Star Princess: Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan Ports

Which shore excursions are worth booking on a Star Princess Alaska cruise, and where can you happily explore on your own? For the three core Inside Passage calls, the honest answer splits cleanly: in Juneau, book anything that gets you onto the water or up to the Mendenhall Glacier and save the town for last; in Skagway, the White Pass & Yukon Route railway is the one ticket worth reserving before you sail; and in Ketchikan, you can walk to most of what matters and add a floatplane or boat only for Misty Fjords. This guide works through Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan in depth, then covers Sitka and Icy Strait Point briefly, with clear notes on timing, what sells out, wildlife, and rainy days.

Star Princess is Princess Cruises’ newest ship and the first of the SPHERE Class to sail Alaska, running seven-night round-trip Inside Passage voyages from Seattle. Princess has carried more travelers to Alaska than any other line, so the excursion catalog in the Princess app is deep. Confirm your exact ports, times and the current excursion list in the app before you commit, because the featured glacier and call times vary by sailing.

Juneau: glacier, whales, and the tram above town

Juneau is the richest port of the three and the one where booking pays off most, because its best sights sit outside walking distance. The state capital has no road connection to the rest of Alaska, and its headline attractions are the Mendenhall Glacier, whale-watching on Auke Bay, the Mount Roberts Tramway rising straight out of downtown, and the vast Juneau Icefield that feeds the glacier. You cannot reasonably do all of it in one port day, so decide in advance what you most want to see.

Mendenhall Glacier: the near-guaranteed highlight

The Mendenhall Glacier sits about twelve miles from the cruise dock, and it is the sight most people picture when they imagine Alaska: a river of blue ice spilling from the icefield down to a lake, with Nugget Falls thundering alongside. The visitor center has an easy platform view, and short trails lead closer to the water and the falls. A booked excursion handles the transport and gives you a guide who can read the ice. If you would rather go independently, seasonal shuttle buses and taxis run from near the dock and usually cost less than a guided tour, but you trade the guiding and the fixed return time for flexibility.

For a stronger version of the same day, look at excursions that combine Mendenhall with a guided walk, a canoe paddle toward the glacier face, or a helicopter landing on the icefield itself. Anything airborne over the Juneau Icefield is spectacular and weather-dependent in equal measure; low cloud can cancel flights at short notice, so treat a helicopter tour as a gamble rather than a certainty and keep an easier backup in mind.

Whale-watching on Auke Bay

Juneau is one of the most reliable whale-watching ports in Southeast Alaska. Boats head out to Auke Bay and the waters around Admiralty Island in search of humpback whales, which feed here through the summer, along with orcas, sea lions, seals, otters and eagles. Many operators are confident enough to offer a whale-sighting guarantee, which tells you something about the odds. The most efficient way to spend a Juneau day is a combination excursion that pairs a whale-watching cruise with a stop at Mendenhall, and those combos are consistently among the first to sell out. Book early through the Princess app rather than hoping to arrange something dockside.

Bring binoculars, keep your camera ready but also put it down long enough to watch a breach with your own eyes, and dress for spray and wind even on a mild day. The water is cold and the boat’s motion pushes a chill through you fast.

Mount Roberts Tramway and the town itself

The Mount Roberts Tramway climbs from the downtown dock to about 1,800 feet, where you find alpine trails, a nature center, an eagle on display and long views over Gastineau Channel and the ship below. It is the one Juneau highlight you can do entirely on your own schedule, on foot from the pier and with no booking, which makes it the ideal fallback for the end of a port day. On a clear afternoon the trails at the top are the payoff; in low cloud the view disappears and the tram becomes less worthwhile, so watch the sky before you buy a ticket.

Downtown Juneau is compact and easy to explore between excursions, with the small but worthwhile state museum, the onion-domed St. Nicholas Russian Orthodox church, plenty of local seafood, and the usual shops near the docks. Save the town for the tail of your day, since the shops keep longer hours than the tour boats.

