Juneau and Skagway dog sled and helicopter excursions

[rosiect]

Feedback on recent experiences appreciated. Never been to Alaska so hard to know what to choose.

 

[RogueX]

My husband would suggest the helicopter tour in Juneau. I've never been, but he was a helicopter pilot for one of the tour companies in Juneau.

 

[SomePixiedust]

Ours was 3 years ago. We did the Helicopter and dog sledding in Juneau through Coastal. We booked it independently and saved a lot of money. They were excellent and it was a highlight of our trip, truly amazing. Just keep in mind that this is one of the most cancelled excursions due to weather. They will not fly if it is not safe.

 

[KashasMom]

We did the Pilot's Choice Double Glacier Landing in Juneau and the dog-sledding in Skagway. Both were through Temsco Helicopters and both were great. I heard the dog sledding out of Skagway gets canceled less due to bad weather than the ones out of Juneau.

 

[BruinEd03]

Ours was 3 years ago. We did the Helicopter and dog sledding in Juneau through Coastal. We booked it independently and saved a lot of money. They were excellent and it was a highlight of our trip, truly amazing. Just keep in mind that this is one of the most cancelled excursions due to weather. They will not fly if it is not safe.

I would say one downside to this is that if there is foul weather, it may be difficult to rebook. When we had foul weather, we were able to rebook to a different time or different glacier.

 

[BruinEd03]

Feedback on recent experiences appreciated. Never been to Alaska so hard to know what to choose.

There are two types of helicopter experiences - one to a glacier, and one for dogsledding. Although both land on a glacier, the two experiences are completely different. The glacier one, you walk around and learn quite a bit about the glacier. For the doglsedding one, you circle the glacier, but the main focus is on the doglsedding experience. You spend about an hour on the glacier. Both were completely worthwhile to us.

We did the glacier one at Skagway on our first cruise. They said we were the first ones to go in 3 days.

We did the doglsedding one in Juneau on our second cruise. Our morning one to Mendenhall glacier was canceled and was rescheduled to a later time. However, when we asked about other excrusions, they told us about another one to Norris glacier, which had not been cancelled at all so far. We switched to that one. Turns out that one didn't cancel at all all day, while the Mendenhall one was cancelled for the whole day. Lots of people that had the Mendenhall glacier one was not told about the Norris one and was disappointed. Moral of the story - ask about alternatives.

With the helicopter tours, you are just at the mercy of the weather.

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

We did the walking tour one in Skagway last cruise when our dog sledding one got canceled. The walking one is at a lower elevation which is why it could go when the dogsled one couldn't. It was educational and my kids got to drink glacial melt water which was really cool, but it wasn't the experience I had pictured and wanted: sledding on a snow-covered glacier. If I were to try again, I would book the sledding on the Norris glacier in Juneau and hope for the best.

 

[trivan]

We booked externally as well. Be sure to have a backup plan, our trip was canceled due to weather. Quickly got on the phone with a private tour guide, she had an open spot and we had one of the best days on the cruise.

 

[EllinK]

We did the dogsledding several years ago. Booked independently through Temsco. The meeting point was literally a 2 min walk from the ship. We are now platinum and still this is the best excursion we have ever done. Pricey but you will love it.

 

[DisneyMomCT13]

There are two types of helicopter experiences - one to a glacier, and one for dogsledding. Although both land on a glacier, the two experiences are completely different. The glacier one, you walk around and learn quite a bit about the glacier. For the doglsedding one, you circle the glacier, but the main focus is on the doglsedding experience. You spend about an hour on the glacier. Both were completely worthwhile to us.

We did the glacier one at Skagway on our first cruise. They said we were the first ones to go in 3 days.

We did the doglsedding one in Juneau on our second cruise. Our morning one to Mendenhall glacier was canceled and was rescheduled to a later time. However, when we asked about other excrusions, they told us about another one to Norris glacier, which had not been cancelled at all so far. We switched to that one. Turns out that one didn't cancel at all all day, while the Mendenhall one was cancelled for the whole day. Lots of people that had the Mendenhall glacier one was not told about the Norris one and was disappointed. Moral of the story - ask about alternatives.

