We were extremely excited for our whale watching and glacier flight. We booked it about 4 months before our Alaskan cruise. The day of, we located the very sweet representative Jackie that got us onto the bus and then took us to each cruise ship to pick up the additional passengers. When we arrived at the marina, we went immediately onto the boat for the whale watching excursion. Be advised, there is not any time to use the restroom or stop in the little store. We had an amazing time on the whale watching journey. We ended up seeing a group of about 6-8 humpback whales and we were able to sit with them for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. After we left them, we pretty much drove back the long ways to the marina. We didn't stay out as long as promised.
Afterwards we all got onto the bus and they took us to the Mendenhall glacier. We didn't ask for this portion of the trip, they just advised our travel agent they were going to take us for a bit. When we got there, 5 of the people on the bus were going to the airfield and everyone else was going back to the cruise boats. Unfortunately not everyone stuck to the timetable laid out by the driver so we were late getting to the airfield. When we got to the airfield it was 5:40 and our flight was supposed to be at 5:30. We figured since it was the company's decision to randomly take us to the glacier and it was the driver's fault the group didn't get back on, it shouldn't be held against US that we were late. We also figured we'd just leave as soon as we all arrived. After sitting around for 25 minutes, we finally got up and started asking questions. Unfortunately no one had any answers and no one really seemed to care. We talked to about 4 different airline people and they said we were scheduled for the 6:30 flight, even though my printed confirmation email said 5:30.
At this time we started calling Alaska Galore Tours, we left multiple messages on the three different numbers we had for them and never heard a peep from them. We later learned they called our travel agent the next day but made the excuse that it was just windy so the flights were delayed and we were late because we were at the glacier. Still no apology received. The plane finally lands at 6:30 and they of course have to refuel it and get it ready. We finally get out to the plane and I almost immediately tried to return to the terminal. The plane was incredibly old. It had duct tape in the portion of the bag holder up front, the window glass was scratched and cracked in the back and the leg space was laughable. The other big issue was that the headphones don't plug in so every time the pilot tried to speak we couldn't hear him over the noise. It would have been nice to hear which glaciers we were flying over. When we got into the plane, my seat belt didn't work. The pilot also had to clean off dried blood from the door handle as someone apparently cut themselves on a sharp piece of metal on the trip before us. With the wind, we felt extremely uncomfortable up there. First off it made me feel somewhat sick but we all felt a degree of danger because the pilot really had to control the plane during the wind gusts.
Overall we did make it back to the cruise ship before it left but we missed dinner with the rest of our family. My biggest issue was that no one seemed to care that we were stuck sitting at an airport for over an hour and that we were going to be late getting back to dinner. I would highly recommend doing the whale watching, it was the only reason they didn't get a terrible rating. I think you'd have a much more enjoyable experience if you just try to do one venture with this company, if at all. They were extremely disorganized and couldn't get everyone from one location to the next in time. Do your research, there are a ton of companies that do these types of excursions so you're most likely better suited somewhere else.
Alaska Galore for whale watching?
in Alaska
Posted
We were extremely excited for our whale watching and glacier flight. We booked it about 4 months before our Alaskan cruise. The day of, we located the very sweet representative Jackie that got us onto the bus and then took us to each cruise ship to pick up the additional passengers. When we arrived at the marina, we went immediately onto the boat for the whale watching excursion. Be advised, there is not any time to use the restroom or stop in the little store. We had an amazing time on the whale watching journey. We ended up seeing a group of about 6-8 humpback whales and we were able to sit with them for approximately 45 minutes to an hour. After we left them, we pretty much drove back the long ways to the marina. We didn't stay out as long as promised.
Afterwards we all got onto the bus and they took us to the Mendenhall glacier. We didn't ask for this portion of the trip, they just advised our travel agent they were going to take us for a bit. When we got there, 5 of the people on the bus were going to the airfield and everyone else was going back to the cruise boats. Unfortunately not everyone stuck to the timetable laid out by the driver so we were late getting to the airfield. When we got to the airfield it was 5:40 and our flight was supposed to be at 5:30. We figured since it was the company's decision to randomly take us to the glacier and it was the driver's fault the group didn't get back on, it shouldn't be held against US that we were late. We also figured we'd just leave as soon as we all arrived. After sitting around for 25 minutes, we finally got up and started asking questions. Unfortunately no one had any answers and no one really seemed to care. We talked to about 4 different airline people and they said we were scheduled for the 6:30 flight, even though my printed confirmation email said 5:30.
At this time we started calling Alaska Galore Tours, we left multiple messages on the three different numbers we had for them and never heard a peep from them. We later learned they called our travel agent the next day but made the excuse that it was just windy so the flights were delayed and we were late because we were at the glacier. Still no apology received. The plane finally lands at 6:30 and they of course have to refuel it and get it ready. We finally get out to the plane and I almost immediately tried to return to the terminal. The plane was incredibly old. It had duct tape in the portion of the bag holder up front, the window glass was scratched and cracked in the back and the leg space was laughable. The other big issue was that the headphones don't plug in so every time the pilot tried to speak we couldn't hear him over the noise. It would have been nice to hear which glaciers we were flying over. When we got into the plane, my seat belt didn't work. The pilot also had to clean off dried blood from the door handle as someone apparently cut themselves on a sharp piece of metal on the trip before us. With the wind, we felt extremely uncomfortable up there. First off it made me feel somewhat sick but we all felt a degree of danger because the pilot really had to control the plane during the wind gusts.
Overall we did make it back to the cruise ship before it left but we missed dinner with the rest of our family. My biggest issue was that no one seemed to care that we were stuck sitting at an airport for over an hour and that we were going to be late getting back to dinner. I would highly recommend doing the whale watching, it was the only reason they didn't get a terrible rating. I think you'd have a much more enjoyable experience if you just try to do one venture with this company, if at all. They were extremely disorganized and couldn't get everyone from one location to the next in time. Do your research, there are a ton of companies that do these types of excursions so you're most likely better suited somewhere else.