🎥 Watch Episode 2 first:

*By Billy Bohan Chinique, Vice President, Marketing & Digital Innovation*

Seriously, watch it before you read this one — the eagle feeding scene needs to be seen to be believed, and no amount of me writing “and then SO MANY eagles showed up” is going to hit the same.

So Ketchikan is Alaska’s southernmost cruise port, and locals apparently have a saying that this is “where Alaska comes alive.” As a first-timer two ports deep into this itinerary, I can confirm: yeah, checks out.

Michelle Bentubo, Chief Operations Officer at Virgin Voyages, has done this port more times than she can probably count off the top of her head, and even she admitted this stop still gets her every time. Which, again — ten-plus trips and it still hits. That’s the whole thesis of this series in one sentence.

The Approach Alone Is Worth the Price of Admission

Before we even got off the ship, the approach into Ketchikan had me grabbing my phone like a tourist (I am, in fact, a tourist here, so this checks out). The port is tucked behind a maze of narrow inlets, so it feels like you’re threading through a thousand tiny islands before the town even comes into view. I filmed a chunk of this from my Sea Terrace balcony hammock — yes, I’m still talking about the hammock, it’s genuinely that good — and honestly it might be as memorable as anything we did once we actually got ashore. (Quick honorable mention: we didn’t film it this time, but Ketchikan is also home to the legendary Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show, and if axe-throwing, log-rolling theater is your thing, it’s worth booking on its own.)

What You’ll See in This Episode

The day splits into two halves, both built around a water-to-table theme that Ketchikan does better than almost anywhere I’ve traveled: George Inlet Lodge for a crab-and-craft-beer tasting, and the day’s absolute main event — the real working Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour & After The Catch aboard the Aleutian Ballad, capped off by an encounter with wild bald eagles that I am still thinking about.

There’s a genuine sustainability story running underneath both halves too, and I made sure we didn’t skip past it, because it’s part of what makes the “fresh crab” claims feel earned instead of like a marketing line I’d write for a living.

Behind the Scenes: The Building That Used to Float

George Inlet Lodge has one of the best backstories in the entire series and I almost let it slide because I was too busy eating crab legs. The lodge building itself floated on the water for twenty to thirty years as a bunkhouse for cannery workers, before eventually getting pushed ashore on a high tide and settling into its current spot back in 1940. It’s been standing there since. A building that lived through Ketchikan’s entire transition from an industrial cannery town to a tourism economy — that’s wild, and you can genuinely feel that history in the place.

Quick PSA: the name is “Alaska Crab & Craft Pairing,” and I want to save you the confusion I had for about four seconds — it’s craft beer, not arts and crafts. The flight of five Alaskan beers and ciders includes a few brewed specifically for George Inlet, and the honey one is, by unanimous crew vote, the standout. Paired with crab chowder, a roll, smoked-salmon dip, crab legs, and the headline act: Dungeness crab pulled fresh from twenty-five miles down the inlet, never frozen. I had crab in states I didn’t know crab could exist in and I regret nothing.

Good to know: bring layers — it gets misty out on the water, and you’ll want something you can add or shed through the afternoon.

The Experience Everyone’s Going to Ask You About

If you watch one Shore Thing from this entire series before booking your own trip, make it this one. The Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour & After The Catch aboard the Aleutian Ballad — yes, THE Aleutian Ballad, the actual boat from Deadliest Catch — was the most anticipated thing on my whole itinerary, and it somehow still exceeded expectations.

The captain’s whole philosophy, in his own words on camera: take people out, catch it, hand it to them. Not a metaphor. We watched live snow crab pulled straight from long-line traps — a hook every thirty-two inches down the line — close enough to see the serrated claw edge that is genuinely sharp enough to slice you open if you’re careless with it. The captain kept warning us about “things above the water that might blow your mind” and reader, he was not exaggerating.

Because this tour has special permission from the Native Eagle Clan to toss herring for wild bald eagles during the excursion, and the birds show up in numbers that completely recalibrate how you think about them. By the end of it, our whole crew was joking that we’d started treating bald eagles — America’s actual national bird, a symbol of freedom and power and all that — like pigeons at a park. Just, everywhere. Unbothered. It’s genuinely one of the funniest and most awe-inspiring things I’ve ever filmed in the same five minutes.

The Part I Didn’t Want to Skip

It would’ve been easy to film this purely as spectacle — fresh crab, wild eagles, a captain who talks like a movie character — and call it a day. I didn’t want to do that, because the sustainability story here is real and deserves airtime. Alaska’s king crab fishery operates under strict federal quotas set annually by NOAA and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, based on population surveys done every season. On camera, you can literally watch the crew release crab from the tank back into the bay — an active, visible commitment to staying within limits rather than just maximizing every single haul.

There’s something genuinely different about watching a fishing operation that polices itself in real time, and it’s a big part of why the “fresh, never frozen, twenty-five miles down the inlet” pitch from earlier in the day felt earned instead of like copy I’d write for a client.

The excursion wraps ashore at Ketchikan’s historic Arctic Bar, where you get a signature “duck fart” shot and two drink tokens — a genuinely chaotic and perfect way to close out an afternoon that started with serrated crab claws and ended with wild eagles diving for scraps.

