Mandy from Salmonberry Tours joins Jennie to talk about the logistics of getting from Whittier or Seward to the Anchorage airport before or after a cruise and how to have an intimate local experience along the way.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jennie Flaming (00:00):
Jennie, welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast
(00:08):
with me, your host, JennieThwing Flaming, my occasional co
host and full time husband, Jayand I bring you accurate,
helpful and entertaininginformation about Alaska, travel
and life in Alaska, before westart today's show, we'd like to
take a moment to thank ourPatreon subscribers for your
(00:30):
support and making this podcastpossible. Enjoy the show. Are
you looking for a good way toget between cruise ship port in
Seward or Whittier and the cityof Anchorage, if so, and you're
looking for some fun localideas, then you are in the right
place, because that's what we'retalking about today. My guest
(00:56):
today is Mandy Garcia. Mandy hasbeen on the podcast before, back
in November, we had an episodeabout women owned tour
businesses, which was really afun episode. So it was in late
November. Definitely go back andlisten to it if you missed that.
Mandy was one of my guests thatday. She is one of the two
(01:18):
owners of salmonberry tours,which is based in Anchorage and
Mandy. Welcome back to thepodcast.
Mandy (01:27):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to
share our cruise tour andtransfer option. Me
Jennie Flaming (01:34):
too. I am really glad we're doing this. This is a
question that I get so often,and you have such great
offerings, so I'm really excitedfor people to learn about that.
So Mandy, before we dive intothat topic, can you tell
everybody how you got to Alaska?
Unknown (01:55):
Yeah, you bet. Yeah. My name is Mandy, Garcia, and I
currently live in Anchorage,Alaska, but I actually hail from
I'm a fine import from the greatstate of Wisconsin. So after
college, I drove up the Alcanand got a job up in Alaska. And
(02:17):
I honestly, I thought it wouldbe a temporary gig, and I just
absolutely fell in love withAlaska. I have been here since
2009 now, and I can't imagineliving anywhere else.
Salmonberry is located inAnchorage, but we do, you know,
(02:38):
help people you know throughoutthe state of Alaska. And I just
love, I love our state. I thinkit's a wonderful place to live
and work and play. And Iactually started as a guide. It
was like a part time gig. I hada corporate job. I I was making,
you know, corporate money withbenefits and all this jazz. And
(03:02):
if you're working seasonal andtourism, you're like what? But
you know what? I'll tell you, Ijust really, I just fell in love
with the history of Alaska, andI wanted to share it. I wanted
to share with as many people aspossible. And then I have a
degree in business operations,and I also took so many credits
(03:26):
in like environmental scienceclasses and geology glaciology.
So I was really obsessed withglaciers. And when I met
Candice, it was actually throughher now husband, and she was
just looking for a part timetour guide. So I jumped on board
with Candace, and I'm actuallysitting next to Coco today, who
(03:46):
is our we call her ourRenaissance woman. She does
accounting, but she does so muchmore than that. And her and I
started the same year back inJune of 2009 i i quickly, you
know, decided like thatcorporate life was not for me,
and I jumped two feet in intourism, and I have not looked
(04:10):
back. And I love it. We operatea year round thriving tourism
business. And, you know, I'msuper stoked to be able to offer
year round employment for forour employees, and to kind of
shape tourism into a truly yearround and, you know, wonderful
(04:31):
career for people. So that's mylittle soapbox. Sorry about
that. You never
Jennie Flaming (04:36):
apologize for that fantastic soap box. And by
the way, I'll just mention youknow, even though today we are
talking about cruise transfers,I am tours associated with that.
I want to tell you that if youare looking for a great local
company to do many differentkinds of tours with salmonberry
(04:57):
tours is awesome and, um. I'msure we'll have other episodes
in the future about some ofthese many other topics. So
Unknown (05:05):
yeah, thank you so much. And I you know, we we that
cruise tour and transfer. Allthe tours at salmonberry have
really been quite organic. Westarted as a day tour, walking
tour company in downtownAnchorage. That's what Candace
started the company with,specializing in small group and
private tours, and even today,that is our main focus is
(05:25):
providing quality, guided daytours by locals and for visitors
from around the world. So thatis like at our core and our
values, is to, not only youknow, provide visitors and
experience in the communitiesthat we operate, but also be
part of the communities that weoperate. So yeah, that local,
(05:49):
that local touch, is reallyquite special to salmonberry and
I became an owner in 2019 Yeah,it was super exciting. Uh,
little sweat equity there, yeah,and Candace was going to have
twins, so she's like, you know,you should, you should become my
partner. And it was, it wasquite a funny story, um, and I
(06:11):
just, I, I love every minute ofit. So I focus on our, yeah,
thank you. I focus on ourproduct development side. And
so, um, I am super excited aboutthe cruise transfers. They
really have taken off inpopularity just because of a the
number of folks that are usingcruise as a as a medium to get
(06:33):
to or from Alaska as atransportation vessel, right? So
you get a little fun seven daytour all the way up to Alaska,
and then you get to meet us. Soour cruise ship transfers do
pick up and drop off from fromthe ports.
Jennie Flaming (06:50):
Yes. So, yes. So before we dive into those
options, a little more. Mandylisteners, I want to just make
sure that this is super clear.
If you are taking a cruise toAlaska, and it's a one way
cruise, meaning you're goingfrom Vancouver to Alaska or from
Alaska to Vancouver, then thatmeans you're going to be either
(07:16):
getting off or on the ship ineither Seward or Whittier, and
both Seward and Whittier are notin Anchorage, right? So you need
a plan for how you're gettingbetween the ship and the airport
or the ship and Anchorage tostart your land tour, right? So
you don't want to try to figureout a one way car rental, if
(07:40):
that's even possible, you can'tdo like Uber, Lyft taxis, like
you need a plan, and there are alot of options, but salmonberry
is what we're going to talkabout today. So I just wanted to
kind of set that context alittle bit so and
Unknown (08:00):
I can understand too.
I've looked at a coupledifferent like, you know, online
cruise documentation, and itdoes stay Anchorage, because
that's the airport you're flyingout of. And then in parentheses,
it will stay Whittier or Seward.
So if you question what ship orwhat port you're coming into,
it's usually in that parentheseson that departure vacation day.
(08:24):
The
Jennie Flaming (08:25):
other thing is some I have, I don't know if
you've seen this anywhere else,Mandy, the police, I've seen it
is with Whittier, whereas it'll,it'll say, like arriving in
Whittier at like midnight. Andso I just want to tell you that
you're not going to be gettingoff the ship in the middle of
the night, correct? It'll,it'll. It might be very early in
(08:45):
the morning, but it will be inthe morning and it will not be
at 1am or,
Unknown (08:49):
yeah, generally we get our guests, they'll be assigned,
like an 8am or 830 disembark.
And it's usually 8am because weask our guests to be ready by
830 for our guides. Yeah, um andWhittier is kind of unique. If
we want to start and dive inwith talking about Whittier. Um,
yeah,
Jennie Flaming (09:09):
let's, let's the tunnel with Whittier.
Unknown (09:12):
Yeah. So the tunnel is all thing you want to be sure
you want to preview that.
Jennie, yeah.
Jennie Flaming (09:16):
Well, sure, but actually, I was going to ask you
if you could just tell everybodywhich cruise lines use Whittier
and which use I mean, again, youshould always check your
documents, right? We're talkingbecause things can change. But
we're talking kind of generallylike, who's going to be in
Whittier? Maybe? Yeah,
Unknown (09:36):
you bet. So all Princess ships are going to be
sailing in Whittier. There'salso seven seas explorer, the
Riviera. We also have let mesee. I'm looking at my chart, my
cheat sheet right now theregion, the Norwegian Cruise
(09:58):
Line, Norwegian Jade, will be.
In there, and the New Amsterdam.
So there's select and nor damnso select Holland America
departures, Norwegian princess.
And I think that's it. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (10:14):
one other thing too about Norwegian folks
listening, if you are taking aNorwegian Cruise, and it's one
way, at the time you booked,they might have been using
Seward, so just be aware, wecould talk about that in a
minute, but this could be achange for you if you're on
Norwegian. Okay, so
Unknown (10:34):
you've sailed like on Norwegian before. Now that they
have a new cruise terminal inWhittier, they're gonna use
their own cruise terminal. Yes?
Um,
Jennie Flaming (10:45):
yeah, yeah, cool. Okay, so Mandy, tell us a
little bit about what theoptions are for. Do you want to
talk about it separately, preand post cruise or do you want
to just explain what it is? Andthen actually, folks will just
know they could do
Unknown (11:01):
it, Whittier. Whittier is very simple, because Whittier
is the same thing. So allguests, regardless if you're
going to Whittier or fromWhittier, are going to get a
tour and transfer to or fromAnchorage. So let's go ahead and
just in. You know, just becausewe should just pick a direction
(11:21):
for logistics purposes. Let'ssay we're going to pick you up
at the ship. So we are going topick you up at the ship at
between 830 and 845 and thenwe're going to exit the tunnel
at 9am out of Whittier. So ourgoal is to get all of the
passengers, and again, we'd usesmall group, so it's not too
hard, but our guide is going tocome into the cruise ship
(11:44):
terminal. We have pink or blackvests that say salmonberry
tours. And they, they have a,like, a name sign, so you just
look for your name. And even thethe hosts at the cruise ship
terminal, they know whosalmonberry is. Like, yeah. If
you say, Oh, I'm withsalmonberry, they'll be like,
oh, there's salmonberry overthere. So in Alaska, you know,
(12:04):
everyone, everyone's quitehospitable here, to be totally
honest. Um, but yeah. Anyway, soyou're going to disembark the
ship, you are going to come intothe cruise terminal with your
luggage, and then you're goingto go down this covered walkway.
