masterdrago

Unless I was VERY confident of seeing something good, I would not jeopardize the next days sightseeing by risking falling asleep on the bus!

Might really depend on your age and level of excitement. I've seen two great aurora in Texas, March 1983 & end of Oct. 2003. I would definitely loose some sleep to view another one. Unfortunately, we'll be in Alaska in May when the true dark skies are mostly non-existent.

I would suggest signing up for alert services. Google aurora alerts or see http://www.aurora-service.org/aurora-alerts/

Also keep in mind that ship lights can destroy your dark adaptation - your ability to see faint stuff.

Thanks AKStafford. Got them on the phone and booked the "Best of Prince William Sound". I did not see them on a Bing search since they were at the bottom of the 1st page. They get very high ratings on Tripadviser but are not on the Viator page. That will save us at least 90 minutes each way travel time. The logistics of working from a Seward tour was no working from Alyeska and dropping the rent car in Seward would add a couple of grand to the rent car expense. Hertz sure works to dissuade folks from dropping anywhere except where you rent from.

I would not say "breakneck" speeds but there is a lot of territory to cover.

Well, maybe "breakneck" is the wrong word. But 140 miles in 5 hours is average of 28MPH. The M/V Klondike Express has a top speed of 34MPH.

On our way back from Denali we stopped in Wasilla for lunch! Chepo's, rated best Mexican food in town! (It actually was really good....lol )

Seriously. Mexican food in Alaska. We are in SE Texas but I'm sure that my Joy will be ready for some Mex after a few days of Salmon!!

The smaller boat 8.5 hr tour of Major Marine (they have moved all from Prince William Sound to Kenai Fjords) are only running after June 8. Our trip is in May. We're in Alyeska 2 days and are closer to Whittier/Prince William Sound/Phillips Cruises. We are most likely going to do the Major Marine 6 hr in Kenai even though the drive is longer(smaller boat - 85', longer tour 6vs5 hr). Major said they may run the 7.5 hr tour May 20th but we will be in Denali then (very long drive to Seward). I could be persuaded to go with the 26 Glacier tour 5hr if others see it as considerably better than the Major Marine where we will most likely only see one Tidewater glacier.

One more question. It looks as if both Major and Phillips use similar boats M/V Klondike Express 137 foot 332 passengers vs Spirit of Adventure new 98 foot 150 passenger. Any comments on these high capacity fas boats?

Looking at these 2 glacier tours. Am I right that Phillips (fastest catamaran in Alaska) will whisk us at breakneck speeds around Prince William Sound while Major Marine will spend an extended period (30 minutes) at a single tidewater glacier? I would sure like folks input that have taken these tours.

One thing to keep in mind with your time issue is that plane tours are generally short - 1-2.5 hours so don't consume a lot of time. Plenty of time left for whale watching. Both of the ones we have booked start 10-11am. No matter what time you fly, there will be shadows as someone mentioned, although less at solar noon (12:54 in Juneau late May) - sun at highest point. Ovation is in Juneau 19th & 26th. Our ship, Radiance will be there the 26th. The port load that day in Juneau will be 8,655 folks including the Coral Princess. BOOK YOUR FLIGHT EARLY!

You did not mention Skagway but you can rent a jeep from 8am-6pm for ~$300. Drive up the Klondike Highway into Canada for some great scenery. http://www.diyjeeptours.com/

We're going to Alaska in June 2019, and I'm trying to make a decision about Skagway. <snip> Or is there another operator that includes both? It's a bit confusing choosing between the various options!

I'm waiting until the bookings open (later in October) for the Bennett Lake Scenic Journey. Check it out. It might fill your bill but tours in 2018 did not run Sunday or Monday. https://skagwayshoretours.com/tour/bennett-lake-scenic-journey/

That website is blocked because it has advertising for travel agencies and because it is just a guy with a website. Too many people think that it is an official site of the cruise line. It’s not.

On several of my post in the last few months it seems that the same thing happens when I provide a link to an image using the Imgur photo sight. I'll try it here just for an example. I have sent several emails to the power players and have never received any response.

That was really fast. No sooner than I posted here after sending an email to Major Marine, I got a confirmation email that there are switching us over to the Kenai Fjords National Park tour and giving us a discount. Included in the email was a apology for the inconvenience of not contacting us. Amazing service from Major Marine. It was 6:50 Alaska time when I sent the email. Amazing service.

I just ran across this now while trying to schedule a Kenai Fjords short tour out of Seward. It apparently was posted September 18th. What is weird is that we had booked on August 12th and paid in full a Prince William Sound Surprise tour. Even weirder, I talked with one of their guys today about getting on a short tour out of Seward and mentioned our reservation in Prince William Sound. Crickets. Nada! No email. No phone call. No nothing. I sent them one just now requesting to be changed to the 6 hour Kenai Fjords National Park tour. https://majormarine.com/2018/09/mmt-ends-operations-whittier/

By company shops he means the maintenance and storage yard on the edge of town. It is a work shop area not a "buy" shop. The trains for Lake Bennett and Carcross leave from here as they leave town the earliest and as there is only a single track there is no passing for the trains.

