The tourguide was really kind, but this was the only positive aspect of this tour.
In the description of the tour it is clearly stated that you go to a famous dam where there are a lot of bears untill the end of September.
After we got of the ferry and got into the bus with the tourguide; he immediately said, we won't go looking for bears, there are no bears here anymore since pieces of the dam were removed because of decreasing salmon. This was known in advance of our tourdate. Many months before actually. This was a huge disapointment, because this was our only reason to book the tour.
When we would have known this in advance we would have booked another tour. It seems to me that the company and the tourguide waited to mention this at the last moment, When you are in the van, to get customers that can't leave or book anything else.
The tourguide didn't even make an effort to go look for bears and we spend our time just looking at some plants and one mountaingoat through a binoculair.
The tour wasn't at all what is stated in the description and is very misleiding. The fact that the company chose to not inform us, about the fact that we wouldn't go see or look for bears is even worse. If we had known beforehand we would have booked something else. The day was a waste for us.
Do not book this tour, it's misleading and they don't inform you beforehand if something changes!
You will not see or try to look for bears, he will park you at several plants and duck for hours. Be aware of that these plants and duck are everywhere you can see them yourselves.
Одговор домаћина
Oct 2024
Thanks for providing this feedback. We have been in business for over thirty years, and we pride ourselves in offering quality tours with integrity. I encourage you to read the close to 1,000 reviews that we have posted on TripAdvisor. We would never try to mislead our guests. No tour description that we have written nor provide to any our vendors mentions a "famous dam." There is no dam on the river. There is a weir where technicians count fish as they go upstream. We see bear travel up and down the Chilkoot River regardless of whether the weir is operational or not. The main attractant for the bears are salmon. In August and September, the Chilkoot RIver is filled with pink salmon. Bears travel up and down the river looking for fish. They do not need a fish weir in order to find or catch fish....these are wild bear! On any tour, our guides do their best to explain the behavior of any animals sighted, and also to explain the entire ecosystem and how it fits together. The guide you had that day has a master's degree in fisheries biology and worked in Glacier Bay National Park for over twenty years. He is competent, interesting and does a great job. But he cannot produce bears when they are not there. There are many factors that determine whether or not you see a bear on one of our tours. That is why we never guarantee bear. I want any future guest considering this tour to understand that bear sightings are not guaranteed! But it is a fascinating, stunningly beautiful area away from the crowds in Skagway. If guests come with an open mind ready to learn and enjoy whatever nature presents during the tour, I am confident that they will be more than satisfied with their tour with Rainbow Glacier Adventures.