The Best of the Last Frontier: Top Picks for Alaskan Shore Excursions!

Alaska cruising is unlike any other cruise experience—and the shore excursions truly make the trip. In this exciting episode, travel advisors Ryan and Julie guide you through their favorite excursions at Alaska's most popular ports, sharing the experiences that will create lifetime memories.

Start in Juneau with the ultimate triple-threat: whale watching, visiting the stunning Mendenhall Glacier, and enjoying wild Alaskan salmon grilled over a wood fire—all in one incredible day. Then explore Ketchikan's rainforest with a naturalist guide before marveling at the towering totem poles at Totem Bight State Park.

Ryan shares his absolute favorite Alaska excursion: the legendary White Pass Summit Rail in Skagway. This is THE train everyone talks about, offering a scenic journey through history and breathtaking landscapes, with a bus ride back so you see completely different views. Julie's dad insisted on this experience above all others, and for good reason.

But Alaska's surprises don't stop there. Would you ever think to go snorkeling in Alaska? At Sitka's Magic Island, you can spot colorful rockfish, sea stars, and even giant Pacific octopi in crystal-clear waters—then warm up with hot chocolate afterward. For fishing enthusiasts, Icy Straight Point offers stream fishing expeditions where you can learn fly fishing techniques while angling for trout and salmon.

The episode wraps up in Victoria, Canada (a required stop for maritime law reasons) with a cultural and culinary tour through Chinatown, featuring local breweries and the famous Nanaimo Bar dessert.

Ryan and Julie emphasize how Alaska excursions differ from Caribbean or Mediterranean options—here, the natural beauty and unique experiences are the main attraction, making careful excursion selection crucial to your cruise satisfaction.

Transcript

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 0:00

Hello and welcome to all Things Travel. The main draw of cruising in Alaska is to see amazing landscape and take part in truly unique experiences. Choosing the right shore excursions can really impact the overall cruise and the memories you have. Don't worry. Today we're sharing our favorites.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 0:18

Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts, Ryan and Julie. He is your travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation. And I am a Disney loving Maryland mom of three and a specialist in family travel. Whether we're discussing incredible destinations, top vacation tips, or sharing personal stories, it's always all things travel.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 0:43

All right, Julie, this is the third in our series about best shore excursions. We've talked about the Caribbean, we've talked about the Mediterranean, and now we're talking about Alaska.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 0:54

We are, and I'm just laughing because side note where, where I'm recording, my dog is in here sleeping and he's over here just having a really big dream and just like

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 1:05

Maybe,

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 1:06

and

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 1:06

you know what, you know what? I think he's dreaming of being a sled dog. I think that's, I think that's that he, he's following along with the podcast.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 1:15

He's going somewhere

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 1:17

I remember I've done numerous Caribbean cruises, I've cruised in Greece, Alaska is unlike any of those. And really the excursions make the cruise because each port is so unique, but you're having these amazing experiences that you can only get in Alaska. so I'm really excited to talk about these today.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 1:42

I feel like when you think about an Alaska cruise, you are picking that itinerary based off the excursions can do, and it's almost like if I don't get that excursion, I'm not going on the cruise.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 1:55

Yes, and I have had families, actually I think it was a family that I featured a couple weeks ago when I talked about, trips. Is they, they went on Alaskan cruise a couple summers ago and it was, it was literally if we can't ride the train. I don't think our kids want to go.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 2:11

Yeah, crazy.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 2:13

Alright, but before we do that, I wanna remind folks if you did not listen to last week's episode, we discussed all of those pesky, hidden costs of travel, all those extra things that you need to factor into your budget from the very beginning so you don't get any sticker shock. All right, Julie, so let's start with the capital of Alaska. Let's start with Juno. And did you know that you cannot drive to Juno? You have to either take a boat or a plane?

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 2:42

that sounds cool.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 2:44

So tell us about Juno and some of the amazing things. We have kind of a triple threat e excursion here. What do you recommend in Juno?