I believe after looking at the track on Google Earth that there are two sidings. This would mean that opposing trains would have a place to pass each other. Keep in mind that most train schedules are fairly precise. Looking at our ships excursion list, there are 4 different tours the same day on the White Pass and Yukon Route.

One other thing I might suggest. I made a small spreadsheet showing all of our "booked" excursions. It's just a simple dateline with names of vendors and phone numbers. I've listed alternate vendors, web page and phone numbers in case the primary has a failure to launch - like a flight seeing or whale watch having a mechanical snafu that cancels the tour. It might save part of the trip if we can get on another excursion at the last minute.

Okay, so our schedule is mostly set. We will have time in Denali May 19th, 20th and part of the 21st. We have booked a late afternoon Denali Jeep excursion on the 20th. Since the Tundra Wilderness Tour may be available to mile 53, (2019 schedule not available til Dec. 1, 2018) and also the non-narrated tour (may) also be available to mile 53 (Toklat River). My question is how safe is it to get out of the green bus (transit) and roam around unprotected from Moose & Bear? I most likely cannot carry bear spray or a firearm and my wife (Joy) is really apprehensive, any suggestions or help? Like maybe not a good idea to carry a paper wrapped salmon sandwich?? When I hiked Alaska in 1995 we were extremely careful with everything we did and one in our party carried a really big weapon! So how dangerous is it to drop off a transit bus to hike around and photograph stuff?

Planning, planning and more planning are the key words. We don't take vacations like this often. Our 16 days next May has maps, calendars, notes and Joy even has made a huge Excel spreadsheet. All in one binder. We have booked most everything by now, have detailed timelines, and emails. On the days we have only driving sight seeing, we have tried to figure times but with me being an avid photographer, that is nearly impossible. Plan, plan and plan some more. Double check your timelines. Thanks to Budget Queen for this heads up to all folks.

If you're staying in Girdwood I suggest The Bake Shop for lunch and The Double Muskie for dinner.

And Seven Glaciers with tram ride.

Found this train schedule https://www.alaskarailroad.com/ride-a-train/schedules

And this bus schedule https://www.alaskacoach.com/routes/seward-anchorage.html

Also this page makes it easy to look up ... https://alaskatrain.com/book/

I got my Nikon Action EX 7x35 for $83 a few years ago. I see them at AMZN for $127. They are light weight, waterproof and have a wide field of view at 7 power which makes them easy to hand hold without much shaking of the image. More powerful binoculars are very nice to have but the smaller field and higher power might make centering the object of interest more difficult and more motion inducing. The Monarch 8x42 are lighter and slightly brighter and with slightly more magnification. Great bino but $241 @ AMZN.

We had planned on taking the train but it leaves Anchorage at 6:30 ish, so booked the bus instead. Not sure what the times are from Seward to Anchorage, but check below.

 

We have booked Anchorage Museum to Seward Windsong Lodge for $130 for the two of us.

3:00PM Anchorage Museum Arrive..... 5:45PM Seward Windsong Lodge

 

Fritha Breidinger Manager, Operations Alaska Tour & Travel/The Park Connection/AlaskaTrain.com 3900 Arctic Blvd Suite 304 Anchorage, Alaska 99503 www.AlaskaTravel.com www.AlaskaTrain.com www.AlaskaCoach.com email: fritha@alaskatravel.com Office: 800-208-0200 Direct: 907-550-0006

 

 

 

 

 

Email:

jayleen.bydlon@gmail.com

I've heard that the small boat whale watching tours book up quickly. We've booked two (Juneau and Icy Strait Point) as well as a glacier watching tour in Whittier. If you can plan on more trips and cruises to the big state, then allowing for weather and rough seas might not be an issue. We may only go on one Alaska Adventure so booked two flightseeing tours and both small boat whale watching tours we could. Joy wants to also do a train ride but right now we have a jeep rental reserved in Skagway. Some of the large boats might still have room. If you get into Juneau early enough, look at True Alaskan Tours. https://truealaskantours.com/tour/tracy-arm-fjord-glacier-explorer/ Another thing I would do is start making phone calls to the numerous whale tour groups out of Juneau. Back a couple of years ago, Dolphin Jet Boat Tours still had tickets for sale hours after one of their boats sank ... https://www.juneauempire.com/news/whale-watching-boat-sinks-18-rescued/

We'll be doing 16 days in May and would not go without ours. Joy carries the Steiner 10x42. I think they are too heavy and the field of view is narrow. For me, I use the Nikon Action EX 7x35, wide field and quick to acquire target. We both bird watch and I'm sure they will find many uses in Alaska. Problem is I'll most likely be also packing a Nikon D7500 with either an 18-200 or 10-24 so that will simply add weight. Weight is something I would always advise folks considering. If you are, then look at this page...

 

https://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/blog/small-lightweight-birding-binoculars-04/

Also see...

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/616621-lightweight-binocular-for-backpacking/