointed that The Butchart Garden’s didn’t have any of the shops or cafe’s open knowing dozens of cruise ship buses were arriving.
Additionally, it appeared that The Butchart Garden’s staff left entirely after scanning all of our tickets. Once we entered, I didn’t see a single employee. More importantly though, upon exiting there was nobody around to unlock the gate necessary for a wheelchair (or other mobility aids) to exit. Fortunately, the lady in the wheelchair could walk a little bit and the people she was with were strong enough to lift up her wheelchair through the turnstile, but it didn’t make the situation okay.
I do not recommend booking this excursion, or similar, if your ship is arriving at night.
Wanderland Jess 