Dyea Dave in Skagway?

[khut]

Just back from our cruise and spent the day with Dave and had a great tour.

However, I would think young kids WOULD be bored as the tour is mostly for the scenery,

photo ops and history and info of the area. I KNOW my grandkids would be whining

about "this is BORING" after the first hour, if not sooner!

[tjcox9]

Has anyone done Dave's Emerald Lake this tour with children? Ages 4 and 8? I'm wondering how they did on the tour... if they got bored, etc?

 

We recently toured with Dave. He said he generally doesn't take children on his tours but has another party take groups with children in a smaller vehicle. I'm thinking this is because he generally has a mixed group and prefers to avoid the possibility of some children acting up and making the tour less than pleasant for the others. He didn't really say why, but that would be my take on the reason.

 

Instead of his bus which carries maybe 16 or so, one of his drivers has a Chevy Suburban and that is what is used.

 

Hope this helps.

[betthemortgage]

Dave was everything we expected and more! Our family just returned from our Celebrity cruise and we were on one of Dave's tours to Emerald Lake. Some observations:

 

(1) We felt as though this was the first time Dave was giving this tour from the standpoint of Dave's enthusiasm about the locales and his genuine desire to make sure everyone felt "included". Incredible he's been doing this for years and can still give you the feeling that you're special.

 

(2) His jokes are corny at times (intentionally), but well-mixed with his knowledge of the area. We spent in excess of 8 hours with him and the time really flew by. He has the gift of gab, but he also knows when to be silent and let the scenery speak for itself.

 

(3) He pulled a nice NASCAR move while maneuvering our bus to see a roadside bear! Dave made sure that we were safe, but absolutely gave us a pole position look at the bear and a wonderful picture taking opportunity.

 

(4) He is as genuine as all of the reviews you've read -- a true credit to Skagway.

 

(5) We felt his tour was the best value for our money our entire cruise.

 

The bottom line is this - great value, great personality, great ambassador for the area, and great memories of a wonderful day.

 

Thanks Dave!

[NorbertsNiece]

Thanks for popping by to post your reviews. Am so glad I've booked with him. Won't be long now.....

[joecleveland]

His tour does not include the train and personally we liked the combination train/bus tour.

 

Actually, either tour can include the train. We actually stopped at the train stop at the border to pick up two passengers for Dave's tour who took the train up to that point where it turns around. Another couple was scheduled to take the train back down to the town and Besty was going to stop in CarCross to let them buy tickets, but they changed their minds. You pay for the train ride yourself with Dave and he will pick you up or drop you of at the train depot. We opted just to stay with the bus up and back from Emerald lake having rode trains like that before.

[VikkiGarcia]

Our family group of 9 toured with Dave July 2008. We thought it was great! We had 3 kids in our group. He did not charge ANYTHING for HIS portion of the tour for the kids. We did pay the train directly for that portion. Say what you want about Dave vs Chiltook vs any other train/tour package in Skagway. Nobody else is going to cut you any $$$ breaks at all. When we added up all the costs for every option. Dave saved our family BIG MONEY. We will always be very thankful for that.

[jku2]

We took this tour just last week with Becky. She went out of her way to show us the sights. She even took us through backways through Skagway and showed us her house and garden.

BTW...the cinnamon place closed this past Saturday so she and Dave are trying to figure out a friendly place to stop.

[mountainhouse]

BTW...the cinnamon place closed this past Saturday so she and Dave are trying to figure out a friendly place to stop.

 

:( Sad. Did you hear why?

[MsTerl]

We just got back from our Princess Cruise and took Dave's tour in Skagway with Becky as our guide. You will not find a better value for your money. We followed the train up the mountain and stopped at various stops for great pictures. We dropped people off at the train and then continued on our way to Carcross and Emerald Lake. We stopped for lunch at the Spirit Lake Resort and had a delicious lunch. My husband and I had a sandwich, a bowl of soup and a piece of pie for $35. It was a bit pricey but everything was homemade and very delicious.

 

We only have good things to say about both Dave and Becky. Dave traveled just behind our bus. He has two tour busses now and he and Becky follow each other on the tour. They were both interesting and funny and full of information about the area. We saw mountain goats and a bear along the road.

 

What we liked about them, besides the value, was they can stop just about anywhere for you to take pictures and customize the tour to suit you and your time allotment. We were the only ones from our ship on the tour and our ship was leaving before the other ship. Becky watched the time and had us back with plenty of time to spare while Dave took the people he picked up at the train station on a longer tour back.

 

We recommend this tour for a great value with more tour for less money.

