Jan 19

Jan 19 Cruising Alaska with Kids: Part 4 Ketchikan

Cruising Alaska with Kids: Part 4

Ketchikan

I hope you have been enjoying this series on cruising Alaska with Kids – I have really enjoyed reliving it a bit through this writing. It was surely one of our most memorable trips and a destination that we will undoubtedly return to in the future. Our final cruise port of the voyage was Ketchikan, Alaska.

For this final port, we opted for a more low key day and did not book an “excursion” outside of the city. My husband and in-laws wanted to make sure we had a day that we could just browse around in the local shops and have a more leisurely day. This particular port has a lot to see just within walking distance of where the ships dock, so it seemed like the perfect place to do that.

We had a later morning into port (which meant fun character breakfast on board the ship!) so it was around 11 or 11:30 before we head into town. We spent a little while exploring and headed over to see the infamous Creek Street. This was the “red light district” of Ketchikan in the 1920’s – home to brothels and bootlegger operations. It is now a historic district and it is really fun to see the antique boardwalk with the restaurants, curio shops and “Dolly’s House Museum”, all literally built over the creek running through town. You can also find some of the best salmon viewing here at the salmon ladder when it is the proper season (we were a little too early in the summer for salmon). Ketchikan is also home to dozens of totem poles; some of them easily seen just by walking around the town.

After an hour or so of exploring, the kids were tired of walking around so headed back onto the ship (it’s docked right there at the town) and let them grab a quick lunch on board and checked everyone into their respective kids’ programming. Then Danny and I headed out for a local meal at the Alaska Fish House – YUM! A great choice for lunch in town, I enjoyed the sampler plate with Halibut and Bering Sea Cod (normally includes Salmon also-but they were out). Then we shared a flight of local craft beers; a perfect break from walking around and keeping up with little people. :-)

Then it was time for the afternoon entertainment! We retrieved the children from the ship and headed over to the prominent building advertising the Great Alaskan Lumberjack show. They have a special Disney performance for afternoons when the Disney ship is in port and feature Donald Duck to kick off the show (of course the kids loved seeing a familiar “face”). The show, albeit super cheesy, was entertaining for all and definitely worth checking out if you are traveling with kids. The children will all name this as their favorite activity from any of the ports.

This afternoon was officially our first “rainy” Alaska port day (we really lucked out with weather!) so we headed back to the ship to get warm and dry after the show and thus concluded our final Alaska port day!

I hope you have enjoyed this mini-series about cruising in Alaska with kids, and that you have gained some valuable tips and knowledge about how to plan YOUR Alaska vacation. I just cannot stress enough, how fantastic this trip was and the photos and descriptions cannot even begin to do it justice. I am more than happy to answer any questions you might have! Let me know when you are ready to go!