With the helicopter tours, you are just at the mercy of the weather.

We are sailing this June and not sure if we will book the Norris or Mendenhall helicopter/dog sled excursion as they look pretty much the same and I can’t find anything online that would indicate one is better over the other. When yours was cancelled and you rebooked for Norris did port adventures do this for you or did you have to contact tour operators yourself outside is DCL? I feel like this is such a gamble and I’m trying to mentally prepare for cancellation but I know we will still feel very disappointed if we miss out (but would understand, safety first). Just want to have the best shot at it as we will likely never have a chance to do this again. Also for your Day in port do you recall the excursion times and how much notice you had about the cancellation? Really appreciate your thoughts!!!!!

 

[texansue]

We did the Helicopter & Dogsled Glacier Excursion last June in Juneau. We booked it directly through Alaska Shore Tours and it was really pricey but cheaper than going through Disney. Without a doubt, it was the most memorable experience of our lives and my kids were blown away! We lucked out to have the most amazing weather and you could see for miles because it was so clear. It was a really fantastic experience and I feel lucky we were able to do it.

 

[BruinEd03]

We are sailing this June and not sure if we will book the Norris or Mendenhall helicopter/dog sled excursion as they look pretty much the same and I can’t find anything online that would indicate one is better over the other. When yours was cancelled and you rebooked for Norris did port adventures do this for you or did you have to contact tour operators yourself outside is DCL? I feel like this is such a gamble and I’m trying to mentally prepare for cancellation but I know we will still feel very disappointed if we miss out (but would understand, safety first). Just want to have the best shot at it as we will likely never have a chance to do this again. Also for your Day in port do you recall the excursion times and how much notice you had about the cancellation? Really appreciate your thoughts!!!!!

Port Adventures did this for us. We got the notice about 15-30 minutes before the time we are supposed to meet at the gathering spot. I think we got the notice through a text message on the wave phone. We booked for an early flight (I think around 8:00 or 8:45 a.m.) with the idea that we could gamble onto an afternoon flight if the morning was cancelled (obviously a gamble since the afternoon flights could all be full). Not that it would have mattered because the Mendenhall was cancelled all day. It was switching to Norris that saved the excursion.

That being said, as soon as you get the notice, you should go down to Port Adventures to think about your next steps. I would also think about what else you would like to do if you don't get the dog sled excursion. That was something I failed to really do. Originally they had booked us for a later time, but I thought that the fog wouldn't lift by then. So I want back in line to ask for an alternative excursion that was still open and that's when they mentioned that the Norris one was running. If that one hadn't run, I would've been left at the mercy of PA and the short description provided (instead of doing some actual research ahead of time). If I had actually done some real planning, I would've known the other helicopter ones that were available, and also alternatives that I would've liked.

 

[ScooterScott44]

We were on a non-DCL cruise but most all of the tours operators are the same. DW booked us directly on a helicopter to dog-sled. It was fantastic and quite a bit less than going through the cruise line. We also had an added benefit that we were able to schedule ours before the cruise tours started. What they experienced as big tour groups, we got essentially as a private tour. Just us in the helicopter flying up and back. At the camp it was just us with the mushers and dogs. When we were getting ready to return 5 copters landed fully loaded with people.

We did the tour out of Juneau but the weather can be hit or miss anytime. We choose there so we had another chance at a later port if if did get canceled. There are lots of options so just read up. Some dog sled excursions are land based and are on wheeled sleds so just be careful that you book what you really want.

 

[DisneyMomCT13]

We did the Helicopter & Dogsled Glacier Excursion last June in Juneau. We booked it directly through Alaska Shore Tours and it was really pricey but cheaper than going through Disney. Without a doubt, it was the most memorable experience of our lives and my kids were blown away! We lucked out to have the most amazing weather and you could see for miles because it was so clear. It was a really fantastic experience and I feel lucky we were able to do it.

Fingers crossed we have the same experience!

 

[RichVIII]

Bringing this thread back to life. Any more recent experiences?

