Ward Cove Pier in 2022

[cruisingrandy]

20 hours ago, SightCRR said:

The CLLA in the past has been very accurate. 

 2022 Schedules | Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska (claalaska.com)

It shows WW (ward cove-west) not WE (ward cove east). 

KTN-Ketchikan-2022.pdf (secureservercdn.net)

Take Care, sightcrr

What is the difference between WW  & WE

[SightCRR]

One side of the pier towards east (WE) and other side of pier to west (WW). From the web site berth codes. KTN WE     WARD COVE EAST SIDE,

             KTN WW    WARD COVE WEST SIDE

Two ships can berth there as shown on June 17th. 

sightcrr. 

 

[wannavacay]

We are going to be there from 7:15am-1:15pm, and the hubs read something from NCL saying that everyone needs to be back on 2 hours before we leave each port for security...  In theory, that means a 6 hour stop, which is really 4 hours with security (if this is true), and a 20-30 min commute each direction = 3 hours.  None of the shore excursions from NCL that "guarantee" you'll be back onboard include a shuttle, or enough time to just check out downtown on your own.   Serious bummer.  Kind of hate it for the peeps that rely on tourism in downtown Ketchikan.  If anyone has any ideas (from experience) let me know.

Edited March 12, 2022 by wannavacay
clarification

[LMKakaThing2]

1 hour ago, wannavacay said:

We are going to be there from 7:15am-1:15pm, and the hubs read something from NCL saying that everyone needs to be back on 2 hours before we leave each port for security...  In theory, that means a 6 hour stop, which is really 4 hours with security (if this is true), and a 20-30 min commute each direction = 3 hours.  None of the shore excursions from NCL that "guarantee" you'll be back onboard include a shuttle, or enough time to just check out downtown on your own.   Serious bummer.  Kind of hate it for the peeps that rely on tourism in downtown Ketchikan.  If anyone has any ideas (from experience) let me know.

In my experience, they tell you 30 minutes before departure from a port to be back on board. They’ll make an announcement telling you what time to be back. NCL states an hour before departure but the announcement usually says 30 minutes. The 2 hour rule is for day of embarkation. 

 

Edited March 12, 2022 by LMKakaThing2

[karatemom2]

We were on the NCL Encore last year on only the second cruise where they docked in Ward Cove. The first week had been such a disaster that they really went all out to try to improve the perception on our visit. The developer that runs the project was actually there greeting people as they exited and they had staff everywhere helping. They had dropped the charges for shuttles and had many of them running regularly. A few taxis had made the trip out as well. So they were trying to sell it as best they could. It’s a lovely area with Ward Lake nearby for people interested in exploring nature. But it is really inconvenient for people who want to maximize their time in Ketchikan. The transit time and planning to make sure you allow for arrival and return take at least 90 minutes off your port day - really probably closer to 2 hours. We like to rent a car and the rental company really was not thrilled with driving out there to pick us up and drop us off. Plus we had to return the rental car earlier then we normally would in order to catch their last ride back to the ship before the rental office closed. It’s just not ideal no matter how hard NCL is trying to turn it into a destination. 

[donaldsc]

6 hours ago, wannavacay said:

We are going to be there from 7:15am-1:15pm, and the hubs read something from NCL saying that everyone needs to be back on 2 hours before we leave each port for security...  In theory, that means a 6 hour stop, which is really 4 hours with security (if this is true), and a 20-30 min commute each direction = 3 hours.  None of the shore excursions from NCL that "guarantee" you'll be back onboard include a shuttle, or enough time to just check out downtown on your own.   Serious bummer.  Kind of hate it for the peeps that rely on tourism in downtown Ketchikan.  If anyone has any ideas (from experience) let me know.

 

I see that you have 2 options.  If it isn't too late, cancel your NCL cruise, book w another line and tell NCL why you are cancelling.  If it is too late, cancel ALL your future NCL cruises and tell them why.  Voting with your money is always a good way of telling a cruise line that you are unhappy with them.

