Alaska Cruise - Day 3 Skagway On Day 3 We Docked in Skagway Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

After a busy day in Juneau we got back aboard the Vision of the Seas around 8:00 PM, just enough time to shower, get dressed and arrive at our dining lounge in the Aquarius dining room. All the meals were fantastic, and the service was excellent as well.

The following morning we arrived in Skagway around 7:00 AM. This time the ship was "docked" instead of being "tendered".

This trip, I took the unusual course, and bought the Helicopter trip. I had always wanted to go on a helicopter ride, but for some reason (maybe the price!) I never got around to it. So this time I signed up ahead of time, the cost was $249 for 40 minutes. 20 minutes in the air and 20 minutes on a glacier. I thought, well, If I was going on a helicopter ride, Alaska would be the place to do it. I was not disappointed.

The company that did the tour is called "Temesco", if your thinking about a helicopter ride this is the place to do it with. They were very "together" in all areas, they had at lease 5 or 6 helicopters coming and going to the glacier and the pilot gave a great narrative to and from the glacier, I wish I could share all the photos I got on this ride, it was fantastic.

Take off from the Temesco Air Field

This view from the helicopter tells it all, this valley was formed by a glacier

I can't say enough good things about the helicopter ride, the glacier and the Temesco organization, well worth the $249. After this trip through stunning scenery we ended up landing on the glacier below, once on the glacier, the crew from Temesco explained various facts about the glacier. We were given spiked boots so we wouldn't slip and we were kept close to the temesco staff so we wouldn't wander off and fall into one of the cracks in the glacier...:-)

The helicopters would bring in and take a group every 20 Minutes

Here a woman drinks out of a crack in the Glacier, ahhh, refreshing!

I could go on about the helicopter ride for pages but maybe you want to know about the other things to do in Skagway? Well there's the usual tourist stuff with souvenir stores along with a historical cemetery, the skagway museum, fishing, and the Klondike bicycle tour. There is also the White Pass Scenic Railway and historical walking tours. Plenty of activities to fill your days.

We ended up renting a car after the helicopter ride and drove into Yukon for about 2 hours until we reached the town of Carcross in Canada. Unfortunately by the time we got there everything was closing up and there wasn't much to do. If you like scenery there's plenty to see on the way, in fact that's all you will see most of the ride!

One of the nicer buildings in Carcross, Canada

Another view of Carcross, Canada

There's a bunch of history throughout Skagway, most of the history revolves around the Gold Rush in Alaska and the characters that were prominent in the Alaska in the 1800's.

If your interested in reading on please CLICK HERE to read about our day in Tracy Arm Alaska.