Alaska Excursions--post your reviews here!

[womanredress]

By end of August, bug spray won't be needed. Bug season is June/July. I've been to Alaska in August and it is bug free. Going Aug 16th with Disney and will not be taking insect spray.

Inkmahm,
Thank you for that great information! I'm going on Aug 23rd and I've now heard from two different people that August will not be buggy! That is a relief to me because my younger sister is like a mosquito magnet and will wind up with dozens of bug bites within minutes of going outside. It makes for a miserable time for her. I'm so glad I switched from my mid June reservation to this late August one!

Our bags are already going to be so stuffed, that information on what NOT to bring is super helpful!

Thanks again!

 

[denise]

pray for no mosquito's next week please....I hate them, they love me...must be my O- blood they are after....I am the universal donor after all

 

[joycsk]

On the June 14th trip we did the following:

Skagway: Used Chilkoot Tours for a Train and Dog Camp Excursion. We were met at the dock by a driver of a van that seated about 25 people (20 of whom were on the Wonder). We drove up to Caribou Crossing--stopping along the way for views, wildlife, etc. It was great. Our guide would take us to areas that didn't have lots of buses or people. Stopped by a lake to skip stones as well! We had a little bit of time so we went on to Emerald Lake (an unscheduled stop which was nice!). At Caribou Crossing, we had the BBQ Chicken lunch (which was just okay, the fresh donuts were nice though!) before our dog sled ride. My daughters loved the dog sled ride and loved the huskey puppies even more! The museum was fun to walk through as well as the ice cream cones! We got back on our van and then drove to the train depot at Frazier. The Chilkoot Tour Company had one car for all us (which was nice because we certainly didn't have a lot of people so were able to move back and forward in the train car). The train ride was fantastic; we also stopped a couple of times to pick up hikers. We still had a couple of hours to explore Skagway--went to the Red Onion and had drinks and snacks. I highly recommend Chilkoot Tours--very professional and MUCH smaller than the Disney tour. We met up with the Disney tour at the dog sled camp--the group was just finishing up and getting back on the buses. Was nice to be traveling with 23 people and a guide. And, it was about $150 cheaper than Disney. Chilkoot Tours actually thinks your 12 year old is a child and charges accordingly>

We're doing this tour without the sled ride. I especially liked that you can leave at 8:30 if you're taking the bus first! Appreciate the review!

 

[Inkmahm]

pray for no mosquito's next week please....I hate them, they love me...must be my O- blood they are after....I am the universal donor after all

Sorry, you're there at the height of bug season. It's one of the reasons that I go in August!

 

[thej]

Sorry, you're there at the height of bug season. It's one of the reasons that I go in August!

We just got back today, and didn't see a single mosquito, though the only place we ever saw the sun was Skagway it was rainy and overcast the rest of the time.

 

[PBader]

There WERE mosquitos when we were at Taku (June 18th). The Lodge did have bug spray available for people to use (it was on a shelf on the front porch of the main lodge). I hope you have fun... Taku was a favorite part of our trip for ALL of us (me, hubby, 7yo son and 9yo son). We'd do it again... food was so good.

Thank you, I am really looking forward to it. I couldn't talk the rest of our travel party into going on the plane, so it will only be me & dh. I don't want to wish away my summer but I wish August 30th would get here a little bit faster

 

[BruceT]

Hi, I'm local here in Abbotsford, BC, if you want good fishing guides contact STS Guides and ask for Thomas Russchtman,he is a friend of mine here and a fantastic guide.
just tell him Bruce TenHoeve sent you,he will show you a great time.
Depending on when you are fishing before or after the cruise in August we will also have Sockeye running and some late pinks and chinook(kings)

best regards
Bruce TenHoeve

 

[buddywesley]

we just got back yesterday so wanted to update what we did.

scagway: white pass railway and trail camp. we were on the 11:45 one and wished we had gone to town earlier as we didnt have time to explore town and be back for Cars 2 that night at our 5pm showing. scagway was my most favorite port. I thought it was prettiest and we had a beautiful day there. train was great. scenery was beautiful. They don't sell snacks though so I'd advise bringing snacks along for the little ones. I was giving out snacks to other families with hungry kids! the liarsville camp was pretty silly. The show was ok and the gold panning was a joke. Fun to see an old town but could have skipped it. This is the only place I saw Mosquitos too. The bus part of the tour was great though. We got out for 2 picture stops and saw different scenery than on the train. Over all we enjoyed the day here.