[happytrails42]

We just got back from our Princess Cruise and took Dave's tour in Skagway with Becky as our guide. You will not find a better value for your money. We followed the train up the mountain and stopped at various stops for great pictures. We dropped people off at the train and then continued on our way to Carcross and Emerald Lake. We stopped for lunch at the Spirit Lake Resort and had a delicious lunch. My husband and I had a sandwich, a bowl of soup and a piece of pie for $35. It was a bit pricey but everything was homemade and very delicious.

 

We only have good things to say about both Dave and Becky. Dave traveled just behind our bus. He has two tour busses now and he and Becky follow each other on the tour. They were both interesting and funny and full of information about the area. We saw mountain goats and a bear along the road.

 

What we liked about them, besides the value, was they can stop just about anywhere for you to take pictures and customize the tour to suit you and your time allotment. We were the only ones from our ship on the tour and our ship was leaving before the other ship. Becky watched the time and had us back with plenty of time to spare while Dave took the people he picked up at the train station on a longer tour back.

 

We recommend this tour for a great value with more tour for less money.

 

We too took Dave's tour while in Skagway (July 6) and we have a great time! Our day started out quite foggy and a little drizzly and we were concerned if the tour would still go on -- it did and we were thrilled!

 

At one point, the fog -- or clouds as Dave referred to it, became very heavy and thick. I'm sure Dave was white knuckled while driving since at one point you couldn't really see much in front of you or besides you for that matter :eek: and I don't remember if there were guard rails or not :confused: and this "cloud cover" continued for several miles. We've attached a picture of our return journey of this white knuckle driving experience as we crossed from the Yukon Territory back into Alaska. Dave assured us that this happens all the time and we believe him.

 

Dave is very knowledgeable and quite entertaining. We stayed with the tour the entire day and we were very happy with our decision. We had a hairy critter just looking for some lunch on the side of the road -- see picture attached.

 

We stopped in Carcross, had our passports stamped and saw a bald eagle just hanging around. We too stopped at Spirit Lake for a bite to eat -- a little pricey but we expected this since we are from the lower 48 and just about everything has to be hauled in -- one way or another. The lake itself is beautiful and the picture does not do it justice.

 

We'd definitely recommend his tour to anyone seeking to get off the beaten path. If we get the chance to go back, we'll look him up.

[happytrails42]

Here's the "cloud" cover from our tour ...

[tjcox9]

How unfortunate for you. :(

 

We had a picture perfect day with Dave. I guess this is one you can't blame on the tour provider! We had a similar occurrence in Sicily when it was perfectly clear until we reached the village of Erice which has incredible views (we understand) and it suddenly became socked in with fog and mist.

 

Just another reason to try it again...........;)

[bucksfan]

We toured with Dave July 6th to Emerald Lake and enjoyed every minute of it! It started out foggy in the morning so we did the whole tour with him rather than take the train part way as we had discussed. I'm sure the train would be fun but since on that particular day it was so foggy, it probably would have been disappointing to spend $81 to take the train to Carcross and see nothing but fog. By the time we got to Carcross, the fog had lifted and it turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. The scenery to Emerald Lake is spectacular and Dave is very accommodating, stopping wherever we wanted to let us take pictures, walk around the "desert", the "rock garden", and stick our toes in the beautiful turquoise green lakes. He even made a u-turn in the road when we spotted a bear so we could go back and get a better look at it. He gave us the choice of either eating lunch at Carcross or Spirit Lake. His whole tour is catered to what you want to do and is well worth the $69 for the whole day!

[BJs mom]

Just wondering, we'll be on the Statendam in June 2011, stoping in Haines from 6:30 am to 9:00 pm, I know there's a ferry to Skagway but will we be too late to go on a tour with Dave? I know he leaves early and I'm not sure how long it takes to get to Skagway on the ferry but I sure would like to take his tour. Anyone who's done this, I would appreciate advise. Thanks for any help.

[VaTraveler]

He was the most entertaining guide we had the entire trip, and we had many. We found his prices to be extremely reasonable, and he bent over backward to give us as personalized tour as possible.

 

He does give the option of taking the train one way and staying with him the other. We opted to stay with him, as did most of the others on the tour. Some had planned on taking the train and changed their minds because he was so entertaining.

[lilacbirman]

We took Dyea Dave's tour, Becky was our driver. She was so nice and very informative. We originally thought about taking the train but at the last minutes decided to stay with the bus the entire time. There were six in my family and everyone enjoyed it, my brother in law said it was the right decision to do the bus tour the whole time. We enjoyed all the many stops we made along the way. The drive is so scenic and breathtaking! We decided to have lunch in Carcross. My sister went to buy sushi and the rest of our family had a cheeseburger. It was pricy at $6 but it was thick and had all the fillings.

