lauridg
Registered: June 2012
Location: Missouri
Posts: 4
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Review Date: Thu June 7, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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fabulous crab, pulling in crab pots, scenery, the fabulous people at George Inlet Lodge
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Cons:
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None
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We did a Wilderness Exploration and Crab Feast...if you love crab..this may be your thing! First you get on a boat and go out to some crab pots where the kiddos pull in some crab pots and learn about the crabs. They get to hold them and throw them back in, which for some reason seemed to be really fun. They also look for some wild life, and show you some neat things and stop to let you take pictures. We saw some deer, eagles, a seal, and a waterfall along the way. Then they take you back to the lodge, where you have a fabulous salad,a beverage, and basically all the crab you can handle. While you eat, they encourage you to stack your crab shells as high as you can! (hint* cheating is encouraged!) And just when your about to pop from crab, they bring you a fantastic piece of cheesecake. My 8 yr old daughter loved this excursion! The staff was fabulous, and it was absolutely beautiful!
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Sparrow
Registered: October 2009
Posts: 20
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Review Date: Fri October 28, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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Creek Street, Burger Queen
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Cons:
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none
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We had a great time exploring Creek Street and the shops. There is also a lift from Creek Street up to a hotel on top of the hill - the scenery was beautiful. Saxman Totum Park was good - very interesting. Go to Burger Queen for lunch. Great burgers - lots of locals there.
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ptpdrn
Registered: July 2006
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Posts: 8
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Review Date: Thu August 11, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 10
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Pros:
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lots of stores and prices weren't touristy. Prices weren't bad
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Cons:
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ship docked a distance from town
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Go ziplining! What a time. 90-100 ft up in the trees. Guides were great and fun to be with. Prices in stores in town were reasonable. Definitely eat at "Fish and Chips".
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dvcnut
Registered: July 2010
Posts: 46
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Review Date: Sat July 23, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Saxman Native Village & Lumberjack show
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Cons:
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semi-formal night is in Ketchikan
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I forgot to review the Lumberjack Show in my last review so here goes.
After you visit the Saxman Village you are dropped off in town for the Lumberjack Show. The show doesn't start until 4:45pm so we had about an hour or so to shop before the show. Our tour left Saxman Village about 15 minutes early so you may not always have time to shop before you see the show. Only Disney Cruise guests are at the 4:45pm show and we were told that they do things during that show that is particular to Disney. Not having seen the show before, I don't know what they did different, but they had opportunities for kids to participate during the show. All of the Lumberjack tours converge on the venue for this show so if you had an adults only booking you will be with kids for the show. There is a lot of yelling from the crowd to motivate the lumberjacks, so if you're not in to that sort of thing(or have sensitive ears) you may want to skip this excursion. They had a young girl log rolling while we waited for the show to start. It would have been nice if they had actually explained what she was doing or if she had showed us how to do certain moves with the log rolling.
The show itself was cute and lasted an hour. They had some of the top lumberjacks from Alaska in the show and I think the #6 lumberjack in the world. At the end of the show they have buses to take you back to the ship.
If you take this excursion, be aware that you will not have much time to return to the ship and dress for semi-formal night if you have the first dinner seating. The excursion was supposed to end at 6:15pm, but I was boarding the boat at 6pm. Disney did try to help us out by moving dinner from 5:45pm to 6:00pm on this night and told us it would be ok if we were a little late, but you are still rushing to make it to dinner. I didn't get to dinner until about 6:45pm. I was still able to get a complete meal, but it would be nice if Disney would either move the first dinner back until 6:30pm or 6:45pm when they are in Ketchikan or move the time for the excursions up.
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dvcnut
Registered: July 2010
Posts: 46
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Review Date: Fri July 22, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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close to port
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Cons:
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some adult only excursions are not adults only
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I did the Saxman Native Village and Exclusive Lumberjack Show Adult only departure. If you do this excursion, be aware that there will be kids when you get to the Lumberjack show and at the village. The adults only part means you leave the ship with adults only.
This tour left at 1:45pm because you don't get to Ketchikan until around noon or so. We first went to the Saxman Native Village. You see a video, tribal dancing from the host clan, view the totem poles with your driver narrating, visit the woodshed where they carve totems and have free time to visit the gift shop or take pictures of the totems. There were a lot of tours at the village when we went, so they group all the disney folks together for the video and tribal dancing and then rotate for the rest. We had about 30 minutes to wander on our own which was more than enough time.
