We are flying to Seattle and will have 1/2 day there. We will leave the following morning on an Alaskan Cruise on Royal Princess. I would appreciate suggestions on what to see and where to eat in Seattle. Also, any suggestions on excursions, places to eat and best bars to visit in Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Victoria would be helpful as well.

If you are not working with a travel advisor my contact info is in my Bio. I have clients that sail Alaska all of the time from Seattle. I am sailing myself this July on the Norwegian Encore so I most certainly can give you Seattle advice as well as excursion advice in each of the ports.

Did an Alaskan cruise in 2008, Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Whittier. I was young and mainly hiked, so my excursions may be quite different.

Ketchikan. I hiked a trail up Deer Mountain. It was a trail in the Tongass National Forest. The trailhead was on the far side of town, so a quick 30 minute walk. I hit the trail, hoping to arrive at the summit 2.5 miles later, and 3,000 vertical feet up. I hit the first overlook and spotted whales in the water 1,500 feet below. Around 2,000 feet, I ran into snow. The snow continued until the summit. I was stopped just short of the summit as I was running short of time and the trail to a very steep climb up the snow, and I just had tennis shoes. I headed back down the mountain and met up with my family for lunch at Steamers. We had the halibut sandwich.

Juneau. Did a whale watching trip with Whale Watching & Wildlife Quest. We saw humpback whales and sea lions. Family wanted to do Mt Roberts tram. I skipped because it was $25. Toured the capitol, saw Sarah Palin's house, did not see Russia. Lunch, Red Dog Saloon.

Skagway. I hiked the Lower Dewey Lake trail in the Tongass. Then ranger tour at the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, toured the cemetery, then Reid Falls. Rode the White Pass & Yukon Railroad. It took us to White Pass, where the stampeeders had to pass through the mounted police check point with their ton of food. Lunch was halibut sandwich at Bonanza Bar & Grill.

Glacier Bay and College Fjord were phenomenal.

Here are some ideas I've put together for my Alaskan cruises in the past. I have another one scheduled with my parents in May on Celebrity. I've never been to Alaska early enough to see a lot of snow so this is my year.

Ketchikan

Popular excursions
Misty Fjords Nature excursion
Coastal cruise
Pub crawl

Alaska Fish House (Fish & chips)
https://exclusivealaska.com/fish-house
https://goo.gl/maps/yWonjDhA3mM6wW278

Creek Street (walking area with shops, salmon in the creek, etc)
https://www.experienceketchikan.com/creek-street-ketchikan.html

Jellyfish Donuts
https://goo.gl/maps/tciXDoqjJsPf4Srx5

Burger Queen
https://goo.gl/maps/HV3f1djJcfr1dzfb7

Arctic Bar
https://goo.gl/maps/UUMZuaezMJjv4k1w7

Sourdough Bar
https://goo.gl/maps/hJZ1bw2BSjBH74eZ8

Bar Harbor Ale House
https://goo.gl/maps/TZW5binAv3MJk1UZA

108 Taphouse & Burger Bar
https://goo.gl/maps/MQ3Xzc7xQK2hau8BA

Juneau

Popular excursions
Whale watching
Mendenhall Glacier

Deckhand Dave's (Fish tacos/fish & chips)
https://goo.gl/maps/uDA6kBfrkjtjVmQNA

Red Dog Saloon
https://goo.gl/maps/gnyrH8kBiS96zE4JA

Tracy's King Crab Shack
https://goo.gl/maps/8NsSpQPu1HDVp3PT8

Sandpiper Cafe (all day breakfast)
https://goo.gl/maps/L7G9jS4eg6WPXf3o6

Alaska Brewing Public House
https://goo.gl/maps/PJAk6kU4tNefbbpd6

Alaska State Museum
https://goo.gl/maps/vGdQL3RWZmz8xu5g6

Fred Meyer (like a Super Walmart) Grocery & General Store
https://goo.gl/maps/pHMQ3xEaGMZnDqrAA

Costco (world's smallest Costco)
https://goo.gl/maps/uAtSxt7HeVGYQsAL6m

Juneau Taxi (meet on Admiral Way across from parking garage, available per trip or can be hired hourly)
907-586-1111

Skagway

#1 excursion White Pass Railway (multiple options available that include roundtrip train or train/bus)

Skagway Brewing (Fish & chips, Spruce Tip Ale)
https://goo.gl/maps/PJAk6kU4tNefbbpd6

Bonanza Bar & Grill (Seafood chowder)
https://goo.gl/maps/oSpFQX7TvdfEcqHs7

Klondike Doughboy (cinnamon pastry)
https://goo.gl/maps/ozJ6nH1suY6sTqQ77

Dewey Lake & Yakutania Point hiking (free!)
https://assets.simpleviewinc.com/simpleview/image/upload/v1/clients/skagwayak/Skagway_Trail_Map_0e2f1c2b-292e-4f0c-a37f-94a92d994ed1.pdf

Can't help with Seattle but I did an Alaskan cruise on that same ship back in 2019. Beautiful ship.

In Skagway we did the White Pass Railroad. Really cool. After the excursion and before heading back to ship we hit Skagway Brewing. Try the spruce tip beer. Also a really good bar/restaurant right there in the marina close to the ship (Skagway Fish Co.) that had the best fish and chips I think I've had.

Juneau we did the whale watching and salmon bake excursion.

Ketchikan I just walked around. Hit Creek Street right as I jumped off to try and beat the crowd so I can say I saw it and then made my own bar crawl as I worked my way back to the ship.

Great info shared!
We're doing the same cruise in July on Royal Princess.

We just secured all of our excursions, I would highly recommend to go ahead and take a look at those in case they are sold out or close to selling out.

We did a combo land/sea cruise trip back in 2022, starting in Fairbanks, heading down to Denali, and then down to Anchorage and Whitter, where the cruise started. Denali and Glacier Bay were probably my favorite parts of the entire vacation.

Skagway - we took a high speed catamaran and then canoes to the Davidson Glacier. It was well worth it. The Davidson Glacier is a valley glacier, not tidewater, meaning it flows into a lake and not the ocean.

Juneau - we did a whale watching cruise. Saw plenty, and our guide worked part of the year in Hawaii and part in Alaska, tracking humpbacks that travelled between the two locations. She actually recognized a few here that she'd also seen in Hawaii. One of my favorite pictures that I took was from this excursion - a bald eagle flying over a humpback that had surfaced and was blowing.

Ketchikan - we did a tour of the city and totem poles. This was probably the least exciting excursion of the entire trip, but still interesting. It's also fun to walk around the Creek Street area, which was the red light district back in the mining/fishing/logging era. Since it was our last stop heading south before disembarking in Vancouver, it was sort of anticlimactic after all of the glaciers, whales, Denali, etc. I think if we'd had a northbound cruise, it might've been a great start to the entire trip.

Duck fart shots at Red Dog !!

We did a Travelling Aggie cruise with Coach Blair a few years back out of Seattle - I came close to buying a small shack on a small island in Alaska and mailing it in back home.

Highly recommend doing a Seattle Underground tour. We did it this fall and really enjoyed it. Interesting history and very entertaining.

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Highly recommend doing a Seattle Underground tour. We did it this fall and really enjoyed it. Interesting history and very entertaining.

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This is actually a good suggestion.

My #1 suggestion use to be the Ride The Duck tour of Seattle but that stopped several years ago.

The Ballard Locks is pretty neat also.