 

If I recall correctly there were about 10 or so on our bus. We were pooped going back to Skagway, Becky joked about us thinking "We don't want to get off the bus and take more pictures anymore!" :p

 

This tour was the best value of all shore excursions we did.

[saksn4]

We are going on an Alaskan cruise the last week of June 2011. My family of 4 is interested in booking this as an excursion...how soon should we contact Dyea Dave to book??

[jsummerton]

As long as you're sure you want to do it, I'd go ahead and book as soon as you know when you're going to be there. Just booked for Sept 2011.

[bottom-dragger]

How unfortunate for you. :(

 

We had a similar occurrence in Sicily when it was perfectly clear until we reached the village of Erice which has incredible views (we understand) and it suddenly became socked in with fog and mist.

 

since you missed it, this is the view from erice................ the thrill was driving the narrow road when one of the tour buses comes looming out of the fog. it's claimed that the castle was never captured, i think because they couldn't find it.

 

so

[5326jan]

We are going on an Alaskan cruise the last week of June 2011. My family of 4 is interested in booking this as an excursion...how soon should we contact Dyea Dave to book??

 

Sometimes it takes a while to connect, so you might want to get started now. I think Becky said he was hiring someone to help with the bookings, so they may get busier. You don't have to pay until you are on the tour. They collect at the end to be sure no one has to pay for an unsatisfactory tour. We paid the 69/pp plus a tip so we took 170 in cash for two of us. I saw some pay with a check, but I think he prefers cash.

 

I sent him an email in Feb for a mid July cruise. Then he called me to talk about the tour and ask me if I wanted to go up and back or do one of the ways on the train. The train is an additional $81, but after talking to Dave, I knew he would be more entertaining. He sent me a confirmation email.... one word... "confirmed" and I printed it out. I never needed to show it to anyone, because they had all the info.

[cajunar]

We are planning on taking train to Fraser (!1 hr 45 min), and then tour with this company -- we will have a 3.5 year old with us and I'm thinking that we probably should opt for the shorter ($39) option, but anyone have any thoughts about whether a 3.5 year old would tolerate the longer tour as that is the one most people seem to prefer?

[lilacbirman]

We are going on an Alaskan cruise the last week of June 2011. My family of 4 is interested in booking this as an excursion...how soon should we contact Dyea Dave to book??

 

You can book now and if you change your mind later, even up till June 2011 simply call them to cancel. They do not pre-charge you like most independant. You pay at the end of the tour.

 

We are planning on taking train to Fraser (!1 hr 45 min), and then tour with this company -- we will have a 3.5 year old with us and I'm thinking that we probably should opt for the shorter ($39) option, but anyone have any thoughts about whether a 3.5 year old would tolerate the longer tour as that is the one most people seem to prefer?

 

The trip to Emerald Lake and back is long for most kids and some adults. You know your child better than anyone else so you'll have to determine how he/she will tolerate it. There were about ten on our bus and we were all pretty tired on the drive back to Skagway. Seven hours is a long trip but for most, it is worth the drive, the scenery is gorgeous!

 

:)

[ideliver416]

also just back and did the tour with dave last week. enjoyed every minute of it. take the 645am ferry from haines and meet dave in the parking lot at 8am. booked the 4pm return ferry online and prepaid the ferry before i got there. they sent me a confirmation and had my tickets waiting onboard. great excursion and well woth the price with dyea dave

[Host Anne]

We toured with Becky the last week of July and had a truly perfect day. We had a group of 16 and had a mini-bus all to ourselves. Our group immediately clicked with Becky and could tell when she met us that it was going to be a great day. I had spoken to Dave several times on the phone and were comfortable touring with either Dave or Becky. I know Dave is great but so was Becky. We couldn't have asked for a better day. She gave us our options for the day, stopped when we wanted to for as long as we wanted to (building Inukshuk at Summit Lake was a highlight), we were never rushed or herded like folks on the big buses.

We had been to Skagway about 9 years ago on our first Alaskan cruise and did the train ride. After spending the day with Becky, we'd never consider the train again. You see so much more in a vehicle. You can stop, have lunch, talk to people who live there (we loved Carcross). And the tour with Dyea Dave was far more reasonable in cost.

Cajunar ~ there is a good balance of riding in the mini-bus and being outside doing things, seeing things, etc. so you might be OK with a younger child on this tour. It is a long day but for our group, we could have gone on forever. You should ask Dave/Becky for their thoughts. I think they'll be honest with you.

We can't wait to go back and do this all over again and see some places we didn't get to this time. We did have some morning fog but it made for some interesting photos early on. By the time we hit Canada, the fog was pretty much gone.

To everyone going, have a wonderful time.

[NorbertsNiece]

Would do it again in a heart beat.

Full review in sig below.