And that's actually a reallyunique point for Whittier. You
everybody has to go through thiscovered walkway in order to get
(12:26):
to the vehicle. So that is, it'snot a long walk by any means,
but it's like you're walkingthrough the parking lot in a
safe area for guests. And thenthe guide will go ahead and help
load up the luggage, andeverybody exits. So as we leave
Whittier, Whittier is just thisbeautiful seaside town, so
you've got the mountains thatare just jutting right up from
(12:48):
the ocean. And we actually drivethrough the longest one way
tunnel in North America, so andit shares use with the railroad,
so the longest multi use one waytunnel in North America. So
we're going to go through theAnton Anderson Memorial tunnel
and out the other side. So we'regoing to drive through the
(13:10):
mountain end up on the otherside, which is called bear
valley, and then you're going togo right out into the Portage
Glacier area. So you've got thisgorgeous Chugach National Forest
around you. You we're going togo through some bridges, go
through the woods, and then allof a sudden we are at the Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center. Sothe first big highlight of the
(13:33):
cruise transfer is this guided90 minute tour through the
Alaska Wildlife ConservationCenter. It's a 200 acre rescue
and rehabilitation centerthat's, you know, home in the
portage valley, but it also ishome to Moose, bison, Musk oxine
Sitka, black tailed deer, bears.
They work with Alaska fishinggame. They're a non profit. They
(13:58):
work with Alaska fishing game tobring in injured and orphaned
animals that are foundthroughout Alaska, and they
bring them in to rehabilitatethem, sometimes being able to
release them, but a lot of timesthey they go ahead and find
their forever home here at thecenter, and we have a long
standing relationship With theAlaska Wildlife Conservation
(14:18):
Center. The tour is again, 90minutes. The guide is with you
the entire time. So we do like adriving guiding. And then once
we get to a large exhibit area,we go ahead and get out. And
this is a 200 acre facility, soit's a really quite large, yeah,
it really is. And I, you know,locals love it. Visitors love
(14:42):
it. It's one of the most visitedattractions in Alaska, yep. Um,
it will, it will really allowyou to see wildlife that maybe
you didn't see that up close.
And a lot of folks are like, Idon't want to go to a zoo. It's
definitely when you get there,you're like. This is not a zoo.
It is not a safari park like inAlaska or in Africa, excuse me.
(15:05):
It's not a safari park like inAfrica, but it is this unique
place where there's fencing sothe bears don't eat the moose or
you, but they're in large enoughhabitats that you get to see
them in this in this beautifulsetting. And,
Jennie Flaming (15:22):
for example, place for photos too. Yes,
Unknown (15:26):
you can do this boardwalk they've or this, this
walkway that they've created toget up and to look down into the
bear habitat. And, you know,watch their mannerisms and see
what they you know, see whatthey're doing the three bears
there are quite fun to watch,the three brown bears, and
they've got black bears. I mean,it's just quite a unique place.
(15:49):
And we do spend 90 minutesbecause we want guests to have a
chance to go into their giftshop. All the proceeds that are
earned at the center stay at thecenter. So it goes towards
animals, towards the animals,back to the animals, and your
admission and everything on yourday tour, and your lunch and
snacks and water that your guidehas, it's all included when
(16:11):
you're coming with salmon Berry.
So that's kind of a cool littleplus. We have glass water
bottles, so if you don't haveyour own reusable water bottle
with you. You know you canborrow one of ours for the day,
and then it's filled withdelicious Alaska water.
Delicious Alaska water. Butlet's see, what else can I say
(16:32):
about the Wildlife Center?
Jennie Flaming (16:37):
It is a wonderful place.
Unknown (16:40):
Yeah, um, in our next highlight is going to be
Girdwood. So about 2030, minutesdown the road is a little
mountain town of Girdwood, andwe're going to take the Mount
aliex aerial tramway up themountain to get beautiful aerial
views of glacier Valley, whichis the valley in the mountains
(17:00):
where, goodness, there's sevenhanging glaciers in the valley.
So on a clear day, you can seethe seven hanging glaciers. Even
on a foggy day, or say, themountains are all misty and
magical, you should still beable to see something up there.
It's pretty cool. It's a prettycool tram, right? It's only four
minutes. So if you're like, Ohno, like, I'm scared of heights
or something like that. It's afour minute quick ride up the
(17:23):
mountain, and then at the top ofthe terminal, the top of the
tram, there's actually a littleround house museum you could go
through. There's great placesfor pictures. You could duck in
and grab some something to snackon. But we actually go to lunch
at the Girdwood Brewing Company.
So that's, yeah, it's superduper fun. There's two food
(17:46):
trucks. It's locally owned. Theyuse, they even use, like local
rhubarb in their in their craftbrews. If you don't partake or
you're not 21 there's nonalcoholic options as well, but,
um, so side note, but There'sgenerally two food trucks at the
girdle Brewing Company, and youcan order off the menu. Your
(18:09):
guide will be your they'll taketheir salmonberry guide hat on
and kind of put on a waiter hat.
So they'll, all of a sudden,they'll be your host for lunch.
Um,
Jennie Flaming (18:20):
oh, you look really familiar. Look at that.
Hi, hello.
Unknown (18:24):
So, while we're standing in line for the food
truck, you can take a beer tokenand go get yourself something to
drink. And they have fire pits,and it's just a really great
vibe at the gridwood BrewingCompany. We're super excited to
be partnering with them againthis year. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (18:41):
it's a great it's a great spot, yeah. And
Unknown (18:46):
once we head back into Anchorage, we're going to take
some photo stops, and generallywe we're going to stop on the
way back into town. We stop at aplace called Bird Creek. That's
a really great place for forpictures of the turning an arm,
so the turning an arm, or thebody of water that will be on
your left hand side as you'reheaded back into Anchorage, the
tourniquet arm has this extremetitle difference. So as we
(19:09):
travel, your guide is sharingnot only history of Alaska, um,
they're going to share with youpoints of interest, like the
bore tide, like maybe we seewildlife, or, you know, stories
of the area, yeah, but they'realso going to share with you,
you know, what's it? What is itlike in March here? You know?
Yeah, we live here year round.
So your guide will provide youthat glimpse into, you know,
(19:32):
real life Alaska. And then, aswe head into Anchorage, if you
choose that you want to bedropped off at the airport. We
can make that happen. We'regenerally to the airport by 230
in the afternoon. So if you havelike, a 435 o'clock flight out,
it's perfect time. If you wantto grab dinner downtown, and,
you know, take a taxi or Uberfor a late flight. That totally
(19:56):
works too. So it's a really.
Great last look at Alaska. Ifyou're coming from the ship and
you're flying out, or say, sayyou're starting a land tour, or
say you're starting say you needto be dropped off at a rental
car office, because you're goingto go on at your own after,
after today, or even thatevening, you we could totally do
(20:18):
that. We'll get you set. We'llget you dropped off at the
airport, where the rental carsare, and then you can hit the
road. And the nice thing ishaving that local, you know,
that nice local small group lookbefore you, you know, venture
on, if you decide to venture on,or maybe they'll inspire you to
come back and do an independenttrip.
Jennie Flaming (20:38):
Yeah, yeah. And I also want to just clarify,
because I don't think Imentioned this before. If you
are doing a cruise tour that youbooked through the cruise line
that includes the land tour likethen this wouldn't be the right
thing for you, because that willgo they will also pick you up
(20:59):
the ship or bring you to theship at the beginning. So this
is ideal if you've just got thatday and you're flying out that
night, or if you are, like Mandysaid, you know, picking up a
rental car or staying inAnchorage for a few days. This
is a great way to get back toAnchorage. Yeah, and
Unknown (21:19):
it's it sells out pretty quickly, because we do
operate in private and smallgroups, yep, um, you want to
book this when you're whenyou're booking your cruise. I
know that's just crazy, but Oh,lock it in, yeah, especially if
you want something private, um,and, and that way you know that
you have the seats. Yep,
Jennie Flaming (21:40):
absolutely. So Mandy, if you're going, if
you're going to Whittierinstead, is it the same tour,
just going the other way,
Unknown (21:50):
correct? Yep, and lunch times, around lunchtime, and
yeah, it's quite smooth. And ourguides are going to go ahead and
pick you up at the hotel ofwherever you're staying now, one
important note is, if you'restaying at like a vacation
rental or an Airbnb, you'regoing to want to meet us at our
office, or when you're makingyour reservation with us, you
(22:12):
can let us know what the addressis, and we'll let you know what
the closest hotel to that Airbnbor vacation rental is. Yeah,
perfect luggage. The other thingthe luggage, your luggage, stays
with you in the in the vehiclethat you're in. So that's kind
of another distinction. We don'tnecessarily you're not going to
have to, like, check a luggagewith a luggage truck that may or
(22:34):
may not get there. So yeah, it'svery Yeah, it's very simple.
When you you know you, we wepick you up and you head out.
And when we do the Anchorage toWhittier, or the Anchorage to
Seward, when we're leavingAnchorage, I always recommend
people the cruise ship generallyhas these luggage tags that
they're going to send you ordocumentation that they want you
(22:56):
to to staple to or or clip to oror wrap on to your luggage. Do
that before we pick you up. Soget your checked bag, whatever
check bag you're going to havethat's going to go in the back
of the vehicle, whatever carryon bag that you're going to
have, and what you're going tocarry with you onto the ship.
(23:16):
Now that you want to go aheadand keep on your person and have
inside the vehicle, not in theluggage compartment in the back
of the vehicle, that'll makeyour check in process super
smooth. Another cool thing aboutgoing with salmon Barry is that
you're not arriving with, youknow, 300 people, or, you know,
(23:37):
even 80 people. That's a lot ofpeople in line to get so when we
arrive, we're arriving in smallgroup, generally 10, sometimes
16. We have a lot, a little bitlarger vehicle that we had for
some cruise transfers, but eatfor privates, like, it's so
easy, yeah, and that personthat's in charge, and making
(23:57):
sure that all your check indocumentation is in your carry
on is super important. And then,depending on your ship, they're
going to give you a little noteon your arrival day of if you
can check on things like certainthings like, are you allowed to
have wine in your checked bag?