 

DON

[wannavacay]

7 hours ago, LMKakaThing2 said:

In my experience, they tell you 30 minutes before departure from a port to be back on board. They’ll make an announcement telling you what time to be back. NCL states an hour before departure but the announcement usually says 30 minutes. The 2 hour rule is for day of embarkation. 

Thank you so much for pointing this out -- this makes me feel a lot better!  

And to Don, thanks for the suggestion, we generally vote with our money and avoid NCL, but they have the market cornered in Hawaii and the options for our schedule matching a trip to Glacier Bay (which was our must-do) were pretty limited.  Honestly after this, can't really see choosing NCL again.  

[SomewhereGirl]

I'm surprised NCL still isn't advertising this on their schedules.  I noticed Ovation of the Seas is using Ward Cove later this Summer and their schedules show Ketchikan (Ward Cove).  Other cruise lines using WC as well, but smaller ships.  It'll be interesting to see the feedback this year compared to last and if there are improvements.

For my sailing last September, I went on the excursion to the Lumberjack Show, then stayed in town for at least a couple hours afterward and then took the shuttle back instead of the excursion bus.

I guess it's just a matter of what you want to do in Ketchikan and how long the port stop is.

[rkacruiser]

These most recent posts are further proof for me that these huge cruise ships are simply inappropriate for Alaskan cruises and will provide their guests with disappointing shore experiences.  

[wannavacay]

3 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

For my sailing last September, I went on the excursion to the Lumberjack Show, then stayed in town for at least a couple hours afterward and then took the shuttle back instead of the excursion bus.

Good to know!  This is kind of what we were hoping for, but weren't sure we'd be able to stay in town or if there was some kind of liability for a tour to not bring someone back to the ship afterward.  Thanks for the info!

[don't-use-real-name]

It would appear that Ketchikan has trouble handling MEGA ships at the port with 4

piers for medium sized ships. The MEGA ships probably reduces that to 3 piers -

Leaving a fourth ship to tender - not a good situation.

NCL and others that use the Ward Cove pier(s) are well out of the center of

the tourist traffic shopping restaurants entertainment -

AND disembarking boarding with port time lost for using a remote location

Next trip on NCL to Ketchikan will not be the same -

it will be sort of like using a land based tender (shuttle service) to/from the ship.

 

But the damage is done and NCL guests will have to live with it !

Brilliant move ! ! !

[Glaciers]

15 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

I noticed Ovation of the Seas is using Ward Cove later this Summer and their schedules show Ketchikan (Ward Cove).  Other cruise lines using WC as well, but smaller ships.

I didn’t realize it wasn’t just NCL but I suppose it makes sense that they will promote this area even though it’s a bit inconvenient.  RCL has a couple of ships that will use Ward Cove as overflow it appears since most of the trips are still docked in town.  Also Regent, Victory and Oceania, the smaller ships you mentioned. I wonder how many will be surprised when they don’t dock downtown.

[SomewhereGirl]

14 hours ago, wannavacay said:

Good to know!  This is kind of what we were hoping for, but weren't sure we'd be able to stay in town or if there was some kind of liability for a tour to not bring someone back to the ship afterward.  Thanks for the info!

 

There doesn't seem to be any liability.  In Juneau, on the return from an NCL excursion to Mendenhall Glacier, the bus stopped to let people off near the Red Dog Saloon.

In Ketchikan, just make sure to note the time last shuttle runs from downtown.  Getting back to Ward Cove on your own would probably be a hassle.

[piper28]

On 3/13/2022 at 9:42 AM, Glaciers said:

I wonder how many will be surprised when they don’t dock downtown.

I have to admit, it was a shock for me when I started researching what piers we're scheduled for on an upcoming Oceania cruise.  When I saw the listing for Ketchikan I was was kinda like what the heck is Ward Cove?  Then when I realized it was well outside of town I was pretty disgusted.  Calling it a stop in  Ketchikan is borderline misadvertising.  (And I realize there are often ports, like in europe, where it's listed as visiting a port, but then in general they put in parentheses the actual name of where you're docking since you're not in that city really.  That could easily be done here to clear things up.)

