We recently went on a family vacation with this company, and it exceeded our expectations. Rod was our tour guide, and he was a native Alaskan who had the smooth voice of Vin Scully. He used to teach history and science, and he was a treasure trove of knowledge. We went around all our activities and accommodations in a comfortable executive coach which provided endless drinks and thoughtful touches like snacks, bug spray, hand sanitizer, toilet covers! The hotels were suitable and the B&B near Palmer had the best views - as did the Lakeview Inn. The one thing I would recommend is advising us to eat locally and telling us exactly what time to make dinner reservations in advance (where / what time). It was impossible to get a cab in Seward.... We loved all the activities we picked - ATV, glaciers 4 ways (airplane, hiking on it, boating to it, ocean cruise), cultural tours, kayaking, fishing, gold panning, Denali hiking, train etc - it was endless animal sightings, whale watching and learning galore! I would highly recommend for any curious travelers who don't like just taking pictures of pretty places. We are looking forward to our last day of salmon fishing! Please book with these kind folks. read more

Mom and I took the small group, adult only, 10-day Grand Discovery Alaska. We started in Anchorage, traveled around and up to Denali then back to Anchorage where we jumped on the Dome Train to Seward. It was a whirlwind trip filled with A LOT of information, sight seeing, adventures, activities, tours and sitting in the van. Our driver/guide, Cullen was Great! One of the first things he told us right after he gave us his cell number was ... "You are going to do more in 10 days than most locals do in 20 years." He was not joking. We really crammed a lot into a short amount of time. Every day was a long day with most days not eating dinner until 8 or 9pm. There were 6 travelers plus Cullen. Our group was small and we were able to change and alter some plans easily (if we wanted and could.) In some cases, we weren't able to change things just because of timing. Thankfully, AAU / Cullen made reseravtions at all the eating places so we didn't really have to wait but a couple minutes when we stopped to eat. Every where seemed to be short staffed ( like everywhere else in the US ) and slammed with guests. So, having these reservations taken care of ahead of time was much appreciated so that we didn't really have to wait once we showed up. At one place, Cullen called our orders ahead and they were ready when we showed up! That really helped cut down on waiting / eating time so we could jump on the road quicker. Cullen even stopped at a roadside Jerky truck for us to pick up snacks! The one thing we (me and the group) were not aware of is that Cullen was not going with us for our time in Seward. When he dropped us off at the Embassy Suites on our last day with him, we felt a little lost and uncertain how things would go. This is mostly because Cullen literally took care of all arrangements and kept us 'on track' so we were in the right place at the right time. He also gave us great advice for a number of locations and activities. For the Denali Eielson Bus ride, he was adamant that we be the first ones in line and to sit in the front. He was not wrong! We got the best views of everything including the young grizzly 'chasing' the caribou down the road. (Actually.... the griz was running from the 3 busses and a caribou just happened onto the same trail/road as the griz so it looked like the griz was chasing the caribou when in fact both were running from the 3 busses.) If you get Cullen, ask him about his Moose encounter. This guy has 9 lives and I think he's used 8 of them already in his super adventurous life. If we could change or add one thing, it would be to have a little more time in Denali to relax and take in the area. It was Go-Go-Go all the time - jumping from one thing to the next and getting in really late in the evening that we didn't have time to enjoy a short hike in Denali (like the Savage River) or a campfire by the lake which would have been nice. Overall, we really enjoyed all the activities, sites and options that AAU included in their itinerary. I'm still downloading and sorting through pictures. Once I get them organized, I'll find a few to add to my review. read more

This was one of the best weeks of my 56 years! My 18 year old, the kids on the trip, the grandparents, everyone loved it. Zac was great as a driver and tour guide and Corky patiently put up with my many changes. Highly recommended!! read more

Alaska Adventure Unlimited - Not Denali! - Tours Near Me - Wasilla, Alaska

Not sure if i every got a better value from a hotel stay and i spend 25+ nights a year in various hotels. Check in was simple and the cabin was perfect with little touches that most places are too lazy or cheap to do. Kitchen came with a variety of breakfast items. Fresh quart of milk, 4 eggs, waffles, french toast sticks, boxed cereal, frozen breakfast sandwich, juice, muffins, and fresh ground coffee. The place was immaculate inside and the bed and linens were great to sleep in. The bath room had everything you needed...quality soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, lotion for men (brilliant), q tips, cotton swaps and soft robes. Plenty of hot water in the shower in the middle of winter. Owners take personal pride in the guest experience. You just dont see places going above and beyond unless you are paying $500 a night. I couldnt give this place a higher reccomendation. read more

