The Classic Kenai Fjords Park Tour was great. The catamaran departed on time at 11:30am. The very…read morefriendly staff on board made sure we were comfortable. They served lunch which was burrito (choice of either southwestern chicken or vegetarian) and a few hours later a warm chocolate chip cookie. The staff also went around to show some animal collection, helped us locate the animals that were being pointed out by the captain, took our photos, answered questions, ensured our safety and even fished a chunk of ice near the glacier and let people touch and have photos with it. We saw many animals including whales, orcas, sea otters, sea lions, different birds including puffins, bald eagles, etc. We went close to glaciers. The captain was very knowledgeable. The 6-hour cruise was memorable! For the most part the waters were calm; there were certain areas that were rough. Even then, we were told that the water was calmest when we visited on that day in June. For some who have have motion sickness, bringing a medication can be helpful (though I think they also sell some on board) though we did not need any. Layering is still the key with an outer shell that is waterproof in case it rains. Though not necessary really, binoculars can enhance the experience. Would definitely recommend!

Took the 8 AM 6 hour cruise. Very good tour and our Captain Kenny was very knowledgeable about the…read moreanimals, the area and the geography of the area. We were entertained with several animals: Seas Otters, Humpback Whales, Orca Whales,Steller Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Porpoise, Puffins, Bald Eagles and a Black Bear. We also were taken up to Holgate Glacier for viewing. The crew on board was helpful and friendly and lunch was served on the boat. The Captain stopped several times during the trip to view the wildlife giving everyone on board ample opportunity for pictures as well. Would highly recommend this tour or check out their other tours as well.

We had such a wonderful day out exploring the glaciers and wildlife of Kenai Fjords National Park…read more We came pretty late in the season, but they were still offering their full day National Park cruise. As can be the case in the later season, it was raining nearly the entire time we were on the cruise. But we had come prepared with rain gear, and while it would've been nice if it had been more sunny and less foggy, we still had an incredible time. We got to see some glaciers, including the Harding Icefield - which was pretty cool since we hiked up to it the following day from another direction. So much wildlife to see - orcas, puffins, seals, bald eagles... Even though the weather wasn't the best, we still had great animal sightings. All the staff were so incredibly kind and friendly. The tour included lunch. Felt like the lunch was the weakest link of the tour - food could've been a bit better - but all things considered, I wasn't going on the cruise for the food. Towards the end of the cruise, they were able to get some of the glacier ice into the boat and had glacier ice margaritas for sale. Really good price - I believe they were $7 each. The margarita was good, but the ice was incredible. Overall, it was a fantastic experience exploring this portion of the national park. Would highly recommend!

Major Marine Tours is fantastic, I have gone out with them on two separate occasions now and what…read moremakes the biggest difference for me is the staff. The staff are the creme de la creme, they really seem to care about their guests and are knowledgeable to boot! The Captain takes us all over the place, but specifically will seek out things if you ask them to, which really gives the tours a personalized and special feeling. I also have an immense amount of respect for the crew of Major Marine Tours in how they show their respect for the wildlife.

If you are visiting Seward - please book with Seward Ocean Excursions! I was in Alaska for a very…read moreshort work trip and was only able to take one personal day...and this is what I choose to do. I woke up early to drive from Anchorage and it was so incredibly worth it. I was on a full tour - which was only 6 people - and the boat was great; enough space for all 6 people to either be inside or outside on the deck. We had exceptional weather (our guide even said the most rare thing we saw was the top of the mountain range) and it made for a great trip. We saw sea otters, mountain goats (from afar), harbor seals, bald eagles, jellyfish, and were able to follow a pod of orcas for an hour! Our guide was amazing - she was able to help us identify the pods and tell us their story - as well as she had great knowledge of the area, history and all the wildlife we saw. Please support this company - they were incredibly kind, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about the natural area they were visiting.

This excursion was amazing!!! Had such a great time. We saw jellyfish, bald eagles, seals, sea…read morelions, otters, and goats scaling the cliffs of the mountain side. The scenery was amazing, as well!! Snow capped mountains, pristine water, glaciers, and just overall amazing views of the fjords. And, the staff were great!! This is an absolute must when in the area!!

Absolutely amazing…read more I wish I was a better writer, so I could really get a picture in your head of how beautiful the countryside is that you pass in the comfort of your deluxe train car. It is a 2 story train car with fine dining located on the first floor. The ceiling, is a glass dome ceiling. YOU SEE EVERYTHING! Dinner was fabulous. Do not mistake it for train food. This was a culinary experience. My husband and I had a pasta w/ reindeer sausage, and my brother had the best prime rib he ever had in his life. This upset my mother quite a lot, since she used to hold that title. Wilderness Express is not available to everyone. It is a Royal Caribbean & Celebrity Cruise Line exclusive thing. So if you want to experience it, it must be part of your overall cruise tour package. Just another thing to consider when choosing which cruise line to go with for your Alaska vacation.

