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Second thoughts about Haines/Skagway tour company, looking for alternative


Dev'sMom
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Hello,

A recent article on the khns.org website "Safety complaints from former employees pile up against Skagway tour company," has me worried. We had booked the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari for our trip in late June, through HAL, and it's run by the company in the article. I'm no longer comfortable taking my 8-year-old son on this excursion.

Any recommendations on which half-day morning excursion to do in Haines instead? We are doing the Takshanuk Mountain 4x4 in the afternoon. Not interested in train tour in Skagway, since our pre-cruise land tour includes the glass dome train from Denali to Anchorage and from Anchorage to Seward. Also not interested in flight-seeing. And we have whale-watching scheduled for Juneau.

Thanks!

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Should you not find something you like in Skagway I encourage you to reconsider the White Pass train ride. We have done that plus the glass dome train from Whittier to Anchorage to Denali and the White Pass train and the scenery you see is unlike anything you will see on the glass dome train.

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OMG - I am sad to read this! I liked my tour with them. I had no idea. I definitely understand your concern with your son.
Remember that old saying, "There are two sides to every story." This is the first negative thing I have heard about the company, and until I hear more, I'm certainly willing to give them my business. If I had a young one, the Wilderness Safari would not have been an excursion I would have considered in the first place.
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I’ve been on three of their tours including the Glacier Point Safari, which is actually in my top 10 excursions. I plan on doing it again this summer. I didn’t care for the Takshenuk 4x4 tour much. It’s only a short drive up and back with stops where guides talk and bugs gnaw. The food’s good though....

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https://khns.org/safety-complaints-from-former-employees-pile-up-against-skagway-tour-company

https://khns.org/safety-complaints-from-former-employees-pile-up-against-skagway-tour-company

 

 

Hope the link works, never posted one before and wasn't sure if it'd be okay to. several specific examples are linked within the article.

Before booking GPWS, I read several reviews of people taking kids; they are allowed, and my son is active and adventurous.

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Remember that old saying, "There are two sides to every story." This is the first negative thing I have heard about the company, and until I hear more, I'm certainly willing to give them my business. If I had a young one, the Wilderness Safari would not have been an excursion I would have considered in the first place.

 

I agree. I don't know the facts but statements by employees who where not invited back to be employees, sounds suspicious.

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Remember that old saying, "There are two sides to every story." This is the first negative thing I have heard about the company, and until I hear more, I'm certainly willing to give them my business. If I had a young one, the Wilderness Safari would not have been an excursion I would have considered in the first place.

 

There were kids on my tour and they were having a blast. They came across as great Cub/Boy Scouts. They were very familiar with this type of excursion.

 

Honestly - we rarely know the reputations of many companies we book with. Several years ago, Captain Larry on Awesome Orca was arrested for being under the influence while operating the whale watching boat. It was later disclosed that he had prior DUIs for vehicles. I am so glad that was posted as I would never go out with him again. He and his partner (Carol) sold their company to Dolphin after that.

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We absolutely LOVED this tour! The guides we had were great and there plenty of kids on our tour. I have no idea what they're talking about with regards to zip lining, that wasn't part of our tour we did. We did the Wilderness Safari one. We took a boat for about 2 hours away, got off, then rode on a school bus up to another part of their camp. Once there, we put on the big rain boots, walked about 1/2 mile to the canoes and then paddled our way over to the glacier. When we were there, it was OK to walk on the glacier in a certain spot, but they were very good about keeping us away from the open/cave area, due to uncertain water flow conditions.

 

We never once felt anything we did, or they did, was unsafe. The boats we rode over there were good, the canoes were good (they actually had motors that we used after paddling for like 5 minutes). There were adults, kids, families, etc... We asked the tour guides about the people that come up there to work. They said it's just for the summer tourist season, not everyone is a super "wilderness" person, but they want to learn, try something new, get away, and they have some outdoor abilities. Some come for one summer, some come back. One girl said she wanted to get up there, away from the city, for awhile and do some other outdoor things.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to do this tour again!

