1 Day in Ketchikan, Alaska Without a Cruise Excursion

My husband and I took an Inside Passage Alaskan cruise for our Honeymoon. This was our first cruise and we were a little overwhelmed by the itinerary options. Each port city offered multiple excursions, ranging from whale watching to dog sledding. Although the cruise itself was affordable, the price could easily sky rocket if we added too many excursions. We decided to choose two excursions for our cruise, which left us with one port city without an excursion. We choose to make our first port city, Ketchikan, the day we did not have an excursion. I think this ended up being a great decision. There were plenty of things to fill our time in Ketchikan and it was fun to spend the day exploring at our own pace.

If you are struggling with a decision about choosing a cruise excursion consider these questions:

-What is your budget? Most excursions start around $100/person. 

-Do you want to be part of a guided group at each port or would you like to explore on your own?

-Is this an experience you can have anywhere else? For example, if you have always wanted to dog sled, doing this excursion in Alaska may be one of your only chances.

Planning your cruise excursions is a personal choice and I have always had positive experiences on my excursions. I have found that I prefer to leave at least one port city without an excursion. This allows me to have both a new and exciting guided experience as well as some time to explore a port city at my own speed.

That all being said, my husband and I decided that we could explore Ketchikan on our own without an excursion. Our ship was only docked in Ketchikan from 6:30am-2pm, so we felt that if we did an excursion here we would not have any time left to explore the city. Also, many of the excursions offered in Ketchikan were seaplane flights or zip line adventures and these were a little out of our budget. 

If you are going to be in Ketchikan I encourage you to follow our 1-day itinerary below. We had enough time to fit everything in that we wanted without feeling rushed. Ketchikan was a very walkable and cute town that was a great introduction to my time in Alaska.