Alaska Cruise Countdown
Time left until your Alaska Cruise Vacation:
Trip Itinerary
| Date | Description |
|---|---|
| 🛫 Depart Spokane for Seattle | |
| 🛳️ Board Cruise Ship | |
| 🌊 Cruising at Sea | |
| 🏔️ Juneau, Alaska | |
| 🚂 Skagway, Alaska | |
| 📸 Glacier Bay, Alaska | |
| 🎣 Ketchikan, Alaska | |
| 🏛️ Victoria, Canada | |
| 🛬 Seattle, WA |
Discussion Parts
As much as we all want to spend time together. This is your vacation as much as it is our vacation.
Please don't expect anybody to join you 100% of the time; and we won't expect you to join us 100% of the time.
We are looking for ideas for the cruise and what to do.
I am not going to include pricing on this, as prices can change from day to day.
Please understand that you do not have to stick around with us on excursions. You are more than welcome to do your own.
For example: In Juneau, Alaska, there is an Alaska Salmon Bake. You are more than welcome to do that on your own, but please understand that our family does not eat salmon.
The list we make is in no particular order.
Seattle, Washington
This is the point that we are going to get on the cruise ship. 🛳️
Everybody should have at a minimum ordered the plus package to where the cruise line will ship your medallions to your residence.
Place the medallions in your carry on luggage and don't do anything with them. They will be activated when you get on the cruise ship.
We will stay at a hotel near the cruise terminal that is outside the Seattle City Limits. This will save us about 50% of the cost.
For our trip to the cruise terminal we will hire a limo company to take us and our stuff to the cruise ship. This will take a little bit as this is turn around day. So bring some snacks if you get "Hangry" pretty easily.
There is the world cup going to be happening while we are in the area, I will discuss this later.
Hotel & Ground Transportation
We have a few ideas and some things are up for discussion. We have considered that we should transport ourselves over there in a rented van and then turn the van in prior to us embarking on the cruise ship. There is also a discussion that we can take Amtrak over to the Everett station and then rent a minivan to move around the area.
This is where we need your input.
We will probably stay at the same hotel that we stay at in Mukilteo, Washington; the Hilton Garden Inn near Paine Field.
From there we will hire a limo company to take us from the Hotel to the Cruise Ship Terminal. We would like to embark the ship about 10:00 am. This will give us time to look around the ship.
Juneau, Alaksa
Our personal favorite excursion is the Mendenhall Glacier. We have done this twice and it does not disappoint.
- Goldbelt Tram
- Mendenhall Glacier Explorer
- Mendenhall Glacier & Goldbelt Tram
- Treadwell: Living History Walk of Alaska's Lost Mine
The salmon hatchery was interesting, but it is paired with a Salmon Bake.
Our Intention
🧊 JNU-100 — Mendenhall Glacier Explorer – 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Skagway, Alaska
The most famous excursion in Skagway is the Train! If you get good weather it is a gorgeous train ride.
- White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad
- Haines, Alaska
- Red Onion Saloon - Read the description; No KIDS ALLOWED
- Skagway Street Car City Tour
Skagway was one of those towns that was the first stop on the way to the Klondike Gold Rush. The railroad then came in to help the miners get up and over White Pass. So as you can imagine from history, there isn't much in this town as most of the people intended to leave town to go to the mining camps.
There is some adult rated history. We haven't really taken the time to check things out.
We do want to check out Haines, Alaska, someday. But don't think it is going to happen any time soon.
Our Intention
🚂 SGY-200 — White Pass Scenic Railway – Time TBD
Quick notes about the train
- Bring cash as they sell "Train-Only" souvenirs and can only take cash.
- Historically cost $20 for the items below.
- Usually includes:
- Hat,
- Souvenier Book, and
- Souvenier DVD.
Glacier Bay, Alaska
First time that we have been here. We are excited!
There are no excursions here as the entire ship will be doing a Scenic Cruise.
Scenic cruising is where the entire ship will travel throughout an area for the viewing pleasure of the entire ship. On previous cruises to Alaska, we have "scenic cruised" the Dawes Glacier in the Petersburg Borough. This will be a similar experience to the Dawes Glacier.