This was part of NCL's land and sea cruise package. After flying economy, and riding on a coach…read morebus, this was the most comfortable, spacious part of the tour. Very comfortable, plenty of room. The meals were nice, if you sit at the back of the car you get to go down and eat first. The bar tender was spot on. The tour guide that comes with the car pointed out some very interesting things along the way. There was a point, when dealing with the frost heaving, that the car moved pretty good, once we got past that is settled down for a very nice ride. The scenery was awesome!!!!!! To be able to ride through the country, wilderness and see all Alaska has to offer was a real treat. We even passed the flag stop train and were given the low down on how it operates and on some of the residents that use the flag stop train. To me the train part of the tour was the best part. If you do a cruise you REALLY need to make this a part of your trip

"Where Mountains, Ice, and Ocean Meet"…read more Exploring this National Park was a nice addition to my trip to Alaska. I came here to do volunteer work. In the evenings, we mostly fished in the Kenai River. After finishing up our work, my group planned two fun days at the end of the week. One day we chartered a boat in Homer to Halibut fish and the other we visited Seward and got to see the Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. Kenai Fjords National Park is massive. It is the fifth most-visited park in Alaska and is the closest national park to Anchorage. The park was established in 1980 and encompasses over 600,000 acres outside of the town of Seward. Snow and ice cover 50 percent of the park with the Harding Icefield stretching over 700 square miles. The park's headquarters and visitor center is located in Seward. The nice thing about Kenai Fjords National Park is that it provides both leisurely and adventurous activities for visitors. Activities include kayaking, boat tours, camping, fishing, biking, hiking, cross-country skiing, dog sledding and mountaineering. Various companies offer tours that are guided by National Park Rangers. In addition to seeing the beautiful scenery up close, you can also see both land and marine wildlife. Seward is also a destination for cruise ships and provides passengers from the ships with tours of the park. Kenai Fjords National Park lies on the southeastern side of the Kenai Peninsula and can be reached from Seward. The most significant fjords include Aialik Bay, Harris Bay, McCarty Fjord and Nuka Bay. Most of the interior of the park is covered by the Harding Icefield. A cool thing for me was that I was doing work at an airport when I was here in Alaska. Because my work was volunteer, one of the pilots offered to take some of us up in a plane to see Alaska from above as an appreciation for the work that we were doing. We flew over the Harding Icefield and got to see how massive is it. It was such an awesome experience. Another way to see the Icefield up close is to hike on the Harding Icefield Trail. Kenai Fjords National Park is made up of three main areas - the Exit Glacier, Harding Icefield and the coastline. The Exit Glacier is the easiest section of the park to reach. I stopped by the visitor center in Seward first before seeing the glacier. It is a nice place to visit and to learn about the park. There are park rangers on hand to answer questions and a gift shop. We then headed over to the Exit Glacier. It is the only destination in Kenai Fjords National Park that is accessible by land. They have a small nature center that you can visit before heading out on the trail to the glacier. The Exit Glacier hike is the best way to see this this glacier up close. Sadly, it has shrunk considerably due to climate change. They have signs showing where the glacier once stood by year. Park scientists continue to monitor and record the glacier's accelerating recession. At some point, you won't be able to see the glacier anymore from the overlook trail. I really enjoyed my time visiting this park. Getting a chance to fly over the Harding Icefield was an amazing experience for me. Then checking out the Exit Glacier later in the week really made me appreciate how beautiful this park is. I hope someday I can return here and hike on Harding Icefield Trail to get up and close to it.

One of the best parts of our June Alaska cruise occurred on the last day in Seward. We viewed…read moreparts of Kenai Fjords National Park from the water on a Major Marine boat trip. We saw the Holgate and Aialik glaciers, tons of wildlife (Orcas, sea otters, Stellar sea lions, harbor seals, puffins, and more). The finale was seeing the amazing rock formations in Porcupine Bay. Afterwards, we stopped by the Kenai Fjords National Park visitor center to learn more about the park. Wish we had more time for further exploration!

