Best port adventures for animal lovers in Alaksa?

[monorailrabbit]

DH and I are getting ready to book our once-in-a-lifetime cruise for Alaska in summer of 2020! We are so excited! We only have one "problem".... we want to do ALL the excursions! In particular, we want to see orcas as close as possible, and would love to do something with the huskies (we have a spoiled rotten husky at home so we'd get a huge kick out of seeing them actually pull and work!) Any other animals (bears, eagles) would be awesome as well, but not as high on our list as the other two.

Talk to me about your favorites and why! We really need help narrowing them down! Can't wait!

 

[ladyofthetramp]

For eagles we rented a car in Juneau and drove to eagle beach. It was amazing! No less than a dozen that we saw. And the bears were on the prowl there too! We scared one away from his salmon kill as we strolled along one of the paths there. Tons of salmon-this was in August. Beautiful Alaskan beach if you are up for an "on your own" adventure. We did Mendenhall glacier on our own this day as well. Many bears were spotted, none while we were there, unfortunately, although we have black bears in our neighborhood, so not a priority to see for us. We saw orca pods from the ship on the way home. The best way to see them is a tour out of Vancouver right at the port, before you begin or as you end your cruise.

 

[AgentMama]

My understanding is that you are much more likely to see humpback whales in Alaska than Orcas (although this wasn't our experience, we did see them on one excursion). We went whale watching out of Vancouver after the cruise and did not see any Orcas. The guides told us that sightings had been low while we were there.

 

[librarianamy]

We did whale watching in Juneau with Harv and Marv - whales, seals and eagles. There were only five of us on the boat and it was amazing. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[ajo]

We saw orcas swimming along side the ship. No excursion required.

 

[clten]

We saw orcas swimming along side the ship. No excursion required.

Are you sure it was Orcas swimming along side of the ship. I only ask because on each of our Alaska cruises someone points out the "Orcas" swimming with the ship and we look and they are actually Dall Porpoises - similar coloration as orcas but MUCH smaller animals.

OP - we did the Husky excursion in Skagway and loved it (we have 2 very spoiled huskies at home). We picked that one because it had an afternoon departure so we would work it with doing the train (which when we went we saw both Bear and Moose). In Juneau we did a whale watching tour that was a smaller boat (we did it through DCL it was their Rainforest Hike and Whale Watching) and it was great. It is the same boats the tour guides use for Photography tours and they gave great tips. But that was for Humpback Whales. We did an Orca tour in Vancouver (or maybe it was a stop in Victoria) where there is a bigger Orca population but didn't see any whales.

 

[Pens Fan]

We saw both Orcas and Humpbacks on our excursion from Juneau. We even had a mother and baby Orca swim right under our boat. We used Rum Runners and had a wonderful day. I highly recommend them. My husband and son caught a ton of salmon as well, which Rum Runners arranged to be cleaned, frozen and shipped to our home.

Whoever you use, I'd steer clear of the large boats crammed with tourists. Look for the small boat options. If you are looking to stick with Disney for excursions, quite a few years ago they offered one out of Juneau that went to both Mendenhall and took you whale watching on a smaller boat (maybe 12-15 people on board, max). It was billed as a science excursion with lots of fun educational things to do for kids. While marketed to the kids, anyone would enjoy it. Of the two options, I'd still pick Rum Runners as it will be a completely private tour, but obviously that is priced accordingly.

We've never done any of the sled dog excursions in Alaska, only in the Tetons so I'm no help there except to say it's a ton of fun!

If you're interested in bears, we've done Neet's Bay (through Disney - very good excursion) and saw several bears. We also have used Island Wings to fly to Anan Creek and that was just fabulous. We saw so many black bears fishing for salmon and even an Alaskan brown bear. It's one of the few places where both black and Alaskan brown bears feed together. It was one of the highlights of our trip.

 

[ajo]

Are you sure it was Orcas swimming along side of the ship. I only ask because on each of our Alaska cruises someone points out the "Orcas" swimming with the ship and we look and they are actually Dall Porpoises - similar coloration as orcas but MUCH smaller animals.

