Juneau and Ketchiken shore excursions advice

[manasvi10]

We are going to Alaska in aug 3 rd week and I am looking for a good combination of excursions.

 

In Ketchiken,

we are thinking of Misty Fjords by Catamaran for 4.5 hrs offered by our cruise line. I have seen posts where it is recommended by Floatplane. but just trying to save some bucks for Juneau excursions..Has anyone done it by boat? can you share the experience? Do you think floatplane will be better?

 

In Juneau,

We are thinking of doing 4 glacier (land on 1 ) by helicopter. I saw that the prices quoted by cruiseline are 50$ to 70$ higher than private tour companies. This is our first cruise and so we are worried about private tours. But savings are so tempting that I need some advice. I saw good deals by Era alaska helicopters.Has anybody done it recently with this company? or do you have other suggestions for searching for local tours?

[penelope42]

We did the Misty Fjords by boat. I think it was the Allen family who owned the line of boats and we had a great time. We saw a bear, Orcas, harbor seals, and bald eagles.

 

 

We did the glacier helicopter tour with dogsledding with ERA and they were very good with a nice flightseeing tour and the landing on the glacier for the dogsledding. ERA does change peoples seats after the landing so everyone should have a chance to either have a window seat or be up front for at least one part of the flight. My husband had a window seat both ways and I was in the middle of the back one way then up front. The way they assign seats varies according to weight distribution so you can't be too picky about where you sit.

 

We had booked this through the cruiseline and the trip was smooth for us. Now one family that were from a different cruise ship but who were on a bus to the ERA site with us did have a problem. I am not sure if they booked through their cruiseship or independently as they were the only people we picked up from their ship (while all the other people on the bus were on our ship) but their party of five was split between the group of helicopters we went out with and the next group so half of their group was up on the glacier when our bus was ready to leave. The woman seemed okay with the fact that the rest of her party would have to catch the next bus back but we could have had problems eating and getting to our next excursion had we been bumped back to the next group of helicopters to go up. As it is we wasted 10 minutes waiting as the driver figured out what was going on with the other party, but as we found out that is how Alaska "ish " time works.

[MJWisconsin]

Just back from Alaska last week.

 

We went on the Coastal Glacier landing. Coastal was a fine company everything went perfectly. I think they might have had a slightly higher price then ERA but still lower then the ships.

[manasvi10]

Just back from Alaska last week.

 

We went on the Coastal Glacier landing. Coastal was a fine company everything went perfectly. I think they might have had a slightly higher price then ERA but still lower then the ships.

 

 

Thank you very much for sharing your experience and all the details. I did check the deals by Coastal Helicopters and their prices are actually lesser than Era by 40$ or so. On their website they mentioned that their tours cover only 1 glacier as opposed to 4 glaciers by Era. So I was not sure. Can you share some more details on the route they took or anything else that was covered/not covered by them? Did you book it through cruiseline? We will be travelling on Norwegian Pearl.

[manasvi10]

We did the Misty Fjords by boat. I think it was the Allen family who owned the line of boats and we had a great time. We saw a bear, Orcas, harbor seals, and bald eagles.

 

 

We did the glacier helicopter tour with dogsledding with ERA and they were very good with a nice flightseeing tour and the landing on the glacier for the dogsledding. ERA does change peoples seats after the landing so everyone should have a chance to either have a window seat or be up front for at least one part of the flight. My husband had a window seat both ways and I was in the middle of the back one way then up front. The way they assign seats varies according to weight distribution so you can't be too picky about where you sit.

 

We had booked this through the cruiseline and the trip was smooth for us. Now one family that were from a different cruise ship but who were on a bus to the ERA site with us did have a problem. I am not sure if they booked through their cruiseship or independently as they were the only people we picked up from their ship (while all the other people on the bus were on our ship) but their party of five was split between the group of helicopters we went out with and the next group so half of their group was up on the glacier when our bus was ready to leave. The woman seemed okay with the fact that the rest of her party would have to catch the next bus back but we could have had problems eating and getting to our next excursion had we been bumped back to the next group of helicopters to go up. As it is we wasted 10 minutes waiting as the driver figured out what was going on with the other party, but as we found out that is how Alaska "ish " time works.

