Skagway excursions

[RedSox68]

Poison Ivy -- your pictures are AMAZING and bring back such fantastic memories. We also thought Skagway was our favorite port -- especially the way the ship docked and how easy it was to get into town.

 

[MouseMomx2]

We rented a car and drove up the Klondike Highway ourselves and I cannot recommend this option highly enough. We purchased Murray's Guide to the South Klondike for $5 (http://murraysguide.com/), which detailed everything along the route. This is the same route the bus tours take so we saw all of the same things. We drove up to Caribou Crossing without making any stops. We beat the buses to the sled dog camp and had the puppies to ourselves for about an hour before the first bus, and lots of people, arrived. After Caribou Crossing we drove up to Emerald Lake and then made our way back to Skagway. Along the way we stopped at all of the places the buses had stopped at earlier in the day and had them to ourselves.

The minivan we rented cost about $100, which was less than the cost for one person on the bus. We saw bears (including a mama and her two cubs) and moose on our drive and were able to stop and watch them for as long as we wanted. We stopped for bison chili on the way back into town and then drove up Dyea Road to get some great photos of the ship. It was a fantastic day and cost a fraction of what one of the DCL or private excursions cost.

 

[khsu]

Great feedback, including the DIY tours!

Has anyone done the Disney excursion, Gold Panning, Sled Dogs and Scenic Railway (SW65)? I can't quite figure out which third party operator is being used. I don't think we would do just an excursion with gold panning, but I think my kids (7,11) would have a blast.

Karen

 

[MUN]

We have cruised Alaska four summers in a row with Disney, and Skagway is my VERY FAVORITE STOP.


Carcross (tiny adorable alaskan town with an amazing tiny bakery), and a nice little place to stop for lunch.

Carcross is a cute town, but it's not in Alaska, it's in the Yukon Territory, Canada.

MUN

 

[Jordans4fun]

Great feedback, including the DIY tours!

Has anyone done the Disney excursion, Gold Panning, Sled Dogs and Scenic Railway (SW65)? I can't quite figure out which third party operator is being used. I don't think we would do just an excursion with gold panning, but I think my kids (7,11) would have a blast.

Karen

Did you find the operator? Or do the excursion? Thanks!

 

[pixie3]

Another vote for White Pass Railway.
We did the helicopter and dogs sledding in another port.

 

[khsu]

Did you find the operator? Or do the excursion? Thanks!

We ended up doing the Disney excursion (gold panning and meeting sled dogs at Klondike Gold fields). As for timing, it was the only way we could do all 3 together. Basically there isn't really much time for lunch. This was the first time Disney offered the tour and lunch wasn't included in the price. Basically the tour folks figured out that they have to order food for us, and then we needed to pay for it separately, otherwise, people were starving as this is a long port adventure. My kids enjoyed the gold panning and meeting a musher and his sled dogs (no rides). But the train ride was too long for my kids. I like the idea of taking the train one way and bus/van/car one way. We are doing another Alaska cruise on the Wonder in August and this time, we have the dog sleds with helicopter booked for Juneau. Not sure what we will do in Skagway this year!

 

[Jordans4fun]

We ended up doing the Disney excursion (gold panning and meeting sled dogs at Klondike Gold fields). As for timing, it was the only way we could do all 3 together. Basically there isn't really much time for lunch. This was the first time Disney offered the tour and lunch wasn't included in the price. Basically the tour folks figured out that they have to order food for us, and then we needed to pay for it separately, otherwise, people were starving as this is a long port adventure. My kids enjoyed the gold panning and meeting a musher and his sled dogs (no rides). But the train ride was too long for my kids. I like the idea of taking the train one way and bus/van/car one way. We are doing another Alaska cruise on the Wonder in August and this time, we have the dog sleds with helicopter booked for Juneau. Not sure what we will do in Skagway this year!

Thanks! I felt like the train trip would be too long also! I was actually able to contact the sled dog area and they gave me prices for adding on the panning and 40 below. We are looking forward to it!

 

[Pens Fan]

We are currently in Alaska having completed a one way cruise from Vancouver to Seward last Monday. In Skagway we had the most amazing day with Sherry from skagwayprivatetours.com. Sherry was born and raised in Alaska and as it's a completely private tour will pretty much go wherever you want within reason. We headed up to Carcross and Emerald Lake with tons of stops in between - avoiding the busses!!! We got out early and beat the crowds. We did a 7 hour tour and had plenty of time to wander around in Skagway afterwards. We weren't on the Wonder so I'm not sure about the timing for Disney but our ship was there for 12 hours so time was no issue.

Our time in Skagway felt more like spending the day with an old friend who was sharing her favorite places in the world rather than taking a canned tour. I can't recommend her enough!!

 

[richkaryn]

We used Chilkoot Charters. We did the bus up and back (instead of bus one way, train other) because we have ridden on a train similar before and thought it would be nice to be able to stop more on the bus (and save some $). We did the one that went all the way to Carcross with the lunch stop/museum and added the dog cart ride (which in hindsight I would leave off if I did again as the people that ran the dogsled were very disorganized, just took people randomly, ignoring the scheduled time on their sticker, and we almost didn't get to as the bus was about to leave as it had to meet the train at set time for those going down on the train). The tour company and our guide were very professional, friendly, and we had an amazing time! I think we paid around $372 for all of it for 2 adults, and one 8 year old.