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Thank you all for the useful input. I won't rule it out just yet, but will continue to research other options. I don't think I'll enjoy the excursion if I'm worried about my son's safety the whole time. And yes I mean worry more than I usually do, LOL.

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Thank you all for the useful input. I won't rule it out just yet' date=' but will continue to research other options. I don't think I'll enjoy the excursion if I'm worried about my son's safety the whole time. And yes I mean worry more than I usually do, LOL.[/quote']

 

Which excursion are you planning on doing with them? We did the Glacier Wilderness Safari and I can't see where there would be any real danger?! We wore big rubber boots, had life jackets on, they kept us back from any potential danger at the glacier. I saw the zip line mentioned in the article, but that must be another excursion they do.

 

 

These are the boats they use to get you to their campsite.

28510398890_b7e1d14c9b.jpg

Untitled by Cindy, on Flickr

 

These are the canoes we rode in, with the high boots and life jackets.

28689646842_4783e7c55c.jpg

Untitled by Cindy, on Flickr

 

And the 3 of us, near the glacier. Behind us was a cave with water coming out, but they kept us far back from it, as water would rush out a little bit at times.

28179830683_7d7a68a651.jpg3 of us by Cindy, on Flickr

 

And then we got up close to the glacier, off to the side. You can see where the different earth materials are pushing against each other.

28717682671_7060371a6f.jpg

Different materials by Cindy, on Flickr

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When we went on the Glacier Point Wilderness Tour, the people went out of their way to make us comfortable and safe. It was the best excursion we took that cruise. They even helped an elderly woman walk along the rocks and it was genuine concern.

 

This news surprises me as it's 100% off base of what we experienced.

 

I would get some more reviews, there's always a few who are never happy.

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After much research we booked the Wilderness safari trip. We won't have any kids in tow but you could always keep him from wandering off?

You should maybe message some of the people who have kids that have done a review here on CC, and take a balanced approach to all reviews and critics.....could be a case of Sour Grapes by ex employees?

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This is a quote from the owner: “I had a tendency to push the captains to go too hard. So we addressed these types of issues. You move and you grow.”

That kind of thing, equipment maintenance, and availability of first aid items are exactly the kind of safety concerns that a customer won't notice unless/until something goes wrong.

Although some of the complaints may very well be, and probably are, from disgruntled employees, it appears that there are too many for it to be solely that. It would take a very concerted and coordinated effort to have many complaints (although the complaint about another employee incorrectly hooked on a zipline sounds like employee carelessness rather than the fault of company policy). I couldn't find any news explaining the cause of last summer's accident.

https://khns.org/update-nearly-30-people-hurt-in-skagway-tour-accident

https://khns.org/information-on-skagway-tour-accident-remains-limited

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After much research we booked the Wilderness safari trip. We won't have any kids in tow but you could always keep him from wandering off?

You should maybe message some of the people who have kids that have done a review here on CC, and take a balanced approach to all reviews and critics.....could be a case of Sour Grapes by ex employees?

 

As I said in my comments, we had our son with us. He was 12. And there were probably at least a dozen kids on our tour, some younger than our son and some older. But I still will say the guides we had were extremely careful and constantly told us where to go and where not to go. We felt safe the entire time. However, it also appears this company does several different tours, so people need to be aware of the different things that could happen on each one. Like I also said, doing a zip line tour isn't something I would do to begin with, but IF we did, that's something I could see being a much more dangerous situation if there was a problem. On the Glacier Wilderness Safari one, the danger level is less, IMO. There was ice you could slip on, but they helped us so we could be as careful as possible. The canoe could tip over if someone was reckless, and that's why they told us what to do.

 

 

I realize everyone has to make their own decisions and do what they feel is best for them and their family. Personally, we would do that tour again.

