Drive to Emerald Lake?

[sashas_mom]

Budget Queen I am so glad to see you are still posting for this wonderful port of call. You were sooo helpful to me when we did our first cruise to Alaska in 2006. We had a wonderful trip then and are looking forward to returning. My question is about renting a car and driving to Emerald Lake.

We are going the week of June 12 on a b2b. How long is the drive? Is it worrisome to get back to the ship in time? If it's a rainy day would you say we should not go because of delays caused by the weather? I found my old printout of Murray's map and thought we would follow it. Since we will be on a b2b I am seriously thinking of renting a car for each leg in case we have to cancel the first leg.

 

We saw whales from the ship every day on our last cruise to Alaska, but I attribute it to the fact that we were diligent in our watching for them and even assisted the Naturalist onboard in spotting them.

 

If anyone has done this drive I hope you will share your experience with me.

Thanks.

[born 2 cruise]

Last June my son rented a new Camry from Avis. We used Murray’s guide also. Stopped at gas station in Carcross for pit stop. Car did not use much gas (1/2 tank whole trip). The road is excellent and you cannot get lost. Stopped at cinnamon bunn for rolls. It is on the right side and sign said get your buns in here. They were so good we asked them to save some for stop on way back.

Emerald Lake is just fantastic. You will never forget it. We stopped at Carcross on way back. Had our pp stamped with a bear.

Filled with gas and did shopping for awhile before returning to ship on bus.

One super great day.

 

Vis

[sashas_mom]

Thanks, Vis. Where did you pick up the car? Is it walking distance or do you take a bus to the car rental agency?

[Yukon]

I recommend 5 hours as the total time for most people - that allows for lots of stops, lunch, etc. The weather during cruise season is never bad enough to delay it by more than a few minutes. Even when the weather is bad in Skagway it normally improves dramatically once you get past the summit. Avis is an easy walk from any of the docks.

[born 2 cruise]

We took a bus down and back. There are signs on the street where you can board. The cost is $1.50 a person each way. We arrived at Avis about 8:00. Had to wait a few minutes, one of the workers was sick and had to get a replacement. I would make res early. The critic people said the other rental was unreliable, that is why we chose Avis.

Enjoy

 

Vis

[Budget Queen]

Without mobility limitations, it's an easy level walk to Avis. Located on 3rd between Spring and Broadway. :) http://skagway.com/citymap.html

 

The Klondike Highway is a well maintained, easy drivable road. Enjoy the trip. :)

[tetleytea]

Just a quick logistical note:

 

You may want to draft one person in your party--probably the wonderful, loving...poor husband like me--to just go to Avis and get the car, and then drive back to the dock to pick up everybody else. That can save everybody else a lot of hassle. If you go to Avis: besides the walk, you have to find Avis, wait in line, go through all the rigamarole with signing stuff, showing your driver's license, credit card, checking the car for dings, etc.. You can let the rest of your family sit pretty on the ship for awhile, finish breakfast, etc. for probably an extra 30-45 minutes--especially if somebody's got a mobility concern. You can't pull the car literally up next to the ship, but you can get close enough to cut down the walk substantially. Finding each other on the dock is not a problem--especially if you have cell phones, which do work in Skagway (albeit roaming).

[sashas_mom]

Thank you soooo much!!! This was so helpful (as always). Murray, did I forget to thank you for all your help on my last trip? If so, a big thank you.

 

Mobility is an issue for me, so the tip to have my DH get the car and come back and get me is priceless. And knowing our cell phones will work there is helpful as well.

 

I'm sure I'll think of more questions, but I'm trying to do my research first.

 

Thanks again.

[poolwife]

We rented a car from Avis on our northbound cruise (8/28/09 - 9/04/09) and really enjoyed having the leisurely drive. We stopped at Caribou Crossing on the way back from Emerald Lake and saw all of the husky puppies.

 

It was foggy and kind of yucky in Skagway when we took off but the weather got better as the day wore on and it was beautiful on the way back. We stopped whenever we wanted for photo ops. The only option I thought might be nice for another time is taking one of those personal tours (Chilkoot or Dyea Dave) where they gave you all of the nice narration. I had Murray's guide also which worked well. We seemed to stop alot of the same places as those tour vans and could keep ahead of the big tour buses which helped.

 

We enjoyed doing what we wanted when we wanted.

 

I highly recommend the drive and we had lots of time to shop in town afterward. Our ship didn't depart until 8:30.

