Jump to content

Alaska Excursions


mammajo
 Share

Recommended Posts

Which are the best excursions to take in the Denali land tour and Princess cruise? I am going with my family of 9 with kids aging 12-19 4 adults and one senior. All suggestions and tour companies would be appreciated. Scheduled for helicopter/ice berg landing already. Thanks:cool:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I agree that the Alaska port of call board is very, very useful here, I will just give you a quick answer here for convenience. We took the standard Tundra Wilderness Tour in Denali. It is essentially an all-day tour though you might start very early in the morning -- they start around 5:30 if you get the first one of the day, and are about hourly more or less after that. The tour takes about 8 hours, though the time flies. You will take a bus, with a nature guide as the driver, 52 miles into the park and then back out. Everytime someone sees an animal, they yell out and the bus stops. You will see grizzlies very, very close to the road, Dall sheep, reindeer, maybe a moose, and, if you are lucky, a wolf. As I read the boards before our trip, some people were getting somewhat high and mighty that you had to take one of the more intimate tours, but I can only say that the TWT was incredible. I have many hundreds of pictures of grizzlies that were within perhaps 20 to 50 yards of the bus.

 

I don't know where your cruise starts and stops, but I will give you my ports and thoughts. I did spend a lot of time on the ports of call boards trying to get a feel for which tour operators were the better ones, though which is best is a real argument.

 

In Seward, where we departed, we took the Kenai Fjords Tour for five hours or so before the ship departed. Other than Denali, that was the highlight of the entire cruise. While you might go to College Fjord or Glacier Bay, the cruise ship stays a good mile or so away from the glaciers. The Kenai Fjords Tour uses a small boat -- about 100 - 150 sightseers -- and gets within 1/2 mile of the glaciers. You will really see calving and you can hear the glaciers -- hint, hint, they are not silent! You will also see lots of wildlife in Resurrection Bay as you go to and from the glaciers.

 

We stopped in Haines (Skagway) and we took the Yukon tour with Dave somebody or other. It was pretty good, and you see something other than the port city which doesn't have much anyway.

 

In Juneau, we did the whale watch first thing in the morning with Harv and Marv, and their smaller boats were great -- there were six of us and we really had a great talk with the guide the entire time. We happened to see tons (no pun intended) of whales. They were all feeding and I eventually stopped even taking pictures I had so many.

 

Right after that, we zoomed off for the helo ride and trek on a glacier. We only had time for a short one, but I think that that was enough, and it was pretty cool. (We used Northstar Trekking or something like that). They give you warm clothing, and when you get to the glacier, you get crampons to put on your boots.

 

In Ketchikan, we used Misty Wings for a flight out to a glacial lake, and we landed and walked on a small island. It was also fantastic, and Michelle was beyond great.

 

Again, I don't know where you are going, and I recommend using the ports of call board, but this might help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you ask on the Alaska board, you'll get recommendations to take the park shuttle instead of the Tundra Wilderness. I also recommend the park shuttle. You can get much farther into the park on it, and it's pretty awesome, depending on the driver you get. Some drivers are better than others, in terms of stopping every time somebody sees a bear or whatever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Ben and Susan for your helpful reply. We are beginning in Fairbanks heading south and in Denali Park 2 days. Stops are in Mt. McKinley Lodge then via Talkeetna and depart for cruise from Whittier.

Port of calls are Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan and then Vancouver where we are spending one day.

I appreciate your help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A common excursion out of Skagway is the Yukon Pass train. It's great, although if you wanted something different, I'd consider the Kroschel Animal Sanctuary. It's north of Haines, but you can get excusions out of Skagway for it -- they take the water taxi to Haines. Steve the owner is a hoot, and you'll see lynx, brown bear, moose, reindeer, foxes, mink, wolves, wolverines and other animals.

 

Juneau has three great options: whale watching, Mendenhall glacier, just north of town, and the the Mt Roberts Tramway, which takes you to hiking trails and a visitors center on the top of the mountain overlooking the town.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which excursions you take will depend on what you want to see/do in Alaska! Have you researched Alaska? There is so much...you really need to narrow down your choices! Get a guidebook from your library and find out ALL about Alaska...then you can pick and choose!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...