[alohayall]

I read all the responses and then checked out your pier. So this may be redundant. And I’ll throw in my two cents. 
 

Yes, you will be docked at Ward Cove (per the ports’ schedule).  Last year’s early cruises were a reported mess at a brand-new facility. By the time we docked in September, a lot of the kinks must have been corrected.

 

The ride to town on a greyhound-style bus took about 20 minutes, which went by quickly. It dropped us off right in the middle of the tourist area. And buses were waiting at the end of the day. Our ride was complimentary - but I wouldn’t be surprised if a fee is imposed at some point in the future (perhaps after ships are full again and tourism is back to normal).

 

Docking at Ward Cove had no negative impact on my vacation.

[NikiPinkston]

6 hours ago, alohayall said:

Docking at Ward Cove had no negative impact on my vacation.

We were there last August & I must agree completely.  We had a great time and docking at Ward Cove didn't have any effect at all on our visit. 😎

[quack2]

On 2/4/2022 at 7:38 PM, SightCRR said:

One side of the pier towards east (WE) and other side of pier to west (WW). From the web site berth codes. KTN WE     WARD COVE EAST SIDE,

             KTN WW    WARD COVE WEST SIDE

Two ships can berth there as shown on June 17th. 

sightcrr. 

 

Two mistakes at once.  Avoid Ward Cove.

[piper28]

On 3/18/2022 at 5:23 AM, alohayall said:

The ride to town on a greyhound-style bus took about 20 minutes, which went by quickly. It dropped us off right in the middle of the tourist area. And buses were waiting at the end of the day. Our ride was complimentary - but I wouldn’t be surprised if a fee is imposed at some point in the future (perhaps after ships are full again and tourism is back to normal).

 

Docking at Ward Cove had no negative impact on my vacation.

 

I could certainly argue that using up 40 minutes of your port time is a negative impact.  For some people this might not be an issue, for others more so.  And obviously, if they start charging, that would be an impact.  If you're booking a private excursion for right after you arrive and miss it because you aren't where you expected you'd be, that'd be an impact (although I'd hope the private excursion companies would recognize that the info you provided them shows that you're not actually in town).

 

You might scoff at my last part there.  But I would guess that a large number of people probably have no clue that they're actually docking outside of Ketchikan.  With my cruise, I honestly can't find anything that says anywhere that the Ketchikan stop is Ward Cove, so how on earth would one really know?  The only reason I know is that I spent the time to look up what dock we're going to be at in various stops because I like to know that info.  I'm guessing well over 50% of the people on a cruise (expecially an alaskan cruise) wouldn't even know that's something you can do.

 

To me, when you look at what they want to do with Ward Cove, they're looking to try to ultimately keep people captive in that area and not really visit Ketchikan.  Right now without the infrastructure, they really don't have much choice, but if they build up more of what they want, they'll be able to use that as an excuse to charge people for shuttling to the stop they were advertised as visiting.

 

As I've said though, I don't necessarily have a problem with this existing.  However, the lack of transparency on cruise companies that say they're going to Ketchikan when they're not is a real problem.  They just need to advertise what they're doing properly.

[SomewhereGirl]

I didn't find it to be a huge issue myself but I also knew about Ward Cove because someone posted about it here before cruises started last Summer.  Ward Cove was something different after having been to Ketchikan a few times.  That said, the big dude I was sitting next to on the excursion bus into town was rather ticked about the situation.

