My dad used to operate Knutson Cove Marina. The k is pronounced. K-noot-sun. The marina was started in the 1940s by Odin and Ingaborg Jensen. They were from Norway. They became my Alaskan grandparents who took the best care of me whenever I was sick. Their house is no longer standing, but lives in my memories.
Your videos are EXACTLY what I've been looking for and are so helpful. You're making planning our first cruise to ALASKA less overwhelming, decreasing anxiety about making relatively expensive choices, increasing excitement about our trip & creating joy! Thank you!
Thank you for these videos. I really love how you give each port a "Free & frugal" score. We are cruising with kids and sometimes we don't get our money's worth out of expensive excursions because they are just as thrilled by looking at ducks or eating a donut. Your videos are great. Keep it up 😊
Hi! Great guide! A ‘frugal find’ in ‘22: For a couple of bucks you can take the public transit bus to Saxman Village. You pay $5 to enter the area. Eagles were right there, the poles were beautiful, and they have a great gift shop
Be clear - the eagles are NOT there when the salmon come in - they leave for dying fish (easy pickings as spawning & dying = easy food for bears & eagles). Creeks, streams, rivers have the fish & feeding vs looking at you. July & August have way less eagles hanging around than June & September. Also - You'd better pay attention to the bus schedule & Your all aboard time, as Saxman is 3 miles from downtown. Allow for all the stops the borough bus makes & travel time out there. Guide is better so you know wtf you're looking at & what it means.
I have just travelled Norwegian. They are first in ( before anything opens) and first out of port ( to make way for another Norwegian boat) always the furthest boat berth away from town and so you loose at least 1 1/2 hours with the 45 minutes queuing in the rain for the ancient buses either side plus anxiety you won’t make the boat. It absolutely sucks! They are the Ryanair of cruises imo.
NCL also starts cruising to Alaska in April when nothing is open yet, all the way through October when everything is closed and you get soaked in rain every day... good times!! :P
@@parodeejay it's greed. Likely pouring rain early & late in the season, very little wildlife out, most shops closed. Local here. Ppl complain - rightfully so -- as when you park out north at the old pulp mill, you have time for an excursion OR a trip into town, and they don't even cruise across in front of the town as they head south - they go AROUND the island - so you not only DON'T get to go into town if you choose an excursion, but you don't get to even look as you go by when leaving Ketchikan !
Ward Cove does provide a free shuttle, and excursions will pick you up right at Ward Cove and drop you by the main dock. For us, the last shuttle back to the ship was 1.5 hours before the "all aboard" time, which can really make your day short. It also doesn't allow you to explore the town and do an excursion on the same day.
And it's an expensive cab ride (IF you can get a cab) back to the ship... look up the news article of the family of 10 that were left in Ktn -- cost them $30K to get home - NCL
Nice video! We would like yo do the Kawanti Anventures Tour.Do you think we have enoght time to explore Ketchikan by our own, after doing the tour? The tour finishes at 3h15pm and our ship leaves at 10pm.
Good morning ParoDeeJay. Just discovered your channel and started watching your port tours. Loving them, brings back a lot of good memories. We did a Celebrity cruise tour a few years back and LOVED Alaska (in fact headed back at the beginning of May this year). One thing we did in Ketchikan was to book a private tour to Misty Fjords and Bear Sighting with Pirate Airworks. They were great to work with and we took a seaplane flight from downtown Ketchikan through the Misty Fjords and touched down on a lake and got out on the pontoons to look for bears. Highly recommend (even though we did not see any bears - wrong time of year).
I would highly recommend Island Wings flight-seeing. We went with them for the misty fjords tour and it was amazing. I think it’s my favorite tour in any port we visited. Well worth the money!
Just wanted to let you know that we went for chowder at Annabelle’s! Holy moly. I’m still dreaming about it. Best chowder I’ve ever had. THANK YOU for the recommendation.