Are you allowed Are you supposedto dump out your water bottles
in your in your check or your,yeah, your carry on. So when my
(24:19):
recommendation is take a look atyour notes that the cruise line
gives you, and generally it's onthe app, most of them have gone
to an app and and then the daybefore, that way you're prepared
for that morning, and it's superjust know that the tour guides
know when the ships leave, andwe have, we know when the last
(24:41):
call is, yes, call and and yourdocumentation, you you heard it
before. Jennie, yourdocumentation is going to say
you are supposed to check in atone o'clock to three o'clock,
and then you're going to callme, and you're going to be like,
dandy, I can't take your tour. Ihave to camp. So because you
know this, the ship says I haveto be there at one o'clock. And
(25:03):
I say, No, you don't have to bethere at one o'clock. The ship
sails at 1900 you don't need tobe there until you know 1900
1700, 1750, whatever. And Iwould love
Jennie Flaming (25:18):
to be able to change that about leadership
documents, because people havethese times like you were
saying, and it's like that hasnothing to do with anything,
right? And what they're trying
Unknown (25:30):
to do is manage the number of people that are in
line, because they know when thecruise train comes in, there's
going to be gobs of people thatthey need to check in. And they
know when the ship tour, youknow when the bus tours come
through. They know when thoseguys are going to come in. And
so they are trying to alleviateanybody that's getting
themselves there. They're tryingto come get off course. But we
(25:54):
already know that. We alreadyhave that planned in our day. So
rest assured, if you're comingwith salmonberry, we will get
you to the ship and the correcttime, promise,
Jennie Flaming (26:05):
yes, yeah. And you know, another thing about
that, by the way, listeners, isthat we are specifically talking
about Whittier and Seward on atrip like this. So like this is
different in Vancouver, right?
If, like, you have a time to bethere. You know, there's still a
wide range of times you can showup, but like in Whittier, you
(26:28):
can't show up on your own. Like,there's no way to get there on
your own. So don't worry aboutwhat's on your documents. Your
Guide will get you there. So,yeah, yes, yeah, um, cool. Okay,
so, um, another thing is that Iknow we're talking about
luggage, and that soundsextremely boring, but the thing
(26:50):
is, luggage is only boring whenit's working well, so we want it
to stay boring for you. And,having, I just want to say, as
someone who doesn't work forsalmonberry, that a huge
advantage of a tour like this isthat you get to stop and do
things, but you don't have todeal with your bags. They they
(27:15):
like stay with you, but youdon't have to manage them
everywhere. So Correct? That isa huge deal. Yeah,
Unknown (27:23):
and you know that the guide that's with you in the
morning is going to be the guidethroughout the day. It's just,
it's really quite simple. Andthis tour and transfer again, it
it organically grew, and you cannow buy it out. So if it's if
it's if you'd like just you andyour family to go on the tour
(27:44):
and transfer and maybe go atyour pace. You know, we
definitely need to still be atthe ship when we need to be at
the ship. But say you're like,oh, we'd like, you know, 20 more
minutes at the top of themountain instead of 20 minutes
at the Wildlife Center. Like,you can kind of make it a little
bit more your day when you buyit out and and when
Jennie Flaming (28:03):
that is talking about private tours or privates,
that's kind of what we'rereferring to. Is when you're
like, hey, salmon Barry, howabout you take our family and
yes, yeah, cool. Yeah. Not,
Unknown (28:14):
not necessarily buying out the ship, but buying out the
vehicle to
Jennie Flaming (28:18):
get you to the ship. I'm sure you can do that.
I'm sure that's Oh
Unknown (28:22):
yeah. That'd be cool.
That'd be great. Call me, yeah,right.
Jennie Flaming (28:25):
I'll come Yeah, all right. Well, we're gonna
take a short break, and when wecome back, we'll talk more with
Mandy about options, gettingback and forth to Seward. Hi
everyone. I hope you're enjoyingthis episode so far. Just wanted
to let you know about some otherawesome things I have that can
help you plan your trip. Sofirst of all, if you are
(28:48):
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And in addition to that, I'vealso got a bunch of pre made
itineraries for you. There. Gotmy on demand workshops that you
(29:12):
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uncovered listener in my shop.
(29:35):
So head on over there. The linkis in the show notes. And once
again, that's shop dot ordinary,dash adventures.com, now back to
the show. All right, everyone,we are back with Mandy Garcia
from salmon berry tours, andtoday we are talking about a
(29:56):
super local fun way. Is to getback and forth to the cruise
ship terminals in Whittier andSeward. So before the break we
were talking about WhittierMandy, let's dive into Seward.
So should we do it the same way?
Talk first about getting off theship, or do you want to do the
(30:17):
other way around?
Unknown (30:19):
Yeah, let's talk first about getting off the ship. It's
probably our most common routeto just so that one coming off
the ship will sell out beforegoing on to the ship. Oh,
interesting. That's kind ofYeah, that's kind of interesting
note. But the ships that areserviced in Seward, you're gonna
see Royal Caribbean in Seward.
You're gonna see Viking inSeward. Queen Elizabeth comes to
(30:41):
Seward, which is super fun.
Yeah, the super moon, thesupernova, or silver Nova,
excuse me. And so Seward ishonestly, I think they're
starting to target more smallships, but I think that's pretty
cool in itself. Is that andthey're targeting small ships,
(31:01):
but they're building RoyalCaribbean announced that they're
building a brand new cruiselike, what do you call it?
Cruise birth? Like, it's, yeah,it's giant. It's a giant. Cruise
birth, yeah. So I think you'regonna see more offerings for for
Seward as a base. But before webegin, I want to also note that
(31:23):
Alaska itineraries a lot oftimes they also have Seward as a
as a destination, like it's justa super popular place to go,
yes, and so you can use whatwe're talking about today, not
just to get to and from theship, but also to get to and
from a hotel in Seward. Yep. Andso keep that in the back of your
(31:45):
mind. If you want to, like, kindof get creative, um, or say you
got, you got off a ship inWhittier, we can get you down to
Seward, um, so, uh, coming back.
So we pick up at the Sewardcruise terminal at 830 it's the
same situation where you'regoing to get your bigs, you're
going to come through theterminal in here, you'll, you'll
(32:05):
just empty right out into theloading zone. I mean, it's, it's
Alaska's small. We're, we're,we're a small destination. There
are not multiple terminals insewer. There's one terminal.
It's it's wonderful. The hostthere do a great job of
directing people, just like Isaid before, if you can't find
(32:27):
your guide, which is very rare,but if you feel like you want
just more assurance, there'shosts right on site in the
cruise terminal, yeah, that canpoint you in the right
direction. And there's literallyfour doors to go out, like you
just go out the doors and we'reright there. So it's super
great. Yes, in Seward, we liketo do a little spin around town,
(32:50):
and then head out to exitglacier for a photo stop, and
then we head over to theWildlife Center. So we don't
spend too much time and Sewardon this particular tour and
transfer out. Our goal is to getyou into anchorage by 430 that
is, that's our goal. Get to theairport by 430 for anybody
(33:12):
flying out at 637 o'clock orlater. So today's adventures or
highlights are also going toinclude the Alaska Wildlife
Conservation Center, the alieskatramway and the Girdwood Brewing
Company. So it's the samehighlights that we talked about
(33:33):
before. It's our signature turnagain, arm tour with a pickup
and Seward. That's essentiallywhat it is, and on this
particular trip, the Ipersonally, I think one of the
prettiest parts of the trip ison the drive between Seward and
the wildlife center going upinto the pass is absolutely
gorgeous. It's just quite aspecial a special time. And your
(33:57):
guide, if the salmon are in,they're going to stop, and
they'll be able to show you somesalmons running, which is, you
know, pretty cool for guests.
And that's very salmon or MotherNature specific. It's not, I
can't really put a date on it,but generally, we can stop, you
(34:19):
know, in our in the summermonths, somewhere in, oh gosh,
mid June through, throughSeptember, we can usually find
some kind of salmon for you tosee. Yeah, it's super cool. And
on, on this particular trip fromSeward to Anchorage, we will be
(34:39):
picking up at the ship, but, butbecause so many folks will use
it as a way to get to and fromthere, is there a Seward hotel
in Anchorage? Yeah, um, we couldhave some other hotel pickups,
and they're quite brief, becausewe do travel in small group.
Generally, we have maybe threepickups in Seward that would be
like the most pickups. Um,before we head out of town. And
(35:02):
everything
Jennie Flaming (35:03):
in Seward is very close, yes, yes,
Unknown (35:07):
everything in Seward's very close. And, um, we, let's
see some of the, some of theother highlights on the Seward
to Anchorage is you're able toget into town, you know, before
dinner and at check in. Sothat's kind of important,
because if you want to spendmore time in Seward, then take
(35:28):
the train at night, take thestandard Alaska railroad at
night that leaves, that leavesSeward at like 6pm then you can
have all day in Seward. But ifyou want to have an evening in
Anchorage, and anchorage hassome of the best restaurants,
which I'm sure Jennie is goingto ask me about. To ask me
about. Yes. Well, yes, I will.
Yes, you will. So I loveanchorage restaurants. And if
you do want to, like, kind ofreset, especially if you're
(35:52):
going to start your ownindependent Alaska trip, if you
want to go ahead and reset,maybe pick up a rental car,
maybe, maybe you're, you know,going on a guided trip farther
north or or throughout. Thisallows you to get in at a
reasonable time and kind of getyour bearings straight. And that
way, you can spend a couplehours in Anchorage before you
hit the ground.
Jennie Flaming (36:14):
Perfect. Love it. And then again, if it's a
free trip, it's the other way,right? If it's before the
cruise, just the effects of whatwe know
Unknown (36:23):
the only, the only thing that's different, and it
started this year, and it'sbecause of the timing of the
ships in Seward. Some of theships in Seward are actually
asking for an earlier port ofcall. So we have modified the
tour from Anchorage to Seward tonot include the alieska tram. So
(36:44):
if you're taking our Anchorageto Seward tour and transfer, you
should understand that, yes, itdoesn't include the alieska
tram. But I bet your ship isgoing to Juneau, where they have
the mount Roberts tramway, yeah.
