John Hall's AlaskaReviews of kissalaska.com

I am not certain why we are being asked to write a review two and half years after our trip (August 2018), but since you've asked we'll comment. First off, things did not get off to a good start when after we booked our flight arrangements, the agent in Minneapolis then told us that they could not get us to the airport on time for our return home flight. We booked a flight after 2 p.m. what I believe we were initially told at the seminar and then after booking the agent told us it had to be after 4 p.m. It cost me $200 extra to rebook to a later flight. What was more upsetting is that we actually made it to the airport in time for a 2 p.m. flight and we had to sit around until our red eye flight at 11:30 p.m. Secondly, on the first day when we met our tour guide we were on the train having a conversation about mining in Alaska. I mentioned to our tour guide that after seeing a mining special on the Discovery channel that it appeared to me that the mining operations were destroying big chunks of land. I don't know where this came from but John went off like a rocket, claiming he had a PHD in Geology and that there was no harm being caused to the land and mining was good for the people. I only said that I saw what I saw on the Discovery channel and left it at that. Later, that same day, the tour group transferred to a catamaran. The boat left the dock without us and another couple traveling with us. We were finally able to hale the boat and it did return for us almost an hour later. It was obvious that John did not count the number of guest he was responsible for and he didn't have the boat return until after we had called the main office in Minneapolis and other guest on board told him there were two couples missing. Not once, was there an apology from John or the organization. Thirdly, the salmon feast was a rained out mess and should have been moved elsewhere. It was terrible seeing everyone's dinner ruined. Rain pouring onto their plates as the servers were putting salmon and other items on the plate. We did not eat and our traveling partners threw theirs in the garbage. The remainder of the land trip varied from miserable to enjoyable with endless hours of John rambling on while driving the bus. Some valuable information and other was just John describing how he built the pipeline by himself, about how he managed the Iditarod for years and his father the astronaut. I must admit we debated not tipping for his service, but we did leave the required amount. The boat cruise was just super and kind of made up for a bad land trip. It still bothers me and the others we were traveling with that there was no apology for leaving us behind. Also, it was a pretty expensive trip nearing 15k for two weeks for two. I am not certain the trip was a good value. I gave two stars mostly because of the land trip, the cruise side and the ports we saw were all very exciting and deserve five stars.

Tour guide was disorganized and wasted time , making up excuses. He continuously bragged about himself with tall tales. (Land part) John Halls was the worst tour we have ever been on. Tour guide on ship was not knowledgeable. When asked where we could find internet in towns when docked, he had no idea. At the end of tour, the guide was giving the group procedures without any written instructions. Many older travelers were upset because they couldn’t remember all the info. Thank goodness , I had paper and pen and wrote down the info and shared with others.

Not worth what the price was. Also were suppose to change seatson the bus for viewing. Apparently the people that crossed the driver's palm got those seats. We traveled with Holland America Cruise line the following year for 2 weeks and saw much more than with your tour. Also cost was much less and the people were not looking to be tipped for everything. Will not use your tours again and tell our friends not to travel with you'