WHICH FLIGHTSEEING TOUR?
 

In late July, with Holland America we are booked on a 3 day Inside Passage Cruise and an 8 day land tour (Tour #1) that includes:
Juneau, Skagway, Whitehorse, Dawson City, Eagle, Tok, Fairbanks, Denali National Pk, Anchorage. Most stops have optional tours.

We're looking at the following flightseeing tours:
JUNEAU: 4 Glacier Adventure by Helicopter with landing;
SKAGWAY: Dog Sledding & Glacier Helicopter Flightseeing, Glacier Discovery by Helicopter with landing;
DENALI: McKinley Quest Flightseeing by airplane, McKinley Glacier Landing Flightseeing Tour by Airplane; Denali Excursion by Helicopter.

These trips are quite expensive so we can only choose one. Has anyone been on any of these or do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,
geordias

You would probably get a lot of good advice if you repost on the Cruise forum.

We have been to Juneau and Skagway on a Princess cruise. Did a wonderful whale watch in Juneau, and took the White Pass & Yukon train trip in Skagway. Both were very enjoyable!

Hi, I did something very similar to you with HAL my first trip to Alaska. I think that is a great way to do it, :)

At the last minute, on the train to Denali I booked a flightsee over Mt McKinley. IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! If you do it and it is clear it will be the highlight of your trip.

On another Alaska trip from Juneau, I did the Taku/flightsee over the Juneau glacier field excursion. It was also GREAT!! (Although the weather on this one was pretty lousy)

Enjoy the trip :)

We did the helicopter landing on a glacier in Juneau and it was awesome! I think as long as you choose landing on a glacier, you would be happy with any of them. We did a flightseeing and landing on water in Katchican (sp?) and while we enjoyed it, it is the landing on a glacier that we remember the most.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like any of these would be great.

To Hpeabody, being you did this trip before, any tips you can provide on any other sidetrips worth seeing or forgetting? The cruise line offers so many and most sound quite good. Did you or anyone on your trip try the Jeep Tour?

Did not do any jeep tours, can't help you there.

There will probably be some tours included, like in Fairbanks, the boat on the Chena river

Hopefully your package includes a tour inside Denali, which is 6 - 8 hours, if not look into it.

Ketchikan - I have done Misty Fjords by water (catamaran) and air (small airplane with Lake landing) both were good, different views that way.

Skagway, you will probably do the train to get to the ship (if you board in Skagway), it's fun

Fairbanks, If you are foodies, I loved the Salmon bake, yummmmmmmmm.

Aside from the cruise package, if you are in Seward, perhaps try a Kenai Fjords catamaran boat trip. That was a higlight for me.

I have yet to do a glacier landing, but likely will when I get to Alaska again.

Flying in a bush plane or helicopter in Alaska is really a great experience. We did a helicopter/dog sled/glacier landing in Girdwood and thought it was really great. The helicopter ride was only about 7 or 8 minutes each way. We were on the glacier with the dogs for 2 or 3 hours.

We also did a flyout fishing/bear viewing and thought that was great as well. Saw a lot of bears and caught our limit of fish. Landed in the water for that, which was a first for us.

You really can see how vast Alaska is in the air. I think the Denali landing would be fantastic as well.

Thanks again.

Our trip does include the Bus Tour and a night in Denali National Park. Also the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad from Skagway to Fraser and the Yukon Queen River Cruise to Eagle.

I'm sure we'll book a flightseeing trip somewhere, perhaps a whale watching excursion and maybe try that Jeep Tour and hiking in Denali. Thanks for all the advice. I'm really excited.

I've done a lot of flights in Alaska, and I give and edge to a glacier helicopter landing and summit flightseeing of McKinley.

We did the helicopter tour and landing combined with dog sledding out of Juneau. It was a very memorable experience.

Biggest challenge you'll have is the weather given the rains that are so common in the area. Our original flight was canceled, but we were able to book another on a stand-by basis for later in the day. The weather cleared just enough for a few flights to depart. Yes, it's expensive, but it is worth it.

BUDGET QUEEN. When you said, "By glacier helicopter landing and summit flightseeing of McKinley", is that one trip or two separate trips that you are referring to? You seem to be an expert on Alaska and I would appreciate your input on this.

Two separate flights.

Three of us--my husband, my son who was seven at the time and I--did the helicopter ride and dog sled in Skagway. It was the best time of our life!! It was just a kick. It is amazing how bumpy and difficult it is to standup on a dog sled going over icy snow. The dogs were fun and enthusiastic. We used the photo of us on the sled with the dogs as our Xmas photo. The view in the helicopter is also incredible as you can see how Vast Alaska is as it seems you can see forever.

We have been on many tours and excursions around the world and this one was the most incredible.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the input. It helps a lot !!!!

For Denali, definitely go with the flightseeing/glacier landing tour.
I got to take that flight last summer, and it was incredible. Being able to walk around in the bowl looking up at Denali is really spectacular.
Also, there is nothing like being able to throw snowballs in July!