Is the extra $70 worth it...Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway

[MudderBear]

Hello.  For next June 2022, At the stop in Skagway, we are thinking of booking the $139 White pass and Yukon Railway rail tour.  For $209 we can do this tour, get off and have a pre-arranged lunch and then visit a dog sledding area.  Is it worth the extra money?  Here's what the additional $70 consists of (aside from an extra 5 hours)....

 

At the Caribou Crossing Trading Post satisfy your wilderness appetite with a delicious chicken barbecue lunch complete with all-you-can-eat homemade donuts. After your meal, tour Yukon's most extensive Wildlife Museum, Stroll among creatures of Yukon's past and present, with favorites including steppe bison, grizzly bears, monster moose, woolly mammoth and the world's largest mounted polar bear. Absorb some authentic Canadian culture at the at Caribou Crossing's newest exhibit, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police heritage center. This interpretive display focuses on the history of Canada's "Mounties" and highlights their role during the Klondike Gold Rush. Visit the Dog Musher's Village where you can visit with Iditarod dog mushers and take pictures with the sled dogs and husky puppies. For an extra fee, you may join them for a dog cart ride. Kids and adults alike will also enjoy the petting farm.  

[Crew News]

6 hours ago, MudderBear said:

Hello.  For next June 2022, At the stop in Skagway, we are thinking of booking the $139 White pass and Yukon Railway rail tour.  For $209 we can do this tour, get off and have a pre-arranged lunch and then visit a dog sledding area.  Is it worth the extra money?  Here's what the additional $70 consists of (aside from an extra 5 hours)....

 

At the Caribou Crossing Trading Post satisfy your wilderness appetite with a delicious chicken barbecue lunch complete with all-you-can-eat homemade donuts. After your meal, tour Yukon's most extensive Wildlife Museum, Stroll among creatures of Yukon's past and present, with favorites including steppe bison, grizzly bears, monster moose, woolly mammoth and the world's largest mounted polar bear. Absorb some authentic Canadian culture at the at Caribou Crossing's newest exhibit, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police heritage center. This interpretive display focuses on the history of Canada's "Mounties" and highlights their role during the Klondike Gold Rush. Visit the Dog Musher's Village where you can visit with Iditarod dog mushers and take pictures with the sled dogs and husky puppies. For an extra fee, you may join them for a dog cart ride. Kids and adults alike will also enjoy the petting farm.  

The food was really good and plentiful, the dogs were nice to see, the museum with a stuffed grizzly towering over everything was amazing, and the puppies were cute.  The sled dog ride, in what seems to be the frame of a Volkswagen, was not so great.  Nothing beats a sled dog run in the snow.

 

 

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Crew News

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, MudderBear said:

Is it worth the extra money?

 

I agree with Crew News.  This is an interesting addition to that tour.  I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the lunch served and the Museum was interesting.  I particularly enjoyed the part concerning the RCMP.  

 

I did not do the dog sled ride.  But, it is important for the visitors to understand that the way the dogs are housed is actually the way the dogs are housed by those who have dogs such as these.  My Nephew (who participated in the Iditarod) was involved in caring and training dogs for several years.  I visited the site where his dogs were kept.  Adding this tour extension to your tour will provide a piece of the "real Alaska" that is not touristy.  

[mrsturkelton]

We did the Caribou Crossing package 5 years ago and really enjoyed it.  Lunch was good and seeing the puppies was a lot of fun.  We didn't do the dog sled ride but watched it and it seemed like it was just ok.  I highly recommend adding it to your tour.  

[JT1962]

The extended tour is definitely worth it. We did this previously and I am hoping to book it again for my May Alaska cruise. Currently Carnival and the private companies I have checked are not booking excursions that cross the border and are waiting on clarification of the new Covid requirements.