OP - we did the Husky excursion in Skagway and loved it (we have 2 very spoiled huskies at home). We picked that one because it had an afternoon departure so we would work it with doing the train (which when we went we saw both Bear and Moose). In Juneau we did a whale watching tour that was a smaller boat (we did it through DCL it was their Rainforest Hike and Whale Watching) and it was great. It is the same boats the tour guides use for Photography tours and they gave great tips. But that was for Humpback Whales. We did an Orca tour in Vancouver (or maybe it was a stop in Victoria) where there is a bigger Orca population but didn't see any whales.

I'm sure you are correct. Not much of a marine mammal expert here!

 

[kickash]

We went whale watching out of Vancouver before our cruise and we saw bald eagles, sea lions, and orcas. On our glacier explorer excursion we saw humpbacks and sea lions again.

Pic is from Vancouver.

 

[monorailrabbit]

These all sound great! We usually stick with the Disney excursions, not sure I could sell DH on an independent one. Good advice about Vancouver before or after - never would have thought of that!

Edited to add: is there a specific tour we should look for in Vancouver?

 

[kickash]

These all sound great! We usually stick with the Disney excursions, not sure I could sell DH on an independent one. Good advice about Vancouver before or after - never would have thought of that!

Edited to add: is there a specific tour we should look for in Vancouver?

We went with Vancouver Whale Watch out of Steveston Village. They have a shuttle that picked us up at the port (Canada Way Place) and our driver was excellent! He talked the entire drive to Steveston (about 40 min) with info about Vancouver, the area, etc. That was an added bonus!

 

[kickash]

More from Vancouver Whale Watch

They also have an expert on board who gives you all sorts of info about the waters, the animals, etc. They also had snacks and a bathroom on board which I wanted for my kids.

 

[LeiaOfAlderaan]

We did the Sled Dog and Musher’s Camp excursion in Skagway (booked on our own). We loved it and will do it again if we go back to Alaska. Ideally we wanted sledding on a glacier but I didn’t want to go in a plane or helicopter so did this instead. The dogs run on a dirt road and it was a blast! We then got to hold the most adorable puppies and I think that was probably my #1 highlight of the whole trip. Also had some nice sightseeing on the shuttle on the way there, stopped at a stream and saw a bunch of salmon.

 

[luckyduck517]

I did the cruise to alaska about 6 years ago, so no idea if these excursions are still around: We did a river raft float, I think it was in Skagaway (but not sure about that part), down a very shallow river which had tons and tons of eagles- if they still do it I'd definitely recommend that one! I also really enjoyed our boat tour of Misty Fjords, and we did happen upon their local orca pod (complete with males, females and youngsters), but obviously that's something that can't be planned for!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Juneau is the best chance of seeing Orcas out of Auke Bay. Not sure when or where you're going, but the best place to see bears is Anan Creek out of Ketchikan. It is accessible by float plane and several private excursion companies provide transportation. However this excursion isn't avaialable until mid to late July, August and September. You will see humpbacks from the ship and eagles aplenty in every port.

 

[ajo]

We did the Sled Dog and Musher’s Camp excursion in Skagway (booked on our own). We loved it and will do it again if we go back to Alaska. Ideally we wanted sledding on a glacier but I didn’t want to go in a plane or helicopter so did this instead. The dogs run on a dirt road and it was a blast! We then got to hold the most adorable puppies and I think that was probably my #1 highlight of the whole trip. Also had some nice sightseeing on the shuttle on the way there, stopped at a stream and saw a bunch of salmon.

We also did this excursion but did it on our own because our train excursion was cancelled due to a mudslide, so we had to put together something at the last minute. We rented a Jeep and drove out of town into Canada for some sightseeing. On the way back we saw the sign for the Musher's Camp. We stopped in and visited the puppies (who couldn't be cuter) and rode the dog sled on the dirt. We were able to have a great day despite the change of plans.