The itinerary that AAU provided was very good, the choices varied and interesting. Highlights were an excellent whiter river rafting trip, ATV touring, Denali bus excursion, Alaskan Splendor train to Seward and Glacier exploration. Execution of our itinerary and communication with our driver and AAU was extremely poor. Although we were provided with a driver that saw to it that we arrived at our destinations safely, and on time, our driver was not a guide, nor did they seemingly care to be interested in leading our trip. AAU states, in writing, the number one reason to choose them is that we'd be accompanied by a "Resident Alaskan Guide with first hand knowledge, experience and stories to share with us on our journey." This statement could not have been further from we experienced. Day 1: We were picked up at our hotel in Anchorage (very lovely Embassy Suites). Our driver neglected to introduce them self to us, nor did they ask for our names. Our group of 13 persons were driven to our first activity, The Alaskan Heritage Center, in complete silence. After 20 minutes, I finally asked our driver to please give us some background of where we were going, what we'd see, etc. The extent of what we were told was that "we would like it a lot". We were then dropped off and told to meet back in the lobby in two hours. Within the first day of our trip, our driver declared that they disliked using the headset even though this was necessary so that we could all hear what little they had to say. From that point onward, they used it sparingly over the course of the entire week. They also noted that they probably wouldn't memorize our names for several days; had just returned from a lengthy vacation and, consequently, had forgotten most of the factual information that they had learned; plus, they were disappointed by having to work on their birthday. There was so little vital communication from our driver throughout the remainder of our trip that it had quickly become a bizarre and disappointing situation for my husband and myself. Mostly, the driver's conversation consisted of her asking, "Do you have any questions?" without any background about the places we were passing or any info about our destinations. Denali Lakeview Inn: we arrived late in the evening and was assigned a very nice room. After unpacking and hand washing our laundry we were asked to move rooms at 9:30 pm. We resisted and the hotel relented. At 10pm there was violent knocking at our door telling us we had to move because another party wanted the room the next night. We asked our driver to call the AAU office. She did not, as far as we know. We packed up all of our items and moved to a substandard room that by all appearances seemed to be one used for employees to reside - bathroom was in disrepair, stains on the carpet, light bulbs missing, etc. The next morning we asked our driver to have the AAU office contact my husband or myself. Never once did our driver say a word about the issue and we were never contacted by AAU personnel. Talkeeta: waiting to see if our flight seeing tour to Denali was going to take off, we were told that "the shops were cute" and the driver said they would "come find us". Now, there are probably 2 dozen shops in the town, so we were certainly perplexed by that, but we were accustomed to our driver's lack of communication by now. Talkeetna has a wonderful Ranger station with a film and fascinating info/history about Denali and the adventurers that climb the mountain. We were never told anything about this, so my husband was the only one in our group who discovered it by passing by. He spent time there while the rest of us wandered around the shops waiting to "be found" and told if we were going flight seeing (we did not due to weather.) BTW: our driver never provided us with her cell phone number. Mat-Su Glacier Park - once in a lifetime experience that our driver attempted to talk us out of experiencing. We were told that it was cold, windy and wet at the glacier and asked if we'd prefer to skip going to the glacier even though it was a major destination on that day's itinerary. We did not want to skip it and were so glad to have experienced all its marvel. When we arrived for our un-guided tour our driver told us they had forgotten their winter coat and thus wore a thin plastic disposable rain poncho over their clothes as we hiked on the glacier. Sad lesson learned, and one we've never experienced on the 18-20 guided tours we've taken with numerous, reputable travel companies: Ask specific qualifications and training of your AAU Guide/Driver. Either our driver received little or no training or they were simply disinterested in sharing any of the knowledge they might have possessed. My husband and I commiserated with our fellow AAU travelers that we learned more in two hours from our excellent rafting guides and in the few hours with the Denali bus driver than we did the entire week from our "Resident Alaskan Guide". read more

