dog sled vs dog cart- advice appreciated

[Oursweetworld]

We definitely want to do dog sledding when we go to Skagway (already have excursion planned for Juneau). If all was the same price I would choose the helicopter/glacier/dog sled on snow option in a heartbeat. However, being a party of 10 (2 families- 6 kids ages 4-15) and at $500/person that option is extremely pricy. I'm leaning toward just doing the dog sled cart/meet the puppies choice for about $100/person. Has anyone done both to compare? I know the first may be better- but $4000 better? Is the dog sled cart excursion an enjoyable experience? Thanks for advice!

 

[Quellman]

You get the experience of meeting the dogs and how they train, no matter with a cart on in the snow. The extra cost is for the helicopter and glacier. So is that really what you want to consider- if the $4,000 is worth THAT portion of the experience. If you really are just trying to see if if $4,000 is worth being pulled on a sled vs. a cart, I guess that depends on your disposable income. I say it is not worth $400 per person to see a dog pulling a sled vs. pulling a cart.

 

[amberwc]

We did the helicopter/dog sled last year. This was a lifetime trip for us, and a helicopter ride was on the list. It was a neat experience, you have to decide if a helicopter ride is worth it for your family. We got to see amazing scenery from the air and it was a really special time. Each helicopter hold 5-6 so your group will be broken up for the ride.
We did a float plane trip too, and that was a great way to see some great scenery.

 

[Aby]

As the others said, whether or not the helicopter trip and actually landing on a glacier is worth that much money is up to you. Keep in mind too that it's quite common for the helicopter trips to be cancelled due to inclement weather, which in general wouldn't be an issue for the dog cart excursions.

Aby

 

[Ware Bears]

Keep in mind too that it's quite common for the helicopter trips to be cancelled due to inclement weather, which in general wouldn't be an issue for the dog cart excursions.

Aby

Agree, you do need to bear this in mind.

We wanted to do a dog sled in snow but also wanted to ride the White Pass train so were pleased to find an excursion (booked through Chilkoot Charters) that combined the train ride with a ride in a dog cart. It was a great trip and a really good compromise. Two years later we returned to Alaska and this time booked a helicopter dog sled in snow excursion but unfortunately it was cancelled due to bad weather. We had other plans for the next day but saw from the kiosks on the quay that all helicopter excursions were grounded that day too.

 

[Dug720]

As the others said, whether or not the helicopter trip and actually landing on a glacier is worth that much money is up to you. Keep in mind too that it's quite common for the helicopter trips to be cancelled due to inclement weather, which in general wouldn't be an issue for the dog cart excursions.

Aby

And it is not unheard of for helicopter trips to get stuck on the glacier because weather moved in. I talked with a crew member on HAL when I was cruising Alaska with them and she told me about a couple of weeks before people from two different HAL ships were stranded overnight on the glacier because of weather. They were put up at the musher's camp and as soon as the helicopters could get to them they were brought back and those on HAL excursions were put on a smaller boat or a train (depending on which ship they were on) to meet up with their ships. AT HAL's expense (lodging and transportation). Those who had been on the ships but opted to do their own thing were completely on their own for payment and making arrangements to get back onto the ships.

 

[tigerchic89]

we did the (cheaper) dog cart this past June. My kids 10 13 15 Loved it. My mom, husband and I enjoyed it. The shuttle bus picked us up on time, which was a later start than some excursions. We had time to walk through the town beforehand. The driver was chatty and pleasant. The scenery getting up there was awesome, we stopped and gt some great pics on the edge of a lake. When we got to the camp area, we took a 4WD shuttle to the top where the dogs and trainers were. Then we got in a cart with a trainer. The trainers love the dogs. We were able to pet and spend time with the dogs. It was fun, those dogs work hard! Then back down in the 4WD. Presentation on the ididorak (I know I misspelled that!) which my mom loved. Then the kids got to hold 4 week old puppies. So cute and this was one of my kids top things on he whole cruise. We were back on the boat for lunch and then had time to shop in town (good package store to restock beer and wine). We bought a ton of cute but low priced tshirts + sweatshirts at one of those huge tourist shops.

So, if you want cheap and fast, this one is ideal. I'm glad we did it. We will return to Alaska in 2018 and I know my kids will want to do this one again, but I will probably book the train as I want to see more scenery.

 

[gotomu212]

We would have skipped the dog cart if we went again (ours was part of Chilkoot as part of White Pass-the rest of that excursion was top notch). The cart ride itself was about 10 minutes and with the temperature it was considered hot for the dogs so we took some water breaks during the run and the cart went pretty slowly. I would compare it to a wagon ride with dogs instead of a horse and $100 seems steep for that experience. We did like meeting and playing with the puppies.

We personally didn't find the cart a good value for the money (but the rest of the White Pass excursion was fantastic). We did a plane over the glaciers excursion. and that was absolutely amazing so I would say the helicopter ride is well worth the cost along with sled dogs.