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Dyea Dave in Skagway?

tacotam

By tacotam,
in Alaska

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cwatts15

cwatts15

Posted
Posted

We have also booked a one-way Emerald Lake tour with Dyea Dave, and will ride the WP&YR train back to Skagway. We will be on the Diamond Princess out of Whittier on 5/15/10. I emailed him for info and he responded within the hour. He has very helpful and has offered a lot of great info for our travel. I am excited about the tour.

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  • 2 weeks later...
PugMom02

PugMom02

Posted
Posted
Is the $60.00 round trip or each way.

 

 

That's the cost for the whole tour. I have booked with Dave for May and he did say that there will be a rate increase coming up this year. It is going to be $70 pp. That rate again is the whole tour. So if you ride up with Dave and then take the train back you are still going to pay $70 pp. Which is still very reasonable and lower than all the other companies I looked at.

I am really looking forward to this. I emailed Dave and he got back to me with in the hour. Seems like a fun guy.

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VikkiGarcia

VikkiGarcia

Posted
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Yukon is right...Dave's tour does NOT include the cost of the train. You pay that separately at the train station to the train itself.

When we used Dave we were not sure the weather was going to be favorable for the train and did not want to spend $$$100's$$ of dollars if the view was not amazing. He gave us the tour from Skagway all the way up to the train station in Frasier. At that point we had the choice to do the train back or stay with him (and the other couple in the van who had no intention of riding the train)

My family decided to go ahead with the train. We did not know that they have a train car JUST for people who board the train at Fraiser. Our group was the ONLY ones for this trip down. We had a traincar and conductor all to ourselves. We sat wherever we wanted. The kids could get up and move around. It was super special.

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Longhornfan2

Longhornfan2

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I contacted Dave via e-mail and got a response back within 2 days and a phonecall! He sounds like he will be a lot of fun. I have also read favorable reviews on him. He will pick us up at the ship in Skagway when we sail in September, then we will take the train southbound from Fraser. Anybody else done this?

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CruisinMama7

CruisinMama7

Posted
Posted

Last year we did the Chilkoot combo tour with the southbound train, so this summer I wanted to go with Dave round trip. Knowing that he is not an email fan, I emailed him anyway, not expecting a response for a couple of weeks. He responded to me via phone within the hour and all arrangements were immediately made, plus he promptly followed up with a confirmation email. You can't ask for better service than that.:) During our conversation, he said that he received over 3,000 emails last summer. Now that's whole lot of work for a one-man/family operation. Another thing to remember, we are a bunch of city folk with high-strung ways and he's a laid-back Alaskan who is geared slower. So, all I can say is that I'm really looking forward to our tour with a knowledgeable local who can show me a little piece of his world :cool: and not some cookie-cutter tour with seasonal drivers who go to Alaska for summer work.:rolleyes:

 

Cruisin'Mama

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mr green

mr green

Posted
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That's the cost for the whole tour. I have booked with Dave for May and he did say that there will be a rate increase coming up this year. It is going to be $70 pp. That rate again is the whole tour. So if you ride up with Dave and then take the train back you are still going to pay $70 pp. Which is still very reasonable and lower than all the other companies I looked at.

I am really looking forward to this. I emailed Dave and he got back to me with in the hour. Seems like a fun guy.

 

He quoted me $60.00 each, [round trip], to-day plus the new $3.00 tax per person.

 

john

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  • 2 months later...
Mal2105

Mal2105

Posted
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Tks Des - reconfirmed with Dave this week and all set - this plus Harv & Marv are my Cruise Critic recommended excursion choices and have every confidence they will be highlights of our cruise

Cheers!

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des_from_oz

des_from_oz

Posted
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Mal,

Sorry for all these posts - but just to let you know that we also:

- purchased our cruise from a US based seller - no probs at all

- we had an inside cabin - it was great - and we spent most of our time outside anyway, admiring the views and talking to other passengers doing the same. We were with Pricess, and went from Anchorage to Vancouver.

- in fact we purchased an italy land tour from them again this year - again with huge savings compared to OZ prices.