Skagway: the railway and the gold-rush streets

Skagway is the smallest of the three towns and the easiest to read: it is a preserved Klondike gold-rush settlement at the head of the Inside Passage, and its single unmissable experience is the White Pass & Yukon Route railway. The town is walkable end to end, the frontier streets are a genuine national historical park, and the one thing you should book before you sail is a seat on the train.

White Pass & Yukon Route: book this one early

The White Pass & Yukon Route is a narrow-gauge railway built during the gold rush, and the ride climbs from sea level at Skagway to the White Pass summit through cliffside switchbacks, tunnels, trestles and waterfalls, following the punishing route the stampeders walked. It is one of the great railway journeys anywhere. Because the ship’s call is short and the train’s capacity is fixed, this excursion sells out earlier than almost anything else in the Alaska catalog. Reserve it through the Princess app as soon as your booking allows.

Sit on the correct side for the valley views, which the crew will point out as you board, and move to the open platforms at the ends of the vintage cars for photographs. Dress in layers, because the summit is markedly colder and wetter than the dock. Some versions combine the rail ascent with a motorcoach return over the Klondike Highway across the Canadian border, which means you need your passport on hand, so read the description before you book.

Exploring Skagway on foot

Once the train is booked, the rest of Skagway needs no tickets. Broadway and the surrounding blocks form the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, with false-front buildings, boardwalks, small museums and rangers who run free talks and walks. You can happily fill a couple of hours wandering the preserved streets and stepping into the old saloons and outfitters that now hold shops and cafes.

If the train is sold out, Skagway offers guided hikes, the short trail to Lower Reid Falls and the gold-rush cemetery, bike descents from the White Pass summit, and boat trips to see wildlife and glaciers in nearby fjords. These fill the gap well, though none quite matches the railway. Skagway is also a gateway toward the Yukon, and Princess pairs its Alaska cruises with cruisetours by rail and lodge that reach far beyond any single port day.

Ketchikan: totems, Creek Street, and Misty Fjords

Ketchikan is the most walkable of the three core ports and the one where independent exploring goes furthest. It calls itself the totem-pole capital of the world, backing that up with the largest collection of standing totem poles anywhere. It is also the rainiest port, sitting in a temperate rainforest, so plan on getting wet and treat a clear Ketchikan day as a bonus.

Creek Street and the totems on foot

Creek Street is Ketchikan’s photogenic historic district, a boardwalk of former red-light-district houses built on pilings over Ketchikan Creek, now filled with shops, galleries and small museums. In late summer you can watch salmon fighting up the creek below the boardwalk, sometimes with eagles and seals working the same water. It sits an easy walk from the dock and costs nothing. Combine it with a stroll to the totem poles: the town has a park within walking distance of downtown and larger heritage centers a short ride out, where Tlingit and Haida carving is explained by people from those communities.

Because so much of Ketchikan is free and close to the ship, this is the port where you can most comfortably skip a booked excursion, walk the town and the totems, eat some of the best salmon of the trip, and duck into shops when the rain comes down. A guided totem tour adds context and transport to the outlying centers, but it is not essential to a good Ketchikan day.

Misty Fjords: the one worth booking

If there is a single excursion that justifies its price in Ketchikan, it is a trip into Misty Fjords National Monument, a wilderness of sheer granite cliffs, waterfalls and deep glacial inlets southeast of town. You reach it either by floatplane, the faster and more dramatic option that often includes a water landing among the cliffs, or by boat, which is slower, steadier and gentler on the budget and the stomach. Both are weather-sensitive, and the rain that makes the fjords misty can also ground the planes. Book through the Princess app in advance, as the floatplane seats are limited.

Other strong Ketchikan options include wildlife boat trips, guided rainforest and canoe outings, and the region’s lumberjack-heritage shows near the waterfront. None is unmissable, but they suit a day when you want structure or a break from the rain.

Sitka and Icy Strait Point in brief

Depending on your sailing, Star Princess may call at Sitka or Icy Strait Point instead of, or alongside, the core three, so it is worth knowing what each offers. Always check your specific itinerary in the Princess app, because these calls vary between voyages.