I've done the kayaking and duck boat excursions (on different cruises). Both were excellent. After the Duck Boat tour I wandered around town and explored Creek Street and the most awesome museum. Love that town.
Thanks I have been to Ketchican before and done the rainforest walk with the scanturary and saw bears there which was cool. This time I am just going to walk around and see things because with the tour last time it was so limited i didnt really get to see the little town or shop at all,, thanks for the video !
Last May when I was in Ketchikan, I booked an independent tour ahead of time for $34 that was a trolley tour of the town and we also visited the Saxman totem poles. It was a great tour, and the Saxman totem poles were so interesting. I loved this tour! Also, before I got back on the ship, I tried the bubble tea, which was delicious!
We’ll be on NCL Encore late May and with the very short stop, we signed up for lumberjack show at 9:30 AM only…Hope to make it to Creek Street for some pics before heading back to bus/ship. Wonder if we can take taxi/Uber back instead of waiting in long lines for bus.
George Inlet Lodge is a very popular excursion here. I did it paired with a crab fishing boat amd it was a lot of fun. The Lodge itself is a little overpriced, but the crab was fresh and delicious.
We docked last September in Ward Cove on NCL Jewel. Funnily enough, it was a very wet day, but still a lot of fun. Cold also, we purchased a couple of all weather jackets in the dockside massive warehouse-like store at the port for what we thought an amazingly cheap $34.99 each. Funnily enough (again), we saw the same branded jackets in town for $29.99. Dohh! However, seeing sea lions chomping on some very tired looking salmon near Creek Street was a highlight.
Just an FYI, I was curious about the tram, and according to a news article I found back in November 2022, they have purchased a new tram so maybe the next time you are in Ketchikan it will be operational!
Thankee! We did this one: kawanti.com/activities/black-bear-wildlife-exploration/ and the vlog of our experience is here: ua-cam.com/video/YBkZ3y_KcPI/v-deo.html
I found the drive in a duck boat for 2 cost over $160 bucks to drive around town and a bit of a water tour just not really worth it. Seems like a waste of money.
Thank you so much for your port guides! They’ve helped us so much in last cruises and looking forward to our next cruise coming up in September. Any chance there is a Parodeejay group cruise in the future! 😊
Thankee! Nah, we prefer not to host group cruises ourselves, but we just toss out schedule out there in case any folks want to book something that we’ve got plotted!! :P
Thanks for the informative video. We will be there in late June and I’ve been looking at a tour to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary. Any opinion on it? Thanks
@@parodeejay Thanks for getting back with me! I watched the link, that place looks great. Unfortunately I didn’t get in on this in time to book the bear tour, it’s all booked up. However, we are doing the sanctuary, totems, and eagles tour. Also, I have subscribed to your channel keep up the good work. 🛳️
I don’t believe we’ve ever given a 10 for Free & Frugal to any port, no. That would be reserved for some private island type destination with food included, lots of free activities, etc. Pretty sure we’ve gone 9.5 before, but not 10!! :P
Thank you so much!!!I I am on the Norwegian Jewel for August 2023. I decided to book the lumberjack show independent of the shore excursion as they were adding things to it that I didn't want to do and at an extra cost. To book just the show for 2 adults was $86 total whereas the ship excursion included a food show and native craft show which we would rather pick exactly what we want to do. Shore excursion cost was $328 for 2! Now I know I need to plan extra time to get to the show. Thanks so much. Btw...you said ncl does give us a bus ride downtown- is that still true if we are on our own booked excursion????
Cruise line said we should book excursions long before our actual trip. Do you find that to be accurate or is it safe to wait til closer to the time? Advice?
Some of the highly-coveted ship excursions will sell out months in advance, yes. We tend to go independent, but we still try to book as early as we can if it's something that we really have our hearts set on. By the time you get to six months before the cruise, most people have every excursion locked down, I'd say!! :P
They do advertise a free shuttle bus that can take you around the small downtown area, which is nice! We've never noticed it before, apparently!! :P www.visit-ketchikan.com/en/Getting-Around-Ketchikan
Suggestion: restaurants, shopping and shows on your videos you should add a link or name on your summary so we can visit. Talking on your videos is difficult to absorb all these information.
