helicopter tour in Juneau or Skagway

[dmen131]

Hi

I am currently booked to do the 4 glacier helicopter tour in Juneau.

However, we also really want to go whalewatching.

No matter how I try to arrange it (going through the cruiseline, calling independent operators, Orca Enterprises, Coastal, etc.) because of our arrival/departure time and need to tender, I cannot do both.

 

Therefore, I am considering switching our Juneau helicopter tour to the Mendenhall Glacier and Wildlife Quest and then in Skagway doing the Valley of the Glaciers in Skagway with White Pass Railway.

 

Can someone please give advice as to the quality of the Skagway glaciers? Does the tour compare to Juneau? I've heard so many excellent things on Juneau but relatively little on Skagway. I'd love to hear from those who have been on both or either.

 

Thank you.

[aptosed]

Returned from Alaska/Vancouver this week.

I did the Pilot's Choice Helicopter trip out of Skagway on 8/10 with Temsco. It was booked through Princess. Landed on two different areas of glaciers. Trip was approx. 1 hour of flying time and 40 +/- minutes walking around on the glaciers. I thought it was a spectacular event.

 

My wife and I did a floatplane trip out of Juneau to the Taku Glacier Lodge the next day. Just one more spectacular trip on a spectacular vacation.

 

You need to get up into the air to really appreciate Alaska.

As I have never been to Alaska before I cannot compare the views flying out of Skagway vs. Juneau. Personnally, I would suggest not overthinking the choices. I don't think you could make a bad decision.

 

Ed

[vettechick]

I did the Mendenhall helicopter tour booked through Princess (by Temsco). While this was the highlight of my cruise, I would have liked more time on the glacier and more flight time as well. We flew about 15 minutes, landed on the glacier, had to listen to about 15 minutes of guided tour, then had only 5 minutes to explore the glacier on our own.