So if you are going on theAnchorage to Seward, be sure to
sign up for the mount RobertsJennie and Seward, or in Juneau.
Excuse me, sorry,
Jennie Flaming (37:04):
I totally agree about that. Yes, Fauci I
Unknown (37:09):
also really love the anchorage of Seward because it
actually gets you into town alittle earlier. So you're going
to get into town about twoo'clock in the afternoon. That
actually gives you a chance towe're going to drop your bags.
And then if you decide that youwant to go into town, you
totally can. And you get alittle, you know, do a little
shopping, have a little icecream. So
Jennie Flaming (37:30):
which great Seward activities, once again,
with the luggage convenience,boring but awesome,
Unknown (37:38):
boring but important.
Keep all the pieces I can't sayenough. Keep everything that you
need to show the person at thecounter who you are in your day
trip bag. So you you should havea bag with you that's just for
you, know, your day bag with allthose important documents, and
double check that you have yourmedicine. Yes, your medication
(37:58):
before you leave Anchorage.
Jennie Flaming (38:03):
Yeah, don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever
check your medications. Don'tever do
Unknown (38:09):
that. Don't do it.
Don't do it.
Jennie Flaming (38:12):
Not on an airplane, not on a train, not on
anything. Yep. Okay, cool, allright, so Mandy, before we move
to kind of the wrap upquestions, yep, um, for people,
if they want to book this,right, they would they book it
directly through salmonberry,not through the cruise line. Is
(38:33):
that right? Correct? So, how tobook this?
Unknown (38:36):
Okay, so, um, sometimes when you sign up for a cruise,
they're going to auto enroll youinto the transfer to get to the
ship. So you need to look forthat. Did you get auto enrolled
into a transfer? If so, you cantake that transfer off if you or
if they didn't include it. Youdefinitely need to get yourself,
(38:58):
you need to get yourself to theship. So how you would book it
is, we have a team of awesomeAlaskans that are here seven
days a week from 830 to 430Alaska time. And so you can give
us a call at 907-278-3572, orbetter. Yet, you can jump online
check the date of your cruiseand the date on the salmonberry
(39:21):
website. And if you go on ourwebsite and you type in
salmonberry tours.com you willactually look at the very top,
and it's of the of the Oh, gosh.
What is that called? Theheadline, the headers, yep, and
it says Alaska. So you you hoverover Alaska tours, and you can
see a drop down says Alaskacruise transfers. And there's
(39:42):
four because you can goAnchorage to Seward, Seward to
Anchorage, Anchorage toWhittier. Whittier to Anchorage.
So you pick which one you needto go to. And then you can
actually look on the calendarright there to see if we have
space available. If we don'thave space available, just shoot
us a. Message, there's a ContactUs in the upper right hand
corner. If we can't, you know,if we can't do it, maybe we can
(40:05):
help you find another way to getthere. So yes,
Jennie Flaming (40:09):
and I will put that in the show notes as well.
Listeners. I am now putting onmy former travel agent hat,
securing it on there, and I wantto tell you two other things
about booking related to whatMandy just said. Number one,
it's super important, no matterwhat that you check on if you're
(40:31):
doing a tour that begins or endsin quote Anchorage, which is
actually Whittier or Seward,make sure, like Mandy said you
want to look and see if you havea transfer there already, very
important. And if you do, andyou're like, Well, I didn't want
to want that. I want to dosalmonberry instead. Don't get
(40:52):
mad at your travel agent,because that means they wanted
to make sure that you had aride, right? That's so good
thing. Yes. So the important,the most important thing, is to
have a ride. The second most,most important thing is to
decide if you want to do a tourwith salmonberry instead of a
straight up transfer, which isawesome. And like Mandy said,
(41:15):
you can, you can totally removethat from your from your cruise
itinerary, and do this instead.
But don't like, get that jobhalf done where, because I have
had this happen in the past withclients where they like,
canceled it and then they neverbooked something else and then,
so don't do that. Like, makesure you like, sit down and see
it all the way through in onesitting.
Unknown (41:38):
I'm glad you talked about travel advisors too,
because if you are working witha Travel Advisor, we also work
with travel advisors so you canjust have them give us a call
and we'd be happy to help themthrough the booking process for
you.
Jennie Flaming (41:52):
Perfect.
Fantastic. All right. Mandy,here it comes. Anchored
restaurants lay lay a favoriteon us.
Unknown (42:03):
Okay, I will tell you that I have been loving sweet
caribou, and I can't remember ifthe last podcast I said it, but
Jennie Flaming (42:12):
I don't remember what you said last time, either.
Okay,
Unknown (42:16):
Jennie, I'm not a salad person, so this is really coming
from a good place is that, likethese people make phenomenal
lunch bowls, which I guess mostpeople would call a salad. And I
love them again, not being asalad person, I still absolutely
love them. They'll also deliverso if you are in Anchorage and
(42:38):
you're you want to do a funlike, picnic in the mountains or
something, they'll deliver yourlunch bowls right to your hotel.
And it's super I think it'sfree. If you order enough like,
you have to order like, threebowls, or two bowls, or
something like that, right,
Jennie Flaming (42:53):
like a bag of chips. And, right, you can't
Unknown (42:55):
order a bag of chips.
Yeah, and then another iconicAlaska lunch or and I'm going to
specifically say Anchorage isthe Fourth Avenue reindeer
sausage stands. Oh, yeah. And soyou should always hit up the
yellow the yellow umbrella. Soall of us, kind of we all have
to pick sides. And in ouroffice, we we pick the yellow
(43:16):
umbrella. So those are my thoseare my two in those are my two
suggestions for now,
Jennie Flaming (43:25):
perfect. Love it. Next time you come on the
pod Mandy, you can givedifferent answers. I
Unknown (43:32):
know I was, I better write that down. I was thinking
about dinner, though, like Man,we had a really yummy dinner at
the gumbo house the other day.
Oh, yeah, that's a great place.
Yeah, it's, it's historic,right? So they've been around
forever, then they get thisbigger location in, down in,
like, closer, closer todowntown, like, closer to Fourth
(43:53):
Avenue, really, they're on FifthAvenue now, yep, yep. And, um,
honestly, go give them somelove. It's especially if it's
maybe a little cooler out, youknow, yeah, doesn't want some,
you
Jennie Flaming (44:02):
know, yummy soup on a cold day, right? No
kidding. And I'm also going tosay, not only is the gumbo house
delicious, but it's prettyaffordable for Anchorage, right?
Yeah. I mean, you know, we'retalking about expensive
restaurants, but
Unknown (44:17):
yeah, average Anchorage is lunches. You should probably
plan on like 35 bucks if youwant, like, halibut tacos and
stuff like that. And fordinners, you're looking at like
$65 if you want to have apps andan appetite, or apps and a and
an entree, that's seafood. So,yep,
Jennie Flaming (44:36):
yeah, but yeah, so gumbo house is delicious and
affordable. Yay. Okay, so lastbut not least, Mandy, what piece
of advice do you have for firsttime Alaska travelers?
Unknown (44:50):
Oh, don't get overwhelmed. Do not let the
flood all of the options like,slow you down. Um. I think even
in my own personal travel,sometimes that is that's hard as
an Independent Traveler to belike, Am I making the right
decision? And honestly, like,you will know if you're making
(45:12):
the right decision when you pickup the phone and call them or
when you receive an email fromthem, are they happy that you're
calling them or supporting them.
And then my second piece ofadvice that I cannot shout from
the rooftops enough, is please,please, please, book direct. We
do not need to be giving theExpedia and the viators and
(45:34):
booking dot coms of the world.
We don't need, we don't need tobe giving them, them all of that
business, these the yourbusiness, put your dollars
directly in the hands of thesmall businesses. It is so
critical to these companies andalso to your experience. I don't
(45:58):
know if you've ever traveled andused an online an OTA, that's
what the industry calls it,online travel agent. An OTA,
they're not a travel agent. Theydon't help. So really, my my
advice to you is, if you wantsomebody to organize your
itinerary, if you want somebodyto tell you the best of the
best, don't go online. Yeah, andsearch that site, go and find a
(46:20):
local, ask your hotel forrecommendations, yep, and then
talk. You know, look at their,look at look at some sample
itineraries on our website orFacebook or Instagram to get to
get inspiration. But yeah, Iwould just encourage you,
please, please, please, bookdirect. I small businesses
(46:41):
around the world need people togo direct to them. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (46:44):
yeah. Thank you for sharing that, Mandy. And you
know, I think that's reallytimely, especially as it's
harder and harder to find goodinformation on the internet. And
it's, yeah, it's still animportant tool for learning. But
I totally agree with you that,you know, yeah, it's a great
(47:06):
place to get ideas and things,but finding local experts who
can support planning your tripis huge and probably more
important than ever, right?
Because
Unknown (47:19):
I have partnerships with the lodging and and, you
know, the other local guides andthe restaurants, and when they
see the pink vest come throughwith you, yeah, as the guest,
they're going to be like, Oh,San berry here. Okay, I got it.
Let's go get it. Seated. It'sand, you know, that shows that
(47:39):
customer service shows, andthen, you know, nobody wants to
think that the trip's not goingto go as planned, but Mother
Nature sometimes, you know, hasalternate plans. Yes, booking
direct allows you completecontrol over your reservation.
Yep, so totally agree with orthrough a Travel Advisor, I'd
(48:00):
say a real Travel Advisor orbooking direct is going to give
you the most control, yeah, butlike those OTAs, they're bad
news,
Jennie Flaming (48:09):
dude. Yeah, it's all it's all algorithms, and,
yeah,
Unknown (48:13):
they're not real people. No,
Jennie Flaming (48:16):
yeah, oh, well, Mandy, it was so wonderful
having you today. Thank you fortalking about these great, super
local, fun ways to get back andforth to the ship from
Anchorage. So thank you so muchfor being here.