My dad used to operate Knutson Cove Marina. The k is pronounced. K-noot-sun. The marina was started in the 1940s by Odin and Ingaborg Jensen. They were from Norway. They became my Alaskan grandparents who took the best care of me whenever I was sick. Their house is no longer standing, but lives in my memories.
Your videos are EXACTLY what I've been looking for and are so helpful. You're making planning our first cruise to ALASKA less overwhelming, decreasing anxiety about making relatively expensive choices, increasing excitement about our trip & creating joy! Thank you!
Thank you for these videos. I really love how you give each port a "Free & frugal" score. We are cruising with kids and sometimes we don't get our money's worth out of expensive excursions because they are just as thrilled by looking at ducks or eating a donut. Your videos are great. Keep it up 😊
You missed the Aleutian Ballad Crab Tour Boat. Absolutely 10 out of 10. The Eagle show on the boat was the best.
Hi! Great guide!
A ‘frugal find’ in ‘22: For a couple of bucks you can take the public transit bus to Saxman Village. You pay $5 to enter the area. Eagles were right there, the poles were beautiful, and they have a great gift shop
Be clear - the eagles are NOT there when the salmon come in - they leave for dying fish (easy pickings as spawning & dying = easy food for bears & eagles). Creeks, streams, rivers have the fish & feeding vs looking at you.
July & August have way less eagles hanging around than June & September.
Also - You'd better pay attention to the bus schedule & Your all aboard time, as Saxman is 3 miles from downtown. Allow for all the stops the borough bus makes & travel time out there.
Guide is better so you know wtf you're looking at & what it means.
I have just travelled Norwegian. They are first in ( before anything opens) and first out of port ( to make way for another Norwegian boat) always the furthest boat berth away from town and so you loose at least 1 1/2 hours with the 45 minutes queuing in the rain for the ancient buses either side plus anxiety you won’t make the boat. It absolutely sucks! They are the Ryanair of cruises imo.
NCL also starts cruising to Alaska in April when nothing is open yet, all the way through October when everything is closed and you get soaked in rain every day... good times!! :P
@@parodeejay
it's greed. Likely pouring rain early & late in the season, very little wildlife out, most shops closed.
Local here.
Ppl complain - rightfully so -- as when you park out north at the old pulp mill, you have time for an excursion OR a trip into town, and they don't even cruise across in front of the town as they head south - they go AROUND the island - so you not only DON'T get to go into town if you choose an excursion, but you don't get to even look as you go by when leaving Ketchikan !
The prices are insane!! Metlakatla is actually the most southern city, but because it is an indian village, they don't consider it.
Ward Cove does provide a free shuttle, and excursions will pick you up right at Ward Cove and drop you by the main dock. For us, the last shuttle back to the ship was 1.5 hours before the "all aboard" time, which can really make your day short. It also doesn't allow you to explore the town and do an excursion on the same day.
And it's an expensive cab ride (IF you can get a cab) back to the ship... look up the news article of the family of 10 that were left in Ktn -- cost them $30K to get home - NCL
Nice video! We would like yo do the Kawanti Anventures Tour.Do you think we have enoght time to explore Ketchikan by our own, after doing the tour? The tour finishes at 3h15pm and our ship leaves at 10pm.
Oh sure! That's a nice long day in Ketchikan, and it usually stays light a good while during the summer season!! :D
@@parodeejay perfect thank you so much
Good morning ParoDeeJay. Just discovered your channel and started watching your port tours. Loving them, brings back a lot of good memories. We did a Celebrity cruise tour a few years back and LOVED Alaska (in fact headed back at the beginning of May this year). One thing we did in Ketchikan was to book a private tour to Misty Fjords and Bear Sighting with Pirate Airworks. They were great to work with and we took a seaplane flight from downtown Ketchikan through the Misty Fjords and touched down on a lake and got out on the pontoons to look for bears. Highly recommend (even though we did not see any bears - wrong time of year).
