Rene was our tour guide. He didn't speak much and spoke a few times. I dont think he was being rude I believe he is just a quiet person. He was really nice and watched all of our things while we were out and about doing our tours. For that he was fabulous we really appreciated it. We went to the ice museum, then off to dinner, after dinner we went to the hot springs which was great. It was in the negative degrees but the hot springs was warm or hot depending on where you were in the springs. It was cloudy cover when we came out of the hot springs so rene thought we could drive back towards fairbanks and check 2 other spots to see if we can spot it. We didn't so we ended our tour super early at 1am. We were kinda bummed and wondered if we just should have stayed at the lodge and waited it out since we ended back at our hotel so early. Regardless it's a must do tour.
Chena is amazing! There was only one detail in hot springs, when paying for the appletini at the ice museum they did not tell me that I should have my ID, when I went for my drink I had no ID and they did not give me a refund or help :
Rene was a terrible guide. He didn't speak unless he answered a question. A 3 hour roundtrip in a dead quiet car because everyone was uncomfortable because he wasn't friendly and didn't take the time to introduce any of us. He wasn't unfriendly, just not there. This job is for an outgoing upbeat people-person and it does not fit his personality which is more suited to behind the scenes kind of work.
TOUR OPERATOR COMMENT: Thank you for taking the time to write a review for us. We are so very sorry about your experience and we already talked to him about this issue. It definitely will have to change and we are keeping this under a very close watch. We take your review very serious and will work on improvements. I hope you had at least a great overall trip to Alaska.