Geckolips

In all of my reading I haven't seen where anyone is taking both the Portage Glacier tour AND the 9 hr NW Kenai Fjord trip with stop on Fox Island for lunch. Are these redundant? I also cant' seem to find the route or general area that the 9 hour trip takes, although I understand it changes somewhat due to weather. Does it head northeast or southwest? I thought after a couple of days discovering Anchorage we would drive towards Seward with stops at the Alyeska resort for tram and lunch at the top, Exit Glacier, Portage cruise and overnight in Seward area. I want to see the Boar Tidal surge in the Turnagain Arm some evening as well. Is that something we can drive to see while staying in Anchorage? I got the tidal charts and it won't be a max but still significant. The next day do the all day NW Fjords cruise. How does that sound? Also, are there particular days that Seward is more inundated with cruise ship tourists than others. We have all week so we could be more flexible. We will try the flight from Talkeetna either before or after Kenai Peninsula area, depending upon the area. We have 7 days and want to leisurely enjoy as much as possible...we are amblers, not hikers. (Do we really need hiking boots if we don't walk out on Glaciers?)I have ordered the Tour Saver book. We leave June 26.
Thanks.

repete

There's no comparision bertween Portage and the 9-hour KF Tour.

Portage Glacier is a short ride on a small lake. The wildlife propects are minimal. KF is a spectacular trip on the ocean -- with the possibility of seeing an amazing array of marine life. I would only recommend the Portage cruise if you had absolutely no other trips on the water.

The boar tide is often underwhelming, but you can easily go out and sit almong the arm an evening when you're in Anchorage. It's a short, pretty drive -- and any trip down Turnagain is a good trip.

I'm not sure of the NW tour route these days, but I believe they usually head out past Cape Ailik and the Chiswell Islands to Northwestern Glacier. Heading northeast from Seward would put the boat in the heart of the Chugach Range.

mlw

There is a map of all the KF routes on their website www.kenaifjords.com
We really enjoyed the 9 hour tour, did not do the lunch at Fox Island, we were more interested in the wildlife and scenery. There is some lovely scenery around the Portage Glacier area if you have time and the visitor center is interesting.

dfrostnh

There has been a fairly recent discussion about hiking boots. What I got was a hiking shoe - good tread on the bottom and waterproof bottoms. I'm also a fan of sports sandals. Your everyday running shoe might be comfortable but no longer have decent tread. I wanted something I could wear if it were rainy or muddy to keep my feet dry. We didn't plan on anything more than casual hikes but paths can be steep. The trail to the falls in Whittier had a lot of plank walkways thru dense bushes which could have been slippery if wet. My hiking shoes were also good for beach walking. My husband wore everyday Rockports. I recommend something that ties, has good tread and will keep your feet dry. My hiking shoes ended up becoming my favorite everyday shoe for winter.
You will probably want to schedule two overnights in Seward since it sounds like you will need most of the day to get there and then the 9 hour cruise will take up most of the second. You can also go the the Sea Life Center on the first day. It's small but I really enjoyed it esp because it wasn't crowded when we visited. We did the longest cruise without the stop on Fox Island. The lunch on board was simple but tasty (choice of fried halibut or chicken fingers). Have a great trip!

BudgetQueen

For clairfication the above Kenai fjords tour WITH the Fox Island meal is the SAME as the REGULAR 6 hour trip, NOT the Northwestern Fjords trip. The Northwestern Fjords trip is superior all the way around and spends the entire time on the water. As mentioned, look at the route maps. All boat trips sail south out of Seward.

As for Portage Glacier, it's a simple boat ride of an hour, back and forth to the glacier. No wildlife. The Visitor center however is certainly worth a stop.

Very unlikely to see a bore tide unless you have at least a 27 foot tidal difference and either a new or full moon. As you have a tidal chart, yes easy to drive from Anchorage. For clairfication it isn't unique to "evening". So consult the charts for the best day. It isn't just the "max" but very negative lows also needed.
Consult port schedules for cruise ships in Seward, but MOST cruise passengers pass through, only a very small number tour Seward. You do need to have advance reservations. If you have a toursaver book, only the Northwestern fjords trip has a coupon this year NOT the tour you have in your post. Flights out of Talkeetna fill up and walk up space is slim using the coupons, again reservations are necessary.

repete

I would absolutely skip Fox Island and go for the full nine hours on the water. Much better odds of seeing good things up close.

Yes, it's possible to see many of the same things on the shorter trips -- and many people have -- but why roll the dice? With any trip into the wild, there's go guarantee of what you'll see, but you'll certainy maximize your chances with the NW trip.

Glad to see the trips are still using the classic KF route via the Chiswells, which BTW is where a number of the halibut charter still go.