Unknown (48:31):
Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait for the
next one you
Jennie, welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast
(00:08):
with me, your host, JennieThwing Flaming, my occasional co
host and full time husband, Jayand I bring you accurate,
helpful and entertaininginformation about Alaska, travel
and life in Alaska, before westart today's show, we'd like to
take a moment to thank ourPatreon subscribers for your
(00:30):
support and making this podcastpossible. Enjoy the show. Are
you looking for a good way toget between cruise ship port in
Seward or Whittier and the cityof Anchorage, if so, and you're
looking for some fun localideas, then you are in the right
place, because that's what we'retalking about today. My guest
(00:56):
today is Mandy Garcia. Mandy hasbeen on the podcast before, back
in November, we had an episodeabout women owned tour
businesses, which was really afun episode. So it was in late
November. Definitely go back andlisten to it if you missed that.
Mandy was one of my guests thatday. She is one of the two
(01:18):
owners of salmonberry tours,which is based in Anchorage and
Mandy. Welcome back to thepodcast.
Mandy (01:27):
Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to
share our cruise tour andtransfer option. Me
Jennie Flaming (01:34):
too. I am really glad we're doing this. This is a
question that I get so often,and you have such great
offerings, so I'm really excitedfor people to learn about that.
So Mandy, before we dive intothat topic, can you tell
everybody how you got to Alaska?
Unknown (01:55):
Yeah, you bet. Yeah. My name is Mandy, Garcia, and I
currently live in Anchorage,Alaska, but I actually hail from
I'm a fine import from the greatstate of Wisconsin. So after
college, I drove up the Alcanand got a job up in Alaska. And
(02:17):
I honestly, I thought it wouldbe a temporary gig, and I just
absolutely fell in love withAlaska. I have been here since
2009 now, and I can't imagineliving anywhere else.
Salmonberry is located inAnchorage, but we do, you know,
(02:38):
help people you know throughoutthe state of Alaska. And I just
love, I love our state. I thinkit's a wonderful place to live
and work and play. And Iactually started as a guide. It
was like a part time gig. I hada corporate job. I I was making,
you know, corporate money withbenefits and all this jazz. And
(03:02):
if you're working seasonal andtourism, you're like what? But
you know what? I'll tell you, Ijust really, I just fell in love
with the history of Alaska, andI wanted to share it. I wanted
to share with as many people aspossible. And then I have a
degree in business operations,and I also took so many credits
(03:26):
in like environmental scienceclasses and geology glaciology.
So I was really obsessed withglaciers. And when I met
Candice, it was actually throughher now husband, and she was
just looking for a part timetour guide. So I jumped on board
with Candace, and I'm actuallysitting next to Coco today, who
(03:46):
is our we call her ourRenaissance woman. She does
accounting, but she does so muchmore than that. And her and I
started the same year back inJune of 2009 i i quickly, you
know, decided like thatcorporate life was not for me,
and I jumped two feet in intourism, and I have not looked
(04:10):
back. And I love it. We operatea year round thriving tourism
business. And, you know, I'msuper stoked to be able to offer
year round employment for forour employees, and to kind of
shape tourism into a truly yearround and, you know, wonderful
(04:31):
career for people. So that's mylittle soapbox. Sorry about
that. You never
Jennie Flaming (04:36):
apologize for that fantastic soap box. And by
the way, I'll just mention youknow, even though today we are
talking about cruise transfers,I am tours associated with that.
I want to tell you that if youare looking for a great local
company to do many differentkinds of tours with salmonberry
(04:57):
tours is awesome and, um. I'msure we'll have other episodes
in the future about some ofthese many other topics. So
Unknown (05:05):
yeah, thank you so much. And I you know, we we that
cruise tour and transfer. Allthe tours at salmonberry have
really been quite organic. Westarted as a day tour, walking
tour company in downtownAnchorage. That's what Candace
started the company with,specializing in small group and
private tours, and even today,that is our main focus is
(05:25):
providing quality, guided daytours by locals and for visitors
from around the world. So thatis like at our core and our
values, is to, not only youknow, provide visitors and
experience in the communitiesthat we operate, but also be
part of the communities that weoperate. So yeah, that local,
(05:49):
that local touch, is reallyquite special to salmonberry and
I became an owner in 2019 Yeah,it was super exciting. Uh,
little sweat equity there, yeah,and Candace was going to have
twins, so she's like, you know,you should, you should become my
partner. And it was, it wasquite a funny story, um, and I
(06:11):
just, I, I love every minute ofit. So I focus on our, yeah,
thank you. I focus on ourproduct development side. And
so, um, I am super excited aboutthe cruise transfers. They
really have taken off inpopularity just because of a the
number of folks that are usingcruise as a as a medium to get
(06:33):
to or from Alaska as atransportation vessel, right? So
you get a little fun seven daytour all the way up to Alaska,
and then you get to meet us. Soour cruise ship transfers do
pick up and drop off from fromthe ports.
Jennie Flaming (06:50):
Yes. So, yes. So before we dive into those
options, a little more. Mandylisteners, I want to just make
sure that this is super clear.
If you are taking a cruise toAlaska, and it's a one way
cruise, meaning you're goingfrom Vancouver to Alaska or from
Alaska to Vancouver, then thatmeans you're going to be either
(07:16):
getting off or on the ship ineither Seward or Whittier, and
both Seward and Whittier are notin Anchorage, right? So you need
a plan for how you're gettingbetween the ship and the airport
or the ship and Anchorage tostart your land tour, right? So
you don't want to try to figureout a one way car rental, if
(07:40):
that's even possible, you can'tdo like Uber, Lyft taxis, like
you need a plan, and there are alot of options, but salmonberry
is what we're going to talkabout today. So I just wanted to
kind of set that context alittle bit so and
Unknown (08:00):
I can understand too.
I've looked at a coupledifferent like, you know, online
cruise documentation, and itdoes stay Anchorage, because
that's the airport you're flyingout of. And then in parentheses,
it will stay Whittier or Seward.
So if you question what ship orwhat port you're coming into,
it's usually in that parentheseson that departure vacation day.
(08:24):
The
Jennie Flaming (08:25):
other thing is some I have, I don't know if
you've seen this anywhere else,Mandy, the police, I've seen it
is with Whittier, whereas it'll,it'll say, like arriving in
Whittier at like midnight. Andso I just want to tell you that
you're not going to be gettingoff the ship in the middle of
the night, correct? It'll,it'll. It might be very early in
(08:45):
the morning, but it will be inthe morning and it will not be
at 1am or,
Unknown (08:49):
yeah, generally we get our guests, they'll be assigned,
like an 8am or 830 disembark.
And it's usually 8am because weask our guests to be ready by
830 for our guides. Yeah, um andWhittier is kind of unique. If
we want to start and dive inwith talking about Whittier. Um,
yeah,
Jennie Flaming (09:09):
let's, let's the tunnel with Whittier.
Unknown (09:12):
Yeah. So the tunnel is all thing you want to be sure
you want to preview that.
Jennie, yeah.
Jennie Flaming (09:16):
Well, sure, but actually, I was going to ask you
if you could just tell everybodywhich cruise lines use Whittier
and which use I mean, again, youshould always check your
documents, right? We're talkingbecause things can change. But
we're talking kind of generallylike, who's going to be in
Whittier? Maybe? Yeah,
Unknown (09:36):
you bet. So all Princess ships are going to be
sailing in Whittier. There'salso seven seas explorer, the
Riviera. We also have let mesee. I'm looking at my chart, my
cheat sheet right now theregion, the Norwegian Cruise
(09:58):
Line, Norwegian Jade, will be.
In there, and the New Amsterdam.
So there's select and nor damnso select Holland America
departures, Norwegian princess.
And I think that's it. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (10:14):
one other thing too about Norwegian folks
listening, if you are taking aNorwegian Cruise, and it's one
way, at the time you booked,they might have been using
Seward, so just be aware, wecould talk about that in a
minute, but this could be achange for you if you're on
Norwegian. Okay, so
Unknown (10:34):
you've sailed like on Norwegian before. Now that they
have a new cruise terminal inWhittier, they're gonna use
their own cruise terminal. Yes?
Um,
Jennie Flaming (10:45):
yeah, yeah, cool. Okay, so Mandy, tell us a
little bit about what theoptions are for. Do you want to
talk about it separately, preand post cruise or do you want
to just explain what it is? Andthen actually, folks will just
know they could do
Unknown (11:01):
it, Whittier. Whittier is very simple, because Whittier
is the same thing. So allguests, regardless if you're
going to Whittier or fromWhittier, are going to get a
tour and transfer to or fromAnchorage. So let's go ahead and
just in. You know, just becausewe should just pick a direction
(11:21):
for logistics purposes. Let'ssay we're going to pick you up
at the ship. So we are going topick you up at the ship at
between 830 and 845 and thenwe're going to exit the tunnel
at 9am out of Whittier. So ourgoal is to get all of the
passengers, and again, we'd usesmall group, so it's not too
hard, but our guide is going tocome into the cruise ship
(11:44):
terminal. We have pink or blackvests that say salmonberry
tours. And they, they have a,like, a name sign, so you just
look for your name. And even thethe hosts at the cruise ship
terminal, they know whosalmonberry is. Like, yeah. If
you say, Oh, I'm withsalmonberry, they'll be like,
oh, there's salmonberry overthere. So in Alaska, you know,
(12:04):
everyone, everyone's quitehospitable here, to be totally
honest. Um, but yeah. Anyway, soyou're going to disembark the
ship, you are going to come intothe cruise terminal with your
luggage, and then you're goingto go down this covered walkway.
