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banditoo

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  • Posts

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About Me

  • Location
    Langley B.C. Canada
  • Interests
    Travel, Reading, Rambling, Gardening
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Princess, Celebrity, RCI, Carnival et al.
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    All of them!

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banditoo's Achievements

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. 7.5 hour. I don't think you could get there and back in 2.5 hours? Is that just one way?
  2. We are booked on the Chilkoot Yukon Rail & Bus which is 7.5 hours and does both. One way by rail and the other way by mini bus. 1 tour.
  3. Sometimes if the tour operators have contracted with the ship to provide the tour, part of that contract is that they cannot book independently and reservations can only be made through the ship. This may be the case for this tour?
  4. There was no assigned seating when we went previously. The best view on the train is on left when going up and right if going down. There are outside viewing platforms on each rail car that you can use. Opposite sides when travelling by road.
  5. Previously we did this in August with Celebrity. I expect May will be cooler though with the significant climate changes here in Greater Vancouver the last few years, who knows what the weather will be like in May?!
  6. I second Coral's recommendation. Have done the White Pass & Yukon Rail/Road combo before and are booked again with Chilkoot Charters for May 18 (the same day you will be there)! Are you on Zaandam? I booked the 0930 which is minivan first and rail down as this gives us a little extra time to disembark and wander Skagway if we wish before the tour.
  7. When we previously did the combo tour, we did rail up and then mini van back. The van stopped at the Welcome to Yukon sign and the Welcome to Alaska sign along with Emerald Lake, Carcross etc. The guide also gave us a driving tour and history of Skagway. Skagway is very small (only a few blocks long). This time we have booked the 0930 which is van up and train down. The van portion will also include stops and commentary.
  8. Did the Alaska cruise including those ports a number of years ago on Celebrity. In each city (except Ketchikan) we booked tours independent of the ship excursions for significantly less than ship excursion doing the very same thing. This May we are doing the Alaska cruise on HAL and will be in all 3 ports again and have again booked independent of ship. The tour operators are largely geared towards cruise ship passengers, they track the schedules and most offer full refund if the ship does not make port or is significantly delayed. They will also adjust start time dependent on arrival of ship. Juneau is well known for whale watching but as we were in Icy Straight Point last cruise that is where we did our whale watching the first time. This time we will do Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Watching combo in Juneau with a local operator. Skagway is very small so it is good to do a tour here. We previously did the White Pass and Yukon Rail combo with mini van tour to Emerald Lake and back to Skagway. This was a great trip and so we are doing it again. Last time we did a bear watching trip out of Ketchikan to Traitor's Cove by seaplane (booked through Celebrity). It was a great experience. This time we will wander town and some of the trails, probably the funicular etc. This forum has a number of private tour operators listed and they have websites. The ones that I have contacted have been very quick to respond to email and are very invested in making sure passengers are picked up when the ship arrives, have a great tour and are back at the ship well in time for embarking. This is their livelihood so they do not want to get a bad rep.
  9. A number of years ago we did the combo with train up and then mini van onward to the Yukon and Emerald Lake and then back to Skagway. The train was very scenic. The mini van part was also scenic (follows a different route than the train) and allowed for lunch, stops for photo ops, a little exploration and great commentary from the tour guide. We booked privately, not through the cruise line. This time we will be doing the same through Chilkoot Charters.
  10. Has anyone been on Viking's Vienna Sights Up Close included excursion? It is listed as demanding though description sounds far from demanding.
  11. Glad I booked our cruise a few days ago as the new discount still shows cruise at same price we booked but now instead of free air, air starts at $999!
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