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 2:54

In Juno, I am going to tell you to do the whale watching Salmon Bake and Menon Hall Glacier tour. on this tour, you are going to come face to face with a glacier marvel at a huge humpback whale leaping out of the water. and have a scrumptious meal featuring wild Alaskan salmon, grilled over a wood fire, all on the same excursion, this sounds like an amazing combination of a day.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 3:23

I mean, just think of the, the checked off, if you will, experiences that you've had in Alaska all in this day. when I was in Juneau, I remember going to the Mende Hall Glacier. It's absolutely stunning. We did not do whale watching, but we wish we had added. That excursion in. this is such a good way to combine things. you're having some yummy food, you're seeing some natural beauty, and you're also getting out on another boat doing some whale watching. I love it.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 3:52

Yeah. Amazing.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 3:54

Kechika is the salmon capital of the world, but that's not what we're doing here. We are going in a rainforest walk and totem park. So kechika is part of the toga national forest. In fact, most of the places that you're gonna be sailing, if you're on the inside passage, are part of the time National forest, and that is actually a rainforest. So you're gonna be going through here with a naturalist, taking a walk, learning about the ecology. Of the time. Gas, national Forest, you're gonna be seeing all sorts of things. you're gonna stop at waterfalls. Think of the pictures here. absolutely amazing. And then following your rainforest walk, you're gonna take a break with the guide to enjoy a snack, and then it's off to the totem by State Park. Gaze up the elaborate carvings of the totem poles and visit the clan house while your guide shares their compelling history and native heritage with you. This is a really good family friendly, Excursion, your kids are gonna be able to ask lots of questions. You're gonna learn lots of fun trivia about Alaska and indigenous cultures there. I absolutely love it. one thing that I like about trips like this, especially'cause it's like a nature walk, these are always small groups. In fact, when I did an excursion like this on my celebrity crews, it was just our family. That was part of the rainforest walk, so I really liked it. I wanna take this next one, Julie. I know we're going back to back, but this is my favorite excursion in all of Alaska and I am not alone. This is in Skagway and Skagway ISS really cool because it's kind of an old Western town. It's really got that feel to it. this is the white pass. Summit Rail, and that is the train that people talk about. That is the train that you want to go on. what I love about this trip is you go one way on the train, so you're seeing all sorts of things. Then on the way back, you're actually gonna take the bus back so that you can see a completely different area of the environment. So you're gonna enjoy a relaxing one hour and 45 minute scenic journey on the train from Skagway to the top of the White Pass Summit. Along your journey, you're gonna pass Pitchfork Falls, bridal Veil Falls, William Moore Bridge Skagway Scenic Overlook Frazier, train Depot, tormented Valley, and the welcome to Alaska Sign. So you're just gonna have pictures and videos galore. you're gonna take the time to go out on the balcony and see stuff, from outside the train.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 6:30

Yeah, it sounds amazing.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 6:32

I know my dad is from a train family and when we went on this cruise he said, I don't care what else we do, as long as we ride the train. alright, Julie, before we discuss some other options, I wanna know where in the world is Wonder and Beyond Travel, and I think you're gonna take us to a theme park today.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 6:50

Yes. So I wanna highlight a quick trip to Universal Orlando, and I wanna bring this up because this was a very last minute trip. At the time this podcast comes out, they may have already traveled. They're traveling the first week in November and we planned this like end of September-ish.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 7:09

Wow.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 7:10

really short notice. this is like a surprise trip celebrating some kids' birthdays. We are staying in a two bedroom suite at the endless summer resort, and we've talked about this before Ryan, but the endless summer resorts are such an awesome value for. The larger space that you can

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 7:30

Yeah. I think for a family like this with teenagers, it just makes a lot of sense. and you're like, well, yeah, but you sacrifice the express pass. But oftentimes if you price out the express pass with this value resort, you're actually saving money.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 7:45

Yeah, I agree. the only downside of those resorts is the transportation.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 7:49

Yeah.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 7:50

you have older kids, they can handle kind of that longer transfer time sometimes than, um, needing that walk or boat like you get at the deluxe resorts. a brief overview. like I said, they're staying at endless Summer Resort in a two bedroom family suite, which is a lot of space They are also going to all three parks. Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and they're going to Epic Universe. We actually just updated their trip, so like a week before they go, we just upgraded their express passes to the unlimited Universal Express passes. So that they can go on the rides multiple times. this year, epic Universe doesn't have that. It's still just the the one ride per another cool thing they're doing on this trip is they're actually doing the dark more makeup experience at Epic Universe where

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 8:37

Ooh, very fun.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 8:39

out in whatever monster they choose while they're there. So that's like a really cool, fun upgrade. I haven't had clients do that yet, so I'm excited to hear about it. this is gonna be such an amazing short trip and just, you know, PSA out there, you can plan these things on short notice and still have an amazing time.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 8:55

this past summer I booked a, universal trip for a dad and a son on a Wednesday or Thursday, and they left that following Sunday.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 9:06

Amazing,

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 9:07

All right, Julie, tell us about Sitka.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 9:11