And that's actually a reallyunique point for Whittier. You
everybody has to go through thiscovered walkway in order to get
(12:26):
to the vehicle. So that is, it'snot a long walk by any means,
but it's like you're walkingthrough the parking lot in a
safe area for guests. And thenthe guide will go ahead and help
load up the luggage, andeverybody exits. So as we leave
Whittier, Whittier is just thisbeautiful seaside town, so
you've got the mountains thatare just jutting right up from
(12:48):
the ocean. And we actually drivethrough the longest one way
tunnel in North America, so andit shares use with the railroad,
so the longest multi use one waytunnel in North America. So
we're going to go through theAnton Anderson Memorial tunnel
and out the other side. So we'regoing to drive through the
(13:10):
mountain end up on the otherside, which is called bear
valley, and then you're going togo right out into the Portage
Glacier area. So you've got thisgorgeous Chugach National Forest
around you. You we're going togo through some bridges, go
through the woods, and then allof a sudden we are at the Alaska
Wildlife Conservation Center. Sothe first big highlight of the
(13:33):
cruise transfer is this guided90 minute tour through the
Alaska Wildlife ConservationCenter. It's a 200 acre rescue
and rehabilitation centerthat's, you know, home in the
portage valley, but it also ishome to Moose, bison, Musk oxine
Sitka, black tailed deer, bears.
They work with Alaska fishinggame. They're a non profit. They
(13:58):
work with Alaska fishing game tobring in injured and orphaned
animals that are foundthroughout Alaska, and they
bring them in to rehabilitatethem, sometimes being able to
release them, but a lot of timesthey they go ahead and find
their forever home here at thecenter, and we have a long
standing relationship With theAlaska Wildlife Conservation
(14:18):
Center. The tour is again, 90minutes. The guide is with you
the entire time. So we do like adriving guiding. And then once
we get to a large exhibit area,we go ahead and get out. And
this is a 200 acre facility, soit's a really quite large, yeah,
it really is. And I, you know,locals love it. Visitors love
(14:42):
it. It's one of the most visitedattractions in Alaska, yep. Um,
it will, it will really allowyou to see wildlife that maybe
you didn't see that up close.
And a lot of folks are like, Idon't want to go to a zoo. It's
definitely when you get there,you're like. This is not a zoo.
It is not a safari park like inAlaska or in Africa, excuse me.
(15:05):
It's not a safari park like inAfrica, but it is this unique
place where there's fencing sothe bears don't eat the moose or
you, but they're in large enoughhabitats that you get to see
them in this in this beautifulsetting. And,
Jennie Flaming (15:22):
for example, place for photos too. Yes,
Unknown (15:26):
you can do this boardwalk they've or this, this
walkway that they've created toget up and to look down into the
bear habitat. And, you know,watch their mannerisms and see
what they you know, see whatthey're doing the three bears
there are quite fun to watch,the three brown bears, and
they've got black bears. I mean,it's just quite a unique place.
(15:49):
And we do spend 90 minutesbecause we want guests to have a
chance to go into their giftshop. All the proceeds that are
earned at the center stay at thecenter. So it goes towards
animals, towards the animals,back to the animals, and your
admission and everything on yourday tour, and your lunch and
snacks and water that your guidehas, it's all included when
(16:11):
you're coming with salmon Berry.
So that's kind of a cool littleplus. We have glass water
bottles, so if you don't haveyour own reusable water bottle
with you. You know you canborrow one of ours for the day,
and then it's filled withdelicious Alaska water.
Delicious Alaska water. Butlet's see, what else can I say
(16:32):
about the Wildlife Center?
Jennie Flaming (16:37):
It is a wonderful place.
Unknown (16:40):
Yeah, um, in our next highlight is going to be
Girdwood. So about 2030, minutesdown the road is a little
mountain town of Girdwood, andwe're going to take the Mount
aliex aerial tramway up themountain to get beautiful aerial
views of glacier Valley, whichis the valley in the mountains
(17:00):
where, goodness, there's sevenhanging glaciers in the valley.
So on a clear day, you can seethe seven hanging glaciers. Even
on a foggy day, or say, themountains are all misty and
magical, you should still beable to see something up there.
It's pretty cool. It's a prettycool tram, right? It's only four
minutes. So if you're like, Ohno, like, I'm scared of heights
or something like that. It's afour minute quick ride up the
(17:23):
mountain, and then at the top ofthe terminal, the top of the
tram, there's actually a littleround house museum you could go
through. There's great placesfor pictures. You could duck in
and grab some something to snackon. But we actually go to lunch
at the Girdwood Brewing Company.
So that's, yeah, it's superduper fun. There's two food
(17:46):
trucks. It's locally owned. Theyuse, they even use, like local
rhubarb in their in their craftbrews. If you don't partake or
you're not 21 there's nonalcoholic options as well, but,
um, so side note, but There'sgenerally two food trucks at the
girdle Brewing Company, and youcan order off the menu. Your
(18:09):
guide will be your they'll taketheir salmonberry guide hat on
and kind of put on a waiter hat.
So they'll, all of a sudden,they'll be your host for lunch.
Um,
Jennie Flaming (18:20):
oh, you look really familiar. Look at that.
Hi, hello.
Unknown (18:24):
So, while we're standing in line for the food
truck, you can take a beer tokenand go get yourself something to
drink. And they have fire pits,and it's just a really great
vibe at the gridwood BrewingCompany. We're super excited to
be partnering with them againthis year. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (18:41):
it's a great it's a great spot, yeah. And
Unknown (18:46):
once we head back into Anchorage, we're going to take
some photo stops, and generallywe we're going to stop on the
way back into town. We stop at aplace called Bird Creek. That's
a really great place for forpictures of the turning an arm,
so the turning an arm, or thebody of water that will be on
your left hand side as you'reheaded back into Anchorage, the
tourniquet arm has this extremetitle difference. So as we
(19:09):
travel, your guide is sharingnot only history of Alaska, um,
they're going to share with youpoints of interest, like the
bore tide, like maybe we seewildlife, or, you know, stories
of the area, yeah, but they'realso going to share with you,
you know, what's it? What is itlike in March here? You know?
Yeah, we live here year round.
So your guide will provide youthat glimpse into, you know,
(19:32):
real life Alaska. And then, aswe head into Anchorage, if you
choose that you want to bedropped off at the airport. We
can make that happen. We'regenerally to the airport by 230
in the afternoon. So if you havelike, a 435 o'clock flight out,
it's perfect time. If you wantto grab dinner downtown, and,
you know, take a taxi or Uberfor a late flight. That totally
(19:56):
works too. So it's a really.
Great last look at Alaska. Ifyou're coming from the ship and
you're flying out, or say, sayyou're starting a land tour, or
say you're starting say you needto be dropped off at a rental
car office, because you're goingto go on at your own after,
after today, or even thatevening, you we could totally do
(20:18):
that. We'll get you set. We'llget you dropped off at the
airport, where the rental carsare, and then you can hit the
road. And the nice thing ishaving that local, you know,
that nice local small group lookbefore you, you know, venture
on, if you decide to venture on,or maybe they'll inspire you to
come back and do an independenttrip.
Jennie Flaming (20:38):
Yeah, yeah. And I also want to just clarify,
because I don't think Imentioned this before. If you
are doing a cruise tour that youbooked through the cruise line
that includes the land tour likethen this wouldn't be the right
thing for you, because that willgo they will also pick you up
(20:59):
the ship or bring you to theship at the beginning. So this
is ideal if you've just got thatday and you're flying out that
night, or if you are, like Mandysaid, you know, picking up a
rental car or staying inAnchorage for a few days. This
is a great way to get back toAnchorage. Yeah, and
Unknown (21:19):
it's it sells out pretty quickly, because we do
operate in private and smallgroups, yep, um, you want to
book this when you're whenyou're booking your cruise. I
know that's just crazy, but Oh,lock it in, yeah, especially if
you want something private, um,and, and that way you know that
you have the seats. Yep,
Jennie Flaming (21:40):
absolutely. So Mandy, if you're going, if
you're going to Whittierinstead, is it the same tour,
just going the other way,
Unknown (21:50):
correct? Yep, and lunch times, around lunchtime, and
yeah, it's quite smooth. And ourguides are going to go ahead and
pick you up at the hotel ofwherever you're staying now, one
important note is, if you'restaying at like a vacation
rental or an Airbnb, you'regoing to want to meet us at our
office, or when you're makingyour reservation with us, you
(22:12):
can let us know what the addressis, and we'll let you know what
the closest hotel to that Airbnbor vacation rental is. Yeah,
perfect luggage. The other thingthe luggage, your luggage, stays
with you in the in the vehiclethat you're in. So that's kind
of another distinction. We don'tnecessarily you're not going to
have to, like, check a luggagewith a luggage truck that may or
(22:34):
may not get there. So yeah, it'svery Yeah, it's very simple.
When you you know you, we wepick you up and you head out.
And when we do the Anchorage toWhittier, or the Anchorage to
Seward, when we're leavingAnchorage, I always recommend
people the cruise ship generallyhas these luggage tags that
they're going to send you ordocumentation that they want you
(22:56):
to to staple to or or clip to oror wrap on to your luggage. Do
that before we pick you up. Soget your checked bag, whatever
check bag you're going to havethat's going to go in the back
of the vehicle, whatever carryon bag that you're going to
have, and what you're going tocarry with you onto the ship.
(23:16):
Now that you want to go aheadand keep on your person and have
inside the vehicle, not in theluggage compartment in the back
of the vehicle, that'll makeyour check in process super
smooth. Another cool thing aboutgoing with salmon Barry is that
you're not arriving with, youknow, 300 people, or, you know,
(23:37):
even 80 people. That's a lot ofpeople in line to get so when we
arrive, we're arriving in smallgroup, generally 10, sometimes
16. We have a lot, a little bitlarger vehicle that we had for
some cruise transfers, but eatfor privates, like, it's so
easy, yeah, and that personthat's in charge, and making
(23:57):
sure that all your check indocumentation is in your carry
on is super important. And then,depending on your ship, they're
going to give you a little noteon your arrival day of if you
can check on things like certainthings like, are you allowed to
have wine in your checked bag?
