Alaska Independent Tour Operators and Excursions

[mail4mel]

Harv and Marv for a private whale watching trip in Juneau. It was the highlight of our trip and no other boat trip will probably ever compare to it. We were a party of 6 and were able to find another family on our cruise (of 4) to have a private boat with the captain and a naturalist. We saw so many pods of whales, breaching, feeding. It was incredible. We recommended them to friends who went last year and they also said that it was the best time they had.

 

[Pens Fan]

Since your DS is 10, DCL would consider him an adult where independent excursions he will still be a child. My DS (s) will be 10 and 7 for our cruise. I booked a private whale watch in Juneau with rum runners. For our family of 4, the private boat was the same cost as going with the large group on DCL. The boats can accommodate 6 so your family would save $ if you went that route. We also booked Chilkoot in Skagway and kayaking with SE kayaks in Ketchikan.

You will love Rum Runners. Give Brandi a hug for me!!



Also - This is a picture that I took from our boat. The boat in the background is the one you do NOT want to be on!!

 

[RedSox68]

You will love Rum Runners. Give Brandi a hug for me!!

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Also - This is a picture that I took from our boat. The boat in the background is the one you do NOT want to be on!!

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Why? What company is that? It looks very dirty.

 

[Pens Fan]

Why? What company is that? It looks very dirty.

I don't know which company it was, but we saw several boats like that. I was just pointing out the difference between taking one of those huge tour boats crammed full of people vs. being on a smaller boat.

 

[disneylove619]

For whale watching in Juneau, I highly recommend Captain Alan and the Scania. http://www.whalewatchingjuneau.com/

Three viewing areas, the upper outside deck the lower outside deck and inside. He never takes more than 10 people, so you'll get plenty of personalized attention. The man knows the whales that live in the area, in three hours we saw 11 different humpbacks plus porpoises, seals and sea lions, lots of eagles. Best day ever.

I really like what this company is offering. My only question/concern is length of time out. We are only in Juneau until 1pm (basically a short time). Did you have a full day when you used them? Did they provide transportation back to the ship? TIA!

 

[WDWLODGE]

Planning our May 2019 Cruise, following along. Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

[dcassetta]

I really like what this company is offering. My only question/concern is length of time out. We are only in Juneau until 1pm (basically a short time). Did you have a full day when you used them? Did they provide transportation back to the ship? TIA!

We were in Juneau from 1 PM to 10 PM. They do provide transportation, we were picked up right in downtown Juneau maybe 100 yards from the ship dock, and then return to that same location. I guess your best bet would be to contact them and see if they can accommodate a morning trip.

 

[ladyofthetramp]

Did you set up the Juneau car rental in advance or do it upon arrival? Did you feel it was worthwhile?

Shanti we are cruising Alaska in August of this year. I have already booked our car through Juneau car rental. Cheaper than the shuttles or a cab for a family of 4. We can go at our own pace and time. They were very nice to talk to.

 

[mmmears]

The one tour company we used besides DCL was Above & Beyond Alaska (www.beyondak.com). They came highly recommended by a few families we know who cruised Alaska before we did, and we had a very memorable day kayaking out to Mendenhall Glacier and then climbing the glacier itself. Another favorite excursion was snorkeling in Ketchikan, which we booked through DCL, but can also be booked independently through Snorkel Alaska.

 

[kickash]

We are cruising this summer and are kayaking in Ketchikan with an independent company recommended by friends. We are using Southeast Sea Kayaks. This is our 3rd DCL cruise but first time booking an excursion with an independent company. Felt comfortable doing so after friend recommendation, reading reviews, the fact that it’s the US, etc.

 

[kwoo]

The one tour company we used besides DCL was Above & Beyond Alaska (www.beyondak.com). They came highly recommended by a few families we know who cruised Alaska before we did, and we had a very memorable day kayaking out to Mendenhall Glacier and then climbing the glacier itself. Another favorite excursion was snorkeling in Ketchikan, which we booked through DCL, but can also be booked independently through Snorkel Alaska.

We must have smiliar taste! We booked the Glacier Adventure Tour and Snorkel Alaska for our cruise in June. Any tips for either excursion?

 

[mmmears]

We must have smiliar taste! We booked the Glacier Adventure Tour and Snorkel Alaska for our cruise in June. Any tips for either excursion?

We did a private glacier kayak tour and they provided everything we needed including boots and waders for the kayak part and crampons for our shoes so we could walk up the glacier. Even lunch was provided. It was pretty cold that day, so my only advice is to take plenty of layers. As for Snorkel Alaska they also provided everything. Take an underwater camera for that one. And of course a camera for your glacier tour as well. Both tours were a bit “off the beaten path” which let us get away from large groups and enjoy the quiet and peaceful scenery all around us. Have a wonderful cruise!