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IMGrumpy
Registered: June 2011
Location: seacoast New Hampshire
Posts: 9
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Review Date: Thu June 23, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Knowledgeable Skipper
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Cons:
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The one that got away!
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Our excursion here was Knudson Cove Salmon Fishing. Those that were taking this excursion boarded a bus that took us to the marina, about a 25 minute trip, and were assigned to a boat and skipper. Most of the boats, including ours, had a maximum of four people. The skipper, Kevin, was great, very knowledgeable about the area we fished. Our excursion was in the afternoon (we didn't dock in Ketchikan until noon)and his morning trip had landed one so we headed back to the same area. The weather was great by Ketchikan standards, apparently they get quite a bit of rain there, but it was partly cloudy and actually quite sunny out on the water for a while, and mild-temp around 60, and even the breeze out on the water wasn't bad. The fish were apparently not really hungry, but we got our first hit after about a half hour. It was a King salmon but was unfortunately not big enough to keep-it was about 18 inches long (minimum legal size is 28 in.) and my guess would be weighed about 6 or 7 lbs. After several false alarms, I got a hard hit-and started reeling in what felt like a good sized fish-and about 30 ft. from the boat, suddenly the line went slack. When I reeled it in, it was evident to Kevin that someone else had had my fish for lunch-it bit right through the leader, and he said it was most likely a seal or sea lion. Based on the drag on the line, he said it was most likely a good sized fish, too. There wasn't much action for the remainder of the afternoon, but we did get to see some bald eagles and their nests from a fairly close vantage point, and we also saw a humpback whale although it was a good distance from us and heading in the opposite direction. After we had docked, we boarded our bus and the driver was nice enough to detour to downtown Ketchikan to drop off those who wanted to do a little shopping and also pointed out several FREE shuttles that would take us back to the ship.
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Love2Travel
Registered: January 2006
Posts: 65
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Review Date: Sun June 5, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 5
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Pros:
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Arrival Experience and Burger Queen
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Cons:
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Busy city, local kids inappropriate
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I am a "maybe" if I would recommend it.
When we arrived, it was Sunday May 8th. It was Disney's first time docking here. The local children has gathered with parents to greet our ship. They were waving and shouting "we love you". Donald came out on deck to wave and some children shouted "we want Mickey". We were on Deck 5, so I am unsure if more characters were out on deck 9. I would have loved more of a reception with characters for these people - maybe blowing the "when you wish upon a star" horn too or maybe music and dancing up on deck 9...
We walked around town as we didn't purchase any tours on our cruise and found more value in exploring each port on our own - gathering the flavor of the town. This port was busy, city-like. Traffic aggressive and teenagers hanging out of car windows shouting inappropriate things at passengers disembarking the ship. I didn't feel comfortable.
Before going on our cruise, I did some homework and found a local place to eat call Burger Queen. I was told a lot of cruise personnel go there on their time off. They make the most unique burgers and shakes anywhere! They cook to order, so you have to wait over 20 minutes, but the wait is 100% worth it! Also, it is a tiny building across the main street just to the left of the tunnel that leads traffic under an overhang. There are only 3 tables there. But, you can go across the street or next door to a bar to wait - they'll deliver to you. My DD is allergic to smoke so we couldn't do that. We were lucky to find a table inside.
Overall, not impressed. We walked back to the ship by 2pm and enjoyed the boat a lot more.
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zakerdog
Registered: February 2008
Location: Kingston, ON Canada
Posts: 5
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Review Date: Mon May 23, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? No
| Rating: 4
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Pros:
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lots of eagles
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Cons:
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the boat
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The excursion we took here was called Lighthouse, Totems and Eagles. At a marina 7 miles north of the town Captain Bob greeted us. As soon as we boarded our tour boat Captain Bob began his running narrative. We headed straight to the top deck and settled in, ready to spot eagles. Just minutes after we left the dock the captain pointed out the first eagle’s nest and seconds later he found the first bald eagle. They were the first of many; we saw 10 eagle nests and over 20 bald eagles. Some were in the nests, some were perched in trees and some were flying. There were even some seals basking on some logs as we sailed past Loggerville, an abandoned floating town.
