NEWLKAT

Like Bubbs33 said,  both Glacier Winds and Hoonah Whale Tours get great review.  I went out with Hoonah Whale Tours this summer with a party of 3.  They will both try to fill their boats so you may still have others in the boat with you. However their boats only hold 6 passengers so no crowding.

thanks for the input that does help.

I am currently booked on the Golden on a Northbound Alaska cruise next summer, I am in Baja B519 but can get a room on Aloha any thoughts or opinion on our current room or why the Aloha deck is better, I know the Caribe deck balconies are bigger but they cost more?

We flew with Michelle and Island Wings this summer, I was very comfortable flying with her. You can tell she knows what she is doing, she has been flying for a good while, and she spends a lot of money upkeeping her plane. I never had any safety concerns.

She has some nice tunes she plays through the head sets which are can help ease tension, the scenery cannot be beat. That being said it was overcast and cloudy the day we went, but we had smooth skies with no turbulance. She said sunny days can get more turbulence. Just make sure if you are prone to motion sickness you are prepared for it.

last time we were going to be a party of 4 in obstructed ov room for a cruise tour, after final payment the price dropped down, our Princess rep went to bat for us and we managed to get 2 balcony rooms side by side, granted the options were far forward or far aft, we switched, and we received still received a little bit of a refund. Needless to say we were thrilled.

We went with Hoonah Whale Tours in June had a wonderful trip. Next summer we are not porting in Juneau, I have booked with Jayleen's Alaska.

We had a great whale watching experience two days ago in Juneau. Spent almost an hour with a large pod of orcas......and we were the only boat! Pod included one very large male, smaller males and females and two babies. Our naturalist, Emily said she had only seen orcas breech twice in her life. On this trip the baby orcas breeched so many times that we stopped counting. We had tail slaps and spy hops too! Amazing orca activity.

Want to give a huge shoutout to the whale watching company.....

www.jayleensalaska.com

Jayleen and Emily are fantastic! She only takes a few passengers at a time..her boat handles the waves smoothly and they work very hard to ensure you’re having a great experience. Only boat we will go out on from now on!!!

I just booked with her for next summer....now the long wait.

I'll be in Denali in late July for one day. I'm going to take one of the non-narrated tour buses into the park, along with my wife and two children (one teen, one 7 years old).

 

I'm trying to figure out the best time to book the bus. The sun sets near 11:20pm in Denali, and I've heard that your best chance at wildlife sightings comes near dawn and dusk. Sunrise is about 4:30am so there's no chance I'll be there for that.

 

I am considering taking a 5pm bus into the park, and catching the last one back, arriving at 11pm.

 

There is also a 3pm bus, arriving back at 9pm. I could get off that bus and catch later one (arriving 11pm) back, but I'm not sure if the kids will have the energy for all those hours.

 

What do you think? Aside from spending the night (can't do it) or spending a very long day in Denali (also can't do it), am I better off with the 3pm or 5pm bus?

 

Pretty sure the 9:30am and 12:15pm buses aren't going to be good, because I imagine the animals will be hiding/sleeping.

We actually took the 930am Eielson shuttle and saw quite a bit of wildlife including bears. One was a momma with tiny cubs.

How are walking conditions on the hike?

 

I bought boots and DH taking a back pack.

 

How far and how long was this part of the tour.

 

Thanks

With the Bear Search you stay in the safety of your van for the most part, we did stop and get out for a few minutes.

Do not be afraid of the Golden. We just got off on the 14th It was one of our best cruises.

Saw a few employees that we knew from other ships. Spent every night in the Wheelhouse, listening to Phoenix Rising. Food and service were good, no leaks. Ship was

in good shape.

 

Really enjoyed the cruise. We will probably make this an annual affair.

 

 

Greg

Thank you that helps ease my fears

Thank you for your response! We are considering an Alaska cruisetour for 2019, the one that is 7 day Heart of the Rockies plus rail (Canadian Rockies). The only two ships the tour connects to are the Royal and the Golden. I happen to love the Royal, but she has so few outside viewing areas. Big decision!

 

 

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I am in the same boat so to speak as you, planning for next year and the only 2 are Royal and Golden. Scared of Golden but hate the thought of fighting for space in limited viewing areas. Decisions. Will most likely go with Golden and enjoy it. Wish they would move Coral or even Island to a Saturday to Saturday departure, instead of Wed to Wed.

