Alaska Excursions--post your reviews here!

[scm]

Temsco charges $509 p.p.for all ages

 

[silverangel879]

I've heard they would not let book if you are on a Disney Cruise (apparently they are the ones who are running the Disney ones). Did you called them directly?

 

[saintstickets]

I've heard they would not let book if you are on a Disney Cruise (apparently they are the ones who are running the Disney ones). Did you called them directly?

I called TEMSCO and had no problems booking our excursion during our Disney cruise. Their website seems to indicate you need to go through the cruise line but we were able to book the helicopter/dog sled excursion in Skagway for 27Aug2015. Our date to book excursions through DCL is not until 5/26/15.

 

[Kimberly1]

I think deciding on your excursions is the most daunting part of Alaska trip planning. There are so many awesome choices. How do you decide?

 

[silverangel879]

I called TEMSCO and had no problems booking our excursion during our Disney cruise. Their website seems to indicate you need to go through the cruise line but we were able to book the helicopter/dog sled excursion in Skagway for 27Aug2015. Our date to book excursions through DCL is not until 5/26/15.

Awesome! I'll call them! we will be in Skagway on Sept 3rd!

Thanks a lot for the info

 

[scm]

Saintstickets~ did you have any personal guideline for how you chose the time of day to pick when you booked Temsco? I realize that no one can control the weather but I hate to think we could be cancelled for that.

 

[saintstickets]

Saintstickets~ did you have any personal guideline for how you chose the time of day to pick when you booked Temsco? I realize that no one can control the weather but I hate to think we could be cancelled for that.

No guidelines. We chose the morning option in case it was canceled so that we'd at least possibly have a chance to rebook in the afternoon.

 

[marisol72]

We have a large onboard credit and were planning to use it ziplining in Ketchikan with Disney cruise . Our problem is our youngest is 8 and Disney won't allow us to book him for bear creek ziplining which is the one we wanted to do. Do you know if we can book him directly with the ziplining company and the others with Disney?

 

[scm]

No guidelines. We chose the morning option in case it was canceled so that we'd at least possibly have a chance to rebook in the afternoon.

We booked the afternoon on that day hoping sun would clear weather by then- hope we both are lucky!

 

[noahdove]

denise, the sweatshirt you purchased, does it have Skagway, AK on it, or some other
great design? Thank you..

 

[Psychomom3168]

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?

We just did the Wildlife Sanctuary Saturday. It was awesome! They apparently ask the zip liners not to scream so they don't frighten wildlife. Unfortunatle, we didn't see any bears, but our guide was knowledgeable, and we did see a few salmon wimping to the hatchery to spawn, bald eagles, and my personal favorite on this excursion, reindeer! We were also able to visit with a man carving a totem pole. As this was our first time doing shore excursions, we booked them all through Disney, which relieved a bit of stress because they were doing the thinking and planning for us.

 

[WaylaLady]

We just did the Wildlife Sanctuary Saturday. It was awesome! They apparently ask the zip liners not to scream so they don't frighten wildlife. Unfortunatle, we didn't see any bears, but our guide was knowledgeable, and we did see a few salmon wimping to the hatchery to spawn, bald eagles, and my personal favorite on this excursion, reindeer! We were also able to visit with a man carving a totem pole. As this was our first time doing shore excursions, we booked them all through Disney, which relieved a bit of stress because they were doing the thinking and planning for us.

Haha, we just did the Rain Forest Island Adventure on Saturday! It was fantastic. Glad to hear that the Sanctuary was good, it sounded like it could be, I was just scared off by some of the reviews. Glad it's nice!

 

[GatorMomInNC]

Thanks to all the previous posters for reviews and info. I have really gotten a LOT of useful info on this thread!

We are DCL gold, but ended up booking Alaska with Celebrity as they had an 11-night cruise in September for the same or less $$. But there is a very definite anti-kid vibe on Celebrity forums, and since we are on a late season cruise I think my kids may be one of a very few on the ship -quite a change for them from DCL!

Anyway I just booked Harv and Marv for Juneau whale watching, in part based on all the glowing reviews here. I considered Gastineau, which I could only due through the cruise line, and felt it would be a better experience going private with H&M.

 

[marisol72]

We want to do a glacier walkabout. Is it the same doing it from skagway or Juneau?

 

[chipscinderelly]

We are signed up to do the Klondike Family Challenge in Skagway and I would LOVE to see a review of this excursion given it is new this year.

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

We are going to Alaska in August and are trying to decide between two excursions in Ketchikan...Alaskan Rainforest Sanctuary & crab feast or Wilderness exploration and crab feast. Has anyone done these? Do they go to the same place just by different means (bus vs boat)

 

[sharksfinatic17]

I read close to 40 Alaska specific threads before going on our cruise last week, so my information is no means new (since our excursions were ones mentioned over and over), but it is current.

