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Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour Review

This post will share our photos and review of the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour in Ketchikan, Alaska!

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour King Crab

Ketchikan, Alaska was one of our ports during our Alaskan cruise onboard Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas. This Alaska shore excursion stood out to us because we used to watch the Deadliest Catch and even met Sig Hansen in EPCOT several years ago. It is labeled as kid-friendly, offers several time options and doesn’t consume the entire time in port, which left time for us to explore a bit on our own. I was worried it would be a little too “touristy” but we ultimately decided to book based on the many overwhelmingly positive reviews and recommendations for it online. We really enjoyed it and the kids had a blast!

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour Background

The boat you take the tour on is the Aleutian Ballad, which is a crab boat that was featured on season 2 of the Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. It is most known for an episode where a 5-story tall rogue wave almost capsized the crab boat. You can watch that portion of the episode in this video.

Fast forward and the Aleutian Ballad has been converted to a tour boat! It now has an amphitheater-style sheltered lower deck and a panoramic open-air upper deck, with lots of seats to view the the speakers and creatures.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour Alaska Shore Excursion

How did we purchase this Shore Excursion?

We booked this tour through Royal Caribbean, as the price was a bit cheaper due to a sale. You can also purchase directly from their website, alaskacrabtour.com as well as alaskashoreexcursions.com which is where we purchased our Dog Sledding Tour in Juneau.

How to get to the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour

The tour boat is located at the same pier the cruise ship docks at and is just a short walk to the meeting location and then specifically to Berth 3 – Tender Float. There is no need for additional transportation if you are coming from a cruise ship for this shore excursion.

We arrived about 30 minutes prior to the tour, which is what was recommended. There were folks already there sitting all along the front row that had purchased a VIP option, but reviews I read prior to the tour said that 2nd row was actually best as it allows a better view beyond the boat, so we chose 2nd row center and it was a great spot.

As we waited for others to arrive and settle in, there is a tank with various live creatures for everyone to look at.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour Schedule

The tour is approximately 3 hours and begins by venturing to the fishing ground locations. But don’t worry! This isn’t the “fishing grounds” you might be thinking of from the Deadliest Catch! The tour stays within the calm waters of the Inside Passage.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour location

As we made our way to the first location, the tour guides shared the history of the Aleutian Ballad and facts about crab-fishing, crabs, and other Alaskan wildlife and history. They also allowed some free roam where you can take photos. Do I look like a crab fisherman now?

The crew demonstrated pulling up real crab pots.

One of the crab pots contained several types of crabs, which we were allowed to come down and hold.

Aubrey was so funny…she wasn’t scared at all and would just reach in the pot and grab a crab next to the tour guide.

We’ve got crabs!

They also pulled up an octopus pot and showed everyone the octopus that was inside. The octopus was just to see and not for us to hold. With each creature, they would share facts about them, what they like to eat, how they are caught, etc.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour octopus

They don’t pull up any real Alaskan King Crab in pots, but they do highlight them in two ways…

They show one for everyone to see that they have in the tank up front. These guys are crazy big!

They pull up a crab pot with fake red crabs but with tags tied to the pot. This is a fundraiser they operate where you can donate and have a note tied to the pot. At the end of the season, they collect them all.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour fundraiser

There were a few other types of creatures pulled up as well.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour Eagle Experience

While the tour’s focus is crabs, one highlight was the bald eagle experience! The boat ventures to the protected waters of Annette Island. Guests are welcome to leave their seats and stand by the edge of the boat to witness the crew throwing food to the bald eagles.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour bald eagles

You can never guarantee what you will see when it comes to wildlife, but we were so fortunate that there were so many bald eagles this day! They fly all around you, it was incredible!

The funny thing is, when we were walking around Ketchikan on our own earlier that day, we spotted a bald eagle and were so elated to have seen it. Little did we know we would have 20-30+ bald eagles putting on a show for us just a few hours later!

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour bald eagle

This would be a good time to also go upstairs and view from up there, as you get a more 360 degree view and perhaps even some close-ups as the eagles fly by and swoop in.

Eating Alaskan King Crab on a Crab Boat!

On the way back to the pier, they offer some free-roam around the boat, suggesting you check out their gift shop, where you can watch the featured Deadliest Catch episode on repeat on video screens on the wall. They also offer chilled, halved King Crab to eat.