We sailed past the Totem Bight State Park where we saw several totems and a native meeting house, then cruised out to the Guard Island Lighthouse. The lighthouse was built in 1903, very old by Alaskan standards, and we had a special treat, two eagles were perched on top of the lighthouse.
By 3:00 we were back on shore and boarded a bus for our return to the wharf. I was a little disappointed with this tour. I would have liked to be able to get off the boat at the totems and lighthouse but we just sailed past. The boat was in my opinion not “up” to Disney standards and would not have been comfortable in inclement weather as not everyone could have comfortably fit inside. They did provide friendly service and had lots of beverages available and a light snack.
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jayme_34474
Registered: April 2010
Posts: 13
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Review Date: Mon May 23, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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close to the water, lots of nature & animals
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Cons:
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not much time there, lots of rain
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We had a great day in Ketchikan. We got lucky and it was 65 degrees and sunny. We did not get there until after lunch so we did not have as much time there.
We started out doing a little shopping. We were in berth 4 which was the farthest from the shopping. They have more shops than Skagway and they are spread out a little more. More places to eat as well, we did not get to try any.
We then went on a float plane to the Misty Fjords. The plane ride gave us views that were fantastic but flying in a float plane is not for the light stomached people. The small plane jumps around and definitely upsets the stomach. We landed in the Fjords near a waterfall and got out on the float for pictures. Then back to Ketchikan. It was expensive and something to experience once. I do not think we will do it again.
Then on to kayaking. The driver dropped us off at our next destination, which is nice. If you do not want to go back to the ship, ask your driver to drop you someplace else. We got our gear for the trip and got on the boat to take us to the kayaks. We road about 20 minutes away from town to Orcas Cove. There was another boat there waiting for us. We launched from the boat and kayaked for 3 hours. Again we were the only other boat on the trip, just us and the guide with a trainee. So awesome. We got to go a lot farther since we were strong paddlers and were by ourselves. We got to see eagles, star fish, harbor seals, a waterfall, and lots of beautiful scenery. The salmon, bears, and whales had not quite got there yet. Really great trip. Definitely recommend this if you like to kayak.
Then we had some local smoked salmon and water back on the boat and off we went back to the Wonder. On the way back to the Wonder we saw a humpback and followed its blows as it swam. So cool. I wish we could have seen more.
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sasmmb
Registered: March 2006
Posts: 27
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Review Date: Wed May 11, 2011
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Would you recommend the product? Yes
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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fun!
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Cons:
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Those waivers actually mean something
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Bear Creek Ziplining Adventure:
This was my first experience ziplining. I am pretty graceless by nature, and not athletic at all. But this seemed like it would be fun. At the dock we boarded a bus and the driver told us lots of interesting stuff about Ketchikan during our 15 minute drive. Once there we put all purses/backpacks/etc. away. You can keep your camera if you can sling it around your neck, or a point and shoot if it has a wrist attachment that they will clip into your harness for you.
We then donned helmets and harnesses and the staff double checked all equipment. We then took a jeep like thing up some really steep hills where we then got to practice our first zip. The instructions were very clear, and by the 2nd real zip we were all doing great.
My only negatives about this is you had 2 guides, a "sender" and a "catcher". Once the catcher got you on the platform and unhooked you, he would then radio to the sender "clear" and the sender could send the next person. On 2 occasions the sender sent the next person without the "clear". 1 time it wasn't too bad, the catcher was just about finished with the 1st person anyway. But the 2nd time the person didn't have enough momentum to make it to the platform and had to pull herself hand over hand to the platform. She had just gotten 1 foot on the platform when we hear the "whoosh" of someone coming down the zipline. Our catcher rushed to get the 1st person more securely on the platform and get her unhooked before the second person got there. Everything was fine and our catcher chastised the sender for not waiting for the "send", but it still unnerved me a little.
We also had a member of our group hit her shin on the step stool they have on the platform for shorter people to get hooked/unhooked as she zipped into the platform. She bled quite a bit and ended up throwing her shoes away because there was just too much blood. She wasn't seriously injured though, just caught it wrong. But those waivers do actually mean something. There is a small risk of injury. Of course, I've been known to injure myself just walking down the sidewalk, so there are risks everywhere.
But even given all of that, it was a blast and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!
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