Skagway - We went with Chilkoot Tours. Our guide was Stanley, and she was fantastic. We trained up and bussed back. We add lunch at Carcross and the Dog Cart. We were in a van with 17 people total (we were a group of 10 to begin with). It was a bit of wait for Stanley because she was picking up a few people at the other dock, but nothing unbearable. We had our bug spray handy luckily. The dock was the worst for mosquitoes. Once we were all in the van, we headed to the train. We had to wait for all of the busses to get their passengers delivered and then we were off. As soon as the train rain was over, Stanley was ready for us. We started heading down the road and had a bear sighting. We quickly turned around, and after much searching found the bear. There were two coach busses behind us that according to Stanley were very happy we stopped because the big busses aren't allowed to stop on the road. There were many stops along the road where we got out of the shuttle, and took pictures and walked around. A great day!

Juneau - We went with Harv and Marv. We were on the Alaskan (which they call the Mercedes), and it was super comfortable. As mentioned before, we were a group of 10 so had our own boat. There was a naturalist as well as the captain on board. We were picked up at the dock, driven to where we would find the boat (with a nice talk about what we were seeing), and then off on our adventure. This was a rainy morning, but not too cold. As we were heading out to find whiles, ALL the boats headed to the right...but us. We went to the left and were completely alone until we found about 10 whales hanging out together. Once our captain radioed the other boats, we were no longer alone. We saw breaching, bubble netting, and everything else imaginable. There was even a calf who was having the best time playing in the water. What a successful trip! Then it was back to the van to visit Mendenhall Glacier. It was raining pretty good at this point, but our driver gave us some extra time to get pictures. He was supposed give us 15 minutes, but extended it to 30. Which was perfect due to the rain. If it was a nice day, I would have paid the extra money and taken the shuttle back to town and spent more time exploring, but alas that wasn't the case.

Ketchikan - We went with Island Wings. Again another great choice. We used two float planes - Michelle the owner of Island Wings contracted with another plane because she can only handle six for sight seeing. We were with her for two hours of beautiful flying. We landed on a lake, got out of the float plane and walked around, and then after about 15 minutes got back in the plane to fly back. What beautiful country!!! She narrated and answered questions the majority of the time. Simply awesome!!

Let me know if you have any questions!

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

Following...cruising Alaska next year.

 

[Jcal2021]

We so appreciated all of the information on this site as we were planning our trip and wanted to pay it forward!

We were on the 6/29/15 sailing and had an amazing trip! Here are our excursions:

Skagway:
AM- Chilkoot Charters White Pass Summit bus/rail combo
This was a great excursion and well worth booking independently. We were a party of 3 and there were maybe 10-12 other people on the tour. Our guide on the way up was really entertaining and we made several stops for pictures. When we transferred from the the bus to the train for the ride down, our group had its own train car, meaning that it was less than half full and anyone who wanted to sit on the right side for the best view could do so. We saw some of the other cars that looked packed like sardines and we were really glad we'd gone this route.

PM- we had helicopter/dog sledding booked with Temsco, but it was cancelled due to weather. They were super friendly over the cancellation and while we were disappointed to miss the excursion, we weren't sad to have $1500 credited back to our card. Alaska is not a cheap trip!!

Juneau:
Rum Runners Captain's Choice Whale Watching
Captain Chris and Emma (naturalist) were awesome. Of all of our excursions, this is the one we'd repeat in a heartbeat. The captain made every effort to ensure we had the chance to see any and all wildlife and he didn't disappoint. Plenty of whales, a pod of dall's porpoises, seals, sea lions, Eagles. He spotted an orca from what seemed like an impossible distance and motored straight to it. Eventually he called in to the other sight seeing boats to let them know, but we got some great unobstructed views first! After the trip he said he'd take us wherever we wanted to go. It was lunchtime and we asked for a recommendation, so he took us to Twisted Fish- great local seafood! Even though the day was cloudy and chilly, it was an awesome excursion.

Ketchikan:
Southeast Sea Kayaks- Orca's Cove
This was another great way to get away from the masses. We were in a 3 person kayak with our 6 year old daughter in the middle. There was one other family of 3 plus a guide on the tour. Beautiful day and beautiful scenery, but by the end of the trip both dad and daughter were really ready to get out of the Kayak. Our guide was great and the highlights for my daughter were holding a starfish and seeing salmon jumping right beside us. I'd recommend this trip, but would probably try something different if/ when we get to Ketchikan again. After kayaking we checked out creek street and rode the funicular up to the lodge. Again- great way to avoid the crowds! We had local seafood chowder and smoked salmon spread while enjoying great views of the town.

All in all a great trip and we hope to go back again soon!!

 

[MommyMeNDisney]

We so appreciated all of the information on this site as we were planning our trip and wanted to pay it forward!

We were on the 6/29/15 sailing and had an amazing trip! Here are our excursions:

Skagway:
AM- Chilkoot Charters White Pass Summit bus/rail combo
This was a great excursion and well worth booking independently. We were a party of 3 and there were maybe 10-12 other people on the tour. Our guide on the way up was really entertaining and we made several stops for pictures. When we transferred from the the bus to the train for the ride down, our group had its own train car, meaning that it was less than half full and anyone who wanted to sit on the right side for the best view

Does this private company have a max number of people they will allow in one group? Are the people in your group the only ones allowed in your train car?

I'm trying to determine how to have the same experience of a less crowded train car. TIA