Are you allowed Are you supposedto dump out your water bottles
in your in your check or your,yeah, your carry on. So when my
(24:19):
recommendation is take a look atyour notes that the cruise line
gives you, and generally it's onthe app, most of them have gone
to an app and and then the daybefore, that way you're prepared
for that morning, and it's superjust know that the tour guides
know when the ships leave, andwe have, we know when the last
(24:41):
call is, yes, call and and yourdocumentation, you you heard it
before. Jennie, yourdocumentation is going to say
you are supposed to check in atone o'clock to three o'clock,
and then you're going to callme, and you're going to be like,
dandy, I can't take your tour. Ihave to camp. So because you
know this, the ship says I haveto be there at one o'clock. And
(25:03):
I say, No, you don't have to bethere at one o'clock. The ship
sails at 1900 you don't need tobe there until you know 1900
1700, 1750, whatever. And Iwould love
Jennie Flaming (25:18):
to be able to change that about leadership
documents, because people havethese times like you were
saying, and it's like that hasnothing to do with anything,
right? And what they're trying
Unknown (25:30):
to do is manage the number of people that are in
line, because they know when thecruise train comes in, there's
going to be gobs of people thatthey need to check in. And they
know when the ship tour, youknow when the bus tours come
through. They know when thoseguys are going to come in. And
so they are trying to alleviateanybody that's getting
themselves there. They're tryingto come get off course. But we
(25:54):
already know that. We alreadyhave that planned in our day. So
rest assured, if you're comingwith salmonberry, we will get
you to the ship and the correcttime, promise,
Jennie Flaming (26:05):
yes, yeah. And you know, another thing about
that, by the way, listeners, isthat we are specifically talking
about Whittier and Seward on atrip like this. So like this is
different in Vancouver, right?
If, like, you have a time to bethere. You know, there's still a
wide range of times you can showup, but like in Whittier, you
(26:28):
can't show up on your own. Like,there's no way to get there on
your own. So don't worry aboutwhat's on your documents. Your
Guide will get you there. So,yeah, yes, yeah, um, cool. Okay,
so, um, another thing is that Iknow we're talking about
luggage, and that soundsextremely boring, but the thing
(26:50):
is, luggage is only boring whenit's working well, so we want it
to stay boring for you. And,having, I just want to say, as
someone who doesn't work forsalmonberry, that a huge
advantage of a tour like this isthat you get to stop and do
things, but you don't have todeal with your bags. They they
(27:15):
like stay with you, but youdon't have to manage them
everywhere. So Correct? That isa huge deal. Yeah,
Unknown (27:23):
and you know that the guide that's with you in the
morning is going to be the guidethroughout the day. It's just,
it's really quite simple. Andthis tour and transfer again, it
it organically grew, and you cannow buy it out. So if it's if
it's if you'd like just you andyour family to go on the tour
(27:44):
and transfer and maybe go atyour pace. You know, we
definitely need to still be atthe ship when we need to be at
the ship. But say you're like,oh, we'd like, you know, 20 more
minutes at the top of themountain instead of 20 minutes
at the Wildlife Center. Like,you can kind of make it a little
bit more your day when you buyit out and and when
Jennie Flaming (28:03):
that is talking about private tours or privates,
that's kind of what we'rereferring to. Is when you're
like, hey, salmon Barry, howabout you take our family and
yes, yeah, cool. Yeah. Not,
Unknown (28:14):
not necessarily buying out the ship, but buying out the
vehicle to
Jennie Flaming (28:18):
get you to the ship. I'm sure you can do that.
I'm sure that's Oh
Unknown (28:22):
yeah. That'd be cool.
That'd be great. Call me, yeah,right.
Jennie Flaming (28:25):
I'll come Yeah, all right. Well, we're gonna
take a short break, and when wecome back, we'll talk more with
Mandy about options, gettingback and forth to Seward. Hi
everyone. I hope you're enjoyingthis episode so far. Just wanted
to let you know about some otherawesome things I have that can
help you plan your trip. Sofirst of all, if you are
(28:48):
traveling to Alaska in 2025don't miss out on getting one of
the beautiful stickers that Jayhas designed, and they're in my
shop, which is shop dot ordinaryadventures.com, you can also
find the link in the show notes.
And in addition to that, I'vealso got a bunch of pre made
itineraries for you. There. Gotmy on demand workshops that you
(29:12):
can use to help plan your trip,and my planners as well. So all
kinds of great resources for youthere. It's shop dot ordinary
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uncovered listener in my shop.
(29:35):
So head on over there. The linkis in the show notes. And once
again, that's shop dot ordinary,dash adventures.com, now back to
the show. All right, everyone,we are back with Mandy Garcia
from salmon berry tours, andtoday we are talking about a
(29:56):
super local fun way. Is to getback and forth to the cruise
ship terminals in Whittier andSeward. So before the break we
were talking about WhittierMandy, let's dive into Seward.
So should we do it the same way?
Talk first about getting off theship, or do you want to do the
(30:17):
other way around?
Unknown (30:19):
Yeah, let's talk first about getting off the ship. It's
probably our most common routeto just so that one coming off
the ship will sell out beforegoing on to the ship. Oh,
interesting. That's kind ofYeah, that's kind of interesting
note. But the ships that areserviced in Seward, you're gonna
see Royal Caribbean in Seward.
You're gonna see Viking inSeward. Queen Elizabeth comes to
(30:41):
Seward, which is super fun.
Yeah, the super moon, thesupernova, or silver Nova,
excuse me. And so Seward ishonestly, I think they're
starting to target more smallships, but I think that's pretty
cool in itself. Is that andthey're targeting small ships,
(31:01):
but they're building RoyalCaribbean announced that they're
building a brand new cruiselike, what do you call it?
Cruise birth? Like, it's, yeah,it's giant. It's a giant. Cruise
birth, yeah. So I think you'regonna see more offerings for for
Seward as a base. But before webegin, I want to also note that
(31:23):
Alaska itineraries a lot oftimes they also have Seward as a
as a destination, like it's justa super popular place to go,
yes, and so you can use whatwe're talking about today, not
just to get to and from theship, but also to get to and
from a hotel in Seward. Yep. Andso keep that in the back of your
(31:45):
mind. If you want to, like, kindof get creative, um, or say you
got, you got off a ship inWhittier, we can get you down to
Seward, um, so, uh, coming back.
So we pick up at the Sewardcruise terminal at 830 it's the
same situation where you'regoing to get your bigs, you're
going to come through theterminal in here, you'll, you'll
(32:05):
just empty right out into theloading zone. I mean, it's, it's
Alaska's small. We're, we're,we're a small destination. There
are not multiple terminals insewer. There's one terminal.
It's it's wonderful. The hostthere do a great job of
directing people, just like Isaid before, if you can't find
(32:27):
your guide, which is very rare,but if you feel like you want
just more assurance, there'shosts right on site in the
cruise terminal, yeah, that canpoint you in the right
direction. And there's literallyfour doors to go out, like you
just go out the doors and we'reright there. So it's super
great. Yes, in Seward, we liketo do a little spin around town,
(32:50):
and then head out to exitglacier for a photo stop, and
then we head over to theWildlife Center. So we don't
spend too much time and Sewardon this particular tour and
transfer out. Our goal is to getyou into anchorage by 430 that
is, that's our goal. Get to theairport by 430 for anybody
(33:12):
flying out at 637 o'clock orlater. So today's adventures or
highlights are also going toinclude the Alaska Wildlife
Conservation Center, the alieskatramway and the Girdwood Brewing
Company. So it's the samehighlights that we talked about
(33:33):
before. It's our signature turnagain, arm tour with a pickup
and Seward. That's essentiallywhat it is, and on this
particular trip, the Ipersonally, I think one of the
prettiest parts of the trip ison the drive between Seward and
the wildlife center going upinto the pass is absolutely
gorgeous. It's just quite aspecial a special time. And your
(33:57):
guide, if the salmon are in,they're going to stop, and
they'll be able to show you somesalmons running, which is, you
know, pretty cool for guests.
And that's very salmon or MotherNature specific. It's not, I
can't really put a date on it,but generally, we can stop, you
(34:19):
know, in our in the summermonths, somewhere in, oh gosh,
mid June through, throughSeptember, we can usually find
some kind of salmon for you tosee. Yeah, it's super cool. And
on, on this particular trip fromSeward to Anchorage, we will be
(34:39):
picking up at the ship, but, butbecause so many folks will use
it as a way to get to and fromthere, is there a Seward hotel
in Anchorage? Yeah, um, we couldhave some other hotel pickups,
and they're quite brief, becausewe do travel in small group.
Generally, we have maybe threepickups in Seward that would be
like the most pickups. Um,before we head out of town. And
(35:02):
everything
Jennie Flaming (35:03):
in Seward is very close, yes, yes,
Unknown (35:07):
everything in Seward's very close. And, um, we, let's
see some of the, some of theother highlights on the Seward
to Anchorage is you're able toget into town, you know, before
dinner and at check in. Sothat's kind of important,
because if you want to spendmore time in Seward, then take
(35:28):
the train at night, take thestandard Alaska railroad at
night that leaves, that leavesSeward at like 6pm then you can
have all day in Seward. But ifyou want to have an evening in
Anchorage, and anchorage hassome of the best restaurants,
which I'm sure Jennie is goingto ask me about. To ask me
about. Yes. Well, yes, I will.
Yes, you will. So I loveanchorage restaurants. And if
you do want to, like, kind ofreset, especially if you're
(35:52):
going to start your ownindependent Alaska trip, if you
want to go ahead and reset,maybe pick up a rental car,
maybe, maybe you're, you know,going on a guided trip farther
north or or throughout. Thisallows you to get in at a
reasonable time and kind of getyour bearings straight. And that
way, you can spend a couplehours in Anchorage before you
hit the ground.
Jennie Flaming (36:14):
Perfect. Love it. And then again, if it's a
free trip, it's the other way,right? If it's before the
cruise, just the effects of whatwe know
Unknown (36:23):
the only, the only thing that's different, and it
started this year, and it'sbecause of the timing of the
ships in Seward. Some of theships in Seward are actually
asking for an earlier port ofcall. So we have modified the
tour from Anchorage to Seward tonot include the alieska tram. So
(36:44):
if you're taking our Anchorageto Seward tour and transfer, you
should understand that, yes, itdoesn't include the alieska
tram. But I bet your ship isgoing to Juneau, where they have
the mount Roberts tramway, yeah.
