dhmom99

Yelp is our best resource when it comes to restaurant.

it is very typical not be able to get hold of the vendor during their off season. We just had a RV trip last summer with a Caravan of 10 RVs. I tried to book the RV sites from different vendors. No body got back to me until May or June (maybe after snow melts :)). But I felt I was over planned and put too much unnecessary anxiety upon myself.:D

While in Skagway, I will rent a car and drive all the way to Emerald Lake. There used to be small horseback riding outfit run by a very nice lady. I don't know if that is still the case.

Just received an email for Cyber week deal. Zen-Ray has this great 7x36 ZEN ED2 for $250 after $150 off. My DH bought his new for $425 a couple of years ago. It is his favorite binoculars by far as a marine biologist.

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/zened2-7x36.html

The code is "CYBER". We may have to get another set

Yes, September is good month to hunt for bargain. But we rarely shopped while in Alaska.:D

June, July are supposedly relatively drier than Aug and Sep. But we enjoyed every trip we have made in Alaska

we stayed in LODEN hotel once. love it.

DH just bought my daughter a pair of ZRS10x32 binoculars. It is so light that I can compare that to one of our older 10x25 compact binoculars. The brightness is actually better than my now 9 year old VISTA binoculars.

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/binoculars/zrshd/zrshd10x32.html

We used the $20 off coupon (I think the code is SAVE20)

I cruised with Princess and we did the land tour pre cruise.

We were scheduled to go on the Nature tour for 4-5 hours. It takes you 17 miles into the park.

I switched to the Tundra wilderness tour for 7-8 hours and takes you 53 miles into the park.

We saw EVERYTHING.

I spoke with others on the cruise that were not as happy with the nature tour.

It might be better if there are very young or older in your group.

Our group ranged from 8-50 and all did well. They gave a boxed lunch/snacks.

We did have to leave the lodge around 5 or 5:30AM (we were able to get breakfast at the lodge) and got back just in time to make our bus to the next lodge but it was worth it.

I did have to speak with the cruise tour about the busses prior to changing to the Wilderness tour.

We just took the shuttler bus to Eielesen (spelling?) visitor center. I was wondering what is the difference between the shuttle bus and tour.

We have binoculars for every one in the family (4 pairs total lol). For casual users like us, we found the zen-ray VISTA binoculars quite amazing for the money. We got a pair of 8x and 10x so we can use 8x on the boat and 10x while on a land tour

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/binoculars/vista.html

Our selection criteria for binos are: 42mm full size binoculars, waterproof, BAK4 prism, fully multi coated optics. No more than $200 for our budget.

Have fun cruising Alaska

Thank you!!!! Roof or Porro Prism?! I only ordered one pr of the 8x25 so I may get 42's for the others.

 

I've seen several posts about the Zen-Ray Vista being a great option. Your answer was very helpful!!

 

 

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The Zen-Ray binoculars are roof prism ones. I don't like the Porro prism binoculars. They are too bulky for my hands. The 42mm Zen-Ray VISTA is a perfect size for me and my teen daughters.

thanks for the update. We cannot wait for our upcoming Alaska trip

DH said that Homer has the best charter boats for Halibut and Salmon fishing. But this year, we will try our fishing luck at Seward.

it is always a good idea to have passports for cruise trip.

To prepare for our Alaska cruise trip, we have done some extensive research before we purchased our binoculars. We also learnt a few things: (1) the binoculars need to be waterproof. If it rains, the moisture will not get inside the binoculars and ruin the whole trip; (2) 10x is great for distant viewing and 8x is perfect for whale watching on the cruiseship or boat with better stability; (3) we preferred 42mm over smaller size for brightness. We used to have a 10x25 TASCO binoculars. But the view was so dim that we hardly ever used it; (4) Don't over spend on binoculars. My DH is a bird watcher and he spent $2k for some top end Swarovski binoculars. For the rest of our family, we are very happy with $150 Zen-Ray VISTA binoculars; (5) besides size, make sure that you get binoculars with lens coated with fully multi coating to brightness.

Hope this helps.

there are many good binoculars out there. My DH used to own a pair of Zeiss. But it was 7x35 and becoming increasingly blurry over the many years of use. We bought some Zen-Ray VISTA binoculars based on the recommendation on this board and couldn't be happier. We got one pair of 8x and one pair of 10x

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/binoculars/vista.html

slightly different situation here: can I call a cab in Seward?

We went in September. The road was clear. Hopefully we can head back there again for an early season trip like this

like many other posters have mentioned, it depends on your itinerary. We went with Princess cruiseline. It had an itinerary that actually goes into the tracy arm. We picked a cruise late in the season. The ice was melt enough so the ship can reach all the way to the front of the glacier.

Skagway, Chopper... very safe, absolutely breathtaking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Approximate flight path and location - look for the white line and the red dot;

 

very nice pictures

I looked at one of these a while back. In my opinion, they combined a lousy set of binoculars with an extremely lousy camera.

 

DON

That was our problem too.:)

If you really want to do that I would suggest binoculars with a built in camera. My wife has a pair of them that she likes. I don't care for them but they work for her.

Yes, we had one of them before, a few years ago. Neither the binoculars nor the camera really produce any good image or picture. That was before we invested in a pair of good binoculars

if you are prone to seasick, it's always a good idea to take the medicine before the trip

Thanks.

 

Did you buy the version that was linked here or another version?

 

Maggie

This is the one we got. Exactly what we are looking for.

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/smartphone-adapter-s.html

apply common sense while traveling outside: do not leave valuable items in the car that are visible. Always keep wallet/purse close to you.