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

For whale watching in Juneau, I highly recommend Captain Alan and the Scania. http://www.whalewatchingjuneau.com/

Three viewing areas, the upper outside deck the lower outside deck and inside. He never takes more than 10 people, so you'll get plenty of personalized attention. The man knows the whales that live in the area, in three hours we saw 11 different humpbacks plus porpoises, seals and sea lions, lots of eagles. Best day ever.

We just booked this for 2019! Thanks so much for the recommendation. Seems so much better than the huge whale tour boats, and cheaper than hiring a private on Harv and Marvs, which we would have had to do because we have young kids and they only allow them if you hire a private tour.

 

[Donald & Daisy Duck]

We did all our port Adventures through Disney for ease. But two out of our three could easily be booked independently. In Skagway we did a helicopter flight to a glacier and walked about. This was through Temsco helicopter tours, and it is literally right next to the dock. Just walk on over. In Juneau we did Taku Glacier Lodge flight plane tour. It was a flight plane over glaciers out to a remote lodge for lunch and exploring by a glacier. It was with Wingsairways.com Lots of people on our tour were independently booked. In Ketchikan we went out on our own hiking. The only one we could only have booked through Disney was the Tracy Arm boat tour. Then tender up to the Wonder, you climb about a much smaller boat for a close up tour of the glacier. Completely worth booking and can only be done through Disney. My suggestion is to read through the Disney port excursions, find a few that sound good to you, then google the descriptions for them at each port. Most, if not all, run independent tours as well. Lots of cruise ships in these ports in Alaska.

You can read about our experiences for our Port Adventures starting in Skagway here http://frequentlyaskeddisneyblog.com/disney-cruise-alaska-part-24/

Our booking date for excursions is next week and we would love some info on the Tracey Arm excursion. What did you love about it? Did you think it was worth the $$$. Initially it was on my must do list, but then I thought it may not be worth it because we will see the same thing from the ship. Tell me I'm wrong and I will book it. Thanks.

 

[tanya0369]

Has anyone ever done the Disney exclusive liarsville? What did you think? Will pre teens like it? Thanks!

 

[MelSpees]

Our booking date for excursions is next week and we would love some info on the Tracey Arm excursion. What did you love about it? Did you think it was worth the $$$. Initially it was on my must do list, but then I thought it may not be worth it because we will see the same thing from the ship. Tell me I'm wrong and I will book it. Thanks.

I haven't done this, but if you look through some of the other Alaska threads they talk about it. Sorry, I can't go look for it myself right now. The general consensus is that it's great to get up closer to the glaciers. A recommendation is that most young children would not enjoy it, get bored and make it an unhappy time for people around them. I think it sounds fantastic myself.

 

[TikiThunderPirates]

Our booking date for excursions is next week and we would love some info on the Tracey Arm excursion. What did you love about it? Did you think it was worth the $$$. Initially it was on my must do list, but then I thought it may not be worth it because we will see the same thing from the ship. Tell me I'm wrong and I will book it. Thanks.

We had an inside stateroom, so we knew on Tracy Arm day we would have to "fight" for good views all day. When we were only a few weeks out from our cruise Disney created this Port Adventure and we snatched it up with the idea that we'd get great up-close views of the glacier. We were booked on the first time this Port Adventure was offered. When it came time for the Port Adventure we were excited to tender to the tiny ship. We stood outside on the edge of the boat viewing area on the first level (all thats allowed when its moving) to be able to experience the views and natural wonders on our skin so to speak. There was an inside option (that we ended up using since it was a much longer time then we expected (that was a good thing for us) so we ended up needing to warm up!) but our plan was to stay outside the entire time. During our journey we were far away from any other ship, just our tiny little boat with 50ish people on it. It was quite, natural and amazing. We loved standing there watching for sea life (we saw seals on glaciers), birds (we saw eagles) and just the scenery. When we got up to the glacier we took pictures, enjoyed the views, and stayed outside till they kicked us off the second floor viewing. Seriously, we stayed on there in the rain. We figured we could get dry anytime. We were surrounded by Alaska! We saw calving several times. You could smell the glacier, feel it in the air, and it was just awesome for us.

