Alaska Excursions--post your reviews here!

[saintstickets]

You can book through a 3rd party like Alaska Icefield Expeditions. I saved about $175 for 2 people going through them.

Thanks for the response. I previously sent this company an email on 2 separate occasions with no response. Maybe the third time will be a charm? ;-)

 

[loricfam]

This is the excursion DW and I want to do the most. When you try to book direct from Temsco, they tell you on their website that if you're on a cruise ship that you need to book through the cruise line. Is this something new or were you able to book direct anyway? TIA

I called the Temsco in Skagway directly using the number from their website. They answered right away and booked my helicopter/dog-sledding right over the phone, then emailed me a receipt. I even told them I was on the Disney cruise and they didn't say anything about not being able to book directly. I'd say to give them a call instead of emailing them.

 

[saintstickets]

I called the Temsco in Skagway directly using the number from their website. They answered right away and booked my helicopter/dog-sledding right over the phone, then emailed me a receipt. I even told them I was on the Disney cruise and they didn't say anything about not being able to book directly. I'd say to give them a call instead of emailing them.

Thanks...will do!

 

[RKKUNK]

saintstickets, sorry I didn't answer your question sooner, we just happened to be at Disneyland! My husband booked the excursion. We went in 2013. He said he doesn't remember anything on the website about booking thru the cruise ship. This might be something new. Wouldn't you think most of the people doing the excursion would be off of a cruise ship? It just seems strange to me that they would want you to book thru the ship. A lot of people will just because it's easier, but I wonder why they would discourage a person from doing it on their own? Just saw the other reply! Haha! My husband also called them directly when he booked.

 

[Jcal2021]

I called the Temsco Skagway office yesterday and booked directly with no problems. They were very friendly and even looked up the exact location where the Wonder would be docking so they could give us accurate directions. The only difference between booking directly throught the company vs through the cruise line seems to be that you have to get yourself to the airfield. They sent us a map and it looks like about a 10-15 minute walk, so not a big deal.

Thanks so much for all the great advice on this board!

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

We just booked the dog sledding glacier excursion directly thru temsco with no issues. We were debating between the glacier trek and the dog sledding. Hope we made the right choice, but figured we couldn't go wrong with the dog sledding. Anyone ever do just the glacier trek? Is it just walking around on the ice glacier and getting information from the guides or is there a lot of I trees ting glacier crevices and caves to see?

 

[labdogs42]

I will have to dig through this thread to find all the info I'm looking for. I know I want to do a dogsled tour of some kind and I'd love to see bears. We just booked for August 2016, so I have a little time!

 

[AngelDisney]

Anyone ever do just the glacier trek? Is it just walking around on the ice glacier and getting information from the guides or is there a lot of I trees ting glacier crevices and caves to see?

Here is a trip report on trekking on a glacier (click here). I am not sure how similar it is to what you are interested in doing. It looks like fun and good as a back up plan for dogsledding.

Have fun planning!

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

Here is a trip report on trekking on a glacier (click here). I am not sure how similar it is to what you are interested in doing. It looks like fun and good as a back up plan for dogsledding.

Have fun planning!

Thank yu so much for posting this! It was exactly what I needed to see! This will be a perfect option if we cannot dogsled!

 

[Mrs Green]

I will have to dig through this thread to find all the info I'm looking for. I know I want to do a dogsled tour of some kind and I'd love to see bears. We just booked for August 2016, so I have a little time!

Same here, we are booked for 8/8/16 and I am just ecstatic!

 

[becca1976]

My dh and I sailed the wonder Sept. 1, 2014 to Alaska. Amazing trip! All my excursions were booked independently.

In Skagway we booked a tour with Dyea Dave. I found him on cruise critic by accident and he has wonderful reviews. I didn't want to pay the expense for the train ride, so at first we considered renting a car. I was a little nervous about that and was thrilled when I came across dyea dave's site. He is an honest business man...local. He doesn't even require payment until the trip is over. We payed $79 per person and we were picked up at the dock in a mini bus. It had large windows for viewing everything and Jeanine was a very informative driver giving us a wonderful history of Skagway. She stopped numerous times for pictures and the trip up and back was scenic and leisurely. The bus follows the same route as the train. We could actually see it at points along our journey. If you are looking for cheap options to save some money, you won't regret this excursion.

In Juneau we did a whale watching tour with Harv and Marv. This was, hands down, the best excursion of our trip. We had an amazing whale watching experience with a lot of activity. I know this can vary depending on the whales, but we got really lucky.

The benefit of Harv and Marv is a smaller vessel with fewer people. We had an unobstructed view of the whale activity 100% of the time. I spoke to another passenger that booked a different tour through Disney Cruise Line and it was a large, double decker boat that was full of people. She mentioned her frustration of not even being able to get her camera in front of the wall of people to get any good photos. With only 10 people on board our little boat, we were up close and personal with the whale activity. It was the best day of the entire week.

