Bear Country & Wildlife Exped via Princess in Ketchikan good?

Does anyone have any info (good vs bad) of the Bear Country & Wildlife Expedition via Princess in Ketchikan. We are looking at booking this in July of next year.

The Princess site says it the only "drive-to" bear viewing opportunity. It says it's on a Private Sanctuary where you walk on elevated walkways over bear viewing areas. You see bears catching/eating salmon, interact with a reindeer, watch a carver, see an old saw mill, and see birds of prey.

Would love to see bears - but really can't afford a fly-in trip.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Sorry not a good choice, if bears are your priority. In your timeframe, clearly Anan is the winner. Unless you are at the end of July, you are likely too early for the salmon runs anyway. Overall this drive up sighting stats are low to begin with, add, no salmon, even lower.

This tour is at the Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary. The same place they also have 2 zipline tours. This is all located in Herring Cove where the Whitman Lake fish hatchery is at. They started this tour a couple of years ago and it's seperate from the regular rainforest trail hike.

Viewing is directly dependent on the returns of salmon to the hatchery. I've heard good and not so good comments on this particular tour. The numbers and actual quality of the viewing is not anything like Anan.

We were just at herring cove 2 days ago. You can take a cab to the same area. You wont be on the elevated walkway though. The salmon are just starting to run now..so July is a bit early for a big numbers of bears at this location. We didnt see any bears, but we saw king salmon running up the stream. I highly recommend Ketchikan taxi cab tours. We had a great day with them.

We were just at herring cove 2 days ago. You can take a cab to the same area. You wont be on the elevated walkway though. The salmon are just starting to run now..so July is a bit early for a big numbers of bears at this location. We didnt see any bears, but we saw king salmon running up the stream. I highly recommend Ketchikan taxi cab tours. We had a great day with them.

For more information, what did the cab cost you? Herring Cove is not a good area for anyone with a priority for seeing bears. It is a big "maybe" here, with spending a great deal of time waiting.

Thanks for the information.

So, what would be the best suggestion for seeing bears?

We're not able to take the flights and we will be there July 16th 2015.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for the information.

So, what would be the best suggestion for seeing bears?

We're not able to take the flights and we will be there July 16th 2015.

 

Any thoughts?

As I mentioned, Anan is the only choice for a 99% sighting success. Are you going mainland Alaska? Denali Park would be a good option without flying. Otherwise, you have some choices to perhaps make, if this is indeed a priority. If it's about funds, then you have a year to get the money?

Did you read Stilley9's trip report? They went out with Ketchikan Taxi Tours for a few hours and I believe they visited Herring Cove late afternoon and saw a bear or 2. Seeing a bear would be a total crap shoot but it's a pleasant outing either way.

Did you read Stilley9's trip report? They went out with Ketchikan Taxi Tours for a few hours and I believe they visited Herring Cove late afternoon and saw a bear or 2. Seeing a bear would be a total crap shoot but it's a pleasant outing either way.

You'd be better off rent a car yourself and doing your own tour. Then you can decide how much time you want to spend where. The Ketchikan area is very well suited for self guided tours.

There is a low chance of sightings at Herring Cove although it is also the least expensive bear viewing opportunity in Ketchikan, particularly if flying isn’t your thing. Parking is an issue by the bridge and you need to be very aware of the private land that borders the creek. Even if there are no bears there are usually many eagles there. It’s much easier to use a cab to get there as you don’t need to deal with parking although a rental opens up much more to explore on your own.

Mid-July is a little early for bears in the Ketchikan area. They usually don't start the "bear" tours until a week or so later.

