Dolly Varden Tours

[jmezmom]

Hi,

 

We are looking to reserve the Yukon tour and mendenhall glacier float trip with this company.

 

Any opinions on the company would be appreciated and any specific ones for these tours would be great too!

 

thanks

[Yukon]

Dolly Varden is a booking agency in Haines and there have been some pretty poor reviews of them here recently. It's always better to book with the operator IMHO, so you know exactly what's going on and where your money has gone.

[plenox]

do some research on this board and book directly with vendors. It will eliminate the possibility of booking agents misplacing your files and you ending up without an excursion.

[jmezmom]

do some research on this board and book directly with vendors. It will eliminate the possibility of booking agents misplacing your files and you ending up without an excursion.

 

So Dolly varden is not the vendor?

 

Do they book the trips for smaller companies?

[jmezmom]

Dolly Varden is a booking agency in Haines and there have been some pretty poor reviews of them here recently. It's always better to book with the operator IMHO, so you know exactly what's going on and where your money has gone.

 

Do you have any suggestions for an operator for a float trip in Juneau or especially the yukon trip to emerald lake in Skagway?

 

We were going to rent a car and drive it with Murrays guide but my husband wants to look at scenery instead of keeping his eyes on the road!

 

Thanks

[NancyIL]

Do you have any suggestions for an operator for a float trip in Juneau or especially the yukon trip to emerald lake in Skagway?

 

We were going to rent a car and drive it with Murrays guide but my husband wants to look at scenery instead of keeping his eyes on the road!

 

Thanks

 

We really enjoyed our 7-hour rail/bus excursion to the Yukon with Chilkoot Charters in 2007: http://www.skagwaysbesttour.com/yukonrail.htm

[Marie321]

I second Nancy's suggeston with Chilcoot. We really enjoyed their tour! Here is a link:

 

http://www.skagwaysbesttour.com/yukonrail.htm

[jmezmom]

Thanks,

 

Chilkoot looks great but there are no prices listed! I called and left a mesage!

[Budget Queen]

Do you have any suggestions for an operator for a float trip in Juneau or especially the yukon trip to emerald lake in Skagway?

 

We were going to rent a car and drive it with Murrays guide but my husband wants to look at scenery instead of keeping his eyes on the road!

 

Thanks

 

Overall, of all the tours I have taken in Alaska, over 100, the Mendenhall float trip is near the bottom and one I don't recommend. You get a very brief distant view of the glacier, rest of trip is trees and backyards. For the cost, money may be better spent elsewhere.

 

You definately have the "wrong" idea on driving the Klondike Highway, it is simple and easily viewable by both passengers and driver, and frankly, superior to a crowded van or bus and the restrictions in your stops and time. It's a clear cut, 2 lane road. No big deal to drive.

[Toyz711]

We used discoveryexcursions.com for all of our tours. We saw Dolly Varden online but when someone told us about the other we found the same tours but much cheaper!!!!!!!! We did ask them about the float trip and they told us why they do not sell them. They said that the float trip starts at the Mendenhall Glacier / Mendenhall Lake which is in the the National Forest however shortly after ( withen 10 min ) the river travels outside of the park and into commercial land. Because of this people have built there nice big homes along the river and all you do on the trip is look into peoples backyard. They let us know that they used to sell the trip and told people this but people would go anyway and come back unhappy. When we were there on another tour this looked to be the case. We thanked them for the heads up being that the trip is over $100 per person. Check discoveryexcursions.com out, they will help you with whats good and whats not. People at our table that went on it said that it was very boring and they didn't see any animals. But they did see a chariub statue peeing into the river as to say piss on all tourist, pretty funny even though techinacly I guess we were the ones they were talking about. Personally in Juneau ( we have been there a lot) I would do the Taku Floatplane, the 100% guarenteed whale whatch, or a helicopter of some sort, also ziplining looks fun. Go to the site and right them a email they'll help you out a lot.

 

why would anyone want to use a tour vendor with a texas phone number....when it's so easy to book direct with any alaskan vendor?

direct is best!!!