Icy Strait Point Excursions

What’s included and what’s not

Inclusions vary by trip type more than by price, and a few listings carry costs you’ll only find in the small print.

Included, where the listing says so:

• Transfers from the port: every boat and van trip here.
• Snacks: most whale boats, the halibut charter.
• Kayaks, paddles, life jackets, spray skirts and rain ponchos: the kayak tour.
• Waders and fishing gear: River Fishing and Bear Watching. The fishing license is extra.
• Fishing gear and light rain gear: the Halibut Fishing Charter.
• A Dungeness crab meal with a wild berry dessert: the village tour.
• The national forest entrance fee: the Chichagof bear search.
• Local Native guides: the Chichagof bear search and the driving tour.

Not included, or worth checking:

• The fishing license on the halibut charter, sold on the boat for cash.
• Keeping your fish. The halibut charter is catch and release, and the river trip’s listing doesn’t say.
• Gratuities on most trips, the bear search and Hoonah Whale Tours included.
• Any guaranteed sighting. The bear search says so outright, and no listing on this page explains what a whale guarantee pays out.
• The ZipRider and the gondola up the mountain, which you book separately with the port or your ship.

What a port day looks like

Most excursions here are 2 to 4 hours, and the port is small enough that you can fit one and still walk the cannery. The two plans below assume the tour starts at the Excursion Hub. Swap in your own times from the confirmation.

A short call, about 6 hours ashore

• First 20 minutes. Off the ship and to the hub. From Ocean Landing it’s a 6 to 8 minute walk; from Wilderness Landing, a 4 minute ride on the free green gondola.
• Hours 1 to 4. One 3-hour excursion: a whale boat, the Chichagof bear search by van, or the village tour that ends with a crab meal.
• Hour 4 to 5. Back at the hub. The free cannery museum and the shops in the old cannery buildings take 30 to 45 minutes.
• Last hour. Back aboard with time to spare. Shuttles from tours run about every 30 minutes, so don’t plan to the minute.

A long call, 8 hours or more

• Morning. A 2 to 3 hour kayak or whale trip, booked for the first departure after you dock so the rest of the day stays free.
• Midday. Walk or ride into Hoonah, roughly 1.5 miles from the port. Take2Travel put the walk at 30 to 45 minutes. Live a Little said walking back in the rain was the part of the day they remembered most.
• Afternoon. The ZipRider, which the port sells itself (more on that under How to choose), or the shoreline paths between the landings. The ZipRider fits either side of a whale trip. Travel Life With Lucy zipped in a 9:00 to 10:30 slot, was back at the base by 10:42 and made an 11:30 whale departure, while Harr Travel, a travel advisor, rode late in the afternoon before a 9:30pm sail-away.

What gets squeezed is the walk to town. PedrozaTravel counted three ships in port on their day, about 12,000 passengers arriving in a town of around 900, and the town shuttle runs only every 20 to 30 minutes by two travelers’ accounts. With a tour booked in the middle of the day, choose either Hoonah or the cannery and leave the other.

Meeting points

Icy Strait Point has more than one meeting spot, and Take2Travel advise checking yours before you leave the ship. The port is more spread out than it looks from the deck.

Two warnings come up again and again in the listings. There’s no cell signal or Wi-Fi at the port, so save your confirmation and directions before you go ashore. And Hoonah Travel Adventures tells guests not to search the port’s 108 Cannery Road address on Google to find the pickup, because the map pin lands somewhere else.

If you’re tendering in from a ship at anchor, which Adventures Are Out There describe on a three-ship day, allow extra time and ask at the tender pier for the hub.

Late? Boats and vans leave on time. Phone the operator number on your confirmation as soon as you know.

What to bring

Rain gear first. Hoonah gets about 66 inches of rain a year, and two of the four traveler videos from this port were filmed in rain. Out on the whale boats, 3 of the 8 trip videos we compared found the ride cold and windy at speed even on warm days.

• A waterproof jacket and a warm layer, even in July. Only a few operators hand out ponchos or rain gear, among them the kayak tour and the halibut charter.
• Waterproof shoes for the gravel paths, the boardwalks and wet docks.
• Cash if you’re fishing on the Halibut Fishing Charter, where the fishing license is sold on the boat and the listing says cash only.
• Your confirmation, saved offline.
• A water bottle. Not every boat provides water.
• Binoculars for the bear trips, where reviewers often describe the bears as distant.

For the bear search and the river trip, wear dull colors and shoes you can walk a muddy trail in. The river trip lists a 230 lb weight limit and asks for strong fitness; the ZipRider’s limits are 75 to 275 lb. Leave anything you can’t get wet on the ship.

How to choose

Start with the animal or the activity you most want, then check it fits your hours ashore. Whale boats are the busiest category here, with seven worth booking, and we compare them all on our Icy Strait Point whale watching page.

The ZipRider and the gondola. These are the port’s own attractions, and Viator doesn’t sell them, so they’re not in the grid. The World’s Largest ZipRider runs 5,495 feet down the mountain on six side-by-side cables from a start 1,330 feet above sea level, at up to 60 mph, according to the port. Riders must weigh 75 to 275 lb, and anyone 16 or under rides with a parent or guardian. You reach the top on the paid Mountain Top Gondola. Book either through the port or your cruise line, which is also where current prices are. The green transfer gondola between the two landings is a separate, free ride.

All 5 ZipRider videos we watched loved the ride, including Chef Dice Eats, who is afraid of heights. They flag three things. The quarter-mile walk from the gondola to the launch is steep and rocky in 3 of 5, and slick in rain according to Where’s Walter Travel, a travel advisor, who also saw staff drive guests with mobility issues up in a cart. Fog or rain at the base turned up in 3 of 5, though it cleared higher up in 2 of those. And the brake at the bottom stops hard, so lean back when told. Bags go in lockers at the base, phones ride only on a tether, and the goggles are free.

Bear trips deserve a reality check. Chichagof Island has one of the densest brown bear populations in the world, according to Travel Alaska, yet Adventures Are Out There waited at a viewing platform on their Spasski River trip and saw eagles and a deer, but no bears. Whale trips are the surer bet.

Pick a tour here if

• It’s your one Alaska port without a big-city alternative and you want wildlife rather than shops.
• You have 3 hours to spare and want a small group of 6 to 20.
• You’d rather book independently than with the ship, where MH Family Adventures said boats can carry around 100.

Skip a tour if

• Your call is under 5 hours. The cannery, the shoreline paths and the free gondola fill a short visit, and our Icy Strait Point and Hoonah guide covers them.
• You’ve already done whales and bears in Juneau or Sitka this trip.

Season and timing

Everything here depends on a ship being in. The port opens to visitors whenever a cruise ship is in port, and tours are timed to the ships, so your port day is the season. Check it against the port’s ship calendar.

The bear search’s operator blamed one season’s poor sightings on bears emerging late after a harsh winter, which is worth remembering on a May call. At the other end, Live a Little arrived in the last days of September to find Hoonah closing for the year.

Ship count matters more than the month for crowds. On a three-ship day, PedrozaTravel’s count of about 12,000 visitors, book ahead and get to the hub early. Most operators cap groups at 6 to 20, and the small boats fill first.

FAQ

Pick the excursion that fits your hours ashore first, then spend whatever time is left in the cannery or on the walk to Hoonah.