A Closer Look at That Beer Flight

Since people keep asking me about this — the five-pour flight at George Inlet mixes established Alaskan breweries with beers and ciders brewed specifically for the lodge, meaning some of what you’re drinking literally doesn’t exist anywhere else, onboard or off. The honey pour struck this perfect balance of sweet and crisp that paired unexpectedly well with the smoked-salmon dip rather than just the crab. If you’re the type who treats a beer flight as a formality before the “real” food shows up, slow down here — the pairing choices are genuinely considered, not an afterthought.

Rookie vs. Ten-Timer: Ketchikan Edition

Here’s where the Michelle-versus-me dynamic got genuinely funny. I was in full tourist mode the entire crab boat tour — jaw on the floor, narrating everything under my breath like I was doing color commentary at a sporting event. Michelle, ten-plus trips deep into this itinerary, was noticeably more locked in on the captain than the crab. She’s watched this exact excursion play out a bunch of times now, so her attention had shifted from “holy crap, an eagle” to something more like appreciation for how the whole operation runs — the timing of the long-line haul, how the crew manages the eagle feeding safely, the actual craft of running a working boat as a guest experience without it feeling like a show.

I asked her at one point if the eagles ever stop being amazing, and she genuinely paused before answering, like she was checking her own reaction in real time. Her answer, more or less: no, but what changes is what you notice. First-timers see spectacle. Repeat visitors start seeing systems — the sustainability practices, the way local operators structure an authentic experience without over-tourism-ing it into oblivion. I don’t think I’m at that stage yet. I’m still very much in “OH MY GOD, LOOK AT THAT EAGLE” mode, and honestly, I hope it takes me a while to graduate out of it.

What I’d Do Differently Next Time

If I’m being fully honest — and I said I would be — I leaned hard into the spectacle of the eagle feeding in this episode, and I’d stand by that, it’s an extraordinary thing to witness. If I were re-shooting this, I’d carve out more time for the captain himself — there’s clearly a bigger story there than we had room for.

I’d also tell every Sailor visiting George Inlet Lodge to ask staff directly about the building’s cannery-era history instead of waiting for a guide to bring it up. I only got the full floating-bunkhouse story because I got curious on camera and started asking pointed questions. It’s the kind of detail that rewards curiosity rather than getting handed to you on a plate.

Why This Port Set the Tone for Everything After

As the first “real” port on this voyage — day one out of Vancouver doesn’t count, we covered that — Ketchikan establishes something important for the rest of the trip. It sets up the water-to-table theme you’ll see echoed later in Juneau’s Whales & Wine tour and Icy Strait Point’s Whales & Wild Feast. It also introduces this pattern of pairing a relaxed, food-and-culture experience with a more active, adrenaline-forward one — a structure that basically repeats at every port after this. If you want a preview of how the rest of your trip is going to feel, Ketchikan gives you the blueprint.

A Word on Booking Windows

Both featured Shore Things in this episode are Exclusive tier, which in my experience as someone who’s watched a lot of travel booking data over the years generally means higher demand and tighter daily capacity than your standard excursion. Since Ketchikan is typically the first port call on a northbound Alaska itinerary, book both experiences the second your Virgin Voyages window opens rather than waiting until closer to your sailing date. Small-operator excursions — a family-run lodge, one specific working crab boat — just can’t scale the way a bigger, more generic tour company can, and honestly, that scarcity is part of what makes both experiences feel genuinely special instead of mass-produced.

Twenty Years of Hearing About This Place

I mentioned in the last post that Alaska’s been a “someday” destination for me since I started in travel over two decades ago, and Ketchikan is actually where that feeling hit hardest for the first time on this trip. There’s something about standing on a working crab boat, watching an actual fisherman do his actual job while wild eagles swarm overhead, that makes every glossy brochure image I’ve looked at over the years feel almost insulting by comparison. You cannot photograph the sound those eagles make. You cannot bottle the smell of salt water and diesel and fresh crab all at once. I’ve sold trips like this to other people for twenty years without ever having lived it myself, and there’s a specific kind of humility in finally being the customer instead of the marketer.

Practical Tips for a Ketchikan Day Ashore

• Layer up hard for the boat tour. Expect rain regardless of forecast — hand-warmers and gloves will legitimately extend how comfortable you are for the full 3.75 hours.
• Book the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen's Tour & After The Catch the second your window opens. This was, hands down, the most talked-about experience among Sailors I spoke to on this leg of the trip.
• Don’t skip George Inlet Lodge to save time for the crab boat, or vice versa. They’re telling two complementary halves of the same story — pair them if you can.
• Watch the inlet approach from your balcony if you can. It’s genuinely one of the more dramatic port approaches on the whole itinerary and an easy thing to miss if you’re heads-down packing.

Pro Tips From Me

• Book both featured Shore Things the moment your booking window opens — small-operator excursions (a family lodge, one working crab boat) don’t scale capacity, so scarcity is real here.
• Bring a dry bag or waterproof case for your phone on the crab boat — you will want photos of the eagles and you will also get misted on.
• Actually ask the lodge staff about the building’s history rather than waiting for it to come up — I only got the full floating-bunkhouse story because I asked.
• Do not, under any circumstances, skip the honey beer.

Sitka’s next, and it hit me harder than anything else on this trip. See you there. 🦅🦀

Ready to plan your own Alaska voyage? Explore Virgin Voyages Alaska itineraries → https://www.virginvoyages.com/destinations/alaska-cruises