Excursions Chosen -- Opinions, Please?

[DD]

Wow, it was much harder to book excursions than to book the whole cruise. Booking the cruise was the easy (and cheap) part. Here's what I finally have it narrowed down to. Would you please weigh-in with an opinion. This is our first trip to Alaska and it may be awhile before I can drag my husband back again. He's more into exotic travel and is only doing this trip to make me happy. Hey, I've gone to Asia with him to make him happy, so it is my turn. Anyway, I'm hoping that he'll fall in love with Alaska and we'll be able to do repeat trips, but for now, this is it. Due to vacation-time constraints, we do not have time for a cruise-tour. Here's what I've got:

 

2 nights pre-cruise in Vancouver. During that time, we'll probably do a full-day trip on the Whistler Mountaineer

 

Embark Vancouver

 

Ketchikan -- Island Wings with Michelle to Traitor's Cove for bear watching

 

Skagway -- White Pass Scenic Railway through Princess in the morning and an evening wildlife expedition through Princess in the evening. This second excursion, starting at 1:40 pm, limited my other options. I'd like to do a train trip through Chilkoot Charters, but I can't find one that will work with the time constraints

 

Juneau -- Helicopter Glacier Trek through Princess in the morning and a Photo Safari by Land and Sea through Princess in the afternoon. My second choice is to do a tour with Alaska Marine Adventures to Tracy Arm. Adventure Bound Alasaka doesn't work with our time constraints and I'm not willing to do the "maybe your ship will be late, call us when you're here" route. I really like the Tracy Arm idea but I'm thinking that I should see Mendenhall Glacier while in Juneau. DH is excited with the whole walk-on-a-glacier idea.

 

Whittier -- The ship arrives at 12:30 am. The Alaska RR offers a 7 hour Glacier Discovery tour that starts at around noon, goes to Grandview, and then drops you off in Anchorage. It's AKRR on the way out, and bus on the way back. The alternate was a PWS cruise, but I would like to at least be able to say that I've been on the AKRR. Our flight home is at 11:40 pm that same day.

[GMoney]

LOL it's so true about the excursion planning! Your hard work will pay off though.

 

Just a couple of thoughts - take them for what they are worth:

 

> I did the same tour in Ketchikan and it was very good. I preferred it over Misty Fjords. Michelle and crew does a very good job.

 

> Juneau is a great place for independent tours. I'm not saying cruise ship tours are bad, but in general, you can get independent tours that are generally a bit cheaper, longer and / or less crowded. I would just make sure you've researched the independent version of your tours to know what you are and are not getting. I did a glacier tour thru North Star Trekking and it was very good - just go for as long as you can.

[Budget Queen]

Your "wildlife" tour out of Skagway, is a weak point and not usually a wildlife area. Where does this go??? In my opinion you would be far better off, just doing your longer train/bus priority and get into the Yukon.

 

How long is the glacier trek?? I suggest nothing shorter than 2 hour, and even those are lacking, since it really isn't enough time. The 3 hour is probably my min. recommendation. Mendenhall by no means is not a must see, compared to other options, so I wouldn't put that timing a priority over others.

 

In Whittier, the boat tours are definately superior to the rail viewing. Another option would be to just take the regular ARR train around 6pm back to Anchorage.

[DD]

Your "wildlife" tour out of Skagway, is a weak point and not usually a wildlife area. Where does this go??? In my opinion you would be far better off, just doing your longer train/bus priority and get into the Yukon.

 

How long is the glacier trek?? I suggest nothing shorter than 2 hour, and even those are lacking, since it really isn't enough time. The 3 hour is probably my min. recommendation. Mendenhall by no means is not a must see, compared to other options, so I wouldn't put that timing a priority over others.

 

In Whittier, the boat tours are definately superior to the rail viewing. Another option would be to just take the regular ARR train around 6pm back to Anchorage.

 

BQ -- would you please clarify. What do you mean by "Mendenhall by no means is not a must see?"

 

The AKRR train that leaves at 6:45 pm gets in at 9:15 pm. AKRR told me "no way" when I told them my flight time. They insisted that I'm cutting it too close, particularly if the train has any sort of delay. Apparently the train station is also a 15-20 min ride to the airport. We'll only have carry-ons, so I thought we could do it, but they said absolutely not.

 

The glacier trek is 2 hours on the glacier and a 30 min flightseeing helicopter tour.

[NancyIL]

We did a wonderful rail/bus excursion to the Yukon with Chilkoot Charters. I booked the 9-hour rail/bus trip to Carcross, but a portion of the tracks washed out just before we arrived. Instead we did the 7-hour version with train to Fraser, BC and mini-bus to Carcross and back to Skagway.