We debated on if that was how we wanted to enjoy crab, but ultimately decided we HAD to do it. How many people can say they ate Alaskan King Crab on a Deadliest Catch Crab Boat in Alaska!? We can now!

Bonus points for the fact that it was actually really good and easy to eat in the way they prepared and served it. You don’t have to worry about doing any kind of cracking. With it being halved, you just use your fork to pull it out, dip it in the butter and enjoy!

They also offer to take photos with you. The tour guides were incredibly entertaining, knowledgeable and friendly.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour deadliest catch aleutian ballad

Are we glad we did this shore excursion?

Absolutely! This was our very first shore excursion on our Alaska cruise and it was a great way to kick off the fun and adventure. I appreciated the variety…times where we could sit and take in the show and knowledge, and other times we could venture around, take photos and interact with the wildlife. The kids were entertained and never bored.

A coworker recently went on an Alaskan cruise (her first cruise ever!) and when she was planning, she asked me for tips on what to do. I recommended this tour to her and she booked it! She sent me photos of her holding a jumbo shrimp, as well as photos of them doing some of the same activities we did. She was super pleased with the recommendation.

Is the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour Good for Kids?

The answer is yes. Just check out all the photos in this post…my kids loved it! If your kids are interested in sea creatures like this, this excursion is perfect! Just the right amount of time, time to explore, time to sit and enjoy the show, and a truly hands-on experience.

Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour Tips

Being out on the water in Alaska can get cold! They do offer large stadium jackets, coffee and hot cocoa if you need it! We were fortunate to have a beautiful, sunny day for our tour, but we still got quite cold. Not enough to need their extra jackets, but don’t let a “beautiful, sunny day” make you think you will be ok out on the water…always bring layers in Alaska no matter what you are doing! We were also shielded by the wind being on the bottom floor. When we ventured upstairs for a portion of the tour, it was much colder up there! Keep that in mind when picking your seat.

Be silly and adventurous! Explore around the boat, take the photos, hold the creatures…have fun!

Take in the view, you’re in Alaska!!

Grab a cool photo on your way to/from the tour in front of your cruise ship.

Looking for other Alaska shore excursion reviews? Check out this one!

Icon of the Seas Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony Stateroom 9698

This post will share our review and lots of photos from our stay in a Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony Stateroom onboard Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas!

When we first saw all the new stateroom types on Icon of the Seas, this room stood out to us the most. Sure, we would have loved to experience a suite in order to access the suite-exclusive areas of the ship that looked incredible, but with two kids, the bunk beds were a must-try.

We were in Stateroom 9698, which is located on Deck 9 towards the aft. It was a really convenient spot near the elevators, which is always nice not having to walk a mile down the long hallways multiple times a day.

Size

Total Stateroom: 335 sq. ft. (includes 50 sq. ft. convertible balcony)

Beds

One Royal King bed (can convert into two twin-size beds)
One double sofa bed
Bunk bed with 2 twin beds

Occupancy

Up to 6 guests

Stateroom Entrance

From the hallway, there is only one door for two staterooms. This is because these rooms were designed for families, especially families staying together in connecting rooms. You use your key to open the outside door and then walk into a foyer area with the two separate doors.

The benefit here would be if the two families knew each other, they could leave these doors open. We, however, did not know the family in the other room. The outside door can actually be locked from the inside. My first thought was “What if the other family accidentally locks the outside door from the inside and we can’t get back in?” We asked our stateroom attendant and all he could say was we would have to contact guest services to be let in. Yikes! Thankfully, this never happened to us, but the way he reacted when I asked told me that it has already happened (we were only on the 9th sailing!).

Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony Chalkboards

One fun feature about this area are the chalkboards. There are two chalkboards, one next to each room. This is a good way to communicate with each other your plans and locations throughout the ship if you knew each other. Since we didn’t know each other, we just thought we wouldn’t use them. Boy, were we wrong! There were kids in the other room and they would leave questions for our kids to answer, which they did and we would ask questions back. We never saw them, but this was a fun element of the trip for the kids to be able to “chat” with them.

Speaking of chalkboards, when you enter the room, you are greeted with a large chalkboard on the wall!

