Advice please

Hi. We are going on our first cruise in July on the NCL Bliss, and have a Juneau port excursion dilemma. I have booked the Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier excursion, which looks like it’s sold out now. Turns out my wife wants to take a helicopter ride to go dog sledding on a glacier. The tour says it flies over the Juneau Icefield and lands on a glacier to take the dog sled ride.

I’m pretty stoked for the Fjord excursion, but she feels like dog sledding is something you can only do in Alaska. Anyone do both, or have any suggestions either way on which to do? The helicopter/dog sled is about twice the price, but is it worth twice as much? That’s the question.

Thanks!

You do what you want to do and she does what she wants to do. Why do you have to do everything together. Simple solution.

DON

Check the times on both excursions. You may be able to do both. From what I understand the Fjord excursion boat leaves just before Bliss leaves port and the two link back up some hours later. I am told that the Fjord excursion is basically an up close experience of what the ship does. There are posts on CC about it.

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I can't see going on a boat to go see yet more ice, assuming you're going to be cruising somewhere like Hubbard or Glacier. I imagine it's nice, and plenty of people have done it and enjoyed it, but it wouldn't be nearly as unique as the dogledding and helicopter ride. The cost of dog sledding/helicopter ride would likely put that in the "oh well, maybe later" category for me. But since I haven't done either excursion, I can't really help you much.

In 2007 we did a helicopter ride (in Juneau, I think), and enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure that was where we landed on a glacier and got out for a short walk. I really enjoyed that - very different. We enjoyed the floatplane ride in Ketchikan, too - quieter and more serene, but no landing that I can remember except when we came back to port!

You can probably go dog sledding in Skagway also.

Both tours get great reviews and people rave about both.

Tough decision. Pretty sure that the dog sled excursion will leave before you get back to Juneau. I'm booked on the Tracy Arm excursion through HAL. It takes 6 hours. If the ship you were on did go up the fjord, it may not get very far in July due to ice.

Is she wanting the dog sled part, glacier or helicopter the most? Being a skier, standing on a glacier is not that exciting for me. Pretty yes. You could do a plane ride on Ketchikan. Maybe the dog sled in Skagway as mentioned. I don't know about going solo. More fun with a friend/partner. Good luck and have fun.

One thing to consider is that many of the flight excursions get canceled due to weather. If you choose the flight / dog sled tour, have a back up plan in case it is canceled.

We did the Tracy Arm Fjord tour with Adventure Bound last May and loved it. The experience from a small boat is completely different than from a ship. We got very close to both North and South Sawyer glaciers and also saw bears, whales, sea lions, eagles and puffins.

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You can probably go dog sledding in Skagway also.

 

Both tours get great reviews and people rave about both.

Thanks, don't think I saw that initially. If that's the case then we may need to decide between that and the White Pass Scenic Railway, which I read and hear is a do-not-miss type of excursion. Yikes.

Tough decision. Pretty sure that the dog sled excursion will leave before you get back to Juneau. I'm booked on the Tracy Arm excursion through HAL. It takes 6 hours. If the ship you were on did go up the fjord, it may not get very far in July due to ice.

 

Is she wanting the dog sled part, glacier or helicopter the most? Being a skier, standing on a glacier is not that exciting for me. Pretty yes. You could do a plane ride on Ketchikan. Maybe the dog sled in Skagway as mentioned. I don't know about going solo. More fun with a friend/partner. Good luck and have fun.

I think the dog sledding is the most intriguing part to her. It would be fun I'm sure, but for me, it's not something I feel that strongly about. The helicopter ride is another story though! I imagine the view from above is rather breathtaking. And yeah, I don't think we want to go all the way to Alaska to do separate excursions (but thanks for the suggestion anyway, DON). :rolleyes:

Check the times on both excursions. You may be able to do both. From what I understand the Fjord excursion boat leaves just before Bliss leaves port and the two link back up some hours later. I am told that the Fjord excursion is basically an up close experience of what the ship does. There are posts on CC about it.

Thanks, that's something I considered too, as it seems like it may be doable. Would be a long day but definitely something to consider.

One thing to consider is that many of the flight excursions get canceled due to weather. If you choose the flight / dog sled tour, have a back up plan in case it is canceled.

Definitely did not consider this. Any suggestions for back up plans in case of bad weather?

We did the Tracy Arm Fjord tour with Adventure Bound last May and loved it. The experience from a small boat is completely different than from a ship. We got very close to both North and South Sawyer glaciers and also saw bears, whales, sea lions, eagles and puffins.

 

 

 

Wow, great pictures! Thanks for sharing. Just out of curiosity, when you say "got very close to both" how close would you say that is?

Definitely did not consider this. Any suggestions for back up plans in case of bad weather?

 

 

 

Wow, great pictures! Thanks for sharing. Just out of curiosity, when you say "got very close to both" how close would you say that is?

Most people do Whale watching Tours and / or visit Mendenhall Glacier. You can find combo tours that do both. You can also do a smaller boat for Whale Watching (6 - 12 or so). Several vendors recommended here and on Trip Advisor.