 

It was a great day. I think you will have a great time also.

[ranger-cruiser]

We will be in Skagway o 5/11/10. Already have my reservation with Avis. Has anyone done the drive that early in the season? Yukon sent me a link of emerald lake still frozen over in May. First time to Alaska, and I have never driven in snow. would anyone suggest not driving to emerald lake in May?

[tetleytea]

I was there a week later (5/18) and I loved it! I didn't see any bears, and I don't think you will, either. But I saw plenty of mountain sheep and porcupines. Lake Bennett was totally frozen over:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennett_Lake

 

That is a site to see. What's awesome is, check out the picture in that Wiki. If you follow Murray's Guide, there is a boat camp that's STILL THERE!! You can walk up to that boat thing, but also you will be on the shore of that frozen lake. From there you can play around. We walked around on the ice. Not very far, though--if an accident happened and we fell through the ice I think we would have found ourselves in about 4 inches of water. We're risk-takers, what can I tell ya. We also tried throwing rocks "into" the lake. We threw the biggest rocks we could find as hard as we could, but try as we might, the rocks just never made it though the ice. They just sat there, on top.

 

All that to say, the frozen lakes don't spoil the party by any means. Emerald Lake was not frozen for us at all when we went, but IMHO Emerald Lake is a bit overrated, anyway. It's your turnaround point; that's what makes it so notable.

[Budget Queen]

We will be in Skagway o 5/11/10. Already have my reservation with Avis. Has anyone done the drive that early in the season? Yukon sent me a link of emerald lake still frozen over in May. First time to Alaska, and I have never driven in snow. would anyone suggest not driving to emerald lake in May?

 

Yep, I've been there in this timeframe. You WILL have steep snowbanks, I drove through white outs at the summit for several miles. No problems for me, with plenty of winter driving experience. Not a given of foul weather, so you may want to wait and see what the conditions are. You can cancel the car reservation right up to pick up. Many times they are sold out anyway, with people trying to get unreserved cars.

 

Emerald Lake will be (mostly) frozen.

[fleckle]

.....You may want to draft one person in your party--probably the wonderful, loving...poor husband like me--to just go to Avis and get the car, and then drive back to the dock to pick up everybody else.

....... also at the end of the day to take any tired or mobility-challenged passengers back to the ship before you return the rental car. It is especially helpful to do it that way if the members of your party do any shopping and have packages to bring back to the ship.

[MercedMike]

All of the above posts are right on. This is a very nice trip.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about the weather. The scenery has its on special beauty in different weathers. There is little traffic so just drive carefully and you should be fine in any weather.

 

I posted some pictures of this trip at

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/skagway.html

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[suzski]

I was planning to book with Dyea Dave, but after reading the long review thread, am thinking maybe the 3 of us are better off doing our own rental. I do have few questions though:

 

1) I believe I read somewhere that Murray's Guide will guide us a lot of information about the drive? I love playing "Julie, your cruise director" so I've got no problem with this if I can narrate along the way.

 

2) About how much did you pay for a sedan rental from Avis?

 

Thanks in advance!

Suzan

[lmt1022]

Yes, Murray's Guide has everything you'll need by way of information on the drive. (At least that's what I've read.) I plan on buying the guide when the 2010 version comes out (again, I've read that should be before the summer).

I have my full size car rented through Avis - the cost was $115.

[fleckle]

1) I believe I read somewhere that Murray's Guide will guide us a lot of information about the drive? I love playing "Julie, your cruise director" so I've got no problem with this if I can narrate along the way.

"Julie" will be a wonderful trip director, sitting in the passenger seat describing everything to see along the way mile-by-mile directly from Murray's guide.

Available from

http://explorenorth.com/murraysguide/index.html

Hope your passengers give you generous tips.

 

2) About how much did you pay for a sedan rental from Avis?

About $80 or $90 the last time we did it, using a discount code. They took AAA, AARP, and various Avis AWD codes. You can try whatever discounts you qualify for and see which gives you the best deal. Without a discount, it should run anywhere between $100 - $150 plus the cost of about half a tank of gas.

 

Suggest booking a car early. That way you can cancel and re-book if you qualify for a lower price later, while having a price locked in if rates later go up for your date.

[suzski]

Thanks for the advice and tips! I'm going to go ahead and book the rental car now and keep an eye on the website for availability of the 2010 Guide.

[dhmom99]

Does Avis have coupon code for Skagway? Thanks