42trvl

We've been on deck 9 twice - once in the Caribbean and once in Alaska. Alaska was much noisier. The weather was gorgeous, and maybe because of the beautiful scenery, people were outside a lot. One of our cabins for the Alaska cruise was an FV cabin on deck 9, and we would not choose that again. Our CC cabin on the side of the ship, was quite a bit quieter. Our views from the aft FV were nice, but we still went up on deck for the really nice views, and unless you're entertaining many people, the large balcony really did nothing for us. When the ship stopped at Hubbard Glacier, it was pointed straight ahead to the glacier so the aft cabin didn't provide much of a view. And the heliport we went out on was not so crowded that we did not enjoy ourselves. Later, the ship does a few revolutions, at which time the aft balcony was nice, but that was just for a few minutes at a time, and by then there was plenty of space up on Decks 10 & 11 aft also.

Our Temsco helicopter out of Skagway held 5 people aside from the pilot - 2 in front with pilot and 3 in back. Made no difference adult or child - they assigned you places to sit after checking you in and weighing. I believe there is a certain weight (250ish?) after which they would charge you extra and put in one less person. This was a very warm summer and they did close down early, but not until the third week of August I believe, so you should be fine in late July. In fact, they had moved the camp up higher because of the warm weather.

Laurie,

We also did Orca Enterprises in Juneau and had a great time - combined that with a stop at Mendenhall Glacier, and still had plenty of time in Juneau later. Even if you've done whale watching elsewhere, the setting in Alaska is so beautiful I would go again and again...Have a great time!

We used Temsco out of Skagway a few weeks ago based on some excellent recommendations, and we were not disappointed. Aside from the fact that it was an incredibly beautiful flight and a great time at the dog sled camp, they were extremely professional, efficient and a well-run operation - probably the best we encountered in our two weeks in Alaska. Can't compare to Coastal, but would highly recommend Temsco based on our experience.