Juneau: Dock or Tender?

[kodykatt]

We are thinking about a Princess Alaska cruise in 2022. Juneau has 4 docks but I notice on the Cruise Ship Schedule Calendar there could be as many as 6 ships in at one time.  How is the determination made as to who gets to dock and who has to tender.  My traveling partner is in a wheelchair and cannot tender so we are hesitant to book a cruise where he cannot get off.  Appreciate any information.  Thanks

[Outerdog]

Dock 99% of the time.

 

I have cruised to Juneau about 10 times, and we tendered one time, on Norwegian Jewel. If I recall correctly, we tendered the first half of the day while we waiting for the Norwegian Pearl to get out of the way. Then the Jewel moved to the Pearl's former position at the pier.

 

Without looking, each cruise line probably has a pier (Norwegian, Princess, HAL, X) and its up to them how the determine which ships dock versus tender and in what order whenever a bunch of their ships are present at once.

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by Outerdog

[Kamloops50]

Princess normally docks at a pier. They actually paid the port authority in Juneau to build a special wharf.You might have six ships in port but not at the same time. Quite often a ship leaves at 1PM and another ship is waiting to take its place.

[HRPro]

We have sailed to Alaska twice with Princess on two different ships and both times we docked at the pier.  I don’t believe Juneau is normally a tender port for Princess.

[Papa Yoda]

 

Our August 2020 Golden Princess cruise Round Trip LA would have tendered at Ketchikan and Juneau

[Blazza]

Our 23 July 2022 visit on Ruby Princess is showing Juneau as a tender port. There are 6 ships of varying sizes currently scheduled in port on that day.

 

[donaldsc]

51 minutes ago, Blazza said:

Our 23 July 2022 visit on Ruby Princess is showing Juneau as a tender port. There are 6 ships of varying sizes currently scheduled in port on that day.

 

 

Can you imagine what it must be like in Juneau w 6 ships in port at the same time.  

 

DON

[sherryf]

10 cruises to Alaska on Princess.  Docked every time in all ports.

[caribill]

It often is first to arrive, first to get to dock.

 

Sometimes it can be the largest ships are given first dibs for docing and smaller ships have to anchor.

 

As you can tell from above posts, most of the time Princess ships dock, but sometimes they cannot.

[Blazza]

2 hours ago, donaldsc said:

 

Can you imagine what it must be like in Juneau w 6 ships in port at the same time.  

 

DON

We were a little concerned by that - however 3 of the ships only carry 1064 passengers between them so I guess it will be the same impact as having about 3 and 1/2 full sized vessels in port that day. 

 

I note that the Tuesday before our planned visit 6 full sized ships are scheduled to be in Juneau, including Norwegian Encore and Bliss, and Ovation of the Seas. They will account for 12,000 passengers. Add on Majestic Princess and the other two and there will be 20,000 or so visitors. That will be a busy day!

[deliver42]

I believe Princess and HAL are given preference, then the other lines get what's left. 

[sherryf]

5 hours ago, deliver42 said:

I believe Princess and HAL are given preference, then the other lines get what's left. 

 Now that I think about it more, I'm pretty sure it has always been a Celebrity ship that has been  anchored when we were there.  I remember reading about Princess ships out of San Francisco having to tender, since they aren't on a regular 7-day schedule.  Some sailings they arrive on days with fewer ships and can dock, but others they end up there on days when there are a lot of ships and they have to tender.

[Paula_MacFan]

Our cancelled July Alaska cruise was scheduled to tender in Juneau.  I would also add that whatever cruise you're looking at should have the tender ports clearly marked on the itinerary on the Princess website.

[Outerdog]

Norwegian Jewel tendering in Juneau. Note the missing life boats. We had done Tracy Arm / Sawyer Glacier in the morning, then arrived in Juneau to a full house. Back in 2013. As I recall, we did not achor, but the ship used dynamic positioning instead.

 

As others have said, tendering is extremely rare for Juneau. But it can happen.

 

 

 

[Cruise Raider]

We've done both on Princess sailings, docked some times and tendered the other times.  It should clearly state on your itinerary if you have to take a tender in to the port.  

The dock we've used more recently is not in the middle of town any longer.  It is about a mile and half walk.  

[caribill]

13 hours ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I would also add that whatever cruise you're looking at should have the tender ports clearly marked on the itinerary on the Princess website.

 

Sometimes what is predicted in advance turns out differently on port day.

 

I have been on cruises where a port listed as a tender port ended up being where the ship docked. I have also been on cruises where we tendered although it was not known before the cruise that it would be a tender port.

 

In almost all cases, what the cruise line itinerary says is what will happen, but sometimes it does not.

[Magellan321]

We have 6 AK on Princess.... 5 docked in Juneau and 1 took me by surprise and tendered. Another Princess ship was already at the new dock space. Not a big deal for us... but I can totally see the issue for anybody with a mobility issue.

[Coral]

Often the SFO sailings have a greater chance of possible being a tender.

 

Those ships that are on a 7 night schedule week after week often get docking locations.

 

The SFO itineraries are sometimes different (one port or glacier different, etc..) and are not on a weekly schedule, can possibly tender. Also, those ships that arrive later in the day probably have a later chance - everyone in awhile there is a 2-10 schedule for Juneau.

 

I have only tendered once and it was with RCCL.