Mendenhall Glacier/Juneau or Denver Glacier/Skagway heli/dog sled tour

[Ratatouille]

Am second guessing myself...help please!

 

We have a whale watching tour booked with Harv & Marv in Juneau that we are really looking forward to. In Skagway we booked a car and are planning to drive up to Emerald Lake. Now I am back to dreaming about the helicopter and dog sled excursion which I had given up on because I did not think we could do it on snow. In response to my inquiry about snow, Temsco Helicopters wrote "Dog Sledding it is on the snow. There are some dog sleds on the wheels but those will not have any flight-seeing in their name."

 

My husband is NOT interested in flying in a helicopter but two out of the three kids and I would get such a thrill. Plus the youngest wants to see snow. (We live in a warm climate) One of the teens says he is not interested at all but I know he would love it if he would allow himself to relax and have a good time on an excursion with us. you know how those teens can be.

 

What to do?? Which to book? Help!

[Ratatouille]

Forgot to ask....is it possible to do the whale watch tour AND the dog sled tour on the same day?

[Iggipolka]

We just got back from Alaska and did the dog sledding on the Denver Glacier in Skagway with Temsco. It was absolutely fantastic!! The helicopter ride was incredible, with beautiful views of the fjords, the mountains, the ship and the town. I've never been in a helicopter before and the ride was so smooth. It was completely breathtakingly beautiful.

 

The dog camp was a blast with over 100 dogs and their handlers and mushers. We had a quick tour of the camp and then met our musher's dogs. We got to pet the dogs and learn how they are taken care of. We rode in the sled and got to switch between standing on the back of the sled and sitting in it. The dog sled ride was too short! I would have loved to have been on the sled longer.

 

We booked independently through Temsco and did get a price break. However, they told us that we could walk from the ship to their heliport and that wasn't accurate. We docked at the railroad dock and it is too far to walk to Temsco from there. We started to walk and got very sweaty as we were dressed for the glacier! We called Temsco and they told us to take the S.M.A.R.T. shuttle (local town shuttle) at $1.50 pp one way. It would have been helpful to have had this information before hand.

If you book through the ship, Temsco shuttles will pick you up at the pier.

 

We booked a 10:00am excursion and were back at the ship by 12:30 to take the White Pass Railway excursion. It was a bit tight, but possible. We brought snacks with us for the train as we missed lunch. If you have enough time in port, it is possible to do two excursions in a day.

 

I highly recommend the dog sledding on the glacier. Doing the cart thing on ground is just not the same.

[Ratatouille]

Thank you for your reply. Your description of the tour has made me even more excited! It's a shame these tours appear to be available on on the days we are in Juneau and Skagway. Oh well..we could pack it all into one day, I guess.

[kenish]

My husband is NOT interested in flying in a helicopter but two out of the three kids and I would get such a thrill. Plus the youngest wants to see snow. (We live in a warm climate) One of the teens says he is not interested at all but I know he would love it if he would allow himself to relax and have a good time on an excursion with us. you know how those teens can be!

 

Yes, I know. ;) My 15 year old had never been in a helo; several months ago we passed a place near Boulder Dam. When I asked my son if he wanted to do it, he was pretty indifferent so I made up his mind for him. Once we were in the air, his ear-to-ear grin affirmed the decision.

 

We're using Coastal in Juneau; also flightseeing and a glacier landing in Denali on a plane.

[marydz]

Yes it is possible to do both tours in on day. We have booked with Coastal for the glacier dog sledding and doing a morning whale watch trip with Capt. Larry of Orca. The two work closely together and ensured us they would be able to drop us at the heliport and return us to the ship by 3. We are doing this in Juneau.

 

Mary

[Ratatouille]

Thanks for your replies. The angst at home continues and probably will for several more years :) I just showed him a video of the dog sled excursion in Skagway on the NCL website and he is adamant he's NOT interested in that tour or ANY others. Sigh..... I told him I would feel bad if we came back raving about it and then he felt like he'd missed out. So it looks like we may cancel the car reservation and just 3 of us will go dog sledding. Part of me wishes I had not tried to involve him in the discussion and just booked him!

 

It is $40 cheaper to book direct rather than through the cruise line. What to do? For this type of excursion I am leaning towards booking through the cruise line "just in case".

