Skagway wildlife tours and others

[Gillian123]

Hi we are going in august with royal Caribbean and are looking to book a tour in Skagway. Please can you recommend tours and company as we prefer not to do it through the cruise line due to the prices

thank you

[wolfie11]

Many of the tours are exclusive to the cruise lines.  You can book the train separately and Chilkoot Charters offers tours.  My favorite in August is to go over to Haines and do the wildlife trip at Chilkoot Lake.  There are frequently bears around if the salmon are running in the river.

[triplemom3]

On 2/22/2023 at 2:40 PM, wolfie11 said:

Many of the tours are exclusive to the cruise lines.  You can book the train separately and Chilkoot Charters offers tours.  My favorite in August is to go over to Haines and do the wildlife trip at Chilkoot Lake.  There are frequently bears around if the salmon are running in the river.

If you have an opinion on the subject, how risky would you think it is it to take advantage of individual cruise tours, vs the ship tours. I know how crowded the ship tours are in the Caribbean, and I don't know if the train breaks down on a regular basis? just do not want to miss the ship leaving, just my luck, lol

[wolfie11]

I have no qualms about using independent tour operators in Alaska.  They know their business depends on getting people back to the ship in time.  The distances in SE Alaska between ports are so short that the ships will generally wait around if they're missing a few people close to departure time.  They're just going to do slow circles half the night to kill time anyway.  If you did get left behind, which I've never seen happen, you could easily fly to the next port.  
 

Nowdays, the ship knows with the click of a computer key how many passengers are off the ship and who they are.  It is not uncommon to hear announcements close to departure time requesting John Doe in Cabin 514 to call the front desk.  
 

 

[Northern Aurora]

3 hours ago, triplemom3 said:

......I don't know if the train breaks down on a regular basis? just do not want to miss the ship leaving, just my luck, lol

 

If the White Pass & Yukon Rail Way "breaks down" I can guarantee that the ship will wait as there will be a number of passengers booked through the ship shore excursions on that same train run.  Exact same train run,

[triplemom3]

Good to know!!!

[kickboxrca]

We have been to Skagway numerous times - did the train ride twice (once was a return, once train up bus back), and last year, we went to Dyea and did the dogsledding trip. Definitely a highlight of our trip - you can take a look at all the pictures online.  We also saw a bear on the way, and our tour guide provided us with amazing historical and geographical information about the area on the way.

[KellyCz]

On 3/27/2023 at 4:22 PM, kickboxrca said:

We have been to Skagway numerous times - did the train ride twice (once was a return, once train up bus back), and last year, we went to Dyea and did the dogsledding trip. Definitely a highlight of our trip - you can take a look at all the pictures online.  We also saw a bear on the way, and our tour guide provided us with amazing historical and geographical information about the area on the way.

@kickboxrca Did you go to Dyea on a ship excursion or on your own? We're looking at Skagway this summer.

[kickboxrca]

@KellyCz we did the ship tour (only because we had OBC that we needed to spend) ... they took a number of different ship passengers along with those staying in Skagway ... it was super - definitely a highlight of the trip! 

[CruisingViper]

anyone know what the weather and dog sledding and glacier excursions are like in the June/July time of the year?

[wolfie11]

Unless it is a record hot summer, you should be fine.  The camps usually start closing down in late August or early September.  The weather will be sunny, cloudy, or showery, maybe windy. It could be foggy or rain/clouds could impact visibility and the tour won't run.  It will likely be somewhere between 45 and 80 degrees.

[kickboxrca]

16 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

Unless it is a record hot summer, you should be fine.  The camps usually start closing down in late August or early September.  The weather will be sunny, cloudy, or showery, maybe windy. It could be foggy or rain/clouds could impact visibility and the tour won't run.  It will likely be somewhere between 45 and 80 degrees.

 

And you may experience all of it in one day ... 😉

 

[quack2]

On 2/28/2023 at 6:33 PM, wolfie11 said:

Nowdays, the ship knows with the click of a computer key how many passengers are off the ship and who they are.  It is not uncommon to hear announcements close to departure time requesting John Doe in Cabin 514 to call the front desk.  
 

----------------------------

when you hear that announcement on the ship, head to a deck with a view of the boarding ramp.  Always fun to see panicky people running for the ship.