Juneau: We did the whale watching and mendenhall glacier. This was a great trip! We were lucky to see a residence pod of Orcas(they say they only see Orcas 10% of the time) sea lions, porpoises, eagle trying to feed on salmon in the water and a humpback mama and baby. The Orcas were so amazing, we sat there for half an hour watching them. There were about 15 or so! Then we went to Mendenhall Glacier. Our bus driver was 237 with Evan. he was great. Glacier was beautiful but we only got to spend an hour at the glacier. My son got his jr ranger badge there so he was excited! When we returned we got dropped off into town for shopping and traces crab shack. Use those little coupon books you get at vancouver port and you'll get some great cheap souvenirs. traces was yummy! A little pricey, but the crab bisque is great and the legs are huge! I heard it's on the top ten list of places to eat before you
die! It sprinkled off and on here and was a little colder than scagway but didn't really matter much!

Ketchikan: we did wilderness explored and crab feast. It was nasty weather and the worst day we had. We boarded a smaller boat after a short bus ride(couldn't see much because the windows were so dirty on the bus. Other ports excursions drivers cleaned them) in our opinion the boat ride to pull up crabs was stupid sorry but only word I can use! Didn't see much wildlife and only 2 people got to pull up the pots. My son got to hold a crab but the other 45 minutes or so was just nothingness. After the ride we went to George inlet lodge for a crab feast. This was great! The staff was super fun and informative. The crab was all you can eat yummy and we had a stacking contest and crab dance! we were stuffed after and had to force ourselves to eat lobster that night when we returned we had time to go to town for a bit but kids didn't want to because of the rain. They went to club and I got ready for dinner while my husband went to souvenir shop again crab was great, weather and rest of excursion not so good.

I'm in Vancouver till Friday but will try to answer any questions as I can

 

[KathyM2]

We were on the first Alaskan (May 3-10). Here are my reviews from another thread:

Skagway: Yukon exploration with White Pass RR and dog sledding through Chilkoot Charters...this was FANTASTIC! Our favorite experience by far

Juneau: Whale Watching and Mendenhall Glacier...also loved this. Saw humpbacks up pretty close, sea lions, porpoises and bald eagles. They served drinks and snacks (salmon, crackers, chocolate) and had a restroom onboard. They also had a naturalist onboard to talk about the whales and we learned a lot. The boat is enclosed, but you can go out the back or front when they find the whales. Glacier was gorgeous and you could walk pretty close, nice trails and visitors center but only 1 hour there and it goes by quickly. I would probably not do the whale watching again simply b/c we saw so many from our verandah, though the tour was great. The 9:30 whale watchers didn't see whales and got their money back. We also did Historic Gold Panning Adventure that afternoon, since we were back at the ship in time to do another tour. Very fun. They took us to Gold Creek, where Juneau himself struck gold, and let us pan. This is really great for kids, especially in the 7-11 range. Get your feet wet and find some riches! The kids in our tour loved it. They do make sure everyone "finds" gold by giving you your first pan from their stock of sand. You get flakes and they will put them in a vial for you.

Ketchikan: My DD and I did the Potlatch Park with youth activity tour. We really liked this. You visit the totem park with a guide and he did a great job of telling some kid-friendly stories about the totems (like how one is their version of Hansel and Gretel). It didn't last too long and let the kids get up close with the totems. Then we met the carver at Potlatch Park and got to see her studio. After a quick visit to the clan house and some questions from the kids, DCL youth counselors magically appeared to help the kids paint feather-scales for the totem that is being erected. We then explored the town a bit and went to the DCL Lumberjack Show (I just bought tickets for this on the lumberjack show website...you don't have to book through DCL...it isn't literally "exclusive," though I suspect it will fill up later in the season). This was wonderful! You should definitely do it. Kids loved it. Loved. Lots of participation for the 7+ set. My parents did a trolley tour of the town and said it sucked. They also visited Saxman village and said that without a guide, it was a waste of time b/c they didn't know what they were looking at.

Interesting that the next cruise's Whale Watching adventure had loads more people. Ours was probably 35 on the boat and it was a small, fast boat, not a double-decker. We also had longer at the Glacier.

Thanks so much for your reviews! I'm so glad to see that it's feasible to do more than one excursion in the ports. We booked that whale watching and also lumberjack show the same day and I was worried it might be too much.

