Masaki, we'll have to find out from Michelle. I'd love to join you and Amanda. We'd have to get signed up with Michelle early because she needs to get a special permit to fly us there.

Andrea - you think 1-1/2 years is enough advance notice for Michelle to get the permits? ;) Hmmm ... might have to start another thread. Though since the plane can only take 4-5 people, if I recall correctly, there might not be any point in even doing a sign up sheet. I'll email Island Wings and see what they say about bear watching in early September.

Masaki

I think it should be plenty of time! Will Amanda go too?

Amanda will definitely go. Not sure about Little Fish. :)

Masaki

Masaki and Amanda,
If little fish doesn't go...I don't go and I'll baby sit! Yipee!

Whale watching sounds good to me, I missed out on it last trip (went kayaking instead, fun but hard on the arms). So add my sister (Pam) and I please.

Marcie - we'll figure it out. Thanks for the offer! :)

Lauri - added!

Masaki

Masaki, I just saw this thread, it happened while I was away. Save 3 seats for us!

Olivia - added! I'm assuming it's just for the whale watch?

Masaki

Masaki- What else besides the whale watch do you mean? Add 2 more (whale watch only)

Suzie - added! I was asking about the add-on helicopter ride to the glacier. :)

Masaki

Put us down, too, Masaki, for the whale watch. Not the helicopter. Jean

Jean - added!

For those that are lurking, both boats are full as of now (I might be able to squeeze in another couple somewhere). Otherwise, we're going to start a waitlist for people if people already on the boats drop out (which is likely since plans change). Please continue to give me names and numbers and I'll balance the boats out.

Masaki

Jean, I am so glad you are going to be with us on this cruise!! My brother will have fun talking "shop" with Clyde.

We couldn't pass up being with all you great folks one more time! Olivia, do you mean "lawyer" talk?

Well, now that we've got a date for MUSH, I've contacted Orca Enterprises.

This is the Email sent:
"Hi ... we took Capt. Larry's tour when we were in Alaska last time in 2003 and had a great time (and Carol helped us arrange Coastal to do our helicopter tour as well).

We're now scheduled to go back to Alaska in September 2006 on the Radisson Mariner and we'll be coming with a large group. We're scheduled to arrive in Juneau from 1 pm to 11 pm on September 2, 2006.

We've got about 2 boats worth of people that are interested in Capt. Larry's whalewatching cruise - approx. 22 people in each boat at this time. Some are also interested in the add-on glacier walk with Coastal.

Is it possible to do 2 whalewatching cruises given the times that we arrive? Any ideas on what the cost will be in 2006? If we wanted to reserve spots on the cruise at this stage, what would it take?

Thanks again for any help that you can give us at this time!

-- Masaki"

Got this email back:

"We can do two trips back to back if you wish and make the connecting tours for helicopters , salmon bake, etc.

We are having a new boat built which will go into operation in July this year. It is larger and is fully ADA compliant. Seating capacity max will be 47 although we expect that we will end up targeting around 40 for maximum comfort. This will allow us to accomodate groups such as yours with one trip.

It is still early to set actual reservations and deposits for 2006. With your reply and approval I will set this on the 2006 calendar. After the season is finished this year we will need to get back in contact and start formalizing the reservation.

I think we should plan for a 2:15 departue for the helicopter flights. This would fly from 3:00 PM until 4:00 PM. We will set the whale watch trip to depart town at 4:00, and the boat will depart the dock at 4:30 and have you back in town at 7:30.
Capt. Larry"

Yay, this might mean we're all on the same boat!

Masaki

Masaki, this is great! I would like to reserve any remaining spaces over the ones we already have, as now my family group has grown, and we have 9-10 coming!

Masaki: As of today there are 9 in our group - Joanna

Masaki, Add 2 more and thank you! :hug: This is only for the whale watching. I gave up on helicopters in Hawaii.

Masaki, I guess now that we are official, Diana and I would be interested also. Are the whales still there at that time? When do they start heading south?

Thanks!

Joanna - your number has been adjusted. :)

Olivia - I think I have 3 slots for you now? I'll add 7 more slots on the wait list.

Suzie - 2 more on waitlist

Don - added to wait list. I'm pretty sure that they must still see whales around that time - Capt. Larry has a whale sighting guarantee. The earliest we see humpbacks in Hawaii is around October but the bulk don't show up until around December or so so we should be fine in terms of spotting humpbacks in Alaska in early September.

Suspect that people will drop out or decide that they want to do other things so I'm not too worried about people not able to get on. If we have to, we can always make it 2 trips on the big boat.

