Since Regent Alaska cruises don't do Glacier Bay

I'm wondering if anyone has done a tour with Mountain Flying Service out of Skagway. There are three different tours which flight-see over Glacier Bay-- sounds/looks terrific. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who may've done such a tour.

Thanks.

Have not done this particular excursion, but we did go by seaplane from Juneau to glacier bay once. It was very scenic.

Thanks for responding, Rachel. I wish there were the opportunity to do one from Juneau still, or from Skagway. It's just that I read over and over again that Glacier Bay is one of the most outstanding things to see in Alaska. This'll be third time around for us, and I guess we'll still not manage the trick.

poss, I think that the one you found sounds wonderful. Have you read reviews on TripAdvisor? If not, here is a link https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g31005-d1595409-r313152709-Mountain_Flying_Service-Haines_Alaska.html .

Hi Tc, thanks for ringing in.

Yes I had read those reviews on Trip Advisor. It does sound and look like a wonderful tour (though I haven't gone as far as to check safety records, etc.) Back in the day, we'd be itching to do things like rafting or kayaking, the active kinds of tours we've enjoyed so much in the past. Now I'm trying to find other kinds of things to amuse us. The cost of the Mountain Flying tour is just about what the copter excursion costs through Regent. The two advantages to the Regent trip are 1) I'm hoping to be able to use OBC's, and 2) if anything gets delayed on the copter trip (like being left behind on the mountain if weather socks in!), we'd have the Regent folks monitoring. Still, I would love to see Glacier Bay, and I suspect there won't another time around for us.

I say go for it. Glacier Bay really is outstanding.

I'm thinking that we'll be signing up for this fine-sounding tour. Only thing that gives me pause (other than that I'm pretty much a white-knuckle flyer, truly) is that while there are a number of reviews for Mountain Flying Service on Trip Advisor, there are only a very, very few on the Alaska board-- and none on the Regent board.

I'm wondering if anyone has done a tour with Mountain Flying Service out of Skagway. There are three different tours which flight-see over Glacier Bay-- sounds/looks terrific. Would appreciate hearing from anyone who may've done such a tour.

Thanks.

Over the bay? IMO/E you need to be IN the bay to really experience it. I'm not sure flying over would be a worthwhile substitute.

Poss, I am inclined to agree with Emperor Norton. I didn't want to discourage you as I could tell how much you want to see Glacier Bay so I didn't say anything previously. For us it was more the experience of being in the bay and hearing the Park Ranger's live narration during the time we were there. There is a stillness and quiet presence. This was some years ago while on another cruise line

On another note, I think what you are going to see is also an amazing experience. We took the small boat excursion that got us closer to the glacier and along the shore. It was quite memorable.

Emperor and Eager: I hear what you're saying, and perhaps being actually in GB on a boat is even more spectacular; but with Regent we don't have that option. The photos of the flight-seeing in that area-- and the reports-- sound pretty wonderful.

Eager: I didn't understand your last paragraph: What did you mean by "what you are going to see"? What small boat excursion? Where?

Thanks!

Sorry Poss. I was assuming you were going to be seeing Sawyer or Hubbard Glacier or Tracy Arm but was in a hurry so I did not go check out the Regent itinerary. Those spots make up memorable cruising. In one of them we had the opportunity to board a small boat close to the glacier allowing us to get up close to the scenery. The ship went on to Juneau and we joined it there on the smaller boat. I am going to go look at the excursions on Regent to see if you have an opportunity to do that.

I drive my husband slightly crazy with my speech patterns of assuming the other person knows what I am talking about.

Poss,if you look up excursions for Tracy Arm you will see see the catamaran excursion that I was talking about. We both enjoyed it for the closer look at things. It is not Glacier Bay but it was a worthwhile excursion for us. hope this better explains things.

Ah, I see now. In fact we're signed up for the Tracy Arm excursion. We did it last time we were on Mariner in Alaska and enjoyed it very much. Our weather wasn't great, but oh, that scenery! Our cruise also includes Hubbard, which unless I'm forgetting (entirely possible!), we've not done before. I've read that Hubbard is often socked in during May, but we're hoping for a good day.

I'll figure something out for Skagway. I know I don't want to do White Pass again-- just didn't like it all that much first time around.

If you are doing the Tracy Arm excursion (we are!), I probably wouldn't do glacier bay as well. We did both on our previous cruise, now 13 years ago, but what I remember most was Tracy Arm. I remember the Glacier Bay flight seeing some, but not as vividly as Tracy Arm.

The white Pass railway excursion sounds boring to me. But I know some people love it.