Kudos to Royal Caribbean for this idea. When we first booked this room, the photos showed a scrabble wall, which sounded so much fun. When we saw they changed to chalkboards, we weren’t sure how to feel about it. We get it, I’m sure the scrabble letter blocks would have mysteriously disappeared (free souvenir?) over time. But chalk? Sounds messy. Well, we found these chalkboard markers on Amazon in multiple colors that were PERFECT!

They left no chalkboard dust and it was like the kids were drawing on the wall. Royal only provided a few white chalk bits, so we were so glad we brought these. Their designs stayed intact throughout the week and when we were walking out on the last day, we took a wet washcloth and wiped it down easily.

No THIS is my kind of To-Do list!

Family Infinite Ocean View Bunk Beds

Turning left, the bunk bed area is sectioned off with a curtain.

This was a nice feature to provide privacy and block light and sound both ways.

Each bunk has its own tv and reading light.

The top bunk has a mini curtain, which was useful when my son, who was in the top bunk, still wanted the tv on but my daughter, in the bottom bunk, was sleeping.

The bottom bunk has large drawers underneath and the steps going to the top bunk have nooks for storage. I was grateful for the extra storage and the kids liked having spots for their stuff instead of it being out with our stuff.

Behind the steps, there is a cute reading nook with a cushy stool and light. My kids didn’t really use this spot because if they were lounging, they were usually laying down on the bed.

Family Infinite Ocean View Bathrooms

Turning right after going in the door, there are two bathroom doors. Yes, TWO bathrooms! But before you get too excited, it isn’t two full bathrooms, as it is just a way to separate the toilet and the shower.

In one bathroom, there is a toilet and sink/vanity. In the other bathroom, there is a shower and additional sink/vanity. This was another genius move by Royal. How many times are you waiting for someone else to finish showering before you can go in there and get ready? Or, dare I say it, someone goes to the bathroom and you do not want to go in there after to take a shower (this can also be helped with a little Poo-pourri!). With this setup, two people can accomplish tasks at the same time, resulting in quicker rotation and increased time efficiency. Time efficiency in the bathroom means more time having fun around the ship!

Starting with the first bathroom with the toilet.

Onto the second bathroom with the shower.

The shower itself had a decent amount of room, more room than the standard room showers on other ships, in my opinion. Here’s my then 9-year old for size reference.

It’s also nice to have a ledge.

Unfortunately, this leaves little room once out of the shower. The sink/vanity in this room is tiny, so we left this for hand-washing and teeth brushing and used the sink/vanity area in the other bathroom for getting ready.

Family Infinite Ocean View Main Room

Entering the main room, on the left, there is a decently sized desk with several drawers for additional storage.

Here’s a picture of the location of the blowdryer because for some reason, every single review I saw before going made sure to feature the blowdryer as if it was some treasure chest that you have to hunt for and celebrate when found. I saved you from hunting, you’re welcome 🙂

The cooler fridge has its own compartment.

To the right, there is a couch and closet area. The couch can convert to a bed, but we never needed it and don’t have any photos of it made up that way.

The closet was a decent size, but I would have liked some shelves instead of two hanging sections. Kids for size. 😀

The bins at the bottom were great to store our shoes and random things, but they made the loudest, awful sound when pulling them in and out. We avoided putting our sneakers in there because we would need them to work out early in the morning and didn’t want to wake the kids up with the noise. My son will sleep through a tornado, but my daughter would wake up for sure.

On the side of the closet, there is a narrow shelf area. Not wide enough for anything substantial, but a nice little spot for little things.

This is also where the tiny safe is. We put a piece of paper in there for size reference. No laptops or large ipads going in here!

Walking further into the room, you’ll find the bed and tv. We had the single queen bed configuration. I don’t recall if there was a choice when we booked, but wanted to call that out.

Each bedside has a table AND USB charger spots! We always have the hardest time charging everything in most rooms. Usually only one side has a charging spot and we have to use an external battery to charge at night, but this time we could both charge our phones next to us at night.

To each side of the tv, there are corner shelf nooks, great for quick grab things that you don’t want taking up table space.

Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony

Now for the main event! The “balcony”!!

Icon of the Seas is the first Royal Caribbean ship to utilize this concept. Instead of a door to get out to the open balcony, the inside area of your room is extended, with a sitting area and table, and the top portion of the window comes down to enjoy as a balcony. You can sit and enjoy the view while still in the air-conditioning.

