Best Floatplane Service to Misty Fjords

[JPR]

What is the best floatplane service to the Misty Fjords in Alaska? We went a few years ago and used a family-run outfit that was recommended on this board, but I've blanked on the name. Cheaper than RSSC's excursion outfit, and they will take just your family. We landed on lakes, once impromptu to get a closeup view of a grizzly on the shore, and I even got to fly the plane for awhile. There was a reference to that in a recent travel article, but they failed to name the service. Does anyone here know?

[foreveryoung]

jpr,

I'm not sure if this is the correct name but what comes to mind is Michelle at Island Wings??

You may be able to find it on the Alaska board on Ports of Call

Vickie

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12/6/04 WOWzers Chocolate Lovers Cruise on Voyager


It's not that life is short, it that we wait too long to begin enjoying it.

[nova1]

1. Does the Mariner pass through Misty Fjords, and even if so, is it worth it to do one of the excursions?
2. Are the excursions rocky to the point of causing motion sickness? Thanks

[spleen93]

We hired Michelle from Island Wings to do our floatplane trip to Misty Fjords. Unfortunately, the day that we arrived in Ketchikan, it was pouring. Rather than take us up in the rain with poor visibility (sometimes it'll be cloudy in Ketchikan and sunny out in Misty Fjords but they said that the entire area was socked in), their office kindly refunded the entire amount of our deposit even though their policy clearly states that a 3% credit card processing fee might be withheld in the case of a refund. They were very pleasant and professional to deal with and if we have a chance to go back up to Ketchikan, I'd hire Michelle again in a heartbeat.

[url="http://www.islandwings.com/"]Their website[/url]

Spleen

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Carnival Conquest - W. Caribbean - 10/03, Celebrity Infinity - Alaska - 6/03, Ocean Princess - Alaska - 7/02

[Goofyisme]

Nova,
The flights go inland to a basicly wilderness area and are well worth the cost. Most, if not all, land on a lake in the area for a truly wonderful experience of naure, even the opportunity to see bears at the side of the lake on occasion. I did not find the flight to be rocky at all although I do have an iron stomach when it comes to that sor of thing. My wife who is very susceptible to motion sickness also did not experience any symptoms, although one lady on our flight did have a little bit of trouble. Hope you enjoy your trip to Alaska and can make the floatplane excursion.

Galaxy 1999
Galaxy 2000
Mercury 2003
Mariner 2003

[nova1]

Goofyism, Thanks so much for the info. I didn't phrase my question well: We can't take a floatplane because of the composition of my group. What I was wondering is, do you think it's worth it to take one of the catamaran trips or does the ship pass by Misty Fjords on its regular itinerary? The RSSC person I called wasn't sure. Thanks

[Goofyisme]

Nova, I know other cruise lines don't pass by Misty Fjords, don't really see how they could since the true worth of the experience, IMHO, is getting into the wilderness to see as much of nature and its beautiful work as possible. Can't comment on the other excursion as I haven't experienced it yet. Enjoy Alaska it is a great place to cruise.

Galaxy 1999
Galaxy 2000
Mercury 2003
Mariner 2003

[Guest]

We're on the RCI Serenade of the Seas in August. The ship's itinerary has a line item for "Misty Fjords", but in fact the time is only two hours. It's a drive-by. If you look at a map, what the ship does is pass by the very southwest edge of the national monument on the way back to Vancouver. In essence, if you want to see the monument at all, you won't see it from this cruise ship.

Assuming all the cruise lines are similar, the RCI shore excursion for the flight to Misty Fjords is in a DeHavilland Twin Otter, essentially a commuter plane on floats. It carries a relatively large number of people.

I did some checking on private operators. Go into Google and input "Misty Fjords Flightseeing" and you'll get a whole bunch of them. Most of them have websites where they go into the services they offer in detail. They all do similar things, and they all charge pretty much the same, which is about $200 per person.

The advantage of using your private operator vs. the cruise line's own private operator is that the former use smaller airplanes, the excursions costs less, and they stay longer when they put down on one of the isolated alpine lakes in the monument.

We booked a tour today, and there will be just four of us on a DeHavilland Beaver, a floatplane well-suited for this kind of flying.

I also found out that their August dates are filling up fast, so it is probably a good thing to act on it quickly if you have a summertime cruise coming up.

-----------------------

Platinum for Princess, for Royal Caribbean and for Celebrity.

[JPR]

Yes, it was Michelle at Island Wings. Thanks!

[Miss Megan]

My husband and I booked our Misty Fjords float plane tour with Michelle with Island Wings, although it is expensive it was well worth it and was the highlight of our trip. What made it really fun was the fact the Mariner had cruised a very narrow channel of the Fjords earlier that morning, so we go the perspective from both aerial and sea level. I cannot say enough about Michelle, she was absolutely wonderful and made it a very enjoyable experience.

[JPR]

Yes, it was Michelle at Island Wings we used.
Highest recommendation from us too! They even made an unscheduled landing on a lake to get a closeup view of a grizzly on shore.