This was an absolutely great tour! Chris was an excellent guide as well.
A few things to mention for anyone considering the tour:
Pros -
I thought the value of this tour was great! The value I got out of it definitely surpassed what I paid, and it was an amazing tour. I was only in Alaska for a day for a quick layover, and I felt like this tour gave me a little bit of everything I wanted to see - some glaciers, wildlife, and scenery!
Since the tour visits a reserve/wildlife sanctuary- you’re almost guaranteed to see a lot of the animals you want to see. We got lucky to see a black bear, another black bear which climbed to the top of a tree, some musk ox, moose, caribou, and a few other animals - absolutely breathtaking! These sightings were also on a fairly rainy day, so we were quite happy given the weather.
The rainforest was also super cool, it’s a shorter portion of the tour (maybe 10-15 minutes), but I thought it was scenic and quite peaceful. It’s probably not the highlight of the entire tour, but I was surprised to see some of the negative reviews complain about it, since it was still scenic and cool nonetheless.
The tour also makes a couple other stops to take pictures and take in the views; which is a huge plus
Smaller groups, I think our tour only had 8-9 people in total, and I believe the max that the van can hold is something like 12 - pretty good guide/guest ratio
The Cons -
You aren’t getting super close to a glacier - they’re mostly seen from a distance. I knew this going into it, but if you’re mostly looking for glaciers and aren’t into animals/nature/sightseeing as much, you might want to consider a more glacier-oriented tour (although seeing glaciers from a distance on this tour was still great)
While we did see a wild Bald Eagle, unfortunately the day we went, there weren’t any other wild animal sightings. That being said, the reserve/sanctuary more than made up for this, and I think everyone on our tour left happy. Although, if you’re looking for more of an opportunity to see animals that aren’t necessarily behind fences (the reserve takes really good care of them and is a great cause to support, so I’m not bashing it by any means) you might want to consider a different tour (that being said, wildlife sightings are never guaranteed, regardless of the tour you book.)
10/10 definitely recommend! If you’re unsure on what tour to book in Alaska, I felt like this provided the best of everything - a little bit of glaciers, some wildlife, and amazing scenery - all for a very reasonable price with a knowledgeable and friendly guide.