 

[dkmjgal]

we just got back yesterday so wanted to update what we did.

scagway: white pass railway and trail camp. we were on the 11:45 one and wished we had gone to town earlier as we didnt have time to explore town and be back for Cars 2 that night at our 5pm showing. scagway was my most favorite port. I thought it was prettiest and we had a beautiful day there. train was great. scenery was beautiful. They don't sell snacks though so I'd advise bringing snacks along for the little ones. I was giving out snacks to other families with hungry kids! the liarsville camp was pretty silly. The show was ok and the gold panning was a joke. Fun to see an old town but could have skipped it. This is the only place I saw Mosquitos too. The bus part of the tour was great though. We got out for 2 picture stops and saw different scenery than on the train. Over all we enjoyed the day here.

Juneau: We did the whale watching and mendenhall glacier. This was a great trip! We were lucky to see a residence pod of Orcas(they say they only see Orcas 10% of the time) sea lions, porpoises, eagle trying to feed on salmon in the water and a humpback mama and baby. The Orcas were so amazing, we sat there for half an hour watching them. There were about 15 or so! Then we went to Mendenhall Glacier. Our bus driver was 237 with Evan. he was great. Glacier was beautiful but we only got to spend an hour at the glacier. My son got his jr ranger badge there so he was excited! When we returned we got dropped off into town for shopping and traces crab shack. Use those little coupon books you get at vancouver port and you'll get some great cheap souvenirs. traces was yummy! A little pricey, but the crab bisque is great and the legs are huge! I heard it's on the top ten list of places to eat before you
die! It sprinkled off and on here and was a little colder than scagway but didn't really matter much!

Ketchikan: we did wilderness explored and crab feast. It was nasty weather and the worst day we had. We boarded a smaller boat after a short bus ride(couldn't see much because the windows were so dirty on the bus. Other ports excursions drivers cleaned them) in our opinion the boat ride to pull up crabs was stupid sorry but only word I can use! Didn't see much wildlife and only 2 people got to pull up the pots. My son got to hold a crab but the other 45 minutes or so was just nothingness. After the ride we went to George inlet lodge for a crab feast. This was great! The staff was super fun and informative. The crab was all you can eat yummy and we had a stacking contest and crab dance! we were stuffed after and had to force ourselves to eat lobster that night when we returned we had time to go to town for a bit but kids didn't want to because of the rain. They went to club and I got ready for dinner while my husband went to souvenir shop again crab was great, weather and rest of excursion not so good.

I'm in Vancouver till Friday but will try to answer any questions as I can

We are booked for the White Pass Railway tour with the Trail Camp but I'm not convinced I want to do it yet. DH really thinks we should do the train...DS(12) wants to pan for gold but I think he'll be disappointed-DD (15) will probably listen to her iPod the whole time anyway. Should I maybe look to just do the Railway and not worry so much about the Trail Camp? Or is it worth it to have the whole experience - Train -Trail Camp - Bus? Thanks!

 

[joycsk]

We are booked for the White Pass Railway tour with the Trail Camp but I'm not convinced I want to do it yet. DH really thinks we should do the train...DS(12) wants to pan for gold but I think he'll be disappointed-DD (15) will probably listen to her iPod the whole time anyway. Should I maybe look to just do the Railway and not worry so much about the Trail Camp? Or is it worth it to have the whole experience - Train -Trail Camp - Bus? Thanks!

We are doing WPR through Chilkoot Charters. Others have posted good reviews on this. They have two options. The first tour departs at 7:30 am, you take the train out, and then take a bus to some scenic stops, and do get to see dog-sled puppies (and an optional dog-cart ride if you wish) before returning to port. The reverse tour departs at 8:30, which is the reason we chose that one. (Though some say that the train is better on the way out than the way back.)

My DH was convinced that the panning for gold would be far more tacky than he could stand. If your kids were younger, I think that it would be more worthwhile; however, Everything I've heard and read is that WPR itself is not to be missed.

 

[dkmjgal]

Thanks Joy! I will look into this.

Kelly

 

[buddywesley]

We are booked for the White Pass Railway tour with the Trail Camp but I'm not convinced I want to do it yet. DH really thinks we should do the train...DS(12) wants to pan for gold but I think he'll be disappointed-DD (15) will probably listen to her iPod the whole time anyway. Should I maybe look to just do the Railway and not worry so much about the Trail Camp? Or is it worth it to have the whole experience - Train -Trail Camp - Bus? Thanks!

