Anchorage to Whittier tour with transfer

[RnB]

Does anyone know of a tour co that will offer Anchorage to Whittier transfer with a full day tour? We are finding 1.5 hour bus rides or 3 hr ride with a couple stops. Tour companies we find offer a full day tour from Whittier to Anchorage, but not in the other direction. Some will offer to do a private tour at a high price, but right now it is just two of us and there is minimal activity on our roll call. We are on Coral Aug 13 and would like to see some sites and not just pass thru.

[Thrak]

Not sure I understand. Are you flying into Anchorage? The ship will sail from Whittier so that's the only thing that makes sense to me. I haven't done this so am wondering if it wouldn't be simpler to fly into Whittier. Please forgive me if that's a foolish question.

[RDC1]

Not sure I understand. Are you flying into Anchorage? The ship will sail from Whittier so that's the only thing that makes sense to me. I haven't done this so am wondering if it wouldn't be simpler to fly into Whittier. Please forgive me if that's a foolish question.

 

Anchorage is the airport for Whittier.

 

Whittier is a pretty small port town. Road access is through a one way at a time railway tunnel.

[idahospud]

Is there something in particular you want to see? There is so much in so many directions, but away from the Whittier port.

 

If you take one of the tours from Anchorage to Whittier the stops are on the way to port. Anything else is going to take a chunk of time. If you want to see more sites you'll probably want to rent a car if you're spending the day before in Anchorage. Whittier only has one rental car company so dropping off there is super expensive so probably not a good option to drive it from Anchorage to Whittier.

[Coral]

There are boat rides in Whittier that would work.

 

https://majormarine.com/tour-areas/prince-william-sound/

 

https://www.phillipscruises.com/cruises/rates.php

 

Maybe if you call them, they will give you a discount as you only need transportation one way. Not the whole day but you can sleep in and eat breakfast and then have a trip to Whittier for an amazing boat ride.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Are you staying overnight in Anchorage? Then the DIY solution is practically seamless: book the Alaska RR to Whittier (independently online), check your luggage with Princess at the Alaska RR station in Anchorage [direct to your cabin -- this is the beauty part!], get off the train in Whittier and take the short walk to the day-cruise dock for one of the options listed in post #5 (which you have booked online), when you return to Whittier take the short walk to the Princess ship. We did this and enjoyed the Major Marine "Blackstone Glacier Cruise" tremendously -- it was so different being on a small boat watching the glaciers calve than anything a cruise ship can offer!

[shukapaw]

Did a quick Google search and came up with this. They offer a half-day and full-day trip to Whittier.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Brian

[RnB]

Thanks all for your comments. We are doing Denali own our own, then taking a Thursday train to Anchorage with two nights in Anchorage before ship departs Whittier Saturday evening. I thought I had a plan for our two days, but hit a roadblock…

We’ve checked with all the tour/transfer companies on TripAdvisor, AK Cruise Shuttle is one of them (thanks for trying Brian). Many offer a full day transfer tour with stops at Beluga Point, Portage Glacier, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and a tram ride up Alyeska Mountain with lunch, but they do it Whittier to Anchorage only. They all state that not enough people overnight in Anchorage pre-cruise to make that full day trip profitable for them. Most state they will do it as a private tour, but I need to find two other couples willing to join us to make the per person price reasonable. Unfortunately for us, the CC roll call for Coral Aug 13 is still only on page one (18 posts, 6 cruising posters including myself) and the two other posters that have been active recently are both riding the Saturday train from Denali to Whittier. And the last kicker – we can do a similar tour round-trip Anchorage on Friday, then take a bus straight thru to the ship Saturday for $22pp less. But we are hoping to spend Friday on a half day city tour and then a couple hours in the Anchorage Museum. A Friday all day tour has us losing a half day in Anchorage so we would have to miss one of those other two items, plus the ship transfer would drive by all the places we saw the day before. So our options had been, in order of preference:

· Find a tour company doing full-day tour Anchorage to Whittier Sat Aug 13.

· Hope more persons join our roll call and that two other couples would join us on a private tour.

· Miss one of the three activities we are hoping to do on our day and a half in Anchorage.

Now, (thanks Coral & Jazz) I have other options for Saturday that look appealing. So many choices, so little time – 99 days to sailing. What to do ?!?!? I’m sure we will figure it out. Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions.

 

Rich S.

[Thrak]

Anchorage is the airport for Whittier.

 

Whittier is a pretty small port town. Road access is through a one way at a time railway tunnel.

 

Ahhh... Many thanks. I guess I'll find these things out for myself when we are there in June. We do a 6 day land tour and then board ship on June 29 for the cruise to Vancouver.

[idahospud]

Ahhh... Many thanks. I guess I'll find these things out for myself when we are there in June. We do a 6 day land tour and then board ship on June 29 for the cruise to Vancouver.

The one lane tunnel shares the road with the railroad tracks. Always a bit scary driving on the railroad tracks for the first time. I've attached a picture so you can see where you'll be. The picture was take from the Whittier side.

Edited May 6, 2016 by idahospud

[DrSarah]

I booked a "tour" through a limo company. Really, I booked the limo but it included a list of activities we could pick a few of during the drive from Anchorage to Whittier. I booked the limo as a surprise for my dad and it turned out to be one of the memories we still talk about. I don't remember the company's name but they still exist because I hired them for our cruise this summer!

Edited May 8, 2016 by DrSarah