Masaki

Masaki,

I need to add another person to the boat too. My friend Carol is joining us on MUSH!

Holy smoke...you snooze you lose...

I totally missed out on this thread, put me down for two on the waiting list. (Whale watching only).

Suzanne,

I think there will be room for whoever wants to go, either by having an additional boat or those who will find something else they prefer to do. In Juneau, there are some other excursions that might cause us to lose a few passengers here. WE took a float plane from the dock to a glacier and lodge to have a fresh Salmon BBQ and we saw a bear too.

Thanks Kathy!

Guess my mind is in the southern hemisphere!

Kathy - added to wait list!

Suzanne - I was just thinking that the whale watch didn't interest you. You're added to the wait list as well (is Lyndon the other person?). As Kathy said, I'm not expecting it to be a problem in terms of getting onboard the boat.

Masaki

I was just about to put my name down when I realised I've already done it!

At this stage, I could be joined by both husband and son - is there such a thing as a cabin big enough for three or would it be just as economic (and more comfortable) for my son to book a separate cabin? I may end up leaving them both behind and come with my sister, but want to cover all eventualities.

Can someone also please tell me if walking on a glacier in Alaska would be the same as Canada and New Zealand.

I'm sure I read somewhere on this thread that to take a dog-sled ride, you had to get on a helicopter. Is that true?

Ta (meaning thanks)

Lee - hee ... I do that a lot too with excursions. :) There are cabins for 3 but depending on how old your son is, you'll probably be more comfortable in 2 cabins unless you're all VERY comfortable with each other.

And I suspect that glacier walking is the same no matter which hemisphere you're in. Since we're going at the end of summer, there won't be snow on the ground which means to do a dog sled ride, you'd have to get up in the mountains/glaciers which usually necessitates a helicopter ride.

Masaki

Masaki,
It's too far away for me to even start thinking about excursions. Tax time is taking up most of my time these days. I just got around to informing the others I signed them up for an Alaska cruise in 2006.

Please put 3 on the Waitlist for Whale Watching. If things change, I'll let you know.

Thanks
David

Thanks Masaki - you always set me straight! Michael is 35 but he, my sister and I have been known to share hotel rooms without too much inconvenience. I thought there might have been a suite which had a pull-out sofa in the lounge area. Don't laugh - I've never cruised before.

I'm glad I've seen a glacier, because for me, anything that involves helicopters is out of the question!

David - added your name to the wait list

Lee - while Radisson's suites are certainly larger than most cruise ships' cabins, you're definitely going to find it smaller than most hotel rooms. While the 3 person cabins are OK for sharing with small children, it probably won't be too comfortable sharing it with 3 adults, IMHO. I can certainly understand the attraction of doing so though.

Masaki

When we were on our Alaskan cruise last August we were on Capt. Larry's boat, and it was fun. However, don't despair if you all don't make it. We also took the Radisson Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest in Sitka and saw as many whales as with Captain Larry and huge numbers of otters. It was a very worthwhile excursion.

Dreps

By the way, we combined Captain Larry with the Coastal helicopter ride to the glacier and dog sledding. It all worked out. Only problem was that it was so warm--even on the glacier--that the dogs had to rest often. It was a very full day.

Dreps

Masaki another couple booked so we have 11!!! Joanna

Joanna,

Sounds like your dance card will be full!

We have put everyone to sleep about our cruise experience with Radisson - so it appeared that Alaska would be the cruise to entice the men - and yes it is - I am still surprised but so happy they have all signed on - we have all been friends for 30 years and they are great fun! Joanna

Joanna - added to wait list. At the rate you're going, you're going to have to book a deck to all yourselves ... :)

Dreps - we did the Capt. Larry trip with Coastal as well (though ours was a glacier walk instead of the dogsledding) ... had a blast!

Masaki

Ken and I as well for the whale watching only.

That would be nice to be on one boat. That was a highlight for me on my last trip. I went on the RSSC excursion and loved it. I think both excursions are about the same so if the Larry boats fill up we still have the RSSC boat for those that want to whale watch.

In fact put me at the bottom of the list. If the LCT boat fills up I will just book through RSSC. I would not want to take the place of an LCT'er that wants to go with the group.

Ngaire - not a problem like I said. I have a feeling that we're going to have to split into 2 groups anyway for this since our numbers are big enough that we're going to need two (and still growing). We'll figure it out when it gets closer and the numbers shake out.

Masaki

Boats rebalanced out today. :)

Masaki