Need Help From Those Experienced!

[falltex]

In planning our 14 day cruise tour in 2011, I have a couple questions before reserving private tours. I’ll start with the questions, then give an idea of our itinerary.

 

1. My budget will allow for probably one glacier landing. I can’t decide between a flightseeing tour and glacier landing starting from Talkeetna on May 30, 2011 (fixed wing aircraft…maybe Talkeetna Air Taxi) OR helicopter glacier landing (maybe the Temsco heli glacier tour) starting from Skagway on June 6th. I know the fixed wing can travel to a higher altitude and lands on snow and the helicopter lands on ice. I’m not sure which may be the more incredible experience?

 

2. We will be in Icy Straight Point on June 7th and I am very interested in the Bear watching tour with Teckk Outfitters. From conversations on this board, it sounds like this date may be a little early to expect to find bears? I know finding bears is never a sure thing in the wild. We plan to do whale watching in Juneau, so I’m not sure what else we would do in ISP, if not the bear tour? I think we will have a chance to see bears on the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Should I go ahead and chance it in ISP, but go in with expectations that we might not find bears?

 

Our (preliminary) itinerary is as follows:

5/27/11: DFW to ANC (arrive around 8 p.m.)

5/28: ARR from Anc to Whittier and PWS glacier cruise

5/29: General sightseeing in ANC…maybe rent bikes and do Tony Knowles trails

5/30: Royal Caribbean dome cars, ANC to Talkeetna. Flightseeing Tour?

5/31: Dome cars, Talkeetna to Denali. Hiking/sightseeing?

6/1: Tundra Wilderness Tour

6/2: Motorcoach Denali to Fairbanks. Riverboat Discovery Tour

6/3: Fly Fairbanks to Anchorage. Anc to Seward transfer (bus or train). Sightseeing.

6/4: Hubbard Glacier Cruising

6/5: Juneau. Harv & Marv whale watching tour

6/6: Skagway: Car rental & self-guided tour or Yukon RR or heli glacier tour

6/7: Icy Straight Point: Bear watching tour?

6/8: Ketchikan: Misty Fjords tour with Island Wings

6/9: Inside Passage Cruising

6/10: Vancouver. 2 p.m. flight back to DFW

 

I haven’t reserved any of the tours yet (other than what is included in the cruisetour pkg…TWT and Rvrboat Disc). What is your best answer to my two questions? Thank you for your help.

[Budget Queen]

I have done both your flightseeing choices. For me, the ski plane was a one time deal, based on the aircraft. I take the summit flights way over this flight. My preference.

 

A glacier helicopter landing is spectacular, with excellent viewing and especially time on the glacier.

 

Sorry, but only you can decide. You aren't going until next year. Perhaps step it up and "pay" yourself, to aquire the funds to do both. Forego all Christmas/birthday etc gifts. Perhaps, friends and family will contribute to a vacation fund? Skip the dining out, movies- EACH time, take that money and put it in an account. It WILL add up.

 

You need to, contact the vendor on your Hoonah bear question. The cruise port area, has a walking trail, museum.

[falltex]

Thank you, BQ. Your advice helps me a lot. I was thinking the heli glacier tour is on the "not to be missed" list! I apprecaite your reply.

[ideliver416]

just did the glacier helicopter with temsco last week and it was the highlight of our trip. you cant describe the blue ice colors to anyone. it was incredible. do yourself a favor though and get the great alaska toursaver book. there is a 2 for 1 coupon in it for temsco in juneau that will save you $259. i bought one on ebay for $45 from someone who went in june and had the coupon in it yet. in fact i used 4 coupons and saved over $400. a new book is $99 if you are going early and cant get a used one. still worth the money for what you end up saving.

[falltex]

Thank you, ideliver. I will definitely look into the toursaver book.

[NorbertsNiece]

Our heli ride was cancelled due to weather; the bears we saw on the TWT were too far away to photograph. Apparently we would have stood a better chance of seeing bears at Mendenhall Glacier..... there's a lookout at the bus stop there the trail to which we failed to take.

[MercedMike]

As far as bear watching at ISP, call Keith from Teckk Tours and put the question to him. He will give you an honest answer. He knows every bear around there by their first names and where they are likely to hang out! (On our tour the bear we saw was Toby ... :D)

 

Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/volendam.html

 

In Denali, the TWT has the reputation of being the very best wildlife sighting. Of course nothing is guaranteed. On our TWT we saw six grizzlies. They were eating blueberries! The guide said that is a principal diet item for them. The were all close enough to photograph with a telephoto digital, but to be honest without the 100x video screen in the bus they would have been only dots on the hillside.

