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We took a tour that’s an excellent option for your stop in Sitka

For our port stop in Sitka, I booked the Royal Caribbean tour “Wildlife Expedition Cruise, Homestead Adventure, & Treats.” We were fortunate to be in Sitka on a rare sunny day, which made this excursion nearly perfect!

The Sitka cruise port sits slightly out of the main part of the town, and the cruise lines run a shuttle bus service to get passengers to downtown Sitka if they don’t have an excursion planned. As of 2025, passengers docking here are encouraged to reserve shuttle times using this website.

Our excursion met in the ship’s theater onboard, along with a number of other shore excursions. We were given a number and led off the ship in a group to meet up with our tour operators. Because of the type of tour we chose, we were picked up directly at the dock by our expedition cruise boat.

We first spent about 45 minutes on the small boat looking for wildlife. We were lucky enough to see gray whales, bald eagles, and even some sea lions!

After our wildlife watching experience, the boat took us on a leisurely cruise into the Silver Bay fjord. Along the way, we saw some beautiful views of Mount Edgecumbe, Sitka’s resident volcano.

At the end of the fjord, we stopped at a small building that was a homestead historically held by a local family. We spent about 40 minutes at this gorgeous, quiet location, where they had built a campfire for us to make smores! They also served coffee, hot chocolate, and tea.

Overall, our excursion was about two and a half hours long, and it returned us to the dock at the Sitka cruise terminal, right next to our ship. We decided to take the shuttle into town and walk around for a bit, and we had plenty of time to do so.

I would definitely recommend this excursion, especially for Alaska first-timers! It checked a lot of boxes (whale watching, scenery, and a little history and wildlife education from our excellent tour guides) in just a few short hours, leaving us time to see Sitka downtown as well during our stop.