Has anyone done the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari in Skagway?

We are booked on sapphire princess 7/11 and are choosing between this tour and a horseback riding adventure. Any suggestions will be welcome.

A little information about us may be of some help. We are both 35, first trip without our kids, and are relatively active.

We're booked on that excursion the week before you. It did win a Princess shore excursion award last year.
:[url]http://www.princess.com/news/article.jsp?newsArticleId=na624[/url]
and I found some pictures here:
[url="http://www.preyerplanning.com/alaska/skagway.htm"]http://www.preyerplanning.com/alaska/skagway.htm[/url]
Looks like fun to me! [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

We were just on this excursion last week and it was a lot of fun. It's just like the description on the website Suzanne posted.

Just to note that the catamaran ride was VERY rough when we were there (it was a rainy and windy day). No one got sick that I know of, but if you are prone to seasickness keep it in mind. Also, there were a lot of mosquitos on the walk so bug spray would be useful. The temperature near the glacier was a good 20 degrees cooler than on shore, but they provide plenty of jackets to keep warm. And while it didn't specify in our shore excursion booklet, they did provide a very filling lunch on the return ride. The guides are wonderful as well.

We're 34 and 27, also pretty active, and it was not challenging physically, but it was beautiful and serene.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to answer.

Happy cruising [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Tsunami,

I think that we have decided to do this excursion. What kind of "wildlife" did you all see on your trip?

My wife also wanted to thank you for the tip about the bug spray. I know this is kind of a generic question, but what was your favorite part of this excursion? We just want the opportunity to enjoy the Alaskan wilderness and still have time to walk around town. Thanks for your post. I'm glad that you had a good time on this excursion.

While we didn't see any wildlife (other than birds) on our trip, I copied part of a post below from Dam1050 who just returned from the Volendam and saw quite a bit - the full review on the HAL board has a link to photos.

My favorite part was the canoeing to the glacier. As Dam1050 writes, the "calved" glacier pieces (not called icebergs in fresh water, but the name is escaping me and my journal is at home) were phenomenal. I have some photos of canoes near them that really show the perspective and make you feel very small. Unfortunately our trip was pretty rainy and windy, but still fantastic.

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Skagway -- It was yet another beautiful day with blue skies and temps around 70 F. (19C) and I took my favourite Alaskan excursion, the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari. This is an awesome 5 ½ hour adventure where one leaves Skagway on the “Chilcat Express” Catamaran, a high-speed boat that can travel at speeds of up to around 40 knots which can literally feel like you’re flying on the surface of the water. The tour is about 45 min by boat to a point of land on the beach where the Catamaran lets you off, then a bus ride up to camp, hike to a river and then canoe up to Davidson Glacier. The air is ever so fresh as you’re canoeing up the river and while at the foot of the glacier. You pass all the “calved” ice in the lake and the “corking” where the ice has broken off from underneath the water. It’s hard to imagine that that ice you see above the water only represents about 10% - 20% of the actual amount of ice…..the rest is underwater. Being so close to nature in the canoe is really something exhilarating to experience.
On the way over to Glacier Point from Skagway we came upon a huge pod of transient Orca Whales (Killer Whales) who were swimming around almost playfully. The Captain of the catamaran turned the boat right off and we were all able to go outside and capture fabulous pictures of these beautiful creatures in their habitat. The show seemed to go on and on……they were in no hurry to get away from the boat and even came up quite close. Also on our excursion we came across a seal chasing and catching some fish, a humpback whale, some eagles, and a whole gang of stellar sea lions “beached” up on the rocks.
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We had this tour booked and then read some reviews on cruise addict board and cancelled.
I also have a broken arm, so it seemed like I would be a rider in the canoe and I didn't want to look like a slacker. [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

It is really a mixed bag as far as whether people enjoyed this tour. We had some on our tour that had no idea what they were signing up for and complained the whole time. It is also really expensive - it paralleled our helicopter/glacier trek on cost. If I had to pick one, I'd pick the helicopter/glacier trek, but that opinion may be colored by the weather and the time in our itinerary (last port).