Landausflug ab Juneau: Hubschrauberrundflug mit Hundeschlittenfahrt

We took this helicopter ride to the dog sledding area in July. The helicopter ride was not very long but beautiful. Our musher Meghan, had dogs that competed in the Iditarod race. We rode a big loop around the camp and took turns sitting and standing on the sled skis while the dogs pulled us. Four people and the musher can ride one sled. The kids will love the fact that we stop several times so everyone can pet the dogs and you can take pictures. It's not a very long ride, but definitely worth the adventure!

I was booked on the helicopter/dogsled trip for today and, unfortunately, when I showed up at the meeting point, I found out that the entire morning's roster of trips had all been canceled for weather. Eventually, my own flight was also canceled, and I was stuck in Juneau with absolutely nothing worthwhile to do, and what should have been THE marquee day of my Alaska vacation was completely wasted. Multiple staff each staff said the same tagline repeatedly, "this is the downside of this tour" but without any real care or concern and it became clear that once the cancellation was announced they wanted to be rid of us, quickly. When asked, "how often are these trips canceled for weather?" the answer was "well, it doesn't happen every day." – which to me implied, that it does happen pretty often. I'm not trying to second guess the safety issue - I trust them on safety – but – I have 2 main complaints about how they handle these cancellations: 1, there was no effort to contact or warn me prior, even though 3 trips the same morning had already been cancelled. I'm sure they could have foreseen that there was at least a decent risk of cancellation and it would have been much nicer of them to proactively call and warn me so that I could have scrambled to make an alternative plan and not lose the entire day. Instead, I was stuck late in the morning with absolutely nothing to do, every other operator for every possible activity was already sold out, and the feeling was just....miserable. 2, they DID allow one of their other tour options to depart, the simple glacier landing without dog sled, because apparently that trip lands at a lower elevation which is less at risk for cancellation. The difference is cloud cover. When they announced the cancellation, they pretended to check if there were other tours available as a backup and they said no. But what doesn't make any sense was, why didn't they just offer to use the SAME HELICOPTER for a NEW PURPOSE - take the helicopter to the SAFER landing point? All of us would have been happy to do a simple glacier walk instead of doing absolutely nothing, but it seems like Coastal Helicopters is not that imaginative and frankly they really didn't seem to care all that much. Yes of course I got a refund but that's not a courtesy - that's their legal obligation - so they don't get any thank yous for refunding me. They seemed to act like the refund was some kind of benevolent gesture, as if they had a choice which they don't. I am so disappointed with the ruined day and who knows if I'll ever be able to come back to AK and try and redo the experience. A huge bummer. BEWARE if you sign up for this tour - it could be cancelled and you should have a backup plan IN ADVANCE if your time is limited and if being stuck without any plans would devastate you like it did me.

I know this activity is not cheap but it is worth every penny! Do not pass up this once in a lifetime activity! The helicopter ride was absolutely beautiful and the dog sledding experience was fantastic! Both Coastal Helicopters and The AK Dog Sledding company was very personable and professional! Hubby and I and our teenaged kids had a BLAST!