- did the heli flight & whale cruise - you'll love it!!

- we also did lost of other things - call me if you'd like to chew the fat.

- trip icluded San Francisco, Anchorage, Denali NP, flight over Mt Denali, and all done independently using hire cars and booking accom online.

Cheers

Des

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bus184

bus184

Posted
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Has anyone taken the Princess White Pass Bennett Lake Adventure or the Dlx Klondike Exp & Rail Adventure tours? I'm looking for suggestions as to which might be better and if you have experience with Dyea Dave how his tour compares. Thanks for any help.

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Rocklady

Rocklady

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We went with Dave last year. He picked us up at the end of the pier (as close as he could get), We had a fantastic time with him. He's quite the character. One of the things I liked was that his trip was geared with us (the group) in mind. If we wanted to linger, we did. If we wanted to skip something, we did. And, we did not go where the crowds were. He also made a real effort to look for any bears feeding along the highway once I told him I really wanted to see them. On the way up he found skat and on the way down we stopped to watch BEARS. (We watched Chilkoot Tours cruise by) You'll have a good time with him. Just be patient if he misses your communication. Computer literate he is not. His sister helps him in this area - although by now he may have decided to try for himself. He was great to talk to on the phone if you have the option to call him directly.

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Shirley C

Shirley C

Posted
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We went with Dave last year. He picked us up at the end of the pier (as close as he could get), We had a fantastic time with him. He's quite the character. One of the things I liked was that his trip was geared with us (the group) in mind. If we wanted to linger, we did. If we wanted to skip something, we did. And, we did not go where the crowds were. He also made a real effort to look for any bears feeding along the highway once I told him I really wanted to see them. On the way up he found skat and on the way down we stopped to watch BEARS. (We watched Chilkoot Tours cruise by) You'll have a good time with him. Just be patient if he misses your communication. Computer literate he is not. His sister helps him in this area - although by now he may have decided to try for himself. He was great to talk to on the phone if you have the option to call him directly.

 

I am so looking forward to this tour. I hope we see bears too ~ they are the only thing I missed seeing on our last cruise to Alaska in 2008.

 

Shirley

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raymay

raymay

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Well the cost of both may be the same but you will not have to drive if you go with Dave . He is a local with wealth of information and quirky places to stop, like the rock shaped into a head,also he can spot goats and wildlife a mile away. We have been with him a few times and are going with him again this year because every tour is different and we always have fun

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axio99

axio99

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Posted

I booked with Dave after exchanging emails to and fro...he got me on his list but i was reading the front of the page and read that he does sometimes pass his passengers to others if his list is full but the alternative guide doesn't seems as good...so i m praying that I will be kept on Dave's list..after all i book with him because i want to travel with DAVE and not DICK or HARRY

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Rocklady

Rocklady

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We were thinking of just renting a car and driving ourselves. Is there a benefit of going with Dave versus doing it on your own?

 

#1 as stated earlier - you do not have to drive #2 - the man is a wealth of information and knows the area You might be tempted to stop somewhere that he knows is a waste of $$.

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  • 3 weeks later...
BuckeyeLotus

BuckeyeLotus

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I just got back from my trip and we had booked Dave many many months in advance. His sister and his partner both had full vans while there was 9 of us in his van that day. I can not say enough good things about this trip. He met us at the dock on time and was easily identifiable. Our trip ended up going over an hour overtime but we didn't care a bit (we could of easily asked him to wrap it up but who would complain about getting an extra long tour?) We loved everything he took us too and he was incredibly knowledgeable, there were very few times he didn't have something to point out to us. We were his first trip of the 2010 season and he was incredibly excited. It also ended up being a great wildlife tour as we saw a bear, caribou, mountain sheep, mountain goats, a bald eagle, and many marmots. He said he has never had such success with wildlife viewing especially so early in the season. Since we all got along so well my family and I ended up hanging out with Dave in town just to chit chat after the tour was over. While ever the tour guide he continued to point out things to us the whole time. I highly recommend booking through him, especially at $62 a person which is an unbelievable rate for what you get.

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