You can enjoy a balcony without having to open and close the door.

Balcony doors can be loud. Additionally, I liked being able to enjoy the balcony features while still being with my family if they were still inside. With a standard balcony, if you are the only one out there, you can sometimes feel alone.

Don’t get me wrong, that is sometimes a good thing, but not something I always want. If you do want to be alone, you can close the curtains! We also felt like there was more privacy. You couldn’t really see in the neighboring rooms even if you leaned out as far as you possibly could. Outdoor balconies also have cracks in the separators so you can see through them, but that isn’t a factor here.

One downside is the same as leaving your door open on a regular balcony room, when your balcony window is down, the air-conditioning is off. In hotter months, it would be best to not leave it open for extended periods of time, unless you are comfortable with just the ocean breeze. During cooler months, not a problem!

The room control unit is by the stateroom entrance door. It’s a very nice new feature, but we had the stateroom attendant give us some tips, which we were glad we did because he told us something that very first day that others didn’t know and we had to share it in our Facebook Group. DO NOT use Sleep Mode! He said using sleep mode turns off the air-conditioning. Others were saying how hot the rooms were and when we told them this tip, they were so grateful! Why wouldn’t you want A/C while sleeping??

Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony Safety

The balcony felt very safe, both to operate and to have my kids around. There are buttons on the wall to operate the window. They are pretty high up, so little ones can’t reach them on their own. Also, when closing the window, if something or someone is blocking, it will stop immediately, even if you are holding it down. We had my son rest on it as if he was looking out and it would not move to close while he was there.

It was also comforting being together in the room with them still being able to enjoy the view.

Overall Thoughts on the Family Infinite Oceanview Balcony Stateroom

We absolutely loved this room! It was almost like staying in a suite with the extra space, but even in some suites we can feel cramped as our kids get bigger (why do they keep growing so fast!?) but we aren’t quite ready to start buying two connecting rooms. The bunk beds were PERFECT, both kids fit in theirs and they didn’t have to sleep together or with us, on an inflatable mattress or on an uncomfortable couch that gets rolled away every day. They had their own separate space that felt like theirs, that they could set up how they wanted without being in the way.

I’ve seen mixed reviews of this type of balcony and I can see all points as valid. Our opinion? We really enjoyed it. Can you tell?

Well, I guess everyone looks happy when they’re arriving at Coco Cay, but you get the point.

Sometimes I feel like I don’t utilize a balcony enough when we have one. That was not the case this time. Every morning, we enjoyed our post-run/walk morning coffee and grab-and-go breakfast snack in that spot before the kids woke up. It was nice being able to glance over at any random moment and see a full view of the ocean.

Would we stay in a Family Infinite Ocean View Balcony again? Absolutely, yes!

You might also be interested in…

Want more Icon of the Seas posts? Check out this one!

Icon of the Seas Windjammer Embarkation Day Lunch

This post will share our review and photos of the embarkation day lunch in the Windjammer on Icon of the Seas.

The Windjammer is Royal Caribbean’s main buffet and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is something for everyone there and a perfect place for even the pickiest of little eaters. It’s also a great place to try new things. Or you can be like my son as ask the chef for chicken tenders, who gladly makes them and brings them out to your table.

Inaugural Sailing or Season Perk?

We were on Royal Caribbean’s Icon of the Seas during its inaugural season. This was the first time we had been on a ship during it’s inaugural season and we were surprised at some of the perks. One surprise and very welcome perk was the special lunch in the Windjammer on the first day of the cruise. When we watched videos of the very first sailing and saw this extraordinary lunch buffet, we thought it would only be for the first cruise and then it would be normal by our cruise. For timing, Icon of the Seas first sailed in January 2024 and our cruise was in March 2024 during our spring break.

When we got on the ship, it wasn’t long before an employee told us to make sure we did not miss lunch in the Windjammer. We thought that was a bit much for a normal lunch so we wondered if the Windjammer was indeed still serving a “special” lunch on the first day and couldn’t wait to find out.

Mr. Washy Washy

When we arrived at the Windjammer, we were greeted with everyone’s favorite Mr. Washy Washy! The level of enthusiasm he maintains throughout each meal service is beyond my comprehension, but we absolutely loved him and definitely washed our hands because he said so.