Geckolips

Thanks for all the great advice. I think we will do the 9 hour cruise.
Should we also include the one out of Whittier, or will that be overload? I know the water is calmer, but what would be the biggest reason to go on it also/instead of the 9 hour NW Fjords? Also, if we did the Prince William Sound Cruise should we just skip the Portage Glacier one?
Thanks for the Bore Tide information. We will probably drive down to Beluga Pointwhen we arrive on June 26. The tide chart shows the on June 26 peak time is 6pm. We will then see it again when we drive to Seward during the day. Living in Florida, tides fascinate me.

garymey

I have tried to post a new topic but it has gone astray 3 times.
The question is Kenai vs. Prince William Sound? In Kenai will we see Glaciers that will meet our expectations or do we ned to do PWS for that?

Anyone take a 3-4 day PWS cruise with Cruice West?
Thanks

BudgetQueen

You get one close up glacier view on the Kenai fjords tours, only you can decide if this is enough for you. The PWS day tours see many glaciers, with a lot of variety.

With all the great routes of Cruise West - with Ketchikan -Juneau, which would be my top choice. I would not spend 3 days in PWS.

BayouGal

We just spent 2 weeks in Alaska with lots of rain, snow in Denali, hiked, kayaked, etc., and athletic shoes were always adequate. However, if you have the newer hiking shoes, they are great for the terrain and the changing weather.

The boar tide is best at full or new moon. We just missed it, but Turnagain Arm is lovely at high and low tide.

Don't miss the NW Fjord tour, and be sure to stop for a leisurely visit at the Portage Glacier Visitor Center.

McKinley was visible when we were driving from Anchorage. We burned rolls of film! ;-) We took a 3 PM summit flight, and even though it was beginning to cloud up, the flight was spectacular! Our female pilot could not have been better! (FYI: since you fly to such heights, you wear oxygen masks, but it's no big deal. You'll very quickly forget about them when you see that view!)

Enjoy! Alaska is not to be missed!

z

Welcome back, BayouGal. Waiting for your trip report. Meanwhile, can you tell me if you made to Katmai park to watch brown bears? We just booked our July 21st trip with Emerald Air Service

Geckolips

BayouGal, did you have advance reservations for the flight? How many trips do they make in a day? We plan to go next week and haven't got any reservations for that nor the NW Kenai cruise....yet. We plan to, but didn't know how far in advance was necessary. We do have some hotels booked.

BayouGal

Thanks, z! I am working on a trip report, but I have so much to tell, I wonder if it'll be too much to post here. ;-) I am also trying to answer posts to give back a little of all the incredibly helpful advice I got here.

We were too early to really make the best of a trip to Katmai, but we plan to schedule on next visit around a trip to Katmai. We met a park ranger from the Aleutians on the NW Fjord trip (he was taking friends from the lower 48 on that boat trip)who told us that Katmai is truly a National Geographic experience and one of the most thrilling wildlife experiences you will ever have if you can be there when the salmon are running. I am sure with your dates that it will be an awesome experience. We did see a brown bear from the road driving to Homer and a black bear from the Glenn Hwy. That was thrilling to us just looking from the car window! ;-) Oh, and let me add that we counted 32 bald eagles on the beach (at one time, in one small area) at Anchor Point when we went to see the boats launched by tractors. Z, please post a report upon your return.

Geckolips, we used toursaver coupons for both activities. I hope you purchased a book--it saved us a bundle. My best advice would be to call both operators NOW. When McKinley is clear, they book up incredibly FAST. We didn't make advance reservations for the summit flight because we weren't sure which flight we wanted to take and we figured we'd check out the weather first. Plus, we were there the first 2 weeks of June, before the heavy tourist season.

McKinley was crystal clear when we drove from Anchorage. We got to Talkeetna as fast as we could when we saw it--knowing the flights were going to book up fast. By 9 AM, the 3 PM flight was the earliest available. Unlike some fortunate travelers, our cell phone didn't work out of Anchorage, so we couldn't phone from the car when we saw McKinley--an option to keep in mind if you have Cingular/ AT&T--which work all over Alaska. I'd call now to see what options you have if you book now.

The NW Fjord tour is a big boat, but it fills up fast even in the early season and in rainy weather--which we enjoyed. Don't let a little bad weather spoil it for you--we saw a humpback whale breach not 50 ft from the boat, and the blue ice of the glaciers is incredible when it's overcast. We had a spectacular boat tour, even to the point that the captain joked that he was concerned that we were getting the whole season's wildlife viewing in that one day. Call NOW and discuss your options with them. We found everyone in Alaska to be very kind and willing to help however they could.

We booked just about everything except the summit flight in advance, and I'd recommend that since you will be there in a high tourist time, that you book everything you possibly can that you know you want to do, and discuss options for changes when you make the reservations. We had a couple of days in most places, but not enough time to wait around to see if conditions improved a lot, and as you can tell by our boat tour, some of the worse conditions (by lower 48 standards) produce the best outcomes in Alaska.

I know you'll have a great trip, and I'm sure you'll love Alaska as we do! Have fun!

BudgetQueen

With using a toursaver coupon, you definately need to book ahead.