 

If you still plan to do the wildlife activity that starts at 1:40 - you could do the 3.5-hour rail/bus trip with Chilkoot Charters that leaves at 7:30 or 8:30: http://www.skagwaysbesttour.com/summitrail.htm

[Budget Queen]

BQ -- would you please clarify. What do you mean by "Mendenhall by no means is not a must see?"

 

The AKRR train that leaves at 6:45 pm gets in at 9:15 pm. AKRR told me "no way" when I told them my flight time. They insisted that I'm cutting it too close, particularly if the train has any sort of delay. Apparently the train station is also a 15-20 min ride to the airport. We'll only have carry-ons, so I thought we could do it, but they said absolutely not.

 

The glacier trek is 2 hours on the glacier and a 30 min flightseeing helicopter tour.

 

You didn't state what time your Anchorage flight is??? You would need a midnight or later departure.

 

My Mendenhall comment is wrong. :) It's not a must do in my opinion and having seen many many glaciers, so so on the glacier scale, only my opinion. If you have time, it's a great add on, easy to get to and absolutely interesting and good hiking. But my point was if there were other tours of interest, I would consider them first.

[DD]

My flight is at 11:40 pm. I put that in the original post but I babbled on and on and on, so it probably got lost in all the other stuff.

 

The wildlife viewing -- here's what Princess' website says:

 

In August and September, when spawning salmon offer a greater chance to spot bears, we take advantage of the long Alaska twilight on a later departure of this tour called:

 

EVENING WILDLIFE EXPEDITION

 

Naturalists take you to the sheltered valley of the Chilkoot River, for centuries a favorite fishing site for the Tlingit people and brown bears. As the sun slowly sets, bears descend on the river, leaving the cover of the forest to forage along the grassy banks. Spotting scopes bring the action up close. From the protection of your bus, see the food chain in action as thousands of salmon swim past hungry bruins. This unique evening wildlife viewing opportunity has limited capacity and includes a delicious picnic-style dinner on the cruise back to Skagway. Visit alaskanatureshorex.net for more details.

 

For the Glacier Trek, it's almost word-for-word what North Star Trekking offers. In fact, they offer 3 tours and Princess offers 3 identically-named tours. I'm wondering if North Star is their ground operator for these tours.

 

I've read lots and lots of great stuff about Chilkoot; however, that whole we get in at 7 and they leave at 7:30 really freaks me out. I wrote to them and their reply was merely a cut & paste from their website about how ships often get in early. I'm sort of afraid to chance it.

[Budget Queen]

:

 

In August and September, when spawning salmon offer a greater chance to spot bears, we take advantage of the long Alaska twilight on a later departure of this tour called:

 

EVENING WILDLIFE EXPEDITION

 

Naturalists take you to the sheltered valley of the Chilkoot River, for centuries a favorite fishing site for the Tlingit people and brown bears. As the sun slowly sets, bears descend on the river, leaving the cover of the forest to forage along the grassy banks. Spotting scopes bring the action up close. From the protection of your bus, see the food chain in action as thousands of salmon swim past hungry bruins. This unique evening wildlife viewing opportunity has limited capacity and includes a delicious picnic-style dinner on the cruise back to Skagway. Visit alaskanatureshorex.net for more details.

 

For the Glacier Trek, it's almost word-for-word what North Star Trekking offers. In fact, they offer 3 tours and Princess offers 3 identically-named tours. I'm wondering if North Star is their ground operator for these tours.

 

QUOTE]

 

 

Sorry- this "wildlife" tour- for wildlife is not a good choice, first off it's in Haines. Haines has the latest salmon run, meaning after the cruise season. viewing bears is extremely iffy. You may see eagles, but those are no big deal to go on a costly tour for- they are all over, if you just take the time to look. Since you ask advise, I would definately cancel and skip this tour.

 

Contact Northstar and inquire directly.

[NancyIL]

I've read lots and lots of great stuff about Chilkoot; however, that whole we get in at 7 and they leave at 7:30 really freaks me out. I wrote to them and their reply was merely a cut & paste from their website about how ships often get in early. I'm sort of afraid to chance it.

 

 

Your Princess ship will be in Juneau the day before it gets to Skagway. The distance between those two ports is roughly 60 miles. There's no way the ship will arrive late in Skagway, unless it runs into something on the way there! We arrived in Skagway at 7 and were on a Chilkoot excursion that started at 7:30 without any problem.

[AkSusan]

I totally agree with what the Alaska Railroad told you. The train does occasionally run late and during the tourist season here you need at least two hours prior to your flight.

 

Plus several of the airlines now have rules that if you have luggage to check in that you must do it 40 minutes before your flight or your bag as well as you won't be allowed on if you're after that. Plus trust me you don't want to miss your flight because with all the full planes that go out of here in the summer, it could be a few days before they could get you a seat out.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)