Juneau Bear Watching & Wildlife Viewing Adventure

[Howasaur]

We were wondering about this tour its by plane to go see wildlife. Has anyone else been on this excursion?

[Fieldofdreams]

Not sure if this is the whales, bears and glaciers connoisseur tour with Princess or not. My wife and I were originally booked on the connoisseur tour this past summer which included a flight over a glacier, bear watching and whale watching. We opted to not to go on the tour only because we were on a glacier in Banff and had completed a 4 day land based tour with Princess including Denali National Park and did see a lot of wildlife including bear. We did opt for a cruise whale tour which was great. One thing that I will pass along that I did not get before I went and read from another post is that Alaska is much about the wildlife and so therefore I will state that anytime you have an opportunity to see wildlife in their natural state you are very fortunate. If you are going into Denali, I would strongly suggest you take the Tundra Wilderness Tour (TWT) which takes you about half way into the park. Their are two additional tours, the historical tour which is approx. 16 miles and the full tour which is 92 or so miles one way. The further you go into the park the more wildlife you see. If you are just taking the cruise portion of the trip, I would say any opportunity you have to see wildlife, you should do it. Try not to miss a whale watching tour at one of the ports. We ended taking a whale watching tour in Juneau where there seem to be many whale tours. Whatever you do, enjoy and I hope that this post was helpful. If you have any other questions, please let me know and I will try to help.

[Howasaur]

Not sure if this is the whales, bears and glaciers connoisseur tour with Princess or not. My wife and I were originally booked on the connoisseur tour this past summer which included a flight over a glacier, bear watching and whale watching. We opted to not to go on the tour only because we were on a glacier in Banff and had completed a 4 day land based tour with Princess including Denali National Park and did see a lot of wildlife including bear. We did opt for a cruise whale tour which was great. One thing that I will pass along that I did not get before I went and read from another post is that Alaska is much about the wildlife and so therefore I will state that anytime you have an opportunity to see wildlife in their natural state you are very fortunate. If you are going into Denali, I would strongly suggest you take the Tundra Wilderness Tour (TWT) which takes you about half way into the park. Their are two additional tours, the historical tour which is approx. 16 miles and the full tour which is 92 or so miles one way. The further you go into the park the more wildlife you see. If you are just taking the cruise portion of the trip, I would say any opportunity you have to see wildlife, you should do it. Try not to miss a whale watching tour at one of the ports. We ended taking a whale watching tour in Juneau where there seem to be many whale tours. Whatever you do, enjoy and I hope that this post was helpful. If you have any other questions, please let me know and I will try to help.

We are going on the 19 Day Denali and Dawson Creek Tour/Cruise The tour is with Holland America and this is what the tours says for Juneau

Join this unforgettable journey to view coastal brown bear and other Alaskan wildlife in a natural setting. Your exploration begins with an Alaska bush pilot, who will transport you on a breathtaking scenic flight from the base in Juneau to Chichagof Island, providing unique access to brown bear territory. Once you arrive, you will meet your local guide/naturalist who will take you by van to several different wildlife viewing locations. Along the way you’ll hear a narrative of the local history and insight into the environment that surrounds you. The object of the tour is to get you up close with the wildlife while staying a respectful distance from the animals to maintain their wild behavior and your safety as they go about their routine. Photographers and nature enthusiasts will marvel at this opportunity to discover the unexpected—a once-in-a-lifetime experience that allows a rare look into the world of one of the grand and majestic animals of the great Alaskan wilderness. we are going July 10 - July 28th Sorry about missing the details PS we are going on the Tundra Wilderness tour in Denali

[mapleleaves]

If your priority is to see bears, get more details about the tour, such as ... how long is the tour, how much time is spent flying to/from the island, how many places do you visit, do these places have bear viewing platforms, how much time do you spend actually viewing the bears, what's the success rate? To be honest, it sounds more like a search not a bear viewing tour. Much of your time might be spent flying there, transfering to a van, then driving around hoping to find them. So find out about the details.

You're travelling at peak season for bear viewing at Pack Creek which is a very popular destination for bear viewing. Google Pack Creek for more information and vendors. This link is from the city of Juneau tourism site: http://www.traveljuneau.com/cms/d/bear_viewing.php

[Fieldofdreams]

Think Mapleaves has some pretty good insight into the in's and outs of viewing bears in Alaska. A few additional thoughts, on the TWT try and get on an earlier tour into the park. It's a long day and out thought was the earlier the start time the better off we would be. Much depends upon the "spotters" you have on the tour bus with you. That is your fellow passengers on the bus. We did have some luck here with 3-4 folks on the bus that were hunters and called out to stop the bus when they saw wildlife. All of the drivers are very knowledgeable and have a zoom camera with them in the front and each seat has a drop down TV screen so even if you do not have binoculars and the animals are in the distance you are still able to catch a view. Bring some water along and possibly some sandwiches or lunch. They provide a lunch box which includes dear sausage (actually very good; ate mine as well as my wife's), cheese, a roll and I think a cookie or brownie, but if they does not appeal to you or you think you might want more you should bring it along. I believe Holland America partners with Princess in sharing hotels. If you are staying at the Denali Princess or McKinley Princess both are nice hotels but modest in comparison to 4 or 5 star hotel. McKinley Princess is all about sitting on the deck and waiting for a view of Mt. McKinley, if you are able to see it (think it is 20% of the folks that visit do see it, visibility issues) it is extremely impressive. Not sure if you are taking the Gold Dome rail car down to meet the ship or if you are taking a bus, but if you do take to rail car down, one suggestion that I will make that we were not able to take advantage of because we were unaware of at the time is that often they will have the front car with reclining seats and the assigned seats at tables with straight backed benches. While the benches are reasonably comfortable it is not the same as a larger recliner. The cruise lines that contract with Alaska Rail will tell you that folks will get up from the recliners to give others a chance to sit in that car but once seated passengers will sit there for the duration and I have to admit I cannot blame them, it is a 9-10 hour trip. We had breakfast, lunch and snacks while on board. So if this is part of your itinerary, if I had to do over again, I would get to the station early to be in line early and head to the front car. The way the tours are set up they pick you up from the hotel to take you to the Denali train station, however you can easily walk it on your own, about a 10 min walk. A nice plus was enjoying the quite of the park before anyone else arrived for the train. Hope this helps some. We are off on a 10 day Panama Canal cruise with Holland. Will try and post something when we get back.