The Windjammer Buffet on Icon of the Seas is split into two sides, so when you enter, you choose to go left or right. Don’t worry, both sides are the same. During slower times, they will close one side so they don’t have to unnecessarily maintain two full buffets for less people.

Before I get to the food, let’s first appreciate all the special decorations! Carved cheese and ice sculptures!

Icon of the Seas Windjammer First Lunch Cheese Wheel

What’s so special about the First Lunch in the Windjammer?

What makes the first lunch at the Windjammer Buffet so special is the plethora of seafood options. There are several fish options, lots of shrimp, and even lobster! Yes, even those folks that are still upset that you can only get one free lobster tail on lobster night in the Main Dining Room can grab as many lobster tails as they want here!

We have never tried crawfish before and we were going to…we each brought one back to our table but just couldn’t do it!

What else is there in the Windjammer?

Of course, there’s other non-seafood offerings too, including salad, sides and meat-carving stations.

There’s lots of bread! My son wanted to just grab all bread.

And we can’t forget about all the dessert options. I wouldn’t say there was anything overly unique and special, but there were some dishes we hadn’t seen before.

When we sail on Utopia of the Seas next, we will be in a suite and plan on taking full advantage of Coastal Kitchen. However, since it will be in its inaugural season, we will definitely choose the Windjammer for lunch on the first day if it looks like this again!

Your thoughts

Have you been on a new ship during its inaugural season? What about a very first sailing? One day, we would like to try being on the first ever sailing of a new ship!

Want to know what we’re up to? Check out the Our Cruises page!

Juneau Dog Sledding & Glacier Helicopter Tour Review

This post shares our experience from our Juneau Dog Sledding & Glacier Helicopter Tour during our Alaskan Cruise!

We live in Florida and have cruised the Bahamas, Caribbean and Mexico many times. We have always wanted to do a cruise to Alaska. However, you often hear the advice “Save the Alaska cruise for when you’re older” or “Kids don’t want to go on an Alaskan cruise.” As middle-aged parents with two young kids, we considered both of those when deciding whether or not to stray away from our usual Caribbean cruises and do something different. Let me shout it from the rooftops – DO NOT LISTEN TO EITHER PIECE OF ADVICE!

An Alaskan cruise can be for anyone at any time in their lives. Our Alaskan Cruise was one of our all-time favorite vacations and the kids had a blast. But, we didn’t just stare at the beautiful scenery. We MADE it the most epic trip by choosing the ship we wanted with lots of onboard activities and packed our port days with shore excursions. I will share all about our Alaskan Cruise, including our ship and all the shore excursions, in separate posts.

What to do in Juneau, Alaska

Many ports on an Alaskan Cruise have similar options and will include glaciers, nature, whale-watching, etc. so we had to ask ourselves what to do while in Juneau. We compared options across all of our ports to arrive at what the best option was at each stop. The Juneau Icefield in Alaska is home to at least 40 large glaciers and many small ones. Given what we chose at other stops, this was a perfect location to take a helicopter tour and go on a dog-sledding adventure on a glacier!

I’ll be honest, before we even chose any shore excursion, this was a must-do for me. I’m not like a crazy dog person or anything, so it wasn’t that. This is one of the top activities you think of when you think Alaska. Dog sledding is a one-of-a-kind adventure that you won’t find in many other destinations. Taking a helicopter to the glacier location was icing on the cake.

To book through the ship or not, that is the question

With every single shore excursion purchase, we compared the cost and benefits of booking through the ship versus booking with an independent vendor. Cost is obviously a huge factor, especially given the typically elevated costs of Alaskan shore excursions. I will definitely pay more for the security of knowing the ship will not leave the port without us if we happen to be delayed while on a ship-sponsored excursion (at least that’s what they say). So, for us, the cost savings need to be substantial in order to book independently. We booked all our Alaskan cruise shore excursions through the ship, except this one.

Royal Caribbean Ovation of the Seas in Alaska

We booked our Juneau Dog Sledding & Glacier Helicopter Tour through Alaska Shore Excursions, which we chose for several reasons:

Price: The price was significantly cheaper than the ship’s version of the tour

Options: Alaska Shore Excursions offered several options that the ship didn’t offer, including varying lengths of time, different glaciers, etc. When scheduling your tour, the website has the dates/ships/times as options so you know whether the option works with your itinerary.