In Ketchikan we booked a tour on the Aleutian Ballad. They take you out into open water and bring up traps upon traps filled with all sorts of unique sea creatures. You can hold star fish, prawns and box crabs. You can get your pictures taken with the crew holding the giant Alaskan King Crabs. You can view other sea creatures like an octopus, etc. The crew did an amazing job of keeping us entertained with real-life fishing stories. Let me tell you...fishing is not for wimps. These men have some near death experiences to share. It is pretty incredible to just listen to them. This is an awesome and educational excursion that elementary age kids would love.

I really wanted to see bear while in Alaska. One of our table mates booked a bear watching excursion and they didn't see one bear. I know there is always that risk. I'm thankful that our excursions worked out as beautifully as they did. We had an amazing time!

 

[saintstickets]

Has anyone used Viator for any of their Alaska excursions? We are looking at the Misty Fjord seaplane excursion in Ketchikan.

 

[labdogs42]

Same here, we are booked for 8/8/16 and I am just ecstatic!

We sail right after you! We are on the 8/15/16 sailing!

 

[librarianamy]

Our August 2016 Alaska cruise will be our first, so forgive a newbie question...

I see that our ashore time in Juneau is 6:45 am... and it looks that way for the 2015 cruises as well. For those of you who have booked the "early" trip with Harv & Marv, from what I can tell it boards at 7 am. Is that 15 minute gap enough time? I assume that they're professionals and are familiar with all of the cruise lines coming into port, so if the ship were late that would be one thing - as long as we booked it off the ship to meet with them? (I'd love to do their 7:00 trip, it would leave plenty of time to still explore on our own afterwards.)

 

[Mrs Green]

Our August 2016 Alaska cruise will be our first, so forgive a newbie question...

I see that our ashore time in Juneau is 6:45 am... and it looks that way for the 2015 cruises as well. For those of you who have booked the "early" trip with Harv & Marv, from what I can tell it boards at 7 am. Is that 15 minute gap enough time? I assume that they're professionals and are familiar with all of the cruise lines coming into port, so if the ship were late that would be one thing - as long as we booked it off the ship to meet with them? (I'd love to do their 7:00 trip, it would leave plenty of time to still explore on our own afterwards.)

That's a good question. I don't know since Alaska August 2016 is our first cruise too. Which sailing are you on? We are 8/8/16!

 

[sharksfinatic17]

We are doing first trip out with Harv and Marv in June. I am sure that they are on top of this. In all the reviews I read, no one mentioned this as a problem.

 

[WaylaLady]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any experience with Disney's "Rain Forest Island Adventure" in Ketchikan?
http://goo.gl/8sW6of

I haven't seen any reviews, and am curious because I'd really like a rainforest experience that isn't at the Rainforest Wildlife Sanctuary. Although the Sanctuary tour is less expensive, I've read several reviews that say it's not as good since they added the zipline, due to the screaming from the folks riding it, lol!

Anyone have any experience with this?

 

[silverangel879]

To the ones that did the dog sledding through Temsco, can you tell me the prices? I am checking which one is better...we know for sure we want to d this but looking for the best combo of good/not super pricy

 

[silverangel879]

This was an amazing trip! With my husband and 7 year old.

Skagway - booked the helicopter/glacier/dog sled excursion on our own. I wanted to do it early in the trip since this is the most often cancelled excursion (due to weather) but the one that would be most meaningful to us all. The place we had to go was literally next to the ship. Walked over -- took 2 minutes. Got all the gear and within minutes was in a helicopter. Aside from my wedding, this was the best experience of my life! We had an amazing time. Not the least of which was that except for the people training the dogs, it's just you and the 3 other people who were on your helicopter. You are virtually alone on a glacier in the middle of nowhere. Awesome! The dogs were amazing. Each group goes on a sled -- just your family. My son led the team the entire time. In addition to it being a singularly amazing experience, we have fab pictures of us with the puppies!

Juneau - we didn't plan anything (in case we needed to reschedule the helicopter/dog sled) and took the tram. Great views. But when I have spent days with thousands of people, when we dock I want to get off and be far from crowds.

Ketchikan - thru Disney, we did a canoeing trip. My only complaint about DCL excursions are that there are more people than I'd like, but this was a fabulous excursion. We were in the middle of nowhere, in a state or national park, canoeing through the pristine water. Really, really beautiful. Another favorite experience.

Have fun!

I don't know if I missed this answer, but which company you used for the Skagway excursion?

 

[EllinK]

I don't know if I missed this answer, but which company you used for the Skagway excursion?

Temsco