Flightseeing Glacier Bay

[barbeyg]

I've been researching and see several options out there for flightseeing Glacier Bay thru private vendors. We are looking for a plane tour, with maybe a glacier landing. Thought I would ask opinions from the experts here. :-)

 

We are sailing next year on Radiance OTS, southbound on 5/27. Of course, ROTC doesn't sail Glacier Bay. So far, I see Skagway is our best choice for flightseeing. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

We will be in Skagway 7am till 8:30pm and also may want to do either a Yukon train ride (or car rental for the day). We are an active couple with a 17 year old son.

 

Is that cramming too much into one day? It doesn't seem like it, but we've never been before.

 

Should we be planning to do a flightseeing tour of GB from Anchorage before traveling to Seward or should we be safe, time-wise?

 

Two other questions: any recommendations for Glacier Bay flightseeing tours? Should we book this summer for next year?

 

Thanks in advance for your input. This will be our main tour together as a family.

[Budget Queen]

I've been researching and see several options out there for flightseeing Glacier Bay thru private vendors. We are looking for a plane tour, with maybe a glacier landing. Thought I would ask opinions from the experts here. :-)

 

We are sailing next year on Radiance OTS, southbound on 5/27. Of course, ROTC doesn't sail Glacier Bay. So far, I see Skagway is our best choice for flightseeing. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

We will be in Skagway 7am till 8:30pm and also may want to do either a Yukon train ride (or car rental for the day). We are an active couple with a 17 year old son.

 

Is that cramming too much into one day? It doesn't seem like it, but we've never been before.

 

Should we be planning to do a flightseeing tour of GB from Anchorage before traveling to Seward or should we be safe, time-wise?

 

Two other questions: any recommendations for Glacier Bay flightseeing tours? Should we book this summer for next year?

 

Thanks in advance for your input. This will be our main tour together as a family.

 

I have flown over Glacier Bay but have not landed there. No, you wouldn't be able to fly this out of Anchorage on a "tour" type flight. Have you also considered flying McKinley? Especially depending on plans in Skagway, and if you have time there.

 

You would need to first, determine, what schedules are for the flights. You do not have time for the Lake Bennett tour (only "Yukon" train tour). You would have time for a round trip Fraser tour that's less than 4 hours. A car rental needs to allow at least 5 hours for a round trip Emerald Lake, which also could be doable, depending on flight availability.

 

I am also on the RCI 5-27 cruise.

[barbeyg]

I have flown over Glacier Bay but have not landed there. No, you wouldn't be able to fly this out of Anchorage on a "tour" type flight. Have you also considered flying McKinley? Especially depending on plans in Skagway, and if you have time there.

 

 

 

You would need to first, determine, what schedules are for the flights. You do not have time for the Lake Bennett tour (only "Yukon" train tour). You would have time for a round trip Fraser tour that's less than 4 hours. A car rental needs to allow at least 5 hours for a round trip Emerald Lake, which also could be doable, depending on flight availability.

 

 

 

I am also on the RCI 5-27 cruise.

 

 

Thanks for the heads up, Budget Queen. And no, we haven't thought about McKinley, but that sounds great as well. We live near the Smoky Mountains, so we would love that as well. If necessary, we would skip the Yukon train this time, if we could get the flightseeing tour we want. Just means we would have to sail AK again. :-)

 

You've given me food for thought. I appreciate it. I plan to email some vendors this week for more info.

 

Hope to meet you on the cruise! Thanks again.

[DougH]

Last year I did a Glacier Bay flightseeing trip with Paul from Mountain Flying Service. He is based out of Haines but does flights from there or Skagway. I had a fantastic flight over Glacier Bay, it sure was different seeing it from the air after so many visit by cruise ship. We had lots of time in the air and I felt I really got my moneys worth. We even landed across the bay from Haines and got to walk around for a little while.

 

I would book with Paul again anytime, I thought a great value for my $ with spectacular sights.

 

http://www.mountainflyingservice.com/

[varoo]

I've been researching and see several options out there for flightseeing Glacier Bay thru private vendors. We are looking for a plane tour, with maybe a glacier landing. Thought I would ask opinions from the experts here. :-)

 

We are sailing next year on Radiance OTS, southbound on 5/27. Of course, ROTC doesn't sail Glacier Bay. So far, I see Skagway is our best choice for flightseeing. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

 

We will be in Skagway 7am till 8:30pm and also may want to do either a Yukon train ride (or car rental for the day). We are an active couple with a 17 year old son.