Recently returned from a trip to Alaska organized by this company and I have to say at first I was disappointed we were not taking an Alaska cruise (was a family trip 7 of us) but I was so wrong. The trip was amazing. We were able to see parts of Alaska and the heritage that you would see on a cruise. Everything was nicely organized. The rooms were always clean and ready for us. Everyday was filled with activities that were awesome. We had a driver that was assigned to us that was very knowledgeable and extremely friendly. He made the trip very pleasant. Dwight (our driver/guide/now friend) was a delight to get to know. If you go request him as your driver! Just an amazing guy that always has a smile on his face. Truly he made our trip even better. I ended up leaving feeling like I lost a friend. Everyone was so friendly and made sure we enjoyed our visit A++++ read more

My wife and I just got back fro a trip of a life time. My wife had purchased this as a surprise for my 60th birthday. She knew that going to Alaska and whale watching were both on my bucket list. She upgraded to the deluxe package and AAU did the rest. We went white water rafting, rode an air boat to a glacier, took a train to Seward then boarded a boat out to sea as we saw orca, humpbacks and more. We also were pulled by sled dogs that were in the Iditarod, flew a plane onto a glacier after getting incredible views of Denali and had a bus ride through Denali park where we saw grizzlies, caribou, dall sheep and more. AAU provides small group tours with expert guides that are nothing short of fantastic. read more

The good: The itinerary was excellent for an 8 day "Alaska Adventure". We saw lots of great scenery, had an extensive tour of Denali Park, saw lots of wildlife including moose, caribou, bears and eagles, went whitewater rafting on a crazy river. The rafting was so much fun. We went on ATV's in a wilderness area and did a boat ride out to a glacier. We rode the bubble train from Anchorage to Seward seeing some incredible views, and we went whale watching off of Seward. The bad: Let's start at the beginning. The Alaska Adventure Unlimited (AAU) website promises "Resident Alaska Guide" and that was reinforced on the phone when my wife called to ask questions before we purchased our trip. What we had on your June 14-22 "8 Day Best of Alaska" was a driver, not a guide. She happened to be a very good driver, but she was not the guide that we were promised. First, she "hated" using the headset with microphone and only put it on reluctantly. What she talked about the rare times that she used the microphone mostly was her family's history in Alaska. She did not tell us anything about Alaska's history, geology or culture. She did talk a bit about wildlife. We learned 100 times more about Alaskan geology, wildlife and culture from the bus driver we had for 7 hours in Denali Park whose title was "Driver". There were 13 on our AAU trip and I can tell you that everyone felt the same. We did not receive the value we were promised. By the way in a group conversation with Corky, one of the owners of AAU, about a refund for a flightseeing trip canceled due to weather, she referred to our driver as a "driver". She did not use the word guide. So she knew that we were not receiving the value for which we had paid. One of the things that frustrates and angers me the most is reading the reviews of AAU online that speak so glowingly about the wonderful guide that "made" their trip. There are a couple of other issues worth mentioning. At the Denali Lakeview Inn, where we stayed for two nights, we were rousted from our room at 10 PM because the desk clerk (I swear she was high) was so confused when our group checked in that she put us in a room that had been promised to someone for the following night. And because the desk clerk screwed up the room assignments so badly we were forced to move into the room that our "driver" had been given. It was substandard (deluxe accommodations had been promised). Our driver watched this whole transaction without intervening on our behalf in any way. On top of that she informed "the owner" of AAU about what had happened. Did we hear from "the owner"? Absolutely not. I am a constant business traveler. I have stayed in hotels for 100+ nights per year for several decades. I have never in my life been treated so disrespectfully and discourteously in a hotel. The other issue worth mentioning is a questionable transaction that had to do with our canceled "flightseeing" trip of Denali. We paid AAU $350 each for this trip. The trip was canceled so AAU received all of the money back. (We confirmed this with the charter company.) Rather than refund our money directly, AAU insisted that we file claims against our travel insurance. So AAU made $350 for each of us who were on the canceled flight and gave no value in return. When questioned about this they referred to the small print in our contract that states "no refunds" for any reason whatsoever. I feel that AAU's actions in this case are at best unethical. So bottom line, would I recommend Alaska Adventures Unlimited to those of you reading this looking to make arrangements for an Alaskan vacation? The answer is no, for all of the issues stated above I would not recommend AAU. I will temper that with the caveat that the tourism business in Alaska is a 3 month business. These companies need to make their money in June, July and August with a small carryover into September. There is a major issue finding competent help looking for short term employment. read more