We did a bear search with Hoonah Travel Tours followed by a whale watch with Hoonah Whale Tours we saw both bears and whales. We booked independently.

I was curious as to what hotels they are using for this tour, and any other opinions you had on the tour. We are looking at it for August 2019

Plus the Jewel is the ship that does the cruise tours.

lol which is why we booked it, My father in law keeps trying to switch to Princess, hoping not to add fuel to the fire. NCL had the better tour IMO so don't want to switch.

You should be fine.

 

Jewel is the only one that does one way cruises - Vancouver to Seward and Seward to Vancouver.

 

Bliss and Joy do round trips out of Seattle.

Thank you that helps alleviate some anxiety :)

Does Joy add capacity in the summer Alaska market (adding to Bliss and Jewel), or does Jewel stay in the Aussie market year round - cancelling her 2019 Alaska itineraries I wonder?

ARgh, I am booked on NCL Jewel for Alaska next summer, hope it does not get cancelled.

That was there to show us how safe the windows are even if they shatter. ;)

We will go with that answer... LOL

We did the bear search with Hoonah Travel Adventures followed by a whale watch with Hoonah Whale Tours (they are fairly new and only take out 6 travelers, however they did hot have any other takers so it was only me, my sister and daughter so had a private tour). We saw both bears and whales. We actually had multiple breaches and a whale actually came right towards us and dove right under our boat that was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I think Captain Joardan had visions of Moby Dick in his head watching that huge whale coming. I highly recommend both companies.

I enjoyed your review and the photos you took. Thank you for posting, I never find the time to write a review but do post pictures instead of FB. Denali is definitely a must do, and if in Hoonah definitely an excursion. We did a bear and whale watch.

I agree with you Cuddy was funny especially on 70s night on our cruise, but I think he likes to be spanked a little to much.. LOL

We were on same cruise as OCSC Mike, and loved Radiance - is perfect ship for Alaska!

 

 

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We were also on this same cruise with RSLeesburg and OCSC Mike, and did not have any issues. This was my 4th time on this ship on a Southbound routing, the only thing that stood out to me was a broken window on the elevators overlooking the water, but that would be really the only thing.

I think it depends on the driver, ours stopped for a few minutes on a bridge over looking a small river and we were able to get out and stretch our legs a bit. I think I have seen other posts were others may have gotten out also. But cannot promise every trip and driver is the same. Be warned there are no bathrooms on this tour. We went out with the about 2 weeks ago.

Day 4 - Traveling back to Anchorage / Seward / Board the Ship :D

 

On the fourth day of our adventure, we packed up, boarded the bus, and left Talkeetna for Anchorage. The first part of our journey was about 2 hours and our destination was the Anchorage Museum. We hit some construction, which delayed us a bit - but we eventually arrived at the museum around 11am or so. The museum is very nice; however, we were not good planners - remember the stop at Fred Meyers for snacks? Well, we ran out before this last coach trip, so we headed right over to the museum restaurant for lunch. By time we finished, we only had time to see a fraction of the museum. TIP: For those that enjoy museums, I would recommend seeing this before your tour begins - when you first arrive in Anchorage.

 

Around 12:30pm we boarded the bus to head to Seward. NOTE: I have noticed people taking the train from Anchorage to Seward. I asked our tour guide about this, and she told me that normally we would take it, but with the exceptionally warm weather, they had some much snow melting that the tracks were flooded so the train was not running. I am not sure if this is true or not - would be curious to know if anyone on our cruise were able to take the train or not.

 

PS: The restaurant at the museum has exceptional food.

We were on the same cruise as you departing Seward on June 22. We took the train from Anchorage to Seward on Wednesday June 20 with no problems the train leaves Anchorage about 645am and arrives Seward about 1105am. On Friday morning we took Seward's free cities shuttle to the cruise terminal about 11am, our driver was letting some people know they would be delayed getting where they wanted because the train was coming in and he had to swing by and pick up people,

Did you see bears? If so was it from the van, or did you get out of the van to view them? Also were they brown or black bears?

Yes all the bears we saw were from the van, and both sets of momma bears were brown bears each with 2 1/2 grown cubs. I tried to attach a couple from the first set, they were not as shy as the second set it did not work o I provided the link to a couple of them. I also posted a review on Tripadvisor under NEWLKAT that has some photos as well. :)

just got back toured with them last week, they use transit vans which are comfortable I do not believe they fill every seat on them. We only got out 1x on a bridge insects were not an issue.

Hoonah Whale Tours, also has a restroom.