[SomewhereGirl]

I feel like I should add that while I took the shuttle back to Ward Cove after having taken an excursion into town, things may be different in 2022.  Had there been a charge for the shuttle, taking it one-way back to Ward Cove may have been an issue since it wasn't part of my original plan (taking the harbor cruise excursion back to the ship).  Luckily a nice couple "adopted" me when I was looking a little lost and we couldn't find the excursion boat.  🙂

[karatemom2]

I think the biggest problem is that NCL needs to be more up front in its port itinerary descriptions so people clearly understand what they are getting. Many of our ship mates were taken completely by surprise last year - we thankfully had some knowledge ahead of time, but only because we are pretty seasoned cruisers and pay attention the cruise news. It created a real scramble for us in trying to get our booked rental car though, and definitely cut into our port day - shortening it by a good 2 hours. If you are happy doing ship tours and not that concerned about maximizing your port time - it's not really that big of an issue. But if you enjoy getting the most out of your port day and are a more independent minded cruiser who makes their own plans, it is a pretty big inconvenience.

 

I know on our upcoming British Isles Trip this summer the port descriptions make it very clear that you are at a distant terminal for your port destination - for example it lists Le Havre for Paris/Normandy, Dun Laoghaire for Dublin, Cobh for Cork/Blarney Castle, South Queensferry for Edinburgh, etc. So I know right up font, there is some transit time involved in my planning and there will not be surprises.

 

NCL really needs to list its port schedules as Ward Cove for Ketchikan - because that is accurate. Then people could make an informed choice and also make plans knowing that you have to allow for a significant transit time - and yes a 40 to 60 minute roundtrip is significant.

 

 

[alohayall]

No offense taken; it just was not not a negative impact on my time.  I have been fortunate to visit Ketchikan several times, so just walk around town most days. This time, our first excursion actually left from Ward Cove, so that was an easy walk, followed by a bus trip in and out of town.  
 

For those trying to connect with independent tours, I am amazed that anybody is on time (that’s probably hyperbole), but it feels that I’ve seen lots of delayed arrivals.

 

And, yes, for those who don’t know to do research on cruise details, docking can provide a surprise, if you expect to pull up right in downtown and walk off the ship.  Cruises to Rome dock 1.5 hours away.  I usually end up at AJ? Pier in Juneau (so no easy walk back).
 

I do research my cruises as much as I can, so I am not usually surprised - IF I can get information from port authority websites or other sources. Sometimes it is not easy or clear.

 

I was glad to see Royal Caribbean list a port stop for May as Ketchikan (Ward Cove). 
 

I do think the average cruiser would book their excursions through the ship and then follow the leader to the transportation.  This doesn’t excuse the cruise lines from giving better information.

[SightCRR]

Very similar although not quite as bad as calling the stop in ANC when in reality it is Whittier (1 hr drive, 60 mi) or Seward (2.5 hr drive, 127 mi). Most people know but that doesn't make it right. sightcrr. 

[piper28]

On 3/22/2022 at 9:48 AM, SightCRR said:

Very similar although not quite as bad as calling the stop in ANC when in reality it is Whittier (1 hr drive, 60 mi) or Seward (2.5 hr drive, 127 mi). Most people know but that doesn't make it right. sightcrr. 

For these I've generally seen them listed as Anchorage and then in parens the location, but that might be just the ones I've looked at.  Princess has always been very forthcoming that you're docking in Whittier.  But I agree, if it's not listed, it's the same as this, and worse even since it's generally the beginning or ending of a cruise.

 

All they need to do is list it as Ketchikan (Ward Cove) (as apparently maybe RCL is doing), and that satisfies my argument.  Europe locations already generally do this, so they have the capability.  

[LMKakaThing2]

22 hours ago, piper28 said:

For these I've generally seen them listed as Anchorage and then in parens the location, but that might be just the ones I've looked at.  Princess has always been very forthcoming that you're docking in Whittier.  But I agree, if it's not listed, it's the same as this, and worse even since it's generally the beginning or ending of a cruise.

 

All they need to do is list it as Ketchikan (Ward Cove) (as apparently maybe RCL is doing), and that satisfies my argument.  Europe locations already generally do this, so they have the capability.  

Someone at NCL must be reading these posts! Was in my reservation today and noticed this lovely change!