I think the fact that this was our first experience of a Port Adventure, our first glimpse of up-close Alaska, and the fact that we like this sort of thing, made us love it. We did 3 Port Adventures with Disney, and I don't even think I can rank them because we LOVED all three. I mean I would do any of them in a heartbeat. We also did the Helicopter to a glacier and walking tour on the glacier Port Adventure. And we did the Float Plane to Taku Glacier Lodge. We honestly had an amazing time. Our goal for Alaska was to do things we couldn't do elsewhere, and we ended up determining that meant focusing on Glaciers, which the Tracy Arm day helped us do. The kids we saw on this PA seemed to vary from loved it to tolerated it. We didn't see anyone miserable. If you're thinking of this for kids, or you don't like nature and spectacular views, reconsider. Otherwise we would do this again. We ended up in Endicot Arm, which we've heard means you get even closer to the glacier than in Tracy Arm. No proof of this but since we didn't know one glacier from the other we were fine with Endicot Arm. The spectacular pictures we got of the Wonder didn't hurt making us love this PA even more.

If you want pictures or more detail you can check our day in Tracy Arm out here.
http://frequentlyaskeddisneyblog.com/disney-cruise-alaska-part-23/

Any other questions?

The more I think about this, and the more I go back and look at pictures, the more I think this great port adventure experience set the tone of Alaska for us. We were hooked on Alaska 10 minutes into this experience. We want to go back!

 

[ahain]

As others have already recommended, we also booked the Chilkoot Charters Yukon Rail & Bus tour w/Dogcart add-on in Skagway. Highly recommend it.

In Juneau, we did the Taku Lodge feast & 5 Glacier Discovery sea-plane through Wings Airways and it was amazing http://www.wingsairways.com/taku-lodge-feast-and-five-glacier-discovery

It was pricey (was $299pp back in June, 2015), but definitely worth it as a "once-in-a -lifetime" excursion. Flew over 5 glaciers, visited Taku lodge (fascinating history - google it) which sits across a lake from a glacier - amazing scenery, ; had a wonderful grilled-salmon meal at the lodge, then returned to Juneau via plane.

Their website has links and refer to specific cruise line excursions, however if you call them, they will allow you to book direct (at least they did in 2015).

Duration: 3 hours of total tour time
Description: Includes 25 minutes of Glacier Flightseeing in route to the Taku Lodge, 2 full hours on the Taku Lodge grounds, and a 15-minute return flight past the glaciers to the downtown Juneau waterfront.

 

[richkaryn]

We researched heavily and went with the following in 2016: Chilkoot Charters in Skagway or White Pass/Yukon Territory. We did bus up and back with lunch and dog cart ride. In hindsight I'd leave off the dog cart ride as the place where the dogcart was located was running behind, not taking people in any specific order (time of tour booked) and we almost did not get to do ours for having to get back on bus. No fault of Chilkoot Charters though. We chose not to do the train up or back and do bus both ways as we have ridden on a train similar before and were just saving some money. Our guide was excellent and I would recommend using this tour company.

In Juneau we rented a car through Juneau Car Rental (formerly rent a wreck) and drove to Mendenhall ourselves. Pick up was at their port office about 100 yards walk from where we docked. It was $65 for a 2003 oldsmobile alero-- to take the bus to glacier and back would have been more than $65 for the 3 of us, so this was a no brainer. Brought our GPS from home to get us there.

In Ketchikan we booked a Misty Fjord float plane tour through Family Air tours. This was amazing. They were running an early bird booking special that saved us around $100 off their price (which was already cheaper than booking Misty Fjords with DCL.) Dave, the owner took us up in his plane (and it was only our family- we did not have to share a plane with others like some tours make you) and we had an amazing time. He was very knowledgable and very nice. The view was amazing, and he landed in a little area where we got to get out and walk around for about 30 mins. This would be a must do, and I tell everyone I know who wants to go to Alaska that they need to do this, and they need to book with Family Air.

Both tour companies had great policies offering full refunds if the ship was unable to make it to port/on time, weather not cooperative (for the plane), and also stating if you did not make it to ship for all aboard due to their fault they would pay to get you reunited with the ship.

 

[RedSox68]

I don't know which company it was, but we saw several boats like that. I was just pointing out the difference between taking one of those huge tour boats crammed full of people vs. being on a smaller boat.

When we did our whale watching from Seward as part of our land tour, we had a fabulous experience -- terrific crew, wonderful lunch and lots of whales, eagles and seals -- and a very clean boat (until the people who didn't listen about taking seasick medicine got sick as we went through the crossing into the fjord. yeah, that wasn't pleasant at all and most of them stayed outside at the back of the boat). We listened and took Bonine that morning at breakfast and were fine all day.