So if you are going on theAnchorage to Seward, be sure to
sign up for the mount RobertsJennie and Seward, or in Juneau.
Excuse me, sorry,
Jennie Flaming (37:04):
I totally agree about that. Yes, Fauci I
Unknown (37:09):
also really love the anchorage of Seward because it
actually gets you into town alittle earlier. So you're going
to get into town about twoo'clock in the afternoon. That
actually gives you a chance towe're going to drop your bags.
And then if you decide that youwant to go into town, you
totally can. And you get alittle, you know, do a little
shopping, have a little icecream. So
Jennie Flaming (37:30):
which great Seward activities, once again,
with the luggage convenience,boring but awesome,
Unknown (37:38):
boring but important.
Keep all the pieces I can't sayenough. Keep everything that you
need to show the person at thecounter who you are in your day
trip bag. So you you should havea bag with you that's just for
you, know, your day bag with allthose important documents, and
double check that you have yourmedicine. Yes, your medication
(37:58):
before you leave Anchorage.
Jennie Flaming (38:03):
Yeah, don't ever, ever, ever, ever, ever
check your medications. Don'tever do
Unknown (38:09):
that. Don't do it.
Don't do it.
Jennie Flaming (38:12):
Not on an airplane, not on a train, not on
anything. Yep. Okay, cool, allright, so Mandy, before we move
to kind of the wrap upquestions, yep, um, for people,
if they want to book this,right, they would they book it
directly through salmonberry,not through the cruise line. Is
(38:33):
that right? Correct? So, how tobook this?
Unknown (38:36):
Okay, so, um, sometimes when you sign up for a cruise,
they're going to auto enroll youinto the transfer to get to the
ship. So you need to look forthat. Did you get auto enrolled
into a transfer? If so, you cantake that transfer off if you or
if they didn't include it. Youdefinitely need to get yourself,
(38:58):
you need to get yourself to theship. So how you would book it
is, we have a team of awesomeAlaskans that are here seven
days a week from 830 to 430Alaska time. And so you can give
us a call at 907-278-3572, orbetter. Yet, you can jump online
check the date of your cruiseand the date on the salmonberry
(39:21):
website. And if you go on ourwebsite and you type in
salmonberry tours.com you willactually look at the very top,
and it's of the of the Oh, gosh.
What is that called? Theheadline, the headers, yep, and
it says Alaska. So you you hoverover Alaska tours, and you can
see a drop down says Alaskacruise transfers. And there's
(39:42):
four because you can goAnchorage to Seward, Seward to
Anchorage, Anchorage toWhittier. Whittier to Anchorage.
So you pick which one you needto go to. And then you can
actually look on the calendarright there to see if we have
space available. If we don'thave space available, just shoot
us a. Message, there's a ContactUs in the upper right hand
corner. If we can't, you know,if we can't do it, maybe we can
(40:05):
help you find another way to getthere. So yes,
Jennie Flaming (40:09):
and I will put that in the show notes as well.
Listeners. I am now putting onmy former travel agent hat,
securing it on there, and I wantto tell you two other things
about booking related to whatMandy just said. Number one,
it's super important, no matterwhat that you check on if you're
(40:31):
doing a tour that begins or endsin quote Anchorage, which is
actually Whittier or Seward,make sure, like Mandy said you
want to look and see if you havea transfer there already, very
important. And if you do, andyou're like, Well, I didn't want
to want that. I want to dosalmonberry instead. Don't get
(40:52):
mad at your travel agent,because that means they wanted
to make sure that you had aride, right? That's so good
thing. Yes. So the important,the most important thing, is to
have a ride. The second most,most important thing is to
decide if you want to do a tourwith salmonberry instead of a
straight up transfer, which isawesome. And like Mandy said,
(41:15):
you can, you can totally removethat from your from your cruise
itinerary, and do this instead.
But don't like, get that jobhalf done where, because I have
had this happen in the past withclients where they like,
canceled it and then they neverbooked something else and then,
so don't do that. Like, makesure you like, sit down and see
it all the way through in onesitting.
Unknown (41:38):
I'm glad you talked about travel advisors too,
because if you are working witha Travel Advisor, we also work
with travel advisors so you canjust have them give us a call
and we'd be happy to help themthrough the booking process for
you.
Jennie Flaming (41:52):
Perfect.
Fantastic. All right. Mandy,here it comes. Anchored
restaurants lay lay a favoriteon us.
Unknown (42:03):
Okay, I will tell you that I have been loving sweet
caribou, and I can't remember ifthe last podcast I said it, but
Jennie Flaming (42:12):
I don't remember what you said last time, either.
Okay,
Unknown (42:16):
Jennie, I'm not a salad person, so this is really coming
from a good place is that, likethese people make phenomenal
lunch bowls, which I guess mostpeople would call a salad. And I
love them again, not being asalad person, I still absolutely
love them. They'll also deliverso if you are in Anchorage and
(42:38):
you're you want to do a funlike, picnic in the mountains or
something, they'll deliver yourlunch bowls right to your hotel.
And it's super I think it'sfree. If you order enough like,
you have to order like, threebowls, or two bowls, or
something like that, right,
Jennie Flaming (42:53):
like a bag of chips. And, right, you can't
Unknown (42:55):
order a bag of chips.
Yeah, and then another iconicAlaska lunch or and I'm going to
specifically say Anchorage isthe Fourth Avenue reindeer
sausage stands. Oh, yeah. And soyou should always hit up the
yellow the yellow umbrella. Soall of us, kind of we all have
to pick sides. And in ouroffice, we we pick the yellow
(43:16):
umbrella. So those are my thoseare my two in those are my two
suggestions for now,
Jennie Flaming (43:25):
perfect. Love it. Next time you come on the
pod Mandy, you can givedifferent answers. I
Unknown (43:32):
know I was, I better write that down. I was thinking
about dinner, though, like Man,we had a really yummy dinner at
the gumbo house the other day.
Oh, yeah, that's a great place.
Yeah, it's, it's historic,right? So they've been around
forever, then they get thisbigger location in, down in,
like, closer, closer todowntown, like, closer to Fourth
(43:53):
Avenue, really, they're on FifthAvenue now, yep, yep. And, um,
honestly, go give them somelove. It's especially if it's
maybe a little cooler out, youknow, yeah, doesn't want some,
you
Jennie Flaming (44:02):
know, yummy soup on a cold day, right? No
kidding. And I'm also going tosay, not only is the gumbo house
delicious, but it's prettyaffordable for Anchorage, right?
Yeah. I mean, you know, we'retalking about expensive
restaurants, but
Unknown (44:17):
yeah, average Anchorage is lunches. You should probably
plan on like 35 bucks if youwant, like, halibut tacos and
stuff like that. And fordinners, you're looking at like
$65 if you want to have apps andan appetite, or apps and a and
an entree, that's seafood. So,yep,
Jennie Flaming (44:36):
yeah, but yeah, so gumbo house is delicious and
affordable. Yay. Okay, so lastbut not least, Mandy, what piece
of advice do you have for firsttime Alaska travelers?
Unknown (44:50):
Oh, don't get overwhelmed. Do not let the
flood all of the options like,slow you down. Um. I think even
in my own personal travel,sometimes that is that's hard as
an Independent Traveler to belike, Am I making the right
decision? And honestly, like,you will know if you're making
(45:12):
the right decision when you pickup the phone and call them or
when you receive an email fromthem, are they happy that you're
calling them or supporting them.
And then my second piece ofadvice that I cannot shout from
the rooftops enough, is please,please, please, book direct. We
do not need to be giving theExpedia and the viators and
(45:34):
booking dot coms of the world.
We don't need, we don't need tobe giving them, them all of that
business, these the yourbusiness, put your dollars
directly in the hands of thesmall businesses. It is so
critical to these companies andalso to your experience. I don't
(45:58):
know if you've ever traveled andused an online an OTA, that's
what the industry calls it,online travel agent. An OTA,
they're not a travel agent. Theydon't help. So really, my my
advice to you is, if you wantsomebody to organize your
itinerary, if you want somebodyto tell you the best of the
best, don't go online. Yeah, andsearch that site, go and find a
(46:20):
local, ask your hotel forrecommendations, yep, and then
talk. You know, look at their,look at look at some sample
itineraries on our website orFacebook or Instagram to get to
get inspiration. But yeah, Iwould just encourage you,
please, please, please, bookdirect. I small businesses
(46:41):
around the world need people togo direct to them. Yeah,
Jennie Flaming (46:44):
yeah. Thank you for sharing that, Mandy. And you
know, I think that's reallytimely, especially as it's
harder and harder to find goodinformation on the internet. And
it's, yeah, it's still animportant tool for learning. But
I totally agree with you that,you know, yeah, it's a great
(47:06):
place to get ideas and things,but finding local experts who
can support planning your tripis huge and probably more
important than ever, right?
Because
Unknown (47:19):
I have partnerships with the lodging and and, you
know, the other local guides andthe restaurants, and when they
see the pink vest come throughwith you, yeah, as the guest,
they're going to be like, Oh,San berry here. Okay, I got it.
Let's go get it. Seated. It'sand, you know, that shows that
(47:39):
customer service shows, andthen, you know, nobody wants to
think that the trip's not goingto go as planned, but Mother
Nature sometimes, you know, hasalternate plans. Yes, booking
direct allows you completecontrol over your reservation.
Yep, so totally agree with orthrough a Travel Advisor, I'd
(48:00):
say a real Travel Advisor orbooking direct is going to give
you the most control, yeah, butlike those OTAs, they're bad
news,
Jennie Flaming (48:09):
dude. Yeah, it's all it's all algorithms, and,
yeah,
Unknown (48:13):
they're not real people. No,
Jennie Flaming (48:16):
yeah, oh, well, Mandy, it was so wonderful
having you today. Thank you fortalking about these great, super
local, fun ways to get back andforth to the ship from
Anchorage. So thank you so muchfor being here.
Unknown (48:31):
Thank you so much for having me. I can't wait for the
next one you
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