What‘s Included

What To Expect

Reviews

• Not impressed either with Viator or Hoonah Travel Adventures

  Anu E,

  Sep 4, 2025

  - Viator

  1.00

  Our tour was cut short once we were already in the tour van because the other 5 participants told the guide that they needed to be back before our tour ended due to a conflict with another tour that they had booked. Our guide noted that he would have to shorten the tour because of the time conflict for the 5 other guests (but what about us who had expected the full tour?). As such we were rushed thru bear sighting stops and missed the return to our first stop where bears were most likely to be sighted. I contacted the tour company (Hoonah Travel Adventures) immediately upon return by messenger (as suggested on the Viator website) but received no response. The next day I contacted Viator who told me that it was no longer their issue because the tour was over and to contact the tour provider (which I had already attempted without any success). I kept pushing back with Viator via messenger and after too many back and forth got transferred to another person who said she would look into it. I next got a message from this person at Viator asking what I wanted... basically a refund of the percentage of the tour that had not been provided (11%,). Viator then contacted the supplier who agreed to the proportional refund. There are a number of issues here including Viator trying to absolve themselves of all responsibility for what they sold and leaving the onus on me to try and resolve the issue. I should note thst until today I had used Viator many times without any issues but this experience leaves a bad taste.

• Didn't see any Bears, I...

  Sue M,

  Aug 27, 2025

  - Viator

  5.00

  Didn't see any Bears, I guess to warm for them. We did see deer and lots of Salmon. A very nice tour Cora our guide was very informative. This is a good tour

• A good tour of the island, but no bears.

  Nancy C,

  Aug 7, 2025

  - Viator

  3.00

  It was a warm day, and the bears were not moving. We did get to see the island from the back roads. Our guide tried to find bears, but to no avail. We did have a rare ermine sighting, one deer, and lots of salmon and bald eagles. They drop you off in town, and then offer a shuttle back.

• The best Alaskan experience

  Natalie H,

  Aug 2, 2025

  - Viator

  5.00

  This was our favorite experience in Alaska. Our tour guide, Cora, was absolutely amazing! We saw 5 bears. One was quite a distance away, but other 4 were quite close. We saw two pairs of mama bears with their cubs. The first pair walked across the road, but they headed pretty quickly into the forest. The other pair we hung out with for about 45 minutes. The mama bear was about 10 feet away from the van. They started about 20 yards away and walked towards our van on the side of the road. The cub kept falling asleep. I'm so happy we did this excursion. However, it's called a "bear search" and aren't guaranteed to see any bear.

• The organization of the tour it is not good enough

  CLAUDIOFRANCO B,

  Jul 31, 2025

  - Viator

  3.00

  The guide was very, very good. She did her best in order to find some bears. However ,I think this tour was very badly organized. If you are in the last 2 rows of the van it is impossible to see what happens in front of the van, and of course only the people in the first rows managed to see a bear for a moment. Of course the bears sighting is not guaranteed. We are in 2025, the company should know in advance where the van should go in order to see bears, there are view cams, and other devices that could show to the guide where to go; or else 2-3 people with a van that stays or travels among the best spots and communicated the bears position. We paid about Usd 300,= for a ride with the van....while Viator get for 1 excursion at least $ 1500. Maybe some of this amount could be used to improve the tours. I put 3 stars only because the guide was very very good !