Train is full of amazing views! We sat in the last car and pretty much stood out the back of the car the whole way up. I would definately reccomend it. Friends we cruised with just did the train up and back and they said they liked it but I felt like we had it better since we could get out of bus twice and take some great pix on the way back. Liarsville IMHO was not really worth it, but my kids seemed to like it ok. Get someone to help you with the gold. We never really found anything and couldn't get it in the little baggies they gave us. (my daughter just put some tiny rocks in hers ) I think there is another excursion that I heard you pan for gold. Maybe in Juneau? People seemed to like that. Up to you. I did see some older kids there.

 

[wdhinn89]

While everyone was in Skagway, were there private excursion booths at the port? Were any of them for ziplineing? Is it possible for my husband and I to go on a ziplining tour with our kids and have them zipline and us just watch? They are 17 and 13.

 

[parrothead365]

Skagway
Eagle Preserve Wildlife River Adventure, nice boat ride to Haines then bus ride to river camp. open boat ride up river looking for wildlife. We saw plenty of eagles and a duck or two but all the other wildlife was not to be seen. You can't count on seeing moose or bears but you should see eagles. Back at camp you get to cook your own hotdog over the fire and had some awsome homemade veggy chili and cookies. The guides had some spotting scopes setup and we got to see some mountain goats up on the mountain. For those who are not real adventureous I highly recommend this one.

Our son did a zip line adventure and loved it.

Juneau
Did the Mendenhal visitor center and Roberts tramway. Bus to visitor center and plenty of time to explore. Bus back to town and tram up mountain to visitor center and a wine tasting. This was Ok but not a must do.


Ketchican
Did the eagles,totems,and lighthouse tour. Again a great time for the less adventurous. basicly a bus ride to a marina and a nice boat ride to see eagles and the sights. We enjoyed this but we did hit some rough weather.

Son did another zip line/repelling trip. He said the first one in Skagway was much better.

 

[parrothead365]

While everyone was in Skagway, were there private excursion booths at the port? Were any of them for ziplineing? Is it possible for my husband and I to go on a ziplining tour with our kids and have them zipline and us just watch? They are 17 and 13.

My son said that would not be possible to just watch. They take you up in a truck and you have to zipline back to base camp( He is 18 and loved it). We bought the excursion thru Disney.

 

[wdhinn89]

My son said that would not be possible to just watch. They take you up in a truck and you have to zipline back to base camp( He is 18 and loved it). We bought the excursion thru Disney.

Thanks!

 

[booger73]

Quick review from June 28-July 5th

Tracy Arm: It can be quite cold Decks 9-10.. even with blankets. We had a misty day/drizzled for a little while.. If I had known better I would not have been up on deck between 1p-3p and been "cold and rained on" and just watched from our Verandah.. more worth it to be on deck after 3p.. Was very pretty though..

Skagway (did 2)- we had perfect weather, no rain.. sunniest day so far according to guides
WPRR + Trail camp in early am (7:30) - did this early because adults wanted to see RR and kids wanted to go gold panning.. WPRR is very scenic and fun, even kids enjoyed it.. I personally did not enjoy Liarsville and/or gold panning and did not think it was worth the time.. (from a duration time actually spent doing it, and a "yield" and a kids didn't seem to actually have fun trying to pick out little specks, perspective)

Afternoon did Helicopter->Glacier. This, was amazing.. to actually be walking around on a glacier and seeing all of the things on it. One warning: If anyone has sensitive ears/sinuses, etc - especially kids - tell pilot.. my youngest did not tolerate the initial changes in altitude (sea level to 3k feet) on the helicopter well, but did fine with the slow descent

Juneau (also did 2) - we had great weather also
Tour of Juneau + Mendenhall Glacier: Did this to spend > 1 hr at MG compared to other tours (had done Deluxe Juneau but changed because didn't think the lunch was anything and wanted smaller whale cruise also).. If I had known, I would have skipped the Salmon Hatchery now - not much to see at all while we were there, but MG was nice

Afternoon: Exclusive Whale Encounter: On smaller boat (I counted 25 ppl).. We were on "The Big Blue", in the afternoon. We saw two pods of orcas ? and one humpback.. got lots of great pictures.. I do not think the bigger boat would have been a good choice as they often tried to follow us, but it didn't seem like they could have manuevered closer to the whales as fast as we could... so not sure if they saw a lot but i don't know..

