Am I going doolally? Having read Bob’s latest post about the lack of an Arctic fly/drive option, I’ve just looked at the Ultimate Alaska tour again.

It’s now showing just one optional excursion -  to the gold mine! I could have sworn that when I originally looked at this tour on Thursday of last week, there were several optional excursions on offer - including an Arctic fly/drive priced at £320.

Am I imagining this JY, or has the optional excursions list been changed since the tour originally went live? I really don’t believe that I’ve imagined this, so for the sake of my own sanity could you please confirm whether there’s been a change to the optional excursions list?

Cheers

Mike

Hi Mike,

Currently we are only offering the optional excursion at the Gold Dredge 8 for this tour.

This is due to unpredictable driving times on the Arctic drive which is why it is not included as an optional excursion at the moment.

Kindest Regards,

Amy

Wow you must almost be a local in Rapa Nui now!  For a keen hiker like you, that must be wonderful.  Thanks for your reply - I am currently thinking of doing a Travelsphere Canadian Rockies tour in Sept next year.  I'm planning on Trav rather than JY, as a number of folks have told me the scenery is better and you get closer to it if you travel to Vancouver by coach, rather than the Rocky Mountaineer.  And for me, scenery is the highlight of any tour!  I am sure the RM is a wonderful experience and I love trains but I think it makes more sense for me to do it that way - and it's more than a grand cheaper than the JY tour!!

Happy travels,

Bob

Mike - oops - yes, I wasn't really selling the September date very well, was I?! I'm sure it will be super. I just mention the mozzies because they are always a concern for me. I know the tour doesn't visit the National Park that you were interested in but Denali is really beautiful and the bus safari is great fun. Such a pity about the fly/drive though.

Bob - I hadn't noticed that the train was missing but yes, you're right, it looks like they've taken out the included half day journey on the Wilderness Express from Talkeetna to Denali. That's a real shame because it's a very similar experience to the Rocky Mountaineer, with equally spectacular views. On the plus side, I note that the Prince William Sound/Columbia Glacier cruise is now an included excursion - I'm pretty sure it was an optional extra for us. I'm sorry you are going to give it a miss but maybe they will change the itinerary again in a couple of years, as they did for the Rocky Mountaineer. Speaking of which - how many years have you had that one pencilled in for? Isn't it about time you booked it? ;)

As for Rapa Nui, well it really is a special place for me now. I know you are not a hiking man but this time I did the Poike peninsular - including scaling the sheer cliff to go deep inside Ana o Keke (a.k.a the Virgin Cave), hiked the beautiful North Coast again and also took on the 23kms between Tongariki and Vinapu on foot. In between I did a tour inside the lava tubes on the west coast, climbed Rano Kau and also did plenty more moai spotting. So, why am I going back? Well I've made quite a few friends there now and they all tell me that I haven't experienced Rapa Nui properly until I've been to the Tapati festival. I can't go next year because it clashes with Galapagos, so 2020 it is! 

I've also got a WWII memorial coach tour (Auschwitz etc) this summer and Oberammagau in 2020 on the drawing board but after that....well I'm thinking about New Zealand and Nepal. To quote Mr Trotter "The world is my lobster, Rodney, the world is my lobster!!"

Fly safe and happy travels

Mandy

It’s now showing just one optional excursion - to the gold mine! I could have sworn that when I originally looked at this tour on Thursday of last week, there were several optional excursions on offer - including an Arctic fly/drive priced at £320.

Am I imagining this JY, or has the optional excursions list been changed since the tour originally went live? I really don’t believe that I’ve imagined this, so for the sake of my own sanity could you please confirm whether there’s been a change to the optional excursions list?

Cheers

Mike

I've been following Mike's posts concerning this tour as it's one I had my eye on to do until it disappeared.  Given the long time we've been waiting for it to reappear, I presumed that the itinerary would be very different.  However, it appears to have been scaled back a bit, with the train journey removed (a pity, as that would have been a highlight for me).  But even worse, as Mandy has commented, no Arctic experience!  That would have been the part of the tour I would have most been looking forward to, so this is deeply disappointing.  I have now taken "Ultimate" Alaska off my wishlist.  Perhaps the holiday creators will rejig the tour to include the Arctic fly/drive excursion as an optional once again and then I may reconsider!

All the best,

Bob

PS Mandy, I'm sure you'll have an amazing time in the Galapagos next year; however I'm surprised you're going back to Rapa Nui for a third time!!  I loved my time there but I don't think I'd want to go back as we had such a wonderful time there with our group.  Too much of the world yet to discover....

:shy: :s

Good to hear from you. You paint such a lovely picture of Alaska in September! ho ho And I’m sure that I saw an Arctic Circle fly/drive on offer as an optional excursion!

Have a great time in the Galapagos - I would have joined you on the March date but JY messed me around over the flights. I tried to tell them that there were regional flights with KLM via Schipol (which were much better than the night flight originally offered from Heathrow) but they wouldn’t believe me. At the time of my enquiry only 6 places had been taken. Anyway, somebody at JY must have realised that I was right because they now offer the very flights that I mentioned on all dates, which meant that the remaining places for the March departure were quickly snapped up. What made the situation all the more annoying was that I asked the sales advisor to let me know if the flight situation changed, but I heard nothing back. Oh well!

Cheers

Mike

I'm so pleased that you have finally got a chance to do Alaska from Heathrow. It's a pity that there is only one departure - as you know I went in May/June and we had superb weather. Maybe, if JY get enough feedback, they might consider running May/June in 2019. If you do go for September, however, I recommend bathing in mozzie repellent because we were told that they are everywhere and quite vicious at that time of year. (They also have little devils called 'white feet' that are even bigger and nastier!)

The itinerary is very similar to the one we did in 2016 (with a couple of hotel changes) and I'm pleased that our feedback about visiting the Alaska Wildlife Centre was taken on board. However, I'm really surprised that the Arctic Circle fly/drive from Fairbanks is no longer on offer. It's true that it was quite pricey but, as always with our adventures, it's a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity and really was the highlight of the tour for many of us. Perhaps if you start a campaign.......

Meanwhile, I'm already on the countdown to Galapagos in 2019.....and Rapa Nui III in 2020..... :D

Happy travels

Mandy

Thank you very much for this information. It looks a good itinerary, although it’s slightly disappointing that there’s only one departure date, and Katmai NP isn’t included. Hopefully you’ll get a good response to this new itinerary so that more dates can be added next year.

Cheers

Mike

Apologies about my delayed response to your question. I was waiting on some confirmation about the release date of this tour.

However, I can now confirm that our 'Ultimate Alaska' tour is now on sale and you can find it on our JY website!

Kindest Regards,

Amy

This is the second time I’ve posted this thread - I’m still waiting for the first one to appear, and be answered, from a few days ago, so I’ll ask the question again.

When can we expect the new Alaska tour to be available for sale? I had it on good authority that it would be available over a week ago, but there’s still no sign of this tour on the website.

So, I would appreciate an accurate and prompt reply as to when I can expect this tour to finally make an appearance.

I’m getting increasingly frustrated at the seemingly never-ending delays surrounding the introduction of this tour and just want a simple, straightforward answer to a simple question.

Many thanks

Mike