Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center Express

We are sorry to hear that your travel agent canceled your booking and that you were unable to take the tour you had planned. However, it appears this review has been posted on the wrong company page. The cancellation, refund, and billing issues you describe were handled by Alaska's Shore Tours and/or Tripadvisor, not by our company. Unfortunately, we were not involved in your reservation, payment, or the cancellation process and therefore cannot assist with those matters. We understand how frustrating it is to have a confirmed tour canceled at the last minute, and we hope you are able to resolve the refund issue directly with the company that processed your booking. We kindly ask that you direct your review to the appropriate business so that it reaches the organization responsible for your reservation. We wish you the best and hope you have a better experience on your future travels.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. I appreciate the opportunity to clarify what occurred that afternoon. First, you were originally booked on the 12:00 PM tour; however, because you were the only guest scheduled for the $99.00 non-stop transfer, we contacted you in advance and offered to move you to the upgraded 11:00 AM wildlife tour at no additional cost. This upgraded tour is a 4.5-hour experience with numerous scenic stops, valued at $149, rather than the original non-stop transfer with no stops that you had booked. At the time, you readily agreed to this change and appeared pleased with the opportunity to take the more comprehensive tour. For that reason, it is difficult to understand why your review now suggests that the adjustment from 12:00 PM to 11:00 AM was an inconvenience when the change was discussed with you and accepted in advance. I also want to emphasize that everything regarding the situation with your missing item was handled according to our standard procedures and as explained during our conversations. Because of your persistence, our team went well beyond our normal procedures and spent considerable time attempting to locate the item. I am very sorry that your pouch appears to have been misplaced. We always recommend that guests keep personal items of value with them, especially when the vehicle is full of other passengers, as yours was that day. During our conversation, you stated that the item was a small pouch, approximately the size of a magnetic key card, which you had left on your seat. Given that it was a small item of personal value, it is difficult to understand why it would have been left unattended on the seat, as you indicated, for the entire tour—including while you were away from the vehicle for approximately 45 minutes at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. In your review, however, you now refer to the item as a purse, which creates some confusion as to whether the item was a small pouch with a string attachment or a larger purse. Regardless, before guests exit the van we remind everyone to check around their seating area for gloves, hats, purses, cell phones, and other personal belongings. In addition, our drivers conduct a walk-through of the vehicle after guests exit to check for any items that may have been left behind. When you first called to report that you believed your pouch—containing what I understood to be your hotel room key card—had been left in the vehicle, I immediately checked the tour timing and confirmed that the driver had already dropped off the vehicle and finished for the day. I explained that if the item was located, it would be placed in our lost-and-found. You expressed that this was not satisfactory, but I reiterated that the driver had already returned home safely and that I would not allow them to return to the road under the hazardous weather conditions at that time. I answered your call because I was running late for a scheduled pickup at the Alyeska Resort and initially believed it might be a customer calling to ask about my arrival. My intention was to inform them that there had been a fifteen-car pileup on the roadway and that I was slowly navigating around the accident but was still on my way. Under normal circumstances, I would not answer a phone call while driving in those conditions. However, because I believed it might be a guest waiting for transportation, I made the decision to respond. At the time of your call, I also informed you that I was driving in extremely severe winter conditions that were well above normal. In order to answer your call safely, I had to pull over into a turnout that had over a foot of snow, and I was concerned that my vehicle could become stuck. I stopped only so that I could safely respond to you while navigating those hazardous conditions. My tone may have sounded louder than normal because you were on speakerphone while I was navigating the snowstorm with vehicles around me. Most drivers on the road do not have studded tires; in fact, rental vehicles typically come equipped only with year-round tires. While year-round tires provide some traction, they are often less effective than studded tires in severe winter conditions. Our company goes the extra mile to equip our vehicles safely, but we cannot control other drivers on the road who choose not to invest in proper winter tires. Additionally, many vehicles were driving without their lights on, making them difficult to see in the blowing snow and creating even more hazardous driving conditions. My priority at that moment was ensuring the safety of myself, my passengers, and everyone else on the road. I explain this so you understand how serious the weather and road conditions were at the time. Safety for our drivers, our guests, and everyone on the road is always our highest priority. Continuing phone conversations while navigating hazardous winter conditions creates a significant distraction and increases the risk of an accident. A short time later, you called again while I was still driving in the storm, which had progressed into near whiteout conditions, to confirm whether I had reached the driver. I again explained that the driver was off for the day; however, I did contact her and asked that she check the vehicle and turn in any item found to the office. My responses may have seemed brief because my focus needed to remain on safely operating the vehicle in extremely hazardous conditions. Repeated calls during those conditions created a distraction that could have placed my life, as well as the lives of our guests and other drivers on the road, at risk. You witnessed the severity of the storm firsthand during your return from the wildlife tour, including the multiple accidents along the roadway while your driver was traveling 15–20 miles below the speed limit in order to prioritize safety for you and the other guests. I hope you can understand the seriousness of those driving conditions. You may also recall that after arriving back at our office, your driver asked the group how her driving was. The guests applauded and thanked her for getting everyone back safely. That moment reflected just how difficult the driving conditions were and how focused our drivers must remain during severe winter storms to ensure the safety of every passenger on board. Despite the conditions, I immediately contacted the driver and asked her to check the vehicle as soon as possible. She later checked the vehicle with the assistance of a family member and reported that nothing had been located. Later that evening, after returning to Anchorage, I personally checked the vehicle again to ensure nothing had been missed. In total, the vehicle was searched multiple times. In addition, several members of our team spent time outside of their normal working hours attempting to assist with locating the item. From approximately 3:00 PM until 7:30 PM, our team continued working to try to locate your pouch, coordinating with the driver and conducting additional searches of the vehicle. After these efforts, I contacted you to report the steps we had taken; however, it appeared that our efforts were still not satisfactory to you. You indicated that retrieving the item the following day was not acceptable, but I reassured you that we would continue to assist once it was safe to do so. You later demanded the opportunity to search the vehicle yourself before anyone boarded the van the next morning. Although this is outside normal practice for most tour operators, we agreed to accommodate your request and arranged for the driver to meet you so that you could inspect the vehicle. Because we could not locate your pouch, I also suggested contacting the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in case the pouch had been set down during that stop, such as in the gift shop area. This suggestion was made simply to ensure that every possible location had been considered. You responded that you had not removed the item from the vehicle. My intention in raising the possibility was only to help consider every possible scenario after multiple searches of the van had not located the pouch. The vehicle was again made available the following day so that every opportunity could be provided to locate the pouch. The driver and our staff thoroughly checked the vehicle again, and you were offered the opportunity to search it personally. We understand how concerning it can be when a personal item goes missing. However, every reasonable effort was made to locate your pouch, even though the outcome was not what anyone hoped for. While we always make every reasonable effort to assist guests in locating items that may have been left behind, personal belongings ultimately remain the responsibility of the guest. If the pouch is located at any time in the future, we will certainly contact you immediately. Thank you again for reaching out. We appreciate your understanding that safety must remain our highest priority during hazardous driving conditions, and we wish you the best for the remainder of your travels.