The best guide video for these Alaskan Cruise ports! Awesome
I would highly recommend Island Wings flight-seeing. We went with them for the misty fjords tour and it was amazing. I think it’s my favorite tour in any port we visited. Well worth the money!
Good for you to say! Flightseeing is expensive but for a once in a lifetime thing, but well worth it is right!
Just wanted to let you know that we went for chowder at Annabelle’s! Holy moly. I’m still dreaming about it. Best chowder I’ve ever had. THANK YOU for the recommendation.
Fantastic port guide. Probably the best I have seen!
I've done the kayaking and duck boat excursions (on different cruises). Both were excellent. After the Duck Boat tour I wandered around town and explored Creek Street and the most awesome museum. Love that town.
Thanks I have been to Ketchican before and done the rainforest walk with the scanturary and saw bears there which was cool. This time I am just going to walk around and see things because with the tour last time it was so limited i didnt really get to see the little town or shop at all,, thanks for the video !
Last May when I was in Ketchikan, I booked an independent tour ahead of time for $34 that was a trolley tour of the town and we also visited the Saxman totem poles. It was a great tour, and the Saxman totem poles were so interesting. I loved this tour! Also, before I got back on the ship, I tried the bubble tea, which was delicious!
Do you remember the name of the independent tour company?
What was independent tour company name ???
We’ll be on NCL Encore late May and with the very short stop, we signed up for lumberjack show at 9:30 AM only…Hope to make it to Creek Street for some pics before heading back to bus/ship. Wonder if we can take taxi/Uber back instead of waiting in long lines for bus.
Thank you for making this video! I'm going there this Summer.
Thank You!
Alaska cruises are awesome
Love this Port Guide format. Super helpful for my Alaska cruise next month!
There's a seal at creek street, or maybe 2. At least there was Sept of 2022. He was a sassy little thing lol.
I live here - have a picture of one laying on his side & waving at me!!
Is kawanti adventures alot of walking, hiking, etc? Thank you so much for these helpful videos!
George Inlet Lodge is a very popular excursion here. I did it paired with a crab fishing boat amd it was a lot of fun. The Lodge itself is a little overpriced, but the crab was fresh and delicious.
A local told us that the eagle statue is mooning Juneau.
wrong.
We loved Ketchikan. We did the lumberjack show and walked around town
the tram should be working again soon they are also planning to put a pizza shop below cape fox which is the restaurant at the top of the tram!
You are amazing. Thank you!
We docked last September in Ward Cove on NCL Jewel. Funnily enough, it was a very wet day, but still a lot of fun. Cold also, we purchased a couple of all weather jackets in the dockside massive warehouse-like store at the port for what we thought an amazingly cheap $34.99 each. Funnily enough (again), we saw the same branded jackets in town for $29.99. Dohh! However, seeing sea lions chomping on some very tired looking salmon near Creek Street was a highlight.
What time of year did you do the bear tour?
This is my favorite Alaskan port!!!
THANK YOU wonderful.
Great & helpful info! Thank you, take care...
I hope Ketchican will be on my itinerary next time i go to Alaska.
Great videos and love the information. Where did you get the Ketchikan Downtown map with the highlighted points of interest?
Thanks 🥰
I'm going in September and an excursion that includes the funicular (the tram thing) at Creek Street is listed.
Just an FYI, I was curious about the tram, and according to a news article I found back in November 2022, they have purchased a new tram so maybe the next time you are in Ketchikan it will be operational!
Yes it is coming back. Just to longer for the new tram to get here.
Hello , great information!!
What tour did you take from the kawanti adventures. So many to pick from ?