 

Check out our trip report and pictures at http://www.bully4.us/ct3.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[Budget Queen]

Our heli ride was cancelled due to weather; the bears we saw on the TWT were too far away to photograph. Apparently we would have stood a better chance of seeing bears at Mendenhall Glacier..... there's a lookout at the bus stop there the trail to which we failed to take.

 

Actually, I just about always see bears, past the TWT, and if a consideration going to Eielson on the shuttle bus- it is a noted bear area to also consider. ONE trip is just that, however, and it's with the repeative exposures to multi trips that has the best success. Just the fact. :) Binoculars are necessary and I recommend at least 10 power for Denali Park anyway.

[Budget Queen]

just did the glacier helicopter with temsco last week and it was the highlight of our trip. you cant describe the blue ice colors to anyone. it was incredible. do yourself a favor though and get the great alaska toursaver book. there is a 2 for 1 coupon in it for temsco in juneau that will save you $259. i bought one on ebay for $45 from someone who went in june and had the coupon in it yet. in fact i used 4 coupons and saved over $400. a new book is $99 if you are going early and cant get a used one. still worth the money for what you end up saving.

 

ALWAYS, verify that the coupon usage is available on your day of booking. They ONLY allow so many coupons to be used per day/flight.

[NorbertsNiece]

Actually, I just about always see bears, past the TWT, and if a consideration going to Eielson on the shuttle bus- it is a noted bear area to also consider. ONE trip is just that, however, and it's with the repeative exposures to multi trips that has the best success. Just the fact. :) Binoculars are necessary and I recommend at least 10 power for Denali Park anyway.

 

I afforded the x8 and should have eaten out less pre cruise and afforded the x10. But the Mama bear and cub we saw in Denali will do for now.... just too far away to grab a picture of. Dare I contemplate a return visit? Sigh.

[falltex]

Thank you, everyone for all the helpful advice. All the information will be useful to me.

 

BTW, Linda...I really enjoyed your ongoing commentary of your cruise. We have also reserved cabin 9256 on the Radiance (I have never been in the aft before).

 

I am treating this like it will be our only visit to Alaska (hoping that it will not). Again, thank you.

[Dinda]

We were at Icy Strait just this past June 7th. Two of our tablemates did a bear watching tour and said they saw a total of 8 bears. Have never been on it myself, so I don't know if that is a good number or not. Just thought I would let you know. Have a great trip. We still relive ours all the time. My pictures are my computer screensaver and I love seeing them.

[Nancyquilts]

Flight sightseeing in Alaska always needs adequate weather. Flying out of Talkeetna you should get to see Mt. McKinley, at least that's what we did. The weather was high clouds, so we couldn't see the top, but the mountain was an exciting thing for us to see. Boy, some of those crevasses are deep!

[Budget Queen]

Flight sightseeing in Alaska always needs adequate weather. Flying out of Talkeetna you should get to see Mt. McKinley, at least that's what we did. The weather was high clouds, so we couldn't see the top, but the mountain was an exciting thing for us to see. Boy, some of those crevasses are deep!

 

If you want to see the top of McKinley, then I strongly suggest the summit flight. Just superb. :) (and always my preference)

[HalfWhit]

We were in the aft on the Star Princess last year and I will never cruise again unless I am in the aft cabin. It was wonderful, our balcony was so much larger than the side balconies. Hopefully it will be the same for you. You may be able to see some pictures if you do a search on webshots.com.

 

As far as the trips go, I would wait until you get to the port of call. I would hate to spend that kind of money and then have the weather be nasty. Once you get to port there are all sorts of tour companies wanting your money to take you glacier seeing, dog sledding or even floatplane touring.

[Budget Queen]

 

As far as the trips go, I would wait until you get to the port of call. I would hate to spend that kind of money and then have the weather be nasty. Once you get to port there are all sorts of tour companies wanting your money to take you glacier seeing, dog sledding or even floatplane touring.

 

Sorry, this is poor advice. "All sorts of tours" are not available. Flights frequently sell out, there are only so many seats. You can waste a considerable amount of your port time scrambling to make plans and you are going to be limited, to what is left, which may have you waiting for hours with little to fill the time. Always, having plans and reservations in place, is the best use of the very limited, short port times.

[jjlasolas]

We just got back from a 7day on Radiance as well. We did the Heli ride and landing on Chilkat Glacier in Skagway and then Whale Watching in ISP. Both were money well spent and saw exactly what we were expecting to see, but we lucked out on weather the entire cruise.