The pictures were taken my iPhone 5s, lol. The ones I loaded did not use much, if any, zoom. I would guess we got within 40-50 yds of the South Glacier and maybe 250 yds of the North Glacier.

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I’ve done both of the tours you are considering. I loved them both. They are very different but I don’t think you can go wrong with either. The Tracy Arm catamaran tour gets much closer to the glacier than the ship does. The views in the fjord are spectacular and the naturalist onboard was great too. The helicopter/dogsled was fantastic. The view from the helicopter was amazing. I loved the dogsled part too & then we got to hold puppies. A bucket list tour for sure.

Hi. We are going on our first cruise in July on the NCL Bliss, and have a Juneau port excursion dilemma.

Here's the real key to solving your dilemma. You said it's you "first" cruise, not your one and only, once in a lifetime cruise. Pick one special must-see excursion for this trip, and save the other for your next trip to Alaska. :D

FWIW, we're on Emerald Princess in July. We are doing both!

I booked Princess's excursion for the Tracy Arm fjord. It picks us up at sea, before Emerald docks in Juneau, at 9:00 in the morning. We'll do our thing in the fjord and the small boat, and then rejoin the Emerald in Juneau at 3:15.

Then, I booked the dogsledding tour through a local operator at 3:35. Yes, I know that 20 minutes is cutting it very thin, but I phoned the operator and he assured me it was Ok. They pick up guests right at the dock, they always wait up to 15 minutes for stragglers before they head to the chopper, and they have noted our tight schedule on their notes on our trip, so they know that we'll be coming in hot. So, it should work out (but we'll be a bit frazzled on the bus out to the chopper, but I expect that will wear off quickly).

We just have to take everything that we need for both tours with us. Hopefully, we'll have time to grab a sandwich from the buffet on our way from tour 1 to tour 2. If not, heck, we will have been overeating on the cruise anyway, right? A missed meal won't hurt us too much!

You can probably go dog sledding in Skagway also.

 

Both tours get great reviews and people rave about both.

The sled ride in Skagway is on wheeled training sled, not a "real" dogsled.

It is hard to choose, when both of you have your hearts set on something different. On our first Alaska cruise, my husband wanted to go fishing in Juneau. I was not interested in doing that. I knew he wanted to!! I wanted to do the rainforest zipline. He had no interest in that. He fished and I ziplined. We both had a blast on our excursions. It worked out for us to do separate excursions. We had a lot to talk about afterwards. We each had different stories to tell of our separate excursions. It worked out fine for us. We spent the rest of the cruise together and did the same excursions in all the other ports. On our second cruise to Alaska, we did everything together. I hope you will find a good solution. I know, whatever you decide you will both have fun.

It is hard to choose, when both of you have your hearts set on something different. On our first Alaska cruise, my husband wanted to go fishing in Juneau. I was not interested in doing that. I knew he wanted to!! I wanted to do the rainforest zipline. He had no interest in that. He fished and I ziplined. We both had a blast on our excursions. It worked out for us to do separate excursions. We had a lot to talk about afterwards. We each had different stories to tell of our separate excursions. It worked out fine for us. We spent the rest of the cruise together and did the same excursions in all the other ports. On our second cruise to Alaska, we did everything together. I hope you will find a good solution. I know, whatever you decide you will both have fun.

My wife and I have similar plans in Ketchikan.

I'm snorkeling in the morning and ziplining in the afternoon. Neither of these activities appeal to my bride.

She's taking a small boat to a crab estuary. She'll be able to pull in crab pots and then partake in an all-she can-eat Dungeness crab feast. I don't care for seafood.

But, as you say, we'll have stories to tell each other and doulbe our chances to make new friends.

That's a win-win-win.

Wow, you have all given me plenty of food for thought. I appreciate all the time that you have taken to help me make a decision, which I still haven’t made yet. Ha ha. I don’t think splitting up is an option for this cruise since it’s our first time, so hopefully we’ll be back...

The sled ride in Skagway is on wheeled training sled, not a "real" dogsled.

There are companies out of Skagway that do land on a glacier. You must not be looking that hard.

The sled ride in Skagway is on wheeled training sled, not a "real" dogsled.

There are companies out of Skagway that do land on a glacier. You must not be looking that hard.

Well aware of them. As you said, they are "out" of Skagway. ...by air. ;)

We decided that we can take a boat most places, but can only dogsled on a glacier in Alaska. I have canceled the boat excursion and opted for the helicopter ride/dog sled tour. Thanks to everyone for helping me sort through this, your perspectives were very helpful!

Because the dog sled area is in only one part of the glacier that they don't move much if the weather is bad at the dog sled area it may be fine to fly/land in other areas. Before hand decide back up plans such as fly/land other areas without the dogs if ok, or change sights to see completely. I believe that dog sled tour number 1 canceled tour. I think but am not sure that if you booked dog sled/helo in Skagway and it got canceled you would be able to ride wp rail as a back up. YouTube videos search will give you an idea what each tour is like. sightcrr

As it turns out, the helicopter tours seem to be unavailable, unfortunately. I had a feeling we were too late, so Tracy Arm Fjord it is!