 

[DisneyMomCT13]

We did this in Juneau June of 2022, first sailing season back to Alaska post Covid. We were lucky to have a warm and clear day so no issues with the helicopter or cancellations but we were worried about that up until that morning of the excursion as we didn’t really have another plan for our day if our trip had been cancelled. We were willing to take that risk as this was something we’d been dreaming about since our original sailing was booked back in early 2019 before the pandemic and subsequent cancellations for two more years.

We booked through DCL and all was fine until our family was the only family of the 15 or so people for our tour that was split up in two different helicopters (there were three choppers in total). That was extremely disappointing as this was a family bucket list and first time experience that we were likely only ever going to have the chance to do this once as a family (teen daughter, myself and my husband). We knew we might not sit next to each other in the helicopter due to weight and balance issues but didn’t expect to be physically separated. I have anxiety and panic attacks and the situation was tough for me as my husband was alone in a different helicopter so I was on my own to keep it together as I didn’t want to cause my daughter to be any more nervous than she was for her very first helicopter ride experience, nor did I want to distract our pilot by saying anything about what was happening to me. I realize this was done for weight balancing and safety of all but for me it nearly ruined the extremely expensive excursion, and before the negative comments come please understand I’m grateful we still got to go, the dog sled camp and ride was wonderful and we were together for that, but with my medical issues that I cannot control but do all I can reasonably do to manage, it did cause me to have a lot less enjoyment of the experience as I did have a panic attack that was quite miserable. I’ve always said I would not let my medical issues or anxiety stop me from doing something I’ve dreamed of and I got through it but if you have anxiety you know getting through isn’t the same as really being able to be in the moment and enjoy.

The overall experience for the rest of my family was terrific and it is an incredible thing to do but do keep in mind your party may be physically separated. In fact we were not even set to travel with my husband! He was going to be held back with his helicopter due to a radio issue with one of the choppers and we had to advocate for them to switch the groups around so he at least was leaving same time as us so we’d at least be following in the air and arriving at the same time.

I do think this could be better explained ahead of paying or that they could do more to plan ahead a bit better as they require info on your weight in advance but only upon arriving minutes before your flight. Some families had much smaller children and I’m glad they were not separated! Had we been given the option for a more private tour at our expense we may have opted for that as a family of 4 was alone in one chopper just based on how balancing worked out.

If you get to do it though, I’m sure you would not be disappointed as the dogs and sled ride were great and it was one of the most unique and memorable things we’ve done as a family in a cruise.

If you’re not up for the cost or uncertainty of fog and cancellation or the possible anxiety of being separated, the summer dog sled camp is also fantastic and was much more fun for me and while it was missing the glacier it was actually one of my favorite excursions we did. I hope this is helpful in planning for Alaska!

 

[tlprice]

We were booked through Coastal this past July in Juneau. I had read that this gets cancelled a lot, so I was mentally prepared. As soon as we docked, I knew it would be cancelled. It was so foggy. I looked on the positive side that I was getting a lot of money refunded. We did the Mr. Roberts Tram and booked a last minute trip to Mendenhall near the tram. It ended up being a great day. Still would've loved to have done the helicopter and dog sledding, but nothing you can do about weather.

 

[Sakura1017]

Skagway you should book with temsco and go on the day of. That’s what I did because I was debating on weather. It’s literally right in front of you if you have a room port side midship. Saw helicopters launching and arriving from my room. I did it because skagyway was first on our itinerary in case Juneau’s wouldn’t work out. I literally did it twice because weather worked out but I booked Juneau with dcl so couldn’t change.

 

[wnwardii]

I just did the helicopter tour to the glacier in Skagway. I had done a previous excursion with Holland America over 10 years ago when I was in Juneau. Both experiences were very similar and in line with what others said above. The helicopter's in Skagway were very close to the Wonder. So it was a very short bus ride there. The weather can make a difference for any of these helicopter tours. While the tours did happen in Skagway this past week, I heard the ones in Juneau did not occur due to weather. Now I do not know if it was just the ones for the dog sledding and/or the glacier walk. In Skagway, it was a pretty windy day. I was surprised that the helicopters were flying. But you really didn't notice it when flying and it wasn't windy on the glacier. But it was a bit drizzly/misty. So there was that.