Of course nature is beautiful from a helicopter. We've been on other helicopter tours (in Hawaii) and this was such a disappointment. First you ride for 20 minutes to the airport-no problem. You are taken in, watch a safety movie, issued ice boots and taken to the tarmac. You board your helicopter (still running from the previous passengers). Thank heavens my nephew and I were in the front because they pack you in this thing - 4 people in the back. I would have really thrown a fit if I had been the two people in the middle, in the back. The pilot didn't talk until he was over Mendenall Glacier. I don't know if he was new, scared, in a bad mood or what but there was little to no narrative out to the glacier which was approximately 5 minutes away. You land on the glacier, get out and walk around with a tour guide. The kids on the glacier are fun and give a good tour. Your tour lasts as long as it takes the helicopter to bring the next load of cows to the glacier, load you up and back directly to the airport. We got a few words out of him on the way back. Overall time in the air is approximately 11 minutes. You land, get out and the next load goes. SO, so sad. We booked this through Princess Cruise and paid over $400 a person. To make matters worse, the bus driver was rude to everyone on the way back when he was asked to stop at the tram which the other bus driver told us he would do. This company needs to take a serious look at it's customer satisfaction. I guess if you've never been in a helicopter before you might think it was wonderful. Not us.
Response from Host
Aug 2019
Thank you for taking the time to place a review regarding your experience.
This does not sound like a Coastal Helicopters excursion in which you placed a review for. Coastal Helicopters tours are NOT sold on board any cruise ships; we are an independent operator only working with direct customers and wholesalers. Our glacier landing is on the Herbert Glacier and the pilots are the guides. We do not have tour guides on the glacier and all of transfers to and from the port are done in house with our 14 passenger vans.