Guarantee: They offer an on time ship return guarantee. You won’t see me running down a pier to catch the ship! I want to be back in plenty of time to be enjoying a drink on my balcony watching the other pier runners.

Cancellation: They offer free cancellations, whether it be due to weather or personal reasons.

*As with anything you read on the internet, be sure to review the company’s current policies when booking, as they may be updated at any time after this blog post was written.

Given all that, we felt comfortable booking with Alaska Shore Excursions. 🙂

Juneau Dog Sledding & Glacier Helicopter Tour Review

Now for the fun part, our experience on the tour!

During our entire Alaskan Cruise, we experienced unusually high temperatures. I’m talking almost Florida temps! While I am grateful that we had zero rain, this temperature anomaly made for some interesting packing and dressing. This day was no different and Juneau was incredibly warm. Layers are your friend when you start at the port, then venture all the way to the top of a glacier.

When we booked, we received directions to meet our driver right outside the Mt. Roberts Tramway building. We arrived a little early and did not see anyone holding a sign, so we patiently waited. After some time, we started to worry if we were not in the correct location because no one with a tour sign showed up and we couldn’t tell if anyone else was there waiting with us for the same tour. It was hot and the kids were getting antsy.

Eventually, a tour van appeared but it was for the next time slot after ours. The driver contacted our driver and apparently there was major traffic holding him up, which we could clearly see all the traffic in that area…it was busy! Our driver arrived after a few minutes, we loaded up and were on our way to the helicopter facility.

Helicopter Over Glaciers Portion of the Tour

When we arrived at the helicopter facility, we checked in and they weighed us to divide folks up among the helicopters. We then put any belongings that we can’t take on the tour in a large locked box for free. This includes backpacks, purses, tablets, selfie sticks and anything that can’t comfortably be on your body. Sunglasses, phones and cameras are allowed on the tour. Some people were even leaving their jackets in there due to the temperature, my son being one of them. He made sure to tell me that I made him wear too much clothing.

They then provided us with boot covers that you wear on top of your current footwear and go several inches up your leg, so you do not need to concern yourself with special snow boots or water-protective sprays for your sneakers.

We lined up to board our helicopters and sat in our assigned seats to make sure the weight was evenly distributed. We put on our headwear and we were off!

Juneau Alaska Helicopter Tour to Herbert Glacier

The helicopter tour was amazing! Our tour was to the Herbert Glacier. We meandered through the valleys and icefields, getting so close to the mountains and taking in the beautiful scenery.

After about 15 minutes, we arrived at the dog camp!

Juneau Dog Sledding Portion of the Tour

After landing, a camp operator became our guide and gave us a short talk on safety and what we would be doing. We had a family of 4, so we got a dog sled to ourselves plus our guide. Smaller groups were put together and larger groups got split up. Our guide then gathered our troop of dogs and connected them to their positions on the sled. We talked to him quite a bit about how they operate. There are hundreds of dogs and they like to rotate them so they all get opportunities throughout the day to be active. Dog-sledding dog breeds want to run, and you can tell they were so excited when it was their turn.

Now, what I’m going to share next may be a bit much, but I’m going to do it anyway because it’s reality. You are at a camp with hundreds of dogs. It smells like you are near hundreds of dogs. Dogs poop. Guess what? You will get whiffs of it. However, I did not think any of it was overwhelming. Perhaps because we were out in such a wide open space; it was only when we were right next to all the dogs did we get the lovely aroma. This did not stop our enjoyment, but it’s not something I’ve seen any other reviews share, so I’m gonna share it!

Our lead dog was Galaga and she was the goodest girl!

Once our dogs were all ready to go, we chose our seats. Everyone gets a seat, except one person can stand at the back, so my son chose to do that.

The guide stands behind the first set of seats and controls the speed and direction, we did not have to do anything other than lean if he asked us to.

The dogs led us around several loops on the glacier. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and it was so incredible knowing we were doing this ON A GLACIER IN ALASKA!

You ever think to yourself “This is a core memory. We are doing something we may not ever do again. My kids get to say they did this and remember it their entire lives (hopefully).” That was running through my head and made me appreciate the moment so much more. Was it worth the money? 100% yes. I’ll let my smile in this photo tell you how happy I was.