Sitka is the old capital of Russian Alaska, and it wears that history openly: the onion-domed St. Michael’s Cathedral stands in the center of town, Tlingit totems line the trails of the national historical park, and the outer-coast wildlife draws visitors out on the water. It is a compact, walkable town with real depth, and a half day on foot covers the cathedral, the totem park and the small museums comfortably, with boat tours available for those who want to look for otters, whales and eagles.

Icy Strait Point, near the Tlingit village of Hoonah, is a purpose-built shore experience rather than a town, and one of the best ports in Alaska for wildlife. Whale-watching here is excellent, bear-viewing tours head into the surrounding forest, Tlingit culture is presented by the community itself, and the port is home to the world’s largest ZipRider for anyone who wants a jolt of adrenaline with a view. Much here is within walking distance of the dock, though the wildlife tours and the zip line need booking.

Booked excursion or independent: how to choose

The pattern across these ports is consistent once you see it. Book a tour when the experience requires a boat, train, plane or long transfer, and when its capacity is limited and its timing is tied to the ship’s short call. Explore on your own when the highlights are within a walk of the dock. Here is how the core ports fall out.

Port	Book a tour for	Do on your own
Juneau	Whale-watching, Mendenhall combos, helicopter to the icefield	Mount Roberts Tramway, downtown streets and museum
Skagway	White Pass & Yukon Route railway (sells out first)	Broadway gold-rush park, boardwalks, ranger walks
Ketchikan	Misty Fjords by floatplane or boat	Creek Street, the totem parks, salmon and shops
Sitka	Outer-coast wildlife boat tours	St. Michael’s Cathedral, totem park, museums
Icy Strait Point	Whale-watching, bear-viewing, the ZipRider	Dockside cultural exhibits and shoreline walks

Book the marquee excursions as early as your reservation permits. In practice the first to sell out are the White Pass railway in Skagway, the whale-and-glacier combinations and helicopter flights in Juneau, and the Misty Fjords floatplane in Ketchikan. For a fuller picture of how the ports fit into the whole voyage, see our Star Princess Inside Passage guide and, if you are sailing from Washington, our overview of Star Princess Alaska cruises from Seattle.

Timing your port days

Alaska port calls are shorter than they look once you subtract the time to clear the gangway and reach the tour meeting point, so plan each day with a little slack. Aim to be off the ship early for the big-ticket excursions, which usually depart in the first hours of the call, and leave the walkable, no-ticket activities for the back end of the day when the tour crowds have thinned.

Ship-sponsored excursions carry one real advantage beyond convenience: the ship will not leave without a Princess tour that runs late, whereas an independent operator’s delay is your problem alone. In ports where you venture far from the dock, especially anything airborne or a long boat ride, that guarantee is worth the higher price. For short walks around town, independent exploring is fine and often cheaper. Read our companion guide on planning a Star Princess cruise for how the port days sit alongside the scenic-cruising days.

Wildlife you can reasonably expect

Wildlife is a genuine reason to book onto the water in Alaska, and the odds are good across these ports. Humpback whales feed through the Inside Passage all summer and are the most reliable large sighting, especially out of Juneau and Icy Strait Point. Steller sea lions, harbor seals and sea otters are common along the shorelines, bald eagles are almost guaranteed, and in late summer you may watch salmon running the creeks, most visibly below Creek Street in Ketchikan. Black and brown bears are the prize of the bear-viewing tours, particularly around Icy Strait Point, though sightings are never guaranteed.

Carry binoculars and a camera with some zoom, and remember that a lot of wildlife also passes the ship herself on scenic-cruising days. The warm glass-roofed spaces aboard Star Princess, above all The Dome, give you a comfortable vantage to watch for whales and eagles without standing out in the cold and rain.

Rainy-day tips for the rainforest ports

It will rain on at least one of these port days, most likely in Ketchikan, and a wet day does not have to spoil the port. The best preparation is packing right: warm layers, a genuinely waterproof and windproof shell, and comfortable waterproof shoes. This is not a warm-weather cruise, and making do with a light jacket is the most common packing mistake. With the right gear, a walk through misty Creek Street or a boat ride into the fjords becomes atmospheric rather than miserable.