 

 

Thanks a lot. This is what I was looking for and now all my questions related to Misty Fjords are clarified and soon i will decide on my helicopter ride. Today I called Era's office and they asked me to pick a time for the flight for me and my husband. Hopefully we will be on the same flight. And best part is by booking through them directly, I am going to save 55$ per person..

[Budget Queen]

Only my slant, having flown with 3 out of the 4 Juneau helicopter companies, ERA is a big company which is a major ship contractor. They rely mostly on seasonal pilots and I found them the most "shuttle like" of my 6 glaicer helicopter flights. They are tightly scheduled and some flights actually drop off and you fly back on another.

 

All the companies are well established and of high quality. Just because they claim, "4 glaciers" it doesn't really mean anything, look at the flying time and landing number. The bulk of the area is Juneau icefield and spectacular scenery.

 

There are no concerns with booking independent. ALWAYS go with the vendor's timing recommendation and know your port times and confirm.

[KK11]

Thanks, I have also booked with Era for 4:00 pm on Mon, 28-July for the four glacier tour in Juneau

[bosun1972]

Just did a helicopter trip out of Juneau. Skip the town, do the helicopter. We had three hours hiking on the glacier, which was the highlight of our trip. Six people plus two guides. Saw the fleets of Era and Temsco helicopters overhead. (Sometimes 8 copters together.) Go with a smaller company...

 

Go with a

[Alaskabound725]

We are going to Alaska in aug 3 rd week and I am looking for a good combination of excursions.

 

In Ketchiken,

we are thinking of Misty Fjords by Catamaran for 4.5 hrs offered by our cruise line. I have seen posts where it is recommended by Floatplane. but just trying to save some bucks for Juneau excursions..Has anyone done it by boat? can you share the experience? Do you think floatplane will be better?

 

In Juneau,

We are thinking of doing 4 glacier (land on 1 ) by helicopter. I saw that the prices quoted by cruiseline are 50$ to 70$ higher than private tour companies. This is our first cruise and so we are worried about private tours. But savings are so tempting that I need some advice. I saw good deals by Era alaska helicopters.Has anybody done it recently with this company? or do you have other suggestions for searching for local tours?

 

 

We are going on our first cruise this Friday. We booked privately & then realized it is the SAME company the Rhapsody of the seas uses for her floatplane tour. "Wings airways" spoke with Holly. Saving money:D We chose not to land on a glacier so we could put the money towards another tour.

Good luck picking your tours, sometimes I had more than 10 windows open to find what I wanted,

[s&f4travel]

We booked an excursion to Misty Fjords that included both a floatplane and boat. We flew from the dock over the fjords and landed at the boat, then took the boat trip back to the dock. The floatplane there was one of the highlights of the trip. We booked through the cruiseline (RCCL), and unfortunately, I don't recall the operator. It didn't matter much, the scenery was so incredible, any commentary was just extra. I know this trip is a bit pricey, but was worth every penny to us.

[manasvi10]

I am travelling by NCL and I did not see Ketchiken excursion which has boat +floatplane combination for Misty fjords. So I am going to stick to the boat.

 

For Juneau, Even I think that NCL will have either Era or Temsco as their vendors but it is 55$ expensive so I thought of booking independent one. I checked with Wings airways and looks like Taku glacier related trips are arranged by them but they do not allow independent bookings atleast online. They redirect the booking request to Cruiseline website. Does anybody know helicopter company other than these 3 which is better?

 

I will add one more question regarding butchart gardens. Our ship's docking time is 6 pm in Victoria. I have read that the gardens are 45 min from dock. Is it worth spending 70$/person (butchart entrace is 28$/person) for 3.5 hrs trip ? Will there be any light in victoria after 7? or we will see only night illuminations and fire works..

[manasvi10]

Thanks, I have also booked with Era for 4:00 pm on Mon, 28-July for the four glacier tour in Juneau

 

 

I am going in 3 rd week of Aug so still have plenty time to book and then may be cancel:D ..Please share your experience with Era once you come back. Have a safe trip.