Ketchikan Activities

[GPaLarry]

We took the Duck Tour which, after the recent Missouri incident, might require a second look. The duck toured the city first, then when into the bay for an "at sea" view of the city. All was calm, a bit rainy, but felt safe. I would recommend making sure all safety procedures are followed and life jackets are available. There is plenty to do there, but, some years ago, we spent 2 1/2 weeks touring the rest of that unique state and there is so much more than the Inland Passage.

 

[mrsp1030]

Thank you all for the advice. I think my youngest would love the lumberjack show so maybe we will just walk the town and look into this as well.

 

[Mich123]

@cmph Those squirrels are terrifying and the stuff of nightmares! We did not take any of the dock tours--the one you went on was what was described by the first vendor off the dock--DH and I were skeptical of the chance to actually see bears with the salmon run. I'm glad you checked in on this thread.

 

[cmph]

@cmph Those squirrels are terrifying and the stuff of nightmares! We did not take any of the dock tours--the one you went on was what was described by the first vendor off the dock--DH and I were skeptical of the chance to actually see bears with the salmon run. I'm glad you checked in on this thread.

We almost died! The best part was the "do not touch" sign. NO PROBLEM. Some other ladies and I were quietly chuckling while we took photos, b/c wow. There was a taxidermied bear on the other side of the room, and that's all the bear we saw. My poor bear-loving sister was very unhappy about that taxidermied bear and faced away from it the entire time we were there. I know this kind of stuff is how the locals survive, but I believe I paid something like $90 for my 9yo and me, and whoo-boy, it was not worth that. Be glad you avoided it!

 

[Rambler5678]

We did a private hummer tour. They picked us up and dropped us off right by the ship. We booked direct with them and saved $100 over what Disney wanted for the same tour. We saw a bear, bald eagles, salmon swimming upstream and pretty waterfalls.

 

[Donna M]

Wow, I have to get back to Ketchikan. I was a teacher there in 1979-80 and we only had the Princess cruise ship stop at the dock. There weren't any of the excursions I just read about here. My roommates pretended to be on the ship and were able to walk right on and check it out. Life was different back then.

 

[dcassetta]

Looking for ideas of what others have done in this specific port. Just curious if a tour or just general town area was good. Splurging on two other ports so was trying to figure this port out. Thank you.

Ketchikan is a nice walkable town. If you decide not to go on a tour, I highly recommend the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center. It's run by the National Park service, and is really outstanding. If you decide to go on a tour, I can recommend the Bering Sea Fishermens tour. It was really a lot of fun, and there were a wide variety of ages on the ship that all seem to enjoy it. I think if you book it independently, it's slightly cheaper than Disney. However, I think Disney also has an option that comes with a crab dinner.

 

[Claireywalsh]

We loved Ketchikan - it’s really beautiful. We did the deadliest catch tour - we booked direct with them instead of going through Disney as it saved about £50. Really good experience and will probably do it again when we cruise next year. Plenty of things to see around the town - after we had finished the excursion we went and relaxed on the verandah on the boat and watched the float planes take off like literally every 30 seconds - it was fab.