My tour with guide Emily was absolutely incredible -- we checked off pretty much everything on the…read morelist! Bald eagles, puffins, orcas, humpbacks, sea otters, seals, sea lions, and glacier calving! I took the 7.5 hour tour and time absolutely flew by we were having so much fun. If 7.5 hours seems like a long time and you're hesitant -- just do it! It's so incredibly worth it! Emily was also so knowledgeable about the area, from the geology to the wildlife, and so helpful and patient when I got seasick (not her fault at all, I am just super prone to it) Overall truly amazing experience, incredibly worth the money and time

This was an amazing experience! Captain Abby was a very knowledgeable captain, answering almost…read moreevery question we asked. She knew exactly where to go to show us the animals. We saw 3 schools of whales (humpback and orcas), puffins, sea lions, seals, otters and a giant pod of moon jellyfish. Not to mention we had lunch, which they provided, at the base of a glacier! There was lots of glacial activity and we got to watch ice chunks fall and listen to the crash as it hit the water.

Liquid adventure provided the most incredible experience of my trip to Alaska. Kayaking in bear…read moreglacier was absolutely breathtaking - peaceful, serene, and awe-inspiring. Our guide was knowledgeable, friendly and incredibly supportive, making sure everyone felt safe and confident on the water, even if it was someone's first time kayaking. They shared knowledge about the glacier and surrounding environment, which added an educational element to the adventure.

We thoroughly enjoyed our multi day kayak trip with Nora. The paddling was easy enough. The camping…read morespot was beautiful. Nora was an excellent guide and cook! I highly recommend this company!

Let me preface this by saying that this review is not in of itself indicative of what others may…read moreexperience since there are so many factors that come into play. The tour guides are perhaps the biggest factor that is in control by the company. The wildlife viewing and glacier kayaking experience is also dependent on how lucky nature views you. This of course is not this fault of the company, but may impact experience. With that long statement out of the way, let's talk about what happened during my excursion. To start, they go over the typical safety protocols to mitigate chances of issues that would occur. Then you embark on a roughly two hour ride to the kayaking destination. From there, you kayak about 4 miles to the glacier. It's just beautiful to enjoy the Alaskan waterfalls and viewpoints before arriving at the glacier. But once there, you're hit with the majestic beauty of the glacier. Due to safety reasons, we paddle until about 1 mile from the glacier, but it's big enough to be seen from a good ways away. If you're lucky you can see some ice calving. Then you enjoy some lunch from a spot near the glacier before embarking home. Along the way there and way back. The group was also fortunate to see some amazing wildlife! From porpoises to orcas, to whales, it was just a stroke of good luck! If you're in Seward, heck even Alaska, it is definitely worth taking this kayaking tour!

Zeke and hunter were the amazing guides who were very knowledgeable of the surrounding wildlife. It…read morewas rejuvenating to be out on the water with a great group of people. I highly recommend trying it out, even if you're new to kayaking. They were very prepared, and we felt safe, on top of fact that the kayaks were really hard to flip. I'm not saying you should flip (since it WILL end the tour), BUT if you do end up capsizing, your guide will have to do a shoey at the end of the season... just saying.

I was excited for puffin sightings in Alaska but when they happened to be flying by at the same…read moretime as the baby humpback was doing tail slaps the previous day, the humpback won. So I had to stop by Alasika Sealife Center for a close up of both the horned and tufted puffins. If you are hesitant about that admission fee like I initially was, remember ASLC does great work, as the only institution in Alaska to rehabilitate stranded marine mammals as well as care for animals affected by oil spills. The only thing I wasn't a fan of is the non-static pricing but how it changes from the night before to the day of. Although I thought I would only need about an hour to explore the two floors, I ended up spending most of my morning there, starting with the touch pool, seeing the different stages of the Coho salmon, and staying for both the seabird keeper chat and the stellar sea lion training session.

We truly enjoyed the Sealife Center. The tanks with fish and other critters. The descriptions and…read moreteaching. Loved the sea birds especially the Puffins. The seals and sea lions were also fun to watch. Educational movies. Great gift shop too.

Had a wonderful experience with this tour. The staff was wonderful, kind and knowledgeable. The…read moredogs were all so sweet and energetic. You could tell that the humans and dogs love what they do. Getting to learn about the dogs, their training, racing and spend time with them and give them love is well worth the trip and your time.

Our family of 11 booked for the dog sled rides (on wheels) and it was a highlight of our trip to…read moreSeward. The staff at Turning Heads was outstanding. Jordan and Matt, along with Elliot helping out, gave us a great afternoon of sledding and playing with the dogs. Everyone was so friendly and answered any questions we had. We chose Turning Heads because the dog lovers in our group could meet the pull team and also had time to play with the puppies. Our group included all ages (15-80) and we were concerned about those who have limited mobility getting on the sled, but it was not a problem. Everyone in the group said their experience at Turning Heads was five stars and they would highly recommend!