When I'm cruising, I often look for an attraction and tour outside the cruise line's offerings, because most of the time they're just too darned expensive! I checked Shore Excursions at the suggestion of my travel agent, and found a tour called "Ketchikan All in One", which sounded as though it was right up my street> I made an excellent choice. There were only five of us on the tour I attended, escorted by the remarkable Mike, who though he had only lived in Ketchikan for 15 years, seemed to know everything there was to know about it. As we drove along the main street in his van, he regaled us with stories about "old" Ketchikan and its heyday as a fish processing centre (and showed us a part of Ketchikan Creek where dozens of salmon were waiting to spawn), took us to a family-owned store which sold delicious jams and cookies, and finally drove us to the Saxman totem village outside of town, where a carver demonstrated the triditional totem-carving methods. He even dropped me off at a stop where I could catch the shuttle to Walmart (it didn't show up, but that's another story.)
I can highly recommend Mike's tour--very informative and reasonably priced!