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Originally posted by Mikus36:
Locations include Stephens Passage, Juneau, Endicott Arm/ Dawes Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria BC
Wildlife and whale watch excursions. Possibility of a heli excursion -wife wont go on that one.

Be aware in Juneau the Mt. Robert’s tram is currently closed with no definitive date on reopening. They had an accident with injuries and it is undergoing repairs. Mendenhall Glacier is incredible and there are several different excursions to see it. Everything from riding a bus to the visitor’s center to riding a helicopter and landing on it. We did a canoe trip out to it and that was amazing.

In Ketchikan taking a day trip on the smaller boats out to Misty Fjords is on my bucket list. Yes it seems counterintuitive to get off of one boat and onto another. But the smaller boats get into places not accessible by the larger ones and get a lot closer to glaciers and wildlife. Also check out Tsongass Trading Company. It used to be across the parking lot from where the cruise ships docked but I think Ketchikan turned one of the old canneries into a new cruise ships dock. First floor has got all the typical Alaskan tourist souvenir stuff. Second floor has prospecting equipment, hardcore camping gear, guns, fishing equipment, knives, axes, all the stuff you need to look like Yukon Cornelius. It was hilarious after the initial disembarkment watching all of the crew from the cruise ship empty out and make a beeline for Tsongass.

We did a fishing charter on one of the trips to Juneau and had a great time. We thought, why go on a whale watching tour when we can watch breaching Humpback Whales while fishing? Your experience may vary greatly.

Another thing we did when shore excursions didn’t immediately leave from getting off the ship was skip breakfast, get off the ship as soon as we could and find someplace local for breakfast. Sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage beats the hell out of a cruise ship breakfast buffet.

On our two Alaska cruises most of my wildlife shots came from the optional rail extension of the cruise. Several cruise lines have their own cars on the Alaska Railroad and offer a rail portion of the cruise from Seward to Fairbanks. Each day ends with an overnight stay at a resort. Two of the stops are Talkeetna and Denali National Park. Denali is where I got most of my wildlife shots.

Similar scenario here, headed to a Denali train trip then a Juneau-based cruise this summer as my first time in Alaska.

I can't help with specific Nikon lens suggestions (went micro 4/3 Olympus long ago) but I do echo the ideas above about getting (or renting) a long lens to bring along on the trip. For the long shots, I'm bringing a 150-600 zoom and a 1.4 teleconverter. I do enough birding that it made sense to buy the beast, but if you are only doing long shots on this trip, renting - as pricey as that can get - could be worth considering, vs. buying if it would then only sit on a shelf collecting dust.

Ditto to the recommendation to take a smaller boat excursion to get close to the glaciers and whale watching.

We regretted not doing it on our first Alaska cruise. So we paid the money on the second cruise, and it was well worth it.

My choice for Alaska would be the Nikon Z50II two lens "kit" for 1400 dollars with a 16-50mm f3.5-6.3 VR and a 50-250mm f4.5-6.3 VR. That yields a perspective of 24-375mm in a Kit that weighs in under 4 lbs. BTW those "kit" lenses may feel like toys but the image quality they produce ranks with the finest lenses made. Nikon got real serious about insuring that every Z mount lens delivers superb image quality. BTW if I want to go really long I do have my 150-500mm Tamron but at nearly 4 lbs. I wouldn't want to lug that beast around too far. I also have the 17-70mm Tamron under consideration. It's an excellent lens but at 1.2 lbs. it's rather heavy.

As for the "slower" aperture, that doesn't bother me a bit. The Z50II is quite good at higher ISO's and I have DXO PhotoLab 9.8 with DeepPrime 3 to sort out any 25,000 and 52,000 ISO shots.

Following this thread for recommendations as well. I’m also doing a Holland America cruise out of Seattle the following week.