Alaska Sourdough Tours — Attraction in Ketchikan

Over promise, under deliver

Sourdough tour company waits for their victims outside of the cruise port in Ketchikan. They offer a wildlife, city, and Saxman village tour in 2.5 hours and promise you’ll get to taste smoked salmon just like the tours offered by the cruises but at half the price. The salesman said ‘oh you’ll see wildlife alright; this is a great time to see bears and salmon!’ – we did not see any bears or salmon. In fact, once on the bus the tour guide Tod said ‘oh the salmon won’t be here for another couple weeks or so’. They first take you to their headquarters, which is a rundown looking building with taxidermy animals – bears, birds, etc. At this location there is a ‘demonstration’ by two older ladies on creating totem poles. No real depth to the content. You also get to taste some smoked Alaskan salmon and can buy snacks and drinks. The smoked salmon tasting was salmon/cream cheese spread on a cracker. How laughable. We don’t stay here long and load back up to Saxman village.

Saxman village wasn’t too bad, it was the only cool thing to see on this tour.

From Saxman we drove to a local spot 15 min down the road for the ‘wildlife’ portion of the tour near a salmon hatchery. From here, the tour guide tried to ‘bait’ bears/eagles to come closer with some dead fish. This seemed very unethical if not illegal. We spent all of 10 min and the tour operator Tod said ‘well I tried’… and we walked back to the bus.

Back on the bus, we were already running a bit late to get in line for our cruise.

The salesman sold this amazing tour and it ended up being a waste of money and 2.5 hours. Overall, the tour was rushed, felt like a scam, unethical, and underwhelming to say the least. Do yourself a favor and don’t ever book this company. We made the mistake, but you...

We were approached as we got off the bus from our cruise ship. We were told that onboard this excursion cost $300 and normally cost $150 if booked directly with them but today it was on sale for $75 per person. We were told it was a luxurious tour coach with air conditioning. They were actually having a heat advisory there that day. Of course a heat advisory in Alaska is different from the south where we were from. We got on the coach and it was hot from sitting in the sun and several passengers asked for the driver to start it up and turn on the air. He did start the engine but said nothing. We asked again to turn on the air and he finally said the vehicle didn't have air. We asked if we could put the windows down and he finally said the only windows that went down were the driver and passenger window up front and they were only a fourth of the way down. About 20 of us on the coach. He barely talked to us and took us to a local crafts lady that offered us a cracker with canned salmon spread ( the promised salmon sampling). At that point several people had complained . We got back into the coach and without telling us anything drove us back to where we originally got on and he got off. All of us finally starting getting off to question what was going on. He told everyone that had complained that they needed to go get refunds and that he wasn't taking them anywhere. The handful that hadn't said anything could get on another vehicle when it was available. The driver was rude and in a bad mood from the start. ...

We booked our tour through Pat. While his pitch was the typical sales jargon, “We usually sell this for $160, but I’ll do it for you for $50”, I don’t hold him responsible for what followed.

He provided a disclosure that wildlife sightings couldn’t be guaranteed but emphasized that they had been having success and the chances were good. He also assured us we’d “love our driver Bruce,” describing him as funny and knowledgeable. Sadly, neither turned out to be true.

The tour amounted to little more than a glorified 2.5 hour bus ride. The bus was at full capacity, with no air conditioning, and we were wedged tightly between two people taking up more than their fair share of space with shoulders touching and arms at our side.

At our first stop, Bruce abrasively warned us he would leave without anyone who wasn’t back on time and flatly stated he would not come looking for stragglers. As for wildlife? We saw virtually none on this so-called “wildlife tour.”

Next came the Saxin Tlingit Indian Village. Bruce attempted an illprepared history lesson so uninspired and poorly stated that most of the group walked away, while those who stayed struggled to stay awake, seemingly embarrassed by the speech. When asked where we were from, he replied: “Oh, you’re from Canada? MAYBE we can be friends after all”. I'm thinking a really poor attempt to earn tips rather than a genuine interest.

As I departed, I noticed that the tip jar was empty.....no surprise.

The lesson here: check the Google reviews...