[kenish]

Thanks for your replies. The angst at home continues and probably will for several more years :)

 

Wow, it's good to know "I am not alone!" Were you a fly on the wall in our house ? :) My son doesn't like to "own" any decision. I give him the choice of participating in planning and decisions, or "giving it away" to me. That way I'm not "pestering" him trying to involve him in a decision he doesn't want to make. Sometimes he is surprisingly proactive....when he leaves it to me, he usually has fun anyway. At least there's a good outcome. :D

[Ratatouille]

kenish - thanks for the laugh!

 

I really wish I had just booked the darn thing and then told him about it.

 

Sometimes, it seems like you just can't win no matter which way you play. :rolleyes:

[texaridian]

Thank you for this discussion. I read it yesterday and then checked out Temsco and some other private tour operators. I chose Temsco because they are cheaper than booking through the ship, they do the sledding on the Mendenhall Glacier and the people were as nice as could be.

 

I'm not worried about getting back to the ship. The tour is supposed to get us back around 5:15 and our ship doesn't leave until 10 pm. Hopefully the weather will be great, but if it's not, we're guaranteed a full refund if the tour is cancelled.

 

I'll be taking my sister with me. We're going on the last flight of the day so that we both can do something earlier. My sister wants to go to the Salmon Bake and I want to see the Underground Gold Mine.

 

Carol

[Marie321]

Last year we went dog sledding on the glacier in the morning and we went whale watching in the afternoon. It was Great! We went with Coastal, but Temsco gets good reviews also. The man we dog sledded with was Sebastian Schnuelle. He really races the Iditarod and he finished 10th this year! Many of the dogs we took out on the glacier last year Sebastian raced with in the Iditarod this year! You would not regret going on this excursion!

[Ratatouille]

Thanks.

 

Coastal Helicopters has not replied to my email (yet).

 

For some reason I would feel better booking this particular excursion thru the ship rather than direct. Sounds silly but it might be because I am a bit nervous about the helicopter ride. :o

 

I will call Temsco today for a chat on times and pricing.

[Budget Queen]

There is NO benefit to booking via the "ship" if going out of Skagway, there is ONLY one company, TEMSCO. For many, the RR dock is not "too far" to walk, very doable. Out of Juneau, IF you are still taking a whale watch, then you don't want a ship tour here either. You would be wasting an hour in backtracking shuttle time. Best is to cobook independently, and one tour operator dropping off for the other.

[kenish]

Out of Juneau, IF you are still taking a whale watch, then you don't want a ship tour here either. You would be wasting an hour in backtracking shuttle time. Best is to cobook independently, and one tour operator dropping off for the other.

 

I booked a morning Coastal glacier tour with Coastal followed by whale watching w/ Harv & Marv. They seemed to know the drill, both knew exactly how and when to do the "handoff". I've realized another advantage of independent booking is the locals know each other and are willing to be flexible and help each other out to benefit us tourists.:)

[msmoger]

I booked a morning Coastal glacier tour with Coastal followed by whale watching w/ Harv & Marv. They seemed to know the drill, both knew exactly how and when to do the "handoff". I've realized another advantage of independent booking is the locals know each other and are willing to be flexible and help each other out to benefit us tourists.:)

 

 

They sure do "know the drill"!! We're doing Harv and Marv in the morning and they're dropping us off at Coastal in the early afternnon. A couple months ago I recieved the following email from Eileen at Harv and Marv:

 

Hi Michael,

 

I received a call from Lisa at Coastal Helicopters and they are requesting all passengers to be at their offices at least a half hour before the tour. In order to make sure you get there on time, we will be changing the meeting time to 8:30 am with the tour starting at 9:00 am and go to 12:00 pm. We will have you there by 12:15 pm.

 

I will let Lisa know that you will make your 1:00 pm tour on time.

 

Thank you Michael! See you in July,

 

Eileen

Harv and Marv's Outback Alaska

 

I was very impressed with the thoroughness and attention to detail.

[littlegap]

Which is nicer? (If that is possible)... Mendenhall or Denver? We are definitely doing this tours. My husband has no idea of what we are doing. He just knows we are going to Alaska. I know that if I ask him about anything he will say no to all...so not asking. I am just wondering which one to do. I just called Temsco in Juneau and it is cheaper than booking through ship. I am also doing the Harv and Marv tour in the afternoon.