Thankee! We did this one: kawanti.com/activities/black-bear-wildlife-exploration/ and the vlog of our experience is here: ua-cam.com/video/YBkZ3y_KcPI/v-deo.html
Good morning!
I found the drive in a duck boat for 2 cost over $160 bucks to drive around town and a bit of a water tour just not really worth it. Seems like a waste of money.
Thank you so much for your port guides! They’ve helped us so much in last cruises and looking forward to our next cruise coming up in September. Any chance there is a Parodeejay group cruise in the future! 😊
Thankee! Nah, we prefer not to host group cruises ourselves, but we just toss out schedule out there in case any folks want to book something that we’ve got plotted!! :P
Avoid the Sanctuary Walking, totem, eagles that was the worst tour!!!!.
Just go to Ketchikan town and do it yourself
Do you have time to walk around and eat if you do the Lumberjack show?
Sure! The lumberjack show isn’t terribly long, which should leave more time for exploring!! :D
Thanks for the informative video. We will be there in late June and I’ve been looking at a tour to the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary. Any opinion on it? Thanks
We've done the tour, yes! We're planning to do it again this summer, actually!! :D (Vlog episode here: ua-cam.com/video/YBkZ3y_KcPI/v-deo.html )
@@parodeejay Thanks for getting back with me! I watched the link, that place looks great. Unfortunately I didn’t get in on this in time to book the bear tour, it’s all booked up. However, we are doing the sanctuary, totems, and eagles tour. Also, I have subscribed to your channel keep up the good work. 🛳️
Good morning Dee & Jay! Have you ever given a 10 to any Alaskan port? If so which one.
I don’t believe we’ve ever given a 10 for Free & Frugal to any port, no. That would be reserved for some private island type destination with food included, lots of free activities, etc. Pretty sure we’ve gone 9.5 before, but not 10!! :P
Not sure if Prince Rupert will be on your list to do?
Never been there! We do have it coming up on an itinerary this year though. :D
Thank you so much!!!I I am on the Norwegian Jewel for August 2023. I decided to book the lumberjack show independent of the shore excursion as they were adding things to it that I didn't want to do and at an extra cost. To book just the show for 2 adults was $86 total whereas the ship excursion included a food show and native craft show which we would rather pick exactly what we want to do. Shore excursion cost was $328 for 2! Now I know I need to plan extra time to get to the show. Thanks so much. Btw...you said ncl does give us a bus ride downtown- is that still true if we are on our own booked excursion????
We’ll be going to Alaska with NCL. Did they provide a free shuttle going to the port/dock?
Yes, NCL provides free shuttle service from their out-of-town Ward Cove dock location to the downtown area and back!! :D
Did NCL provide your transportation into town?
Did the all you can eat crab feast yummy
Do you have info on hiking Deer Mountain?
Never looked into it personally, but the AllTrails community does seem to have some insight!! :D www.alltrails.com/trail/us/alaska/deer-mountain-trail
Cruise line said we should book excursions long before our actual trip. Do you find that to be accurate or is it safe to wait til closer to the time? Advice?
Some of the highly-coveted ship excursions will sell out months in advance, yes. We tend to go independent, but we still try to book as early as we can if it's something that we really have our hearts set on. By the time you get to six months before the cruise, most people have every excursion locked down, I'd say!! :P
What is the best port for Whale watching tours?
Our number one is Icy Strait. Two would be Juneau. Three is probably Sitka.
What about the public transportation availability
They do advertise a free shuttle bus that can take you around the small downtown area, which is nice! We've never noticed it before, apparently!! :P
www.visit-ketchikan.com/en/Getting-Around-Ketchikan
Anyone have an opinion on the kayak excursion? We booked the kayak tour, but swapped out to go on the atv/buggy adventure.
You loved Ketchikan that much but only gave it a 7.
What would it take for a 9 or 10?
Suggestion: restaurants, shopping and shows on your videos you should add a link or name on your summary so we can visit. Talking on your videos is difficult to absorb all these information.