Northbound cruisers who finish in Seward...I've got a great recommendation for you!

[PictureNana]

We were on Radiance of the Seas last week and our cruise ended in Seward. Our land tour started in Anchorage the next day and we were scheduled to take the 6:00 p.m. train. So that left us the whole day in Seward with all our luggage to deal with. We booked the "Resurrection Bay" tour with Kenai Fjords Tours. They were great to work with! They took our luggage from us right after we disembarked. We spent a couple of hours at the SeaLife Center, which is really nice by the way, and then the tour was from 12:00-4:30. The tour included lunch on Fox Island and the scenery was beautiful. We saw humpback whales, sea otters, stellar sea lions, puffins, a bald eagle and other birds. It was an awesome tour and lunch was surprisingly good for feeding a big group. We returned right on time and the train depot is a short walk from where you get off the tour boat. We didn't even have to pick up our luggage from them. They had taken it to the train station for us! I planned this all in advance and it worked out even better than I thought!

 

On a side note, I highly recommend the train ride from Seward to Anchorage. Unbelievably beautiful scenery. We really enjoyed it.

[Middleager]

We took the Major Marine 7.5hr Kenai Fjord cruise, also from Seward. They picked us up from cruise terminal to their office. We left our luggages with them and they checked into the train for us. We saw many humpback whales and other wild life, and went really close to two tidewater glaciers. The salmon and prime rib buffet was really tasty. It wasn't cheap but we used one Toursaver book coupon to save $50/p for the 4 of us (yes, $200 total saving)

 

 

There was a Park Ranger on board, who explained many things to us. It was great to have such a resource onboard, to ask questions and learn a lot.

[jrmende63]

We were on Radiance of the Seas last week and our cruise ended in Seward. Our land tour started in Anchorage the next day and we were scheduled to take the 6:00 p.m. train. So that left us the whole day in Seward with all our luggage to deal with. We booked the "Resurrection Bay" tour with Kenai Fjords Tours. They were great to work with! They took our luggage from us right after we disembarked. We spent a couple of hours at the SeaLife Center, which is really nice by the way, and then the tour was from 12:00-4:30. The tour included lunch on Fox Island and the scenery was beautiful. We saw humpback whales, sea otters, stellar sea lions, puffins, a bald eagle and other birds. It was an awesome tour and lunch was surprisingly good for feeding a big group. We returned right on time and the train depot is a short walk from where you get off the tour boat. We didn't even have to pick up our luggage from them. They had taken it to the train station for us! I planned this all in advance and it worked out even better than I thought!

 

 

 

On a side note, I highly recommend the train ride from Seward to Anchorage. Unbelievably beautiful scenery. We really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

We are sailing on Radiance next June. Even though we have a land tour package purchased, we are detouring from the first scheduled activity( we are spending the night in Seward). We are doing the same Kenai Fjords tour as you.

I am very happy to read such high reviews! Thank you for posting.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[pokerpro5]

For those of you who want to take a glacier boat in the greater Anchorage area, but don't want to deal with the rough seas and seasickness common on the boats from Seward, I suggest trying the boat tours from Whittier.

 

Extremely calm water, zero seasickness possibility, and you'll almost surely see glacier calving (ice falling into the water).

 

We just did this last week, and were very happy with it.

 

We went with Major Marine. Their boats are smaller, so you're dealing with smaller crowds onboard (which is way better, obviously). Request the upper deck, as that's the better location.

 

Major Marine gives a AAA discount of 10%. You need to call them to get this and book over the phone,

 

If you're not a AAA member, you can instead mention the "Alaska's Playground Passport Special" when booking, and that is also 10% off.

 

The Whittier-based tours will see less wildlife, but the glaciers will be better, and the ocean will be calm.

 

BRING A HEAVY JACKET as it is much colder than you think, between the cold air (much colder than on shore) and the wind of the boat moving.

[Budget Queen]

I don't recommend the bay tours because you see more wildlife and glaciers on the Kenai fjords routes. Usually a lot of wildlife is not seen. Many trips are only an eagle and otters. Especially superior are the excellent glacier viewings.

 

This recommendation has been made repetitively over the years, easily added on in both directions. Seward has a LOT of touring opportunities to take advantage of. With it a wildlife jackpot along with Denali. Way too many people miss out and simply just pass through. What a loss.

[pokerpro5]

I don't recommend the bay tours because you see more wildlife and glaciers on the Kenai fjords routes. Usually a lot of wildlife is not seen. Many trips are only an eagle and otters. Especially superior are the excellent glacier viewings.

 

This recommendation has been made repetitively over the years, easily added on in both directions. Seward has a LOT of touring opportunities to take advantage of. With it a wildlife jackpot along with Denali. Way too many people miss out and simply just pass through. What a loss.

 

A large percentage of reviews I read about the Kenai fjord routes complained about seasickness issues. One review said that 80% of the boat was seasick! Even the positive reviews tended to concede that "some people on the boat got seasick".

 

I am not super-sensitive to seasickness, but I am susceptible if the boat rocks a whole lot. But I was more worried about the kids.

 

I was going to go with the Kenai fjord route until I read about the roughness of the seas.

 

I was happy with my bay tour. We did get lucky to see a whale and bear, but you're correct that it was primarily eagles and otters.

 

I also knew I was doing Denali at the end of the trip, so I had that opportunity to see wildlife anyway.

[Budget Queen]

A large percentage of reviews I read about the Kenai fjord routes complained about seasickness issues. One review said that 80% of the boat was seasick! Even the positive reviews tended to concede that "some people on the boat got seasick".

 

I am not super-sensitive to seasickness, but I am susceptible if the boat rocks a whole lot. But I was more worried about the kids.

 

I was going to go with the Kenai fjord route until I read about the roughness of the seas.

 

I was happy with my bay tour. We did get lucky to see a whale and bear, but you're correct that it was primarily eagles and otters.

 

I also knew I was doing Denali at the end of the trip, so I had that opportunity to see wildlife anyway.

 

I do see sick passengers every trip. That is why I always mention it, and suggest, having preventive measures in place before going. So of course "review" are mentioning this. Someone is likely to get sick on a boat of 200. BUT that does not mean huge numbers were sick. Simply not my experience, with "most", being perfectly fine., based on over 40 trips.

 

Prevention is the only solution, in my opinion. and many heed that . The Kenai fjords boat tours are a top raved about, choice to consider. Certainly not for everyone.