Glacier Bay flightseeing tours are offered at a number of the nearby surrounding cruise ship ports.

In addition to Skagway, there are tours from Haines, Icy Strait Point and Juneau.

 

The advice we were given is to book the flight at a port your ship hits early in the cruise close to Glacier Bay, so if the weather is bad that day and it turns out that you can't do it there, you may still get a chance for another shot at it from a later port.

 

Anchorage is much too far away from Glacier Bay.

 

[Dawn1004]

We're doing a glacier flight and landing with real dog sledding (not the summer kart on wheels) with Era helicopters from Juneau. Really looking forward to it - crossing fingers the weather is good and flight can take off.

 

Enjoy your tour.

[Pushka]

Thankyou for starting this topic. This is perfect. We have booked Celebrity which of course misses Glacier Bay. Something I wanted to see but Princess, Hal and NCL didn't work. Now I know what i need to do.

[barbeyg]

Last year I did a Glacier Bay flightseeing trip with Paul from Mountain Flying Service. He is based out of Haines but does flights from there or Skagway. I had a fantastic flight over Glacier Bay, it sure was different seeing it from the air after so many visit by cruise ship. We had lots of time in the air and I felt I really got my moneys worth. We even landed across the bay from Haines and got to walk around for a little while.

 

I would book with Paul again anytime, I thought a great value for my $ with spectacular sights.

 

http://www.mountainflyingservice.com/

 

DougH, yours was the first post I saw on this, and we are really leaning toward Paul. Thank you! Figure I will reach out this week and ask him about when he starts booking for next year. Also, Budget Queen's post about Mt McKinley has prompted me to look at that too. :)

 

Thanks to all for the input. Having never been, we want to enjoy ourselves without running from tour to tour. We love living so close to the Smokies and being able to soak in the beauty without rushing it.

[barbeyg]

Thankyou for starting this topic. This is perfect. We have booked Celebrity which of course misses Glacier Bay. Something I wanted to see but Princess, Hal and NCL didn't work. Now I know what i need to do.

 

Feel free to chime in with your questions too! :D You may think of something I've missed.

[barbeyg]

And I forgot to mention, would love recommendations for flightseeing fromJuneau or Icy Strait Point, if anyone has one. We already have Juneau planned, but someone else could probably use that info. [emoji4]

 

Thanks all! Really appreciate it.

[DougH]

Last year I also did the 5 Glacier flight from Juneau as I had a lot of on board credit to use up. While it was a nice flight, the trip with Paul over Glacier Bay was much better. It was far longer time in the air (we spent way more than advertised, not sure it that was just my luck) and cheaper also. I had been trying to meet up with Paul for several years, first time the weather was too bad to fly and on the next the weather was perfect but I caught a cold and had to cancel.

[Budget Queen]

Glacier Bay flightseeing tours are offered at a number of the nearby surrounding cruise ship ports.

In addition to Skagway, there are tours from Haines, Icy Strait Point and Juneau.

 

The advice we were given is to book the flight at a port your ship hits early in the cruise close to Glacier Bay, so if the weather is bad that day and it turns out that you can't do it there, you may still get a chance for another shot at it from a later port.

 

Anchorage is much too far away from Glacier Bay.

 

 

There is no "Icy Strait Point". This is a native owned cruise port, "name". The location is Hoonah, for those needing to look for flightseeing vendors, independent.

 

If a priority, I would also have all the phone numbers of the vendors in the later ports and call for availability as soon as possible. These flights can be hard to get, or not in the times you need due to, perhaps prior plans.

[barbeyg]

Thanks again, Budget Queen! I didn't know Hoonah was the actual port. That helps tremendously. [emoji4]

[Pushka]

Thank-you Budget Queen. Thats the first time I heard ISP is actually Hoonah.

[barbeyg]

A heads up to anyone curious, I contacted Paul at Mountain Flying Service (Skagway) for May 2016, and he said that March of next year was early enough for booking. I've got him on the calendar to contact in early March. [emoji4]