Ketchikan, Alaska
Nice cozy town with a lot to see. We have done a couple of tours here in the past. Both were great!
Most likely we will just walk the local business on our own when we get there. But please don't let us stop you.
- Totem Bight State Park & Ketchikan Highlights – We did this; it was a 6 out of 10.
- Lighthouse, Totems & Eagles Excursion – We did this an had a lot of fun. 8 out of 10.
- Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show
- City Highlights, Totems & Creek Street by Trolley
We have seen some social media reviews in the past that the Lighthouse, Totems & Eagles Excursions has changed a lot and may not be what it used to be. When we went we had a nice tourguide that allowed Alex to drive the boat (supervised of course).
The Totem Bight State Park & Ketchikan Highlights was okay. The bus came and picked us up at the terminal and then drove us around the town to explore some the historical sights. It was an okay trip, I would have loved to have a Native give us a tour of the State Park.
Creek Street – Boy was I embarrased. Creek steet's history revolves around cathouses and brothels. So when we went to explore, the kids were asking questions of what was a "working woman". Yeah, let's look at the Salmon in the creek.
The lumberjack show seems to be popular among the fellow cruise passengers. We have these type of events at the Spokane Fair, so it isn't important for us to see this event. But some cruisers did enjoy the show that was provided.
Our Intention
🥾 Roam Town on our own. We have been there done that! Pretty town!
Victoria, Canada
🇨🇦 Oh, Canada! 🇨🇦
If you get the kids singing, I will be after you! 😂
Victoria is a weird town as most vendors want to use U.S. Dollars to transact with cruise guests. I don't know why! 🤷♂️
We normally just walk the town as it is a pretty historical town.
Here are some important things to keep in mind.
- We arrive at 9:00 PM PT. – It is going to be late.
- We disembark the ship the next day. – Which means your bags need to be packed to walk off of the shop after breakfast.
- We depart Victoria around midnight PT. So there isn't a lot of time: 3 hours.
The point I am trying to make is that we may jump off the ship onto the shore, but there isn't much time, nor is there many places open to go to. I suggest that we do what we always do, walk the breakwater wall and get some lasting photos of the ship, and while on the ship of the beautiful historic city.
Excursions
- Easy Victoria: City Lights Highlights
- O Canada: Night Lights City Highlights
- High Tea at Pendray Mansion & City Night Lights
- Canadian Craft Brewery Evening Experience
In the past we have hired PNW Transportation Service to take us Downtown and Back. They have the Green Busses and runs every 20 minutes from each location. Great option if you want to get downtown.
Other cruises will go during the daytime hours. I do recommend a repositioning cruise. These run from Vancouver, BC, to Los Angeles, CA, and visa-versa. Ask me for more details, in my opinion, these are the hidden gems of the cruising industry and Princess Cruises.
Our Intention
Jump off the ship really quick and get some photos. Other than that, pack the room ready for departure the next day.
⚽️ Seattle — World Cup
It has recently come to my attention that the Seattle Stadium will be hosting some World Cup Matches.
This makes planning a little more difficult on the account that resources are going to be limited, such as hotel rooms and transportation. We will need to coordinate this out early as to make a plan what we are going to do. For example, are we going to take Amtrak over and stay in the hotel, or would we prefer to get up and leave early from home?
To the best of my knowledge this is the dates of the Seattle World Cup Matches:
In my brief analysis; I do not have any reason to believe that the World Cup in Seattle is going to cause any major issues.
Updated Information
We are finding it difficult to book a hotel room on the account that many of the hotel rooms in the vacinity are booked out for the FIFA soccer tournament. Therefore, we may end up driving to the Port the day of and parking our vehicle in the Cruise Ship Terminal Parking. We will keep this area updated.
💳 Payment
Final Payments are due on April 5, 2026 to Costco Travel.
Payments for excursions and other upgrades are purchased directly through Princess cruises through the Manage Booking portal. Note: This is historic information: Excursions can be purchased up to 15 days prior to the cruise embarkation.
Travel expenses, such as, transportation to and from the port, hotels, etc., will be seperate and paid out of pocket at the time of the expense. If we book with Amtrak, tickets will be purchased as a group and will be paid for each portion of the trip.
Time until payments are due for the cruise: