When traveling to Alaska, visitors are looking for the best experiences around, and booking with ShoreTrips is an ideal way to make the most of your stay. ShoreTrips' personal touch gives guests access to some of Alaska's most intriguing destinations.
One of the great benefits of traveling with ShoreTrips is that the company has personally vetted each and every experience before adding them to its roster of journeys, and ShoreTrips excursions often offer smaller groups and more intimate experiences in key cruise ports.
While travelers can book their excursions anytime, ShoreTrips is seeing a surge in interest in Alaska and is expecting banner year in the state, and that means that time is of the essence as some trips are already selling out.
"Our Alaska excursion bookings have doubled in the last two years... with no slowdown in sight. Our advice-book excursions now," said ShoreTrips vice president, Barry Karp.
In fact, its top five Alaska trips have all experienced double-digit growth-some even growing exponentially over the last year.
For example, ShoreTrips' most popular excursion, the White Pass Train and Drive, grew by 44 percent from 2017 to 2018. Its second-most popular trip, the Combo Tour…Whale Watching and Mendenhall Glacier, grew by 42 percent and the Ketchikan City Tour and Totem Bight, ShoreTrips' third most popular journey, grew by 34 percent.
The Juneau City Trolley and Mendenhall Glacier Excursion grew by a stunning 1,547 percent after the company experimented with the trip late in the 2017 season and then made a marketing push-especially to groups-which saw a major boost in interest.
In fact, Karp says that this is an ideal trip for groups, suggesting that they do an inexpensive morning tour together, such as this one and then, in the afternoon, book individual, more extravagant excursions such as the helicopter dog sled tour or the whale watch excursion.
Booking early is just one of the factors to consider when cruising in Alaska this upcoming season.
Many ships have reduced the amount of time that they spend in each port, so it is important to make the most of each visit with the best possible excursions.
"Since some Alaska-bound ships have radically cut their time in port, travel agents should take caution when making recommendations," said Karp. "Cruisers choosing Alaska want to see Alaska up close. If the itinerary has your cruisers in Juneau for just half a day, you need to book a helicopter and whale watching tour now... before everything fills up," said Karp.
Travelers can feel confident booking with ShoreTrips since they offer a "Get You Back to the Ship On-Time" Guarantee. Travelers who miss their ship due to no fault of their own will travel to the next port at ShoreTrips expense.
Also, each excursion listing has a wealth of information for customers looking to choose the right trip for them, including the fitness level, what to wear, what to bring, what's provided by the tour operator and important restrictions. All are provided in great detail so that travelers are not left wondering what the experience will be like and wishing that they'd brought something that they didn't.
For example, ShoreTrips' White Pass Train and Drive journey includes a 28-mile train journey to Fraser, British Columbia, onboard the Scenic Railway of the World with narration by a professional guide, photo opportunities and a return bus ride back to Skagway.
ShoreTrips includes special instructions for those with early ship arrivals and provides recommendations to dress in layers for the changing climate and the certain times feature the journey in reverse order.
Guests joining the Combo Tour…Whale Watching and Mendenhall Glacier will a self-guided trip to the glacier, admission to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center, a boat ride to view the whales, wildlife viewing and more. Guests receive included use of binoculars and an authentic Alaskan snack.
Reviews of the journey rave about the sights but also about the staff.
"I thoroughly enjoyed this tour! The Mendenhall Glacier was beautiful and we saw many whales on the whale watching tour. The staff on the boat were knowledgeable. The bus driver was entertaining and informative and he dropped us off right at the ship," said Phyllis Larison, a guest from Littleton, Colorado.
Because ShoreTrips' Barry and Julie Karp personally choose each excursion and experience it themselves, the tour operator is able to provide guests with next-level service in all of its destinations.
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