Hi there!
The best cruise ports for flightseeing in Alaska are Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan.
You can get epic views of the Alaska wilderness by doing a flightseeing tour in Alaska.
And you will find some amazing flightseeing tours in Alaska.
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Flightseeing in Alaska means that you will be flying to see a vast wilderness landscape of mountains, glaciers, and/or forest!
There are 2 types of flightseeing tours to consider in Alaska during your cruise:
- Seaplane tours (aka float plane tours)
- Helicopter tours
You can do both types of flightseeing tours in Alaska cruise ports.
If you will be spending time on land, then you can also do epic flightseeing tours when you go to Denali, Seward, and Anchorage.
If you will be doing a flightseeing tour during your Alaska cruise, I highly recommend that you do one with a landing!
It will make the experience that much more epic!
👆 Flightseeing in Alaska: You might be able to see the famous “blue ice” of Alaska during a flightseeing tour of the Juneau icefield! See more: Best Juneau excursions
👆 A flightseeing tour in Alaska with a wilderness landing! That is the pilot tying up the seaplane to land! It really does feel wild and remote! See more: Best Ketchikan excursions
👆 One of the best excursions in Alaska is a flightseeing tour with glacier landing! See more: Best Skagway excursions
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👆 An epic so-very-Alaska excursion to do is a flightseeing tour with dog sledding tour on a glacier! You can go dog sledding on snow in Alaska even in the summer!
👆 Walk off a flight and onto a glacier in Alaska!
👆 A flightseeing tour is one of the most epic things you can do in Alaska!
👆 Fly across the vast wilderness of Tongass National Forest from Ketchikan on your way to Misty Fjords.
Best flightseeing tours in Alaska
- Helicopter tour with glacier dog sledding (Skagway)
- 5-glacier seaplane tour with Taku Lodge salmon bake (Juneau)
- Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness seaplane tour with remote wilderness landing (Ketchikan)
Flightseeing tours in Skagway
In Skagway, you can look for helicopter tours through Temsco:
- Helicopter tour with glacier landing
- Helicopter tour with dog sledding on a glacier
I did both of these Temsco tours in Skagway through Princess excursions.
Here are the Princess helicopter excursions:
Flightseeing tours in Juneau
In Juneau, you can look for helicopter tours through Coastal Helicopters or Wings Airways:
- Helicopter tour with Juneau icefield walk (glacier landing)
- From Juneau cruise port: Helicopter tour with Juneau icefield walk (glacier landing)
- Helicopter tour with dog sledding on a glacier
- Helicopter tour with glacier dog sledding plus additional glacier landing
- Seaplane tour of Juneau icefield glaciers (without landing)
- Seaplane tour of Juneau icefield with Taku Lodge salmon bake
I did a Wings Airways tour in Juneau through a Princess excursion.
Here are the Princess flightseeing excursions:
Flightseeing tours in Ketchikan
In Ketchikan, you can look for seaplane tours through Island Wings:
I did the Misty Fjords tour with a wilderness landing booking on my own and not through the cruise ship.
More of the best flightseeing in Alaska (Talkeetna, Seward, Anchorage)
- Denali seaplane tour from Talkeetna
- Kenai Fjords National Park and Chugach National Forest helicopter tour from Seward
- Grand Knick helicopter tour from Anchorage area
More below about things to know before you do a flightseeing tour!
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Seaplane tour or helicopter tour?
Whether you choose a seaplane tour or helicopter tour, it will almost definitely be a highlight of your time in Alaska!
Instead of choosing between a seaplane or helicopter based on the type of aircraft it is, I would say to choose based on what you want to see or the type of landing you want to do!
If you want a glacier landing, then you’ll want a helicopter tour.
If you want to take off from water, then you’ll want a seaplane tour.
What do the negative reviews about flightseeing tours in Alaska say?
Based on my observation, the negative reviews were almost always related to cancellations.
The negative reviews about dog sledding were about the lack of communication about the tour cancellation, and no offer to replace it with an alternative tour.
Yes, there is a chance your flightseeing tour can get canceled.
In Alaska, weather conditions (aka flight conditions!) can change quickly.
Because of this, tours may not get canceled until an hour (or less!) before your scheduled tour time.
Of course, that is disappointing enough, but then what seems to happen sometimes is that tour companies do not communicate effectively with people about the cancellation.
So the negative reviews are about what happens if you DON’T do the helicopter tour.
But for people who DO do the helicopter tours, there are rarely any negative reviews.
The vast majority are 5 star glowing reviews, no matter the tour company or how you book the tour.
That said, it is important to manage your expectations about potential cancellations.
Your flightseeing tour might get canceled due to weather.
This is Alaska.
Flightseeing tours do get cancelled at the last minute.
Weather can change quickly in Alaska.
This means that so can flying conditions.
And a weather-related cancellation may not be made until very close to your tour time.
According to Temsco, a flightseeing tour company in Alaska:
Unfortunately, the weather in Alaska does not always cooperate and there are times when we are unable to fly.
If we are unable to fly a tour due to weather, our guests will receive a full refund.
In most cases, we will not make the decision to cancel a tour until within an hour of departure, as the weather can quickly change and we do not want to preemptively cancel a tour if it is at all possible it will run.
If we need to cancel due to weather or any unforeseen circumstance, you’ll receive a 100% refund.
It is standard among flightseeing tour companies in Alaska to offer a full refund on your tour if they cancel due to weather.
Plan for an alternate to flightseeing tours
Because it’s possible that your flightseeing tour can be canceled, it’s best to know what you want to do in case that does happen.
Of course you want to hope for the best and that it doesn’t get canceled.
But unfortunately, it is a real possibility that it does get canceled.
And knowing this is step 1 in not being AS upset when it does get canceled.
It’s about managing your expectations!
So in the case that your helicopter tour gets canceled, which is an already upsetting situation, you don’t want to get further upset because you don’t know what to do.
You might end up just doing nothing because you don’t know what to do, and then you’ll end your day even more upset feeling like you’ve wasted a day in Alaska.
If your flightseeing tour gets canceled, you might be offered alternate excursions.
But in case you are not, also research more things to do in Skagway, more things to do in Juneau, more things to do in Ketchikan, just in case!
And that is little bit about some of the best flightseeing you can do during your Alaska cruise!
I did flightseeing tours in Alaska in May of 2023. Your experience may vary!
What I did to give you more ideas for your Alaska cruise:
- Things to do in Skagway
- Things to do in Juneau
- Things to do in Ketchikan
- My Alaska cruise from Vancouver to Anchorage
- My Alaska cruise from Vancouver round trip
HAPPY FLIGHTSEEING IN ALASKA!
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