How We're Choosing Excursions for Alaska (Or: The Great Glacier Nap Debate of 2027)
Here's a text I got last week from someone on the Alaska trip:
"Should we do the glacier hike or the boat that just... looks at the glacier? Also can we do both? Also I might just want to stay on the ship, is that allowed?"
Yes. Also yes. Also, obviously yes.
This is basically every conversation I've had for the last month, and I love every one of them, because it means people are finally starting to believe me when I say gentle pace and exciting trip aren't opposites. They fight it at first. Everyone does. There's a little voice that says if you're not doing All The Things, you're wasting the trip. That voice is a liar and I'd like it removed from the group chat.
The Three Excursion Speeds
When I build the excursion options for a hosted trip, I sort everything into three lanes. Not "easy, medium, hard." That's not the axis that matters. The axis that matters is: how much of your day do you want to spend being a person who does things, versus a person who exists near beautiful things?
Lane 1: Boots On — you're hiking to Mendenhall Glacier, you're on the zodiac, you're doing the thing with your whole chest. This is for the days you woke up feeling like a main character.
Lane 2: Close Enough — a shorter walk, a scenic train, something with a bench nearby at all times. You still get the glacier. You just also get to sit down near it.
Lane 3: The Balcony Option — coffee, a blanket, and the audacity to watch Alaska go by from your room while everyone else is on a bus somewhere. This is not giving up. This is called "vacationing correctly."
Every port on this itinerary — Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan — gets an option in all three lanes. Nobody has to justify which one they pick. Nobody has to pick the same one as their spouse. That's the whole permission slip, remember?
The Part Nobody Tells You About Group Excursion Planning
The hardest part isn't the excursions. It's that everyone assumes there's a "right" answer they're supposed to find, like there's a version of this trip where they did it correctly and a version where they didn't.
There isn't. There's just the version where you got to see Alaska in the way that actually felt good to you. Some of my favorite trip memories are the ones where I bailed on an excursion at the last minute because I was tired, sat on the balcony, and watched a glacier calve into the water while eating a room-service sandwich. Nobody handed me a certificate for the hike I skipped. I didn't need one.
So when you're looking at the excursion list for this trip (or any trip), here's my actual advice: pick based on how you want to feel that evening, not on what looks best in the recap. Tired-happy is a completely different feeling than wiped-out-regretful, and only one of them is the goal.
What We're Still Deciding
Also, confession: some ports, I don't pick an excursion at all. I've spent an entire day in Ketchikan just wandering, shopping, and checking out the area. That counts as a full vacation day. There's no gold star for productivity on a trip that's supposed to be about resetting, and I'm not handing one out. So when you fill out the qualification form for this trip, that's where the real conversation happens — I'll send you actual quotes and options built around what you want your days to look like, not a one-size-fits-all list. Boots On, Close Enough, Balcony Option, or "nothing, thanks, I'm reading" — you choose. That's genuinely the whole point.
Speaking Of This Trip...
In case you missed it: we officially have six cabins booked for the Alaska hosted cruise — Royal Princess, round-trip Seattle, June 2027. Which means this isn't a someday anymore. It's a real ship, with real people, already debating glacier logistics via text message, which is exactly the energy I want for this whole trip.
If you've been eyeing this one — or you just like reading about a trip before committing to anything, which, relatable — hop on the interest list. No cost, and it gets you first access before we open the remaining cabins.
🚩 Join the Journey — Harmony Horizon 360 Travel
More Alaska planning content all week — packing gear, and the budget conversation nobody wants to have out loud. See you next Sunday.
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