• Keep an indoor fallback for each town: the state museum in Juneau, the historical-park exhibits in Skagway, and the galleries and covered boardwalks of Creek Street in Ketchikan.
• Boat-based tours often run in rain when flights are grounded, so weather that cancels a helicopter or floatplane may still allow whale-watching or a Misty Fjords cruise.
• Back aboard Star Princess, The Dome’s glass roof lets you enjoy the pools and the scenery whatever the weather, and the Piazza, the specialty restaurants and the enrichment fill a wet afternoon well.
• Do the walkable, weather-tolerant sights on the rainiest port and save any airborne excursion for the clearest day.

The scenic-cruising day, whether your voyage features Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier, Tracy Arm or Glacier Bay, is often the emotional peak of the week and unfolds entirely from the ship. Watch it from your balcony, the forward decks, or the warmth of The Dome, and give yourself the whole approach rather than dipping in and out. If you are still weighing cabins, our guide to what to expect on Star Princess goes into that in detail.

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Get the complete Star Princess playbook

For a port-by-port plan of every Alaska call, plus the excursions worth booking and the ones to skip, read “The Ultimate Guide to Sailing on Star Princess.” It is part of the Ultimate Ship Guides series by Leo Sotropa, with clear action steps in every chapter so you arrive in each port knowing exactly what to do.

Frequently asked questions

Which Juneau Skagway Ketchikan cruise ports excursion sells out first?

The White Pass & Yukon Route railway in Skagway is usually the first to go, because the train’s capacity is fixed and the ship’s call is short. Close behind are the whale-and-glacier combination tours and helicopter flights in Juneau and the Misty Fjords floatplane in Ketchikan. Book any of these through the Princess app the moment your reservation allows.

Can I visit the Mendenhall Glacier without a booked tour?

Yes. Seasonal shuttle buses and taxis run from near the Juneau cruise dock to the Mendenhall visitor center, usually for less than a guided excursion. You trade the guiding and the fixed return time for flexibility. A booked tour is worth it if you want a guide, a canoe paddle toward the glacier, or a combination with whale-watching.

Which port is best for walking on my own?

Ketchikan and Skagway are the most rewarding to explore on foot. In Ketchikan, Creek Street and several totem sites sit within an easy walk of the dock. In Skagway, the entire Broadway gold-rush district is a walkable national historical park. Juneau’s downtown and the Mount Roberts Tramway are also on foot from the pier, but its best sights lie outside it.

How likely am I to see whales?

Very likely on a dedicated whale-watching tour in summer, especially out of Juneau and Icy Strait Point, where humpbacks feed through the season. Many operators offer a whale-sighting guarantee, which reflects the strong odds. Sea lions, seals, otters and eagles are common too. Bring binoculars and dress warmly, because the boats are cold and windy even on mild days.

What should I do if it rains in port?

Pack a waterproof, windproof shell and waterproof shoes, and most port days stay enjoyable. Keep an indoor fallback in mind, such as museums in Juneau, historical exhibits in Skagway, or the galleries of Creek Street in Ketchikan. Boat tours often run when flights are grounded, so save any floatplane or helicopter for the clearest day and do the walkable sights when it pours.

Do I need a passport for these Alaska ports?

Yes. Although Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan are all in the United States, this round-trip cruise from Seattle calls at Victoria, British Columbia, so a passport is required. Keep it with you if your Skagway excursion crosses the Canadian border by road. Follow the ship’s immigration guidance and confirm requirements in the Princess app before you sail.

Are Sitka and Icy Strait Point always on the itinerary?

Not on every sailing. The featured ports and the scenic glacier vary between voyages, so your itinerary may include Sitka or Icy Strait Point alongside or in place of some core calls. Both are worth the visit, Sitka for its Russian and Tlingit heritage and Icy Strait Point for its wildlife and ZipRider. Always confirm your specific ports in the Princess app.