Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary vs. Bear Country & Wildlife Expedition

[travellingnana]

Does anyone know the real difference between these two Princess tours in Ketchikan? They sound almost identical to me, although the first is only $79 per person & the second $199 per person. Anyone done either?

 

1. Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary: Your guide will then lead you along the trail to an elevated boardwalk overlooking Eagle Creek...View many wonderful species of wildlife on this mile-long guided trail hike, before touring a sawmill, viewing reindeer and a bald eagle and watchin a totem pole being crafted by a master carver

 

2. Bear Country & Wildlife Expedition: Your search for wildlife takes you over an elaborate elevated boardwalk system...At the trail's end, you'll interact with Alaska reindeer, see birds of prey close up, tour a historic sawmill and visit with a master Native carver crafting a totem pole before returning to the ship.

[Budget Queen]

The more expensive is longer. BUT, neither are going to have a good chance, if bears are your priority?

[travellingnana]

Thank you for the response. The Bear Country Expedition is longer, but only by 1/2 hour. (Interesting that the walk is 1/2 an hour longer, but seems to cover a shorter distance) That doesn't seem to warrant an extra $129 per person...for that amount of $ I want guaranteed bears!

[judynorth]

I have done the rainforest excursion and thought it was way over priced for what we did. After a fairly long bus ride, we walked the rainforest trail, saw the sawmill and the estuary (nothing more than a small swampy area) and rode the bus back to the ship. The only wildlife that we saw was a couple of eagles far away in a dead tree. We saw fresh bear cat but no bears. This sounds like it offers a little more but it still seems expensive.

[LisaDee]

We did the rainforest tour and saw several bears (it was 3rd week of August; the timing makes a difference in terms of when the salmon are running.) It was unnerving at the time but a great memory and I'm so glad we did this tour!

[rjm11]

We did the Rainforest Sanctuary tour. I thought it was a little overpriced at $79.... definitely overpriced at $199 unless they are adding something major... but it was still nice. I didn't think the transfer was long... I think it's only about 6 miles.... And the hike was really pretty. The salmon were running when we were there, and our kids really liked seeing all the fish jumping in the estuary. We didn't see bears, but others there the same day did. We did see eagles. Kids liked it (ages 4 and 3). By Alaska standards, this is an inexpensive excursion, but it was still over $300 for the five of us (including lower prices for the kids).

[itravelak]

The bears come out mainly at night in that area. If bears are your priority, I would recommend taking one of the fly out tours with one of the independent operators in Ketchikan.

 

Good luck