Ketchikan: worst weather day, in my mind because of moderate rain, but was told it actually was a great day since it rains there a lot anyways
Did Exclusive Totems/Potlach/Lumberjack
Was interesting overall.. I think kids had lots of fun making the disney exclusive totems.. lumberjack show was great.. i think the kids liked it the most

Other thoughts:
Everyone was late formal night - due to excursions running long.. Im not sure disney has things timed well yet for this.. we also actually left port late (?? waiting on late excursions - we left 630p i think)

Very disappointed in disney merchandise on board for alaska.. other than a few clothing, picture things, trinkets, pins, etc.. I think they missed out on a lot of opportunity here

Inside passage was very smooth.. only twice do I remember any real "rocking" (day #2 sea day going up past vancouver island and day #7 back down for a few hours each).. otherwise totally calm (i.e. <3 ft wave)

This was our 5th Disney cruise.. but I think the best as far as excursions.. maybe it's just a factor of where it was, but Disney did do good with what they partnered with/offered.. I do think they have lots of work still to do from other perspectives (food, merchandise, timing)

 

[wdhinn89]

Quick review from June 28-July 5th

Tracy Arm: It can be quite cold Decks 9-10.. even with blankets. We had a misty day/drizzled for a little while.. If I had known better I would not have been up on deck between 1p-3p and been "cold and rained on" and just watched from our Verandah.. more worth it to be on deck after 3p.. Was very pretty though..

Skagway (did 2)- we had perfect weather, no rain.. sunniest day so far according to guides
WPRR + Trail camp in early am (7:30) - did this early because adults wanted to see RR and kids wanted to go gold panning.. WPRR is very scenic and fun, even kids enjoyed it.. I personally did not enjoy Liarsville and/or gold panning and did not think it was worth the time.. (from a duration time actually spent doing it, and a "yield" and a kids didn't seem to actually have fun trying to pick out little specks, perspective)

Afternoon did Helicopter->Glacier. This, was amazing.. to actually be walking around on a glacier and seeing all of the things on it. One warning: If anyone has sensitive ears/sinuses, etc - especially kids - tell pilot.. my youngest did not tolerate the initial changes in altitude (sea level to 3k feet) on the helicopter well, but did fine with the slow descent

Juneau (also did 2) - we had great weather also
Tour of Juneau + Mendenhall Glacier: Did this to spend > 1 hr at MG compared to other tours (had done Deluxe Juneau but changed because didn't think the lunch was anything and wanted smaller whale cruise also).. If I had known, I would have skipped the Salmon Hatchery now - not much to see at all while we were there, but MG was nice

Afternoon: Exclusive Whale Encounter: On smaller boat (I counted 25 ppl).. We were on "The Big Blue", in the afternoon. We saw two pods of orcas ? and one humpback.. got lots of great pictures.. I do not think the bigger boat would have been a good choice as they often tried to follow us, but it didn't seem like they could have manuevered closer to the whales as fast as we could... so not sure if they saw a lot but i don't know..

Ketchikan: worst weather day, in my mind because of moderate rain, but was told it actually was a great day since it rains there a lot anyways
Did Exclusive Totems/Potlach/Lumberjack
Was interesting overall.. I think kids had lots of fun making the disney exclusive totems.. lumberjack show was great.. i think the kids liked it the most

Other thoughts:
Everyone was late formal night - due to excursions running long.. Im not sure disney has things timed well yet for this.. we also actually left port late (?? waiting on late excursions - we left 630p i think)

Very disappointed in disney merchandise on board for alaska.. other than a few clothing, picture things, trinkets, pins, etc.. I think they missed out on a lot of opportunity here

Inside passage was very smooth.. only twice do I remember any real "rocking" (day #2 sea day going up past vancouver island and day #7 back down for a few hours each).. otherwise totally calm (i.e. <3 ft wave)

This was our 5th Disney cruise.. but I think the best as far as excursions.. maybe it's just a factor of where it was, but Disney did do good with what they partnered with/offered.. I do think they have lots of work still to do from other perspectives (food, merchandise, timing)

I thought Formal Night was Wed, a sea day?

When was your Semi-Formal night?

 

[DenverVal]

Formal night was the first sea day and semi-formal night was after Ketchikan. Our late seating was pushed from 8:15 to 8:30 to accommodate the late departure from port, and our servers let us know about that the night before.