When we were first looking at Alaskan cruise excursions, the first thing I saw that I knew I HAD to do was go to The Alaskan Lumberjack Show. After looking through cruise excursions and lists, I found the tickets on the Lumberjack Show website to be slightly cheaper, so I purchased the tickets directly from them.
Ketchican, Alaska was our first port, so the Lumberjack show was our very first taste of Alaska. The website said the show was 1 block from the cruise ship docs. Truly it was very close and so easy to find.
The show was lively, fun, and filled with humor. Over the one hour the men competed in 12 different events.
It was exactly my mental picture of Alaska. My husband thought the idea of going to the show was little silly at first. Why go to an Alaskan “show” in Alaska?
Well, let me tell you, these are real athletes! You can read about them here. Each one has a different story, and while we enjoyed a show here the men actually compete in lumberjack competitions. It was interesting to learn about the competitions some of them have won.
We found it humorous that the weather information reported: Chance of Rain 100%! This is reported to be one of the rainiest cities in the US and it did not disappoint. It rained the entire time we were there, but The Alaskan Lumberjack Show is prepared. While the show is outdoors with beautiful Alaskan mountains in the background, the audience sits on covered bleachers protected from the rain.
The lumberjacks however aren’t quite so lucky. But watching them get drenched is all part of the fun!
Jason and I both had fun watching and cheering on our team throughout the show. My husband thought it was pretty neat that these are real athletes and not just actors. It was a great beginning to our Alaskan Adventure!
If you are looking for souvenirs for your kids, make sure and spend some time a the gift shop. We liked so many things, but didn’t want to buy all of our souvenirs in the first two hours in Alaska. Later we really wished we had purchased souvenirs for our 2 and 5 year old boys there. They had the best selection from all the places we visited.

Great post! Loved the pictures. We have just started researching the options for a family trip to the Arctic Circle. Alaska certainly pops up, although it looks like most of the attractions and things to see are well below the Arctic Circle. Looking forward to the rest of your posts. Would love to know whether you liked the cruise and whether the rain was disappointing.
@Kate and Mike, YES we loved the cruise! This was our second cruise and we are hoping to go again sometime. We did expect the rain, but yes it is a little more difficult to walk around and enjoy the sites in the pouring rain. We were glad this was the only stop of our trip with so much rain.