Alaska Shore Excursion Dog-Sledding Herbert Glacier

About halfway through, we stopped to take some pictures. We were in the middle of the glacial valley and had mountains all around and the sun shining. Speaking of the sun shining, because of the high temperatures, the camp operators were wearing shorts and shirts with no sleeves! Some even had sunburns! It was hilarious and they knew it.

Oh, remember when I mentioned dogs poop? Well, these dogs are special and are apparently really good at pooping while running and pulling the sled. Only a couple of dogs did it, so don’t let me sharing this make it seem like they were doing it the entire time. My kids thought it was hilarious, whaddya gonna do?! When ya gotta go, ya gotta go!

We gave each one of our doggies lots of love.

We were on the dog sled for about 35 minutes. When we arrived back to the camp, we got to interact with our doggy crew before they were brought back to their little houses. The operator said the dogs aren’t used to the high temps and were rolling around in the snow and laying down flat in the snow to cool down.

While we waited for the next batch of helicopters to arrive, we got to play with some of the puppies and the kids played with the snow.

Our helicopter tour followed the same path back to the facility. We took off our boot covers, grabbed our belongings, then were taken back to the pier in a van with plenty of time to spare before getting back on the ship.

Alaska Shore Excursion Juneau Helicopter

Do we recommend this shore excursion?

Absolutely! This felt like two excursions wrapped up in one experience: the helicopter tour over the glaciers and the dog sledding. We get to say we went dog sledding in Alaska!

Would we do this shore excursion again?

If money was no object, absolutely! However, this excursion was not cheap, especially when we had to pay for four people. If we found ourselves in Juneau, Alaska again, we would choose another excursion to experience something different that the area has to offer. If you only get to go once and you are interested in an excursion like this, do it.

Did the kids enjoy this shore excursion?

Yes! This was the third excursion on our cruise and they told me I was “3 for 3” so far. That’s like winning mommy of the year, right?

Random Tips & Thoughts

Bring your sunglasses! Whether it’s sunny or cloudy, you are surrounded by white snow, which can be just as blinding as sun. For the kids, we bought smaller sunglasses and with straps like these. For us adults with glasses we already like, we bought just the straps since we didn’t know how jostled the activities would get and we didn’t want to drop them.

Bring cash for tips. This Alaska Shore Excursion has several folks guiding you throughout the tour, such as the van driver, helicopter operator, and dog-sledding guide. We gave each a tip relative to their portion of the tour.

Consider your tolerance of helicopter rides. Have you been on a helicopter before? My first experience on a helicopter had an operator that liked doing tricks and it was like my least favorite part of a rollercoaster over and over. Thankfully, this operator kept it pretty steady and there were no trick moves here, so I didn’t feel nauseous at all. You can try taking Dramamine or if you’re already wearing some sort of motion-sickness prevention item for the cruise, you should be good.

Your Thoughts

Have you done this excursion? What did you think? What was your favorite part?

Questions?

Have any questions for us? Post a comment below!

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Let’s Do This

With it being 2024, it sounds kinda crazy saying this is our first blog post. By now, most blogs are well-established and have hundreds of posts to peruse through. That used to be me. Hey, hi, I’m Lynn. In a past life, I had a different blog. It was a mish-mash of a lot things…parenting, Disney trips, product reviews, you name it. I was even sponsored by Netflix! But I stopped blogging there several years ago. It was nice to write about whatever I felt like writing about, but when you write about everything under the sun, it’s difficult to gain a connection with anyone and often makes you wonder “is anyone there?”

Fast forward a few years and I sure have missed writing! We live less than an hour from Port Canaveral, the “Orlando” cruise terminal. We go on several cruises a year…more and more since moving here and getting past the 2020 shutdown. We take a gazillion photos and videos each trip and I just want to talk all day every day about our adventures…so See Us Cruise was born!

We are pretty “loyal to Royal” and at the time of this post, we are 3 points away from being Diamond on Royal Caribbean, but we have also sailed on Disney and Carnival. We LOVE CocoCay! One of our favorite cruises ever was to Alaska! Sometimes we do excursions, sometimes we take advantage of staying on the ship. That’s why we love cruising, you can make it any type of vacation you want.

This year, we have been on Liberty of the Seas in January and Icon of the Seas in March and we will be on Utopia of the Seas in October!