Bear Country & Wildlife Expedition has HORRIBLE reviews on Tripadvisor. Here is a good example:

This was our last excursion on the Silversea AK tour, and we were all excited at the prospect of seeing bears in the wild. Forget it. Our first clue that we were NOT in the wilderness was the whooping overhead -- zipline enthusiasts! At the same time, our guide was warning us to speak softly so as not to spook the bears. Yes, there were a couple of small bears rustling around in the undergrowth, but we were high overhead on a suspension bridge and no one was able to see them clearly or get any photos. That "sighting" occurred in the first 20 minutes, and the next three hours, we saw only the guide, some domesticated reindeer, a captive bald eagle, and a native carver who couldn't wait for us to leave. Plenty of time was allowed for us to shop for tacky AK souvenirs. We couldn't wait to get back to the Silver Shadow.

Most of the reviews are similar to the above, so it's not just one cranky jerk writing negatively.

I considered this but very quickly dumped the idea when I read these reviews.

I'm going to be in Ketchikan in late August 2015, pretty much everything I see here tells me to forget about seeing any bears on the Bear Country & Wildlife Expedition. Thanks for saving me a few hundred bucks!

Is the Anan bear viewing offed through Princess? If so what is the excursion called? My husband and I will be there in September and bear viewing is one of our top priorities this trip. I see 3 options, 2 with Neets bay and the Bear Country and Wildlife Expedition. Thank you!

Is the Anan bear viewing offed through Princess? If so what is the excursion called? My husband and I will be there in September and bear viewing is one of our top priorities this trip. I see 3 options, 2 with Neets bay and the Bear Country and Wildlife Expedition. Thank you!

You are way too late for Anan. You have the option of Neet's Bay and Traitor's Cove out of Ketchikan. Verify the viewing stats for Pack Creek out of Juneau. Haines has good sighting stats in Sept.. Hoonah is off peak past the first week of Sept.

When is your trip- as that is significant for any bear viewing choice.

Is the Anan bear viewing offed through Princess? If so what is the excursion called? My husband and I will be there in September and bear viewing is one of our top priorities this trip. I see 3 options, 2 with Neets bay and the Bear Country and Wildlife Expedition. Thank you!

If your ship is departing Sept 15, you're very late for bear viewing in Ketchikan. General info in this link.

http://www.experienceketchikan.com/bear-viewing-in-alaska.html

Going to Haines by any chance?

If bear viewing is a priority you may need to change your cruise dates.

Review the attached info from the Alaska Fish and Game and compare peak viewing dates for each location to the date you will be in port:

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=viewing.bearviewingsites

Just my two cents...we canceled this excursion two years ago after posting the exact same question here and receiving the same comments. When we were in Ketchikan people we had met on the cruise did the excursion and they loved every second of it. They saw bears and said it was one of the best excursions they'd done. I realize bears are not a sure thing, just wanted to offer a different perspective. Also, the ratings of this excursion on tripadvisor have gone up since we were there , and the comment quoted earlier is old...I remember it from when I was doing research for our trip.

We had a wonderful day, Ketchikan was my favorite port, but if we go back we'll be doing this excursion after seeing what a great time people had on it.

Just my two cents...we canceled this excursion two years ago after posting the exact same question here and receiving the same comments. When we were in Ketchikan people we had met on the cruise did the excursion and they loved every second of it. They saw bears and said it was one of the best excursions they'd done. I realize bears are not a sure thing, just wanted to offer a different perspective. Also, the ratings of this excursion on tripadvisor have gone up since we were there , and the comment quoted earlier is old...I remember it from when I was doing research for our trip.

 

We had a wonderful day, Ketchikan was my favorite port, but if we go back we'll be doing this excursion after seeing what a great time people had on it.

Of course bears have been seen in this area. Whole reason for "tours". BUT, it has very low success stats. You happened to hit ONE day there were sightings. Take a look at the season.

Most people want better chances for viewing. This tour does not deliver that.

When we were in Ketchikan people we had met on the cruise did the excursion and they loved every second of it. They saw bears and said it was one of the best excursions they'd done. I realize bears are

You're overlooking the critical factor .... TIMING. You were in Ketchikan at the beginning of August which is peak viewing time.

K-Dogg was asking about mid Sept.