Important history preserved - The dance was great seeing the robes and interpretation of the culture was impressive. our guide ( a member of the clan) could answer every question. The stories of the totems was entertaining. Seeing the tools that were used and maintaining the culture is so important. For anyone interested in Alaskan culture and history it is a must.

Good fun and cultural too - We visited Saxman Village, and our tour guide, Yiel , was very informative. He took us from the work area where the totem poles are carved, explaining the tools used, to the lodge house where native dancers performed. We then learned the stories behind various totem poles outside in the village. If you enjoy learning about culture, you should go on this excursion. Next, we went to see the lumberjack show, which was fun. These fellows have a great deal of strength and skill and the show was quite entertaining.

Wonderful transportation - We were picked up and dropped off at the ship for this tour and our driver was very informative about the area. It was more economical than booking with the ship too. We really appreciated the people and our ride was comfortable. I highly recommend them.

Sharing culture - Loved that the children and youth were the ones sharing their culture at the Saxman village! Marcus C. was a terrific tour guide at the village.

Wonderful, warm, and informative - Lee and Tamara were so kind and wonderful. The show was deeply informative and fun. The food was fantastic and it was such an amazing experience.

Culture and hostes - This a really good tour that gives information about local culture, and local foods. I recommend this tour as it is very informitive.

Great culinary experience! - I wanted a tour that emphasized the culture. We had the culinary experience and we loved it!!! Evelyn was very informed. She served us our three courses. Lee prepared the food and it was perfect. I especially enjoyed the salmon dip, pickled kelp, and the stout beer. We did the beer and wine sampling.

Ancient and Modern Alaska - This tour blended both ancient and modern times. Our Saxman guide was very skilled in relating the stories behind the totems; the Cape Fox totem tour was the most "up close and personal" tour offered - we were in the actual workshop watching a master carver while other tours were outside. We then proceeded to a lodge house where we were invited to participate in the ancient dance ritual. The Lumberjack show was on the "touristy" side but fun and engaging. We enjoyed the skill and humor presented by the lumberjacks.

Really funzies - Gavin and Daniel were great, very knowledgeable and funny! Really really fun and silly Willy and Gavin was bad (not in the mean bad way in the cutesy way)

Was not a 4.25 hour tour... - The meeting place was outside the tourism office by the "The Rock" statue. If you are at one of the further berths, or are unfortunately tendered in for the day on a cruise ship, it is a bit of a walk if you have mobility challenged people with you. We were then given stickers to put on our shirts and told to walk to the Lumberjack Show, 2 blocks away. For able bodied persons this is fine, but traveling with elderly or mobility challenged, this should be made clear in the description this is going to occur. Let me also be clear, you are not on a private tour with just your group, you are with other groups of people on this tour. We traveled as a family from teens to people in their 70s. We then slowly made our way to the Lumberjack Show (meeting time was 10:00 for tour, show started at 10:15 so not a lot of wiggle room for walking and standing in the entrance line and finding a seat). We had our elderly parents with us who are both mobility challenged. We all really enjoyed the Lumberjack Show. It was fun and exciting. Then we had to fight our way out of the crowd to find our person, to be told to walk back a block and a half to almost the start of the meeting point originally to get on a mini bus to go to Saxman Village. OK, once again, mobility challenged parents, it takes a while. Our driver TO Saxman Village was nice enough and pointed out a couple of things like Creek Street, the red light district, the old cannery, and then Saxman when we got there, but that was the extent of the "City Highlights" tour that was advertised. It was literally the road you have to take to get to Saxman Village. There was no driving through Ketchikan to see houses, schools, other businesses, or just every day interesting things that you get on other tours. That was one of the main reasons I booked through Viator was because it was billed as a City Highlights tour along with Saxman and the Lumberjack Show. Onto Saxman Native Village, Nyron, our guide at Saxman, was absolutely wonderful! He was such a wealth of knowledge. We were able to get the full stories of the totem poles, history and customs of Tlingit people, see inside a Tlingit Clan house, and experience stories told through dance and song performance. We really enjoyed this so much. It is a small stop but a very powerful one if you take the time to really listen to the history behind the totem poles and the Tlingit people. We also got to see one of the master totem pole carvers. The pathways here are rock and some dirt so beware. It is not paved. We were able to push a wheelchair with some elbow grease. We were then loaded back on a mini bus to be taken back to Ketchikan by a different driver, a guy, this time. He didn't speak to us at all or point out anything. So no city tour on the way back. Just Saxman to drop off in Ketchikan. Then he had his hand out to get a tip at the end. Literally he showed up to drive and did nothing. Did not speak, just drove. Drop off was back at the pick up point so if you are at berth 2 or further, you have a walk back to your ship. I realize this is the drop off pick up for busses, etc, but people with mobility issues need to know this before booking. It would have made a difference for us. The activities we DID do, we enjoyed, however, we did not do what we felt was the full tour we should have gotten/was advertised like the Ketchikan Highlights. Case in point, the next port we went to, was a small town and we went on a City tour and they provided pictures of the history of town, historical buildings, showed current day, explained all about them, took us through neighborhoods, showed us schools, historical churches, overlooks, etc, as part of their tour. This is what I've come to expect from City tours/Highlights I've taken over the years and guess maybe I've had my expectations too high for this tour. There were no Ketchikan Highlights that was advertised. If we had known, we would have booked the Lumberjack Show on our own, and then found a way to Saxman Village (via trolley or other transportation). We would have gotten the same result. As stated earlier, the Lumberjack Show and Saxman Native Village were great! This was listed as a 4.25 hour tour. This tour lasted 3 1/2 hours start to finish.