Alaska & the Yukon Reviews

We followed our Canadian and Alaska tour with a Yukon tour. The sights of the Yukon and the towns on the Gold Rush run, were amazing. the people were so friendly. The land of the midnight sun takes a bit of getting used to, but most hotels have blockout curtains. Again cannot say which tour was the best, they both have something to offer. Again, breakfast ...read more should be offered by Cosmos. Overall good value.

The highlights of our trip included the 200 Km boat trip from Whittier to Valdez on an 83 foot catamaran and whilst we had winds up to 60 km per hour the Captain adjusted the boat speed and it was a very smooth ride and there were no signs of sea sickness on the boat.

Other highlights included the optional White Pass railway trip which is a must ...read more do, this Cosmos trip is the only trip that does this. The train trip from Fairbanks to Denali National Park was in a glass top train with an outside viewing position available for photographs was also very good. Hotels are 2 to 3 stars and the reason for this is this trip goes into remote areas that have limited hotels available. Getting to Anchorage the best way is to fly to Hawaii then overnight with Alaskan Airlines from Honolulu to Anchorage.

Loved this tour, we really got to see the real Alaska. It was very long days on the coach, so tiring but we signed up for that as Alaska is so large it does take a lot of driving to see it. The accommodation was better than we expected in the more remote places but just wish that the hotels would let the tour coaches in a little earlier & then we could ...read more have had some earlier nights to be ready for the next days travel. Tour guide Jason was excellent & so was Adam our coach driver. Both went above & beyond to make the tour such a wonderful time.

Most accommodation in this remote part of North America is only 2 to 3 stars but I was happy with our accommodation in comparison to others nearby in same towns. All coaches in North America have only one door which is unlike Europe where coaches have two doors, which makes entry and exit quicker. So with only one door, all it takes is one bumbling ...read more unorganised person to hold up everyone on the coach and this happened too often, with one particular person to blame. Tour Guide could not have been better, knowledgeable and a good speaker. The pace is very tiring as distances are great sometimes necessitating 12 and 13 hour drives in a day. But it was necessary to cover everything. I would like to have seen breakfasts included. Optional excursions included evening meals or entertainment and these were fine with me. The overall rating was less than excellent only because of the pace and no breakfast included. I would like to have seen a slightly longer tour which would lessen the stress but it is a huge land and there may be no intermediate stops suitable and it would have added to cost. All in all quite an experience and I was surprised to see most fellow passengers were Australian and two from NZ. I have always been happy with the service provided by staff at Global Journeys.

Booking with Global Journeys was smooth and easy. Helpful assistance and feedback. Good inside industry knowledge of Globus tours and the various booking mechanisms. Agent (Yvonne Brooks) responded to all emails and phone calls. This was our first Cosmos bus tour, although we had a Globus tour in the previous year, and we do travel a fair bit, mostly ...read more independently, and making our own plans and own bookings. Very good overall. Bus good. Driver excellent, a mature local, with a good balanced sense of courtesy, humour and travel knowledge, so that he could make a very good contribution. Guide very good, experienced, balanced, mature and worldly wise, patient, and well organised. Good selection choice by Globus (Cosmos). Able to handle unforeseen situations, and mildly pesky traveller customers, with good manners and sense, offering suggestions rather than giving orders. Our guide gave extensive local knowledge over the PA whilst travelling along, and in an excellent tone and slightly whimsical approach, maintaining the fun atmosphere necessary for good coach travel. The tour plan of towns and sights was very good in type and in time sequence. The tour schedule was a it fast, but most tours of this type are fast to squeeze in all the sights. The tour went to most of the good sights and places to see, and offered most of the good optional excursions which were relevant to the place or area. We saw all the places and sights that more expensive tours went to. Good value for money. This tour had no breakfasts included. This is very important. Most travellers will pay the extra for an included breakfast as it is just so convenient and useful to discuss yesterdays travel and today's prospects. This was the item most discussed by our bus tour. Offered by Cosmos in Europe but not in North America apparently. Most of our fellow bus travellers were happy with our tour. Impressed. We would travel again with Cosmos or Globus. We would recommend both Globus and Global Journeys.

We benefited from the tour escort and driver's local experience and managed to take in a lot more than we might have on our own. Motels in Alaska can be low in the star count so it is best to be prepared for this.