Kenai Fjords Tour

[stephensfamily5]

We will be arriving in Seward on the HAL Westerdam on Sept. 9. We would like to do a boat tour of Kenai Fjords. Should we book ahead or wait until we get there? I have read that they sell out sometimes, and I would hate to miss it, but we will be spending one night, so we actually have the option of heading out on the 9th or the 10th before catching the train to Anchorage. Would it be better to see the weather forecast first? Thoughts?

[mapleleaves]

Based on my personal experience I would wait until i got there. I've been on 2 trips that were reduced to Bay tours due to rough seas. Unfortunately they didn't make that decision until we were already out. Both trips were in mid and late August ... we didn't have reservations, and there were LOTS of seats available.

[wesp]

We booked a combination Kenai Fjord and airport transfer with the ship. The cruise by Major Marine covered only Resurrection Bay. A Major Marine brochure posts the full Kenai trip as an 8 hour tour whereas our tour was 5 hours. And at 5 hours we were ok with the area covered by the tour.

 

 

Wesley

[mapleleaves]

I'm not suggesting you wait for a beautiful day with clear blue skies and water like glass. But if it's windy with almost white caps on the Bay, you might want to wait. Keep in mind that even on a calm day, there's a rough patch when the boat enters the Gulf of Alaska (take your precautions regardless of the weather if you're prone to motion sickness)

 

I assume you checked to see how many other ships are in port:

http://claalaska.com/

[Northern Aurora]

stephensfamily: Since there area two vendors offering Kenai Fjords tours if you don't have a particular preference between vendors I suspect you have a reasonable chance of walking on.

[Budget Queen]

The tour options are limited. Already the Aialik/Holgate Glacier tour has ended. You can NOT speculate on any weather. I currently have gone on 3 trips this season. Including today with my 4th trip tomorrow. Depends on your choice.

[pr0pel]

Just got back yesterday on a Kenai Fjords tour with Major Marine. It was a 6 hour tour and they said the seas were "rougher than normal." With that said, once we entered the bay, a whole lot of people starting puking all over and a lot more went out back to get air. It was pretty bad. I don't know what will be available when you arrive but if you get motion sickness easily, I would ask about the sea conditions before booking.

[Nutshell66]

Having just done this last week I think you will be ok waiting until you arrive to book. The season appears to be winding down and there was not much demand for anything we wanted to do in Seward, including the most popular restaurant. I would also like to mention that Kenai Fjords Tours had a kiosk in the port terminal-they will store your luggage or take it to your hotel and shuttle you to the small boat harbor (they have a nice gift shop and the tours leave from there). At the end of our 6 hour tour they drove us to our hotel. We arrived in Seward with several options for the day but they made everything so easy it was a no brainer.