 

As for Talkeetna, we did drive from Anchorage to Denali and went through Talkeetna. Flightseeing is probably the best option to see McKinley, but the day we were there, the fog was so bad, it didn't matter whether you were flightseeing or just viewing from Eilson in Denali-we could barely make out some lower peaks....

 

If you know of an excursion that you want to do no matter what, definitely book ahead. If not, then we still had plenty of options while already on board of the cruise-tried to make decisions based on weather.

 

Have a wonderful time! It was such an amazing and beautiful trip!

 

In planning our 14 day cruise tour in 2011, I have a couple questions before reserving private tours. I’ll start with the questions, then give an idea of our itinerary.

 

1. My budget will allow for probably one glacier landing. I can’t decide between a flightseeing tour and glacier landing starting from Talkeetna on May 30, 2011 (fixed wing aircraft…maybe Talkeetna Air Taxi) OR helicopter glacier landing (maybe the Temsco heli glacier tour) starting from Skagway on June 6th. I know the fixed wing can travel to a higher altitude and lands on snow and the helicopter lands on ice. I’m not sure which may be the more incredible experience?

 

2. We will be in Icy Straight Point on June 7th and I am very interested in the Bear watching tour with Teckk Outfitters. From conversations on this board, it sounds like this date may be a little early to expect to find bears? I know finding bears is never a sure thing in the wild. We plan to do whale watching in Juneau, so I’m not sure what else we would do in ISP, if not the bear tour? I think we will have a chance to see bears on the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Should I go ahead and chance it in ISP, but go in with expectations that we might not find bears?

 

Our (preliminary) itinerary is as follows:

5/27/11: DFW to ANC (arrive around 8 p.m.)

5/28: ARR from Anc to Whittier and PWS glacier cruise

5/29: General sightseeing in ANC…maybe rent bikes and do Tony Knowles trails

5/30: Royal Caribbean dome cars, ANC to Talkeetna. Flightseeing Tour?

5/31: Dome cars, Talkeetna to Denali. Hiking/sightseeing?

6/1: Tundra Wilderness Tour

6/2: Motorcoach Denali to Fairbanks. Riverboat Discovery Tour

6/3: Fly Fairbanks to Anchorage. Anc to Seward transfer (bus or train). Sightseeing.

6/4: Hubbard Glacier Cruising

6/5: Juneau. Harv & Marv whale watching tour

6/6: Skagway: Car rental & self-guided tour or Yukon RR or heli glacier tour

6/7: Icy Straight Point: Bear watching tour?

6/8: Ketchikan: Misty Fjords tour with Island Wings

6/9: Inside Passage Cruising

6/10: Vancouver. 2 p.m. flight back to DFW

 

I haven’t reserved any of the tours yet (other than what is included in the cruisetour pkg…TWT and Rvrboat Disc). What is your best answer to my two questions? Thank you for your help.

[lmrubin]

So, how safe are the floatplanes? I hear there are a lot of plane accidents in AK that we never hear about. Does that include the touristy floatplanes, or mainly the private, smaller planes?

 

BTW, I heard from a colleague who was on a Harv and Marv tour that they do great, small group tours. We decided on Alaska Galore out of Juneau for whale watch -- also another privately owned operator who caters to smaller groups (I've been talking to Louis Jourgens, one of the owners, for months).

[knorrisb07]

I afforded the x8 and should have eaten out less pre cruise and afforded the x10. But the Mama bear and cub we saw in Denali will do for now.... just too far away to grab a picture of. Dare I contemplate a return visit? Sigh.

 

 

very true. Although I am a die-hard 8x fan, I felt the urge for 10x wide angle binoculars as soon as we got to Denali.

[JerryinBWB]

BQ and others recommended a helicopter glacier landing and a McKinley flight-seeing. I agree. After a couple of Alaska trips, both with emphasis on wildlife and scenery viewing and including a helicopter flight to glacier and an airplane flight (no glacier landing for us while our friends did the glacier landing to Mt. McKinley), I would say the helicopter landing on a glacier is about as close to a must do as anything. The advice to try and save enough to do both is good advice. I would helicopter to a glacier, and fly to McKinley. There are two McKinley flight options without glacier landing; one that goes only to around 10,000 feet and one that does the summit. On our recent trip we did the 10,000 foot flight - took off mid-morning - and saw the entire mountain. Our friends took off about an hour and a half later and did the summit flight; never saw the mountain. The point is that the weather is never predictable and you may well have a great 10,000 foot flight that sees the mountain while saving a couple of bucks that might help you afford the helicopter glacier landing excursion. Hope it works out for you to do both.