 

Any thoughts on the Chilkoot Charters company and their Carcross Rail and bus tour?

 

Thank you all for your postings. This board has been so very helpful! Our first cruisetour is on the Diamond June 7!! :)

[Marie321]

We went with Chilcoat last year. We went into the Yukon to Carcross. We rode the train first, then went on a van. It was very enjoyable. We learned a lot about the gold rush as someone talked on the train through speakers as we passed sites of interest. Carcross was great! We had a wonderful lunch and there is a nice museum. We also saw Emerald Lake. We were on a smaller van, not a big bus. When we saw a bear on the top of a cliff, the driver pulled over and everyone took pictures. We stopped at several other places like that also.

[3boyzmom]

My mom was very nervous about a helicopter ride. My boys (ages 12 & 11) were excited. I thought it would be cool, but I guess I didn't think too much about it. WE ALL LOVED IT!!! We did book independently through Temsco in Skagway.

 

You can check-out the memory book I made of our alaska cruise. Go to www.mypublisher.com, and click on the link to "my bookshelf" or "my bookcase." (Can't remember which) Type in book ID# M692933 and then when the next page comes up, type in password 1182659. Then you'll be able to flip through the book. There are "full bleed" pages on there- those are actual pictures I took, not a stock background from the company. LOTS of pictures of the dogsled excursion!

 

Just book it and enjoy. The helicopter ride is not scary like your husband might think it is.

Jennifer

[Ratatouille]

Thank you ALL so much...and a special thanks to 3boyzmom for sharing her beautiful photo album.

 

We have booked directly with Temsco and are looking forward to a fabulous excursion!

[Cruise Leprechaun]

3BoyzMom - I am cruising with a 10 and 13 year old this summer to alaska. We are already booked on the Skagway Heli/Dog tour and were so excited to hear your kids had a great time. As I looked at your photo album I noticed you did a zipline tour in ketchikan? Which one was that and were there any issues about the kids being too young or too light? I think mine are about 90 - 100 pounds and thought they might be too young or light to do it. Did yours enjoy it? thanks.

[3boyzmom]

Cruise Leprechaun-

We did the "ropes challenge course & zipline" through NCL. I'm sorry, I don't know the name of the operator. My kids each weight about 70 pounds. They were 10 & 11 at the time. They loved it!! We had the weight issue in Hawaii, and they couldn't go, so when we found this one we had to sign up. You can do ziplines almost anywhere, so I was hesitant to do it here, but we did really have a good time. The ziplines probably aren't as big or long as the ones that require you to weigh more, but the kids felt like they had a great adventure, and it was plenty for me too!:D

[3boyzmom]

Thank you ALL so much...and a special thanks to 3boyzmom for sharing her beautiful photo album.

 

We have booked directly with Temsco and are looking forward to a fabulous excursion!

 

You're welcome. I hope you have as great of a time as we did. You'll be amazed that they can live on that glacier all summer- and they make great cookies up there too! :D

[buttah75]

can I ask a more complicated question? Three of us want to do whale-watching and the heli/dogsled tour in Juneau, and booking independently seems key since we're only in Juneau until 4pm.

 

But here's the problem: One of us, my husband ONLY wants to do the heli/dog sled. (He just doesn't do that size boat!)

 

So, what do we do? All of us do the dog sled tour first, and then he makes his way back to the ship from the whale-watching departure point? I don't know the geography of all this, so any thoughts appreciated!

[Budget Queen]

can I ask a more complicated question? Three of us want to do whale-watching and the heli/dogsled tour in Juneau, and booking independently seems key since we're only in Juneau until 4pm.

 

But here's the problem: One of us, my husband ONLY wants to do the heli/dog sled. (He just doesn't do that size boat!)

 

So, what do we do? All of us do the dog sled tour first, and then he makes his way back to the ship from the whale-watching departure point? I don't know the geography of all this, so any thoughts appreciated!

 

Simple, he will return to the ship, or Mendenhall glacier drop off may be an option?? You will go direct to the other tour. You have to COBOOK this with a single vendor. They all provide dock transfers.

[chuka28]

Has anybody been to both? How do they compare? Since there is more time on Skagway I was thinking of doing the whale watching/Mandenhall explorer on Juenau and leaving the dog sledding for Skagway/Denver Glacier. This is a once in a lifetime experience for us and we want to get it right.

 

Thanks a million!