We are going on an Alaskan cruise in August with extended family. We will have our 2 boys, 10 and 6. What excursions are worth the money and can be enjoyed by the kids? All of the excursions are very expensive so I want to get feedback before I book anything.

There are many many things to choose from as you already know, and most expensive. Most cruises don't go to Sitka, but if yours does the Fortress of the Bear is much better than I imagined for getting close to Brown Bears. About as close to seeing bears in the wild without being in the wild. Kids always like train rides. My cousin has captained for Dolphin tours, they know where the whales are and have fast jet boats to get you to the whales. The whales in Juneau especially in August are fantastic. Hopefully you will see bubble net feeding whales. Maybe the cruise will go up Tracy Arm Fiord to Sawyer glacier or Glacier bay. You'll see lots of glaciers when on the inland waterway from a distance. The Glaciers are breathtaking, but like watching grass grow when waiting for calving glaciers if they are not being active, probably pretty boring to young kids and they probably don't understand exactly what glaciers are and do.

• Sitka - Fortress of the Bear - http://www.fortressofthebear.org
  
• Skagway - White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad - http://wpyr.com
• Juneau - Whale watching - http://www.dolphintours.com

Also in Juneau you might have time for Mendenhall Glacier. Look at the glacier, but spend time hiking on the elevated walkway adjacent to the visitors center, there are bears there that you can see from the walkway, sometime within feet of the bears. You will be 10 feet above them and safe. Most of the curio shops at each stop are the same, spent time looking in them at one stop but try to avoid at subsequent stops.
We were not on a cruise when we did these. We flew to Juneau and then used the state ferries to get to Skagway and to Sitka. You will have fun no matter, Alaska is a fantastic destination in the summer, that's the main thing.

We did a Princess Cruise last summer. Highly recommend whale watching in Juneau. We booked Orca Enterprises based on recs in some older posts on this board and it was great. We also did Mendenhal Glacier--we bought bus tickets from a stand when we got off the boat. It would have been more efficient to have booked both through Orca--they would have picked us up or dropped us off at Mendenhal and saved some time.

In Skagway and Ketchikan, you can really just wander around on foot. In Skagway, we took a National Park Service guided tour of the town. It's free but you do have to get tickets at the NPS office. We had intended to do some hiking, but it was cold and rainy and we were easily deterred.

We did a land based tour of Alaska last summer, but many of the excursions we did are the same ones available to cruisers.

We have a 10 year old (was 9 at the time of the trip) and his favorite excursion was in in Juneau visiting an Iditarod dog camp. They got to meet the dogs, learn about the training, and take a sled ride. My wife took him on that excursion while I went on a glacier hike. His second favorite excursion was whale watching.

I can look up the name of the excursion company if you are interested.

Ketchikan------Flight of the Misty Fjords------best tour I went on, by far.