Way too short with too many misses, to give a good rating…read more
To start, this was an excursion sponsored by Norwegian Cruise Lines (on our Alaska Trip, so I know that the amount we paid (~$210 per person) was not what the cruise operator ultimately gets. And because the port stop was so short (barely 4 hours), the tour had limitations they couldn't control..plus it was the last tour of the season so I'm sure the tour wasn't as tight as it might have been earlier. But ultimately, they are agreeing to do this with these constraints, and I felt taken advantage of once the tour was over (mostly because how much we paid).
Because of the price, shortness of the visit, and the title (Wilderness Exploration and Crab Feast), I had dreams of exploring the wild parts of Ketchikan with a dedicated guide, getting tired of all the sightseeing, and then drowning myself in crab legs before going back. There was a clear call to leave the boat as soon as we docked. We did that at 8 am, but then realized the line for the tour was shared with other tours and the worker managing it was stressed out and giving off vibes not to bug him again. So we ended up spending 40 minutes just waiting around (mind you, the entire port visit was supposed to be only 4 hours). Once the time came, I realized how many people were on the tour...enough to fully fill 2 large tour buses..80 people total. We then took a 45 minute ride to the lodge, in an older bus that smelled strongly of diesel and had no heat, and because the driver was not from the area, no narration of any kind...we did see Ketchikan downtown as we passed...but had realized now that we would have no time to walk Ketchikan at all. By this time, I was in a pretty bad mood (couldn't keep asking myself...I paid $400 for THIS). It got a lot better.
We got to the lodge, and it is out in the middle of nowhere. We had been split into two groups (one on each bus), so our group was told that we were going to have the crab feast first. It lasted for about an hour, and it was superb. The waitresses were all very friendly and attentive. The first beer was included and it was an excellent example of a red ale. The Dungeness crab was so good..coming with melted dipping butter...it had been caught in Alaska (just not there at the lodge) and there was opportunity for 3 refills (each refill having 2-3 clusters), which we fully took advantage of. It was the best Dungeness I've ever eaten..not seasoned at all, letting the natural sweetness of the crab come out. I needed every minute of the remaining 30 minutes to finish my crab. The meal was finished with an excellent blueberry cheesecake..which I had just enough time to grab a bite before we had to make way for the other group.
We then fully switched places with the other group, and got into a crab boat manned by Captain Rusty and Guide Sam. In the middle of the boat, there is a fish cleaning table that would be used as a demo later, so getting a front row seat to that would be preferred. We then took a 20 minute boat ride to Coon Cove, and in this case, Sam did provide constant commentary of the history of the area along with an interesting slide show. We saw a nesting pair of bald eagles, and Sam was able to get them to fly over us by offering some frozen herring. Once we got to the area that is 80-100 feet deep, a volunteer pulled up a crab pot. There were two medium sized crabs inside. Sam gave a demo, and allowed us to take pictures of us holding it. We then threw the pot and crabs back, and headed back. Sam then provided us commentary about the wildlife in the area as we headed back. He was great throughout.
Once we got back, we had to hurry back onto the buses...again it wasn't well organized, where if you asked a question to a guide, their answer would be something like "I'm not responsible for your group"....but because we were with so many people, there was no risk of us being left behind. We then headed back to the port, again with no commentary. We were about 10 minutes past what was supposed to be all-aboard but there were plenty of people coming back behind us. That being said, the ship did take off about 30 minutes after we got onboard.
Wish I had read the reviews here on Yelp beforehand, but there was no way to even find them (since the tour operator name isn't given to you until you get your tickets). You might disagree with the rating, so hoping you can pull out the detail you need to make up your mind....maybe even go there directly if you have a car and are in Ketchikan for the day...the city deserved more than a 4 hour visit.
