Juneau Travel Forum

Hi-I am leaving soon for a cruise thru the inland passage. Someone told me not to miss the helicopter ride to the glacier at Juneaul. I looked it up and the minimum cost is $257 for 25 minutes on the glacier. If anyone has done this, please let me know your opinion of the trip. Was it worth the money? Thanks, Kay

We did it. The helo-dog sled trip. It was great, My wife wanted to do it and I went along, but I think I liked it more than her.
Another expensive but worth it aviation trip in Alaska is the Misty Fjords float plane trip.
I think they were both well worth the money, we live in Florida and there are very few glaciers to visit around Miami .

As I've never actually been on one of these tours, so I might not be the best person to answer your question. I do know that in Juneau we have several helicopter services that go to the glacier. If anything it might help you make a better decision if you don't get more responses:

(1) Temsco http://www.temscoair.com/tours/
(2) Northstar Trekking http://www.glaciertrekking.com/glacier_walkabout.htm
(3) ERA http://www.alaskan.com/eraaviation/
(4) Coastal Helicopters http://www.coastalhelicopters.com/tours.htm

Also, the price of gas/petro is expensive! So this is another reason this is an expensive trip.

I don't know if taking a heliopter tour would be cheaper if you booked it here in Juneau, over the internet or if you did this on the cruise ship. One nice thing about booking through the cruises is that they also provide transportation to the helicopter landing pads...which are not close to the down-town area.

One more thing to think about: the WEATHER. Its been a very wet summer and if the cloud coverage is too low, the helicopters won't fly. IF you do your booking, take into consideration if the trip will be refundable if you don't fly.

Thanks so much. I checked the weather and it doesn't look great for flying next week so I'll wait until arrival to make the decision. Ciao! Kay

You should think about making your reservation at one of your first stops. Ours was at our first or second stop and the weather was bad and our flight was cancelled. That happens alot.
But we tried again at Juneau and did get our flight.
The same company flies out of several ports, but I can't remember the name of the company.

Temsco flies from multiple ports, Ketchikan and Juneau for sure.
When you get off the plane at the dock in Juneau you will see a long row of tour operators all lined up for your biz, prepaid or not. The large cruise companies are very much into vertical integration and control most of the tours they offer onboard and many of the shops you first run across in town. Makes it hard to find a deal or get away from the crowds on shore.

WE flew on Temsco. We got weathered out in Ketchikan, but booked with them on that day for the day when our ship hit Juneau. In Juneau they picked us up at the pier and drove us out to the airport and flew us up to the glacier.
It was not cheap, but it was very memorable and I have to say a good value.

A buddy of mine is one of the bigger shareholders in Temsco, so I've been able to ride along on a few of their glacier runs. Even for a semi-local, it is quite the experience. I remember a few oooohhhhs and aaaahhhhs coming from my mouth somehow.

whatever you do, i would not book with dolly varden tours. i booked with them and they arranged a tour with coastal helicopters that DID NOT SHOW UP! they lost our reservation, and were not very helpful or apologetic when we tried to clear this up. we ended up doing another heli tour in ketchikan, but i just can't get over having missed this opportunity because of their irresponisbility and very very poor customer service.
that said.. enjoy yourself, it is so beautiful out there. can't wait to get back.