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Glacier Point Wilderness Safaris has 99% excellent reviews. Even in the few negative reviews, the issue wasn't the excursion staff. Looks like the guides, naturalists, and boat captains are all caring people. Except for maybe one on their dog sled excursion https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60877-d2172599-r527957337-Alaska_Excursions-Skagway_Alaska.html

 

My son definitely won't wander off--never had that issue.

I guess my biggest concern is the GPWS excursion being forced to be executed even when winds are too high for the boats in Lynn Canal to get to the campsite. The article links to letters where employees were concerned about passenger safety, with windows being damaged in the high waves, and also mentions poor maintenance of the boats.

 

mytime53, I agree with your logic. I did find this article on the summer accident with an explanation that a parking brake wasn't applied, wheel went uphill, and the vehicle tipped...

https://skagwaynews.com/2017/08/28/vehicle-accident-in-dyea-injures-28-activates-mass-casualty-response/

 

 

Cindy, those photos are amazing (and helpful)! My husband and I decided that if there's a small craft warning that day (I believe >25knots) then we'll opt out, even if we lose the $$ we paid last month for the excursion.

The "good" news is that in a recent article, this company was granted a permit to add an ATV excursion but with the caveat that they improve their safety. https://khns.org/glacier-point-atv-tour-permit-approved-with-conditions

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mytime53' date=' I agree with your logic. I did find this article on the summer accident with an explanation that a parking brake wasn't applied, wheel went uphill, and the vehicle tipped...

https://skagwaynews.com/2017/08/28/vehicle-accident-in-dyea-injures-28-activates-mass-casualty-response/[/quote']

 

Thank you for the link.

 

decided that if there's a small craft warning that day (I believe >25knots) then we'll opt out' date=' even if we lose the $$ we paid last month for the excursion.[/font']

 

Great plan, IMHO

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kctwinmommy, fingers crossed for a calm day so we can enjoy Glacier Point the day we're there! I also am not interested in ziplines.

Cruise_More_Often, yes we will be in Haines where the Noordam will port. So good to know our boat ride portion will be shorter, thank you :-)

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kctwinmommy' date=' fingers crossed for a calm day so we can enjoy Glacier Point the day we're there! I also am not interested in ziplines.

Cruise_More_Often, yes we will be in Haines where the Noordam will port. So good to know our boat ride portion will be shorter, thank you :-)[/quote']

 

Hope it works out for you then. I'll be completely honesty, I never looked at the map closely before we went, so I had no idea why there would be concerns about the water craft/wind advisory! But now that I see how close the waters are to open water, I can understand it. Although it seemed somewhat protected in there, with the mountains. And yeah, I don't know where they run zip lines, but it's not on that excursion. Have fun!

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Hope it works out for you then. I'll be completely honesty, I never looked at the map closely before we went, so I had no idea why there would be concerns about the water craft/wind advisory! But now that I see how close the waters are to open water, I can understand it. Although it seemed somewhat protected in there, with the mountains. And yeah, I don't know where they run zip lines, but it's not on that excursion. Have fun!

 

Those mountains don't protect the water, they channel the wind. Here is a detailed explanation, using Lynn Canal as an example. But you don't have to read the technical aspects, just look at the photo of the water at Haines. What looks like fog is blowing water.

 

The last map is very interesting. Compare it to the isobar map a ways above it. They are from the same time frame, but certainly don't look it!

 

https://www.williwaw.com/2012-01-20/the-highly-channeled-winds-of-coastal-alaska/

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I think the ziplines may be near Skagway. Anyway, no ziplines for my kid till he's old enough to not have to listen to me. We're already doing enough "risky" things in the name of exploration ;-)

Kroschel is on my list of alternate events, definitely for next time.

 

mytime53, wow thank you SO much for the very informative link! True, I don't understand it all but I get the general idea. I have a science background and my son, like me, likes to know "why," and now I can explain it a little bit better! The photo of the water, not fog, is worth 1,000 words alone.

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