All right. This is one I think is really cool because this is not something I think about when I think about Alaska. And this is a Sitka snorkel at Magic Island. you're gonna have a short drive to Magic Island, and once you walk down this rocky shore, you see some crystal clear waters. You're gonna be able to snorkel there for, you know, a little over an hour. And some of the things you're gonna be seeing here are colorful rockfish, sand dollars, sea stars, needle fish, and maybe even the giant Pacific octopi.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 9:44

Ooh.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 9:45

telling me that I'm gonna see an octopus would intrigue me to like get into the water. I feel like I would go the other direction, but sure you will also see like. Eagles, sea lions, sea otters, harbor seals, and maybe a humpback whale, which again, I don't think I wanna be in the water with it, but from a distance. Great. Um,

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 10:06

cool.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 10:08

and then after all that's over, you get to go warm up with some hot chocolate coffee, tea snacks. Nice little day there. I would never think of snorkeling when I think of going to Alaska, but I love this option.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 10:22

Next is not a common port in Alaska, but that's icy straight point. and I chose this one'cause it's very different. It's a stream fishing day tour. So what you're gonna do is you're gonna go on a fishing expedition for the day and you're gonna have a guide there and all of the gear and the tackle and they're gonna help you either a, assist you if you know how to do fly fishing. Or teach you if you don't. depending on the time of the year, your angling opportunities could include, dolly varden trout, cutthroat trout, pink salmon, chum salmon, co-host salmon or steelhead. they choose the best place at the best time. So you spend a few hours out learning to fish, a few hours fishing out there, and just think of. The great stories. How much fun just to get away from the cruise environment, get out into Alaska and just take a breath and do some fishing.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 11:22

That sounds awesome. fishing is a big part of being in Alaska.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 11:26

Yeah, absolutely. finish us out here, Julie, with a stop in Canada.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 11:33

Okay, so nearly every Alaska cruise is gonna port in Canada at some point. It's kind of maritime law,

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 11:40

Yeah.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 11:41

It's not always a long stop. So. wanna choose an excursion that you kind of get a good bang for your buck, if you wanna put it that way. And this is the cultural sites and Tasty Delights of Victoria, and no one is surprised that this is what Ryan chose.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 11:58

Well, you know, I chose it because a lot of our excursions that we've talked about so far are based on nature, and this one is based on city and culture, and I like that.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 12:07

so this is cool because you are actually gonna go to the Chinatown section of Victoria and you're gonna get there via the Harbor Ferry, which sounds like a really great experience You're gonna see some unique architecture and get to see some of that history that dates back to the late 18 hundreds. You're also gonna get to sample some of the local food scene where you're gonna be able to head off to a modern brewery and sample some brew on their very charming patio and stumble upon market square's secrets before heading back to the picturesque harbor Be surprised with another culinary delight and Ryan knows what that is.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 12:48

I think it's probably a Nanaimo bar.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 12:50

And tell us what an

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 12:52

It's, I, I don't, I don't know specifically what it is, but I remember having it when I was in, Vancouver and it's very much like, it's a treat. It's like a chocolate, dessert.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 13:03

Good story. so then you'll keep going through the charming cobblestone pass of Bastion Square and make your way to Government Street where some of the oldest establishments in Victoria are. There's a lot of, great little tales that your tour guide will tell you about, so you can get a great idea of that area. the grand finale will be to the most acclaimed chocolate shop in Victoria, where you'll probably have an a nine mo bar.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 13:29

So in Nanaimo Bar, Julie. It includes a base of a Graham cracker butter, cocoa powder and nuts, a middle layer of sweet custard icing made with powdered sugar, butter, and custard powder, and a top layer of semi-sweet chocolate.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 13:47

All right. That does sound pretty tasty.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 13:49

Okay. so as we wrap up here, which of these sound the best to you? They all sound great, but which of these is kind of like, Ooh, I wanna make sure that I do that.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 13:59

Juno to go whale watching see the glacier and end the day with some delicious salmon.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 14:06

Yeah. That I think is the best bang for the buck when it comes to experiences, that's for sure.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 14:12

Yeah, absolutely.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 14:13

Well, I've enjoyed our, our excursion series here, it makes me want to go on a cruise.

j_3_10-31-2025_142804: 14:19

It does make me wanna go on an Alaska cruise. The world is full of wonder and your next great adventure is waiting at Wonder and Beyond Travel. We work with you to create a one of a kind journey, taking the stress off your plate so you can focus on the joy of exploring and the memories that will stay with you forever. If you're ready to start planning or just want to dream a little bigger, head over to Wonder and beyond travel.com. We'd love to help you get started.

ryan_2_10-31-2025_142804: 14:46

We look forward to talking to you next week on All Things Travel, when we discuss common mistakes when planning a multi-generational trip.