SeattleAl Posted April 7, 2022 #1 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Hi folks! Looks like our August cruise on R/C Ovation of the Seas will be docking at the fairly new Ward Cove dock, about 8 miles out of town. Does anyone know if there is some sort of transportation from this dock into town? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qextor Posted April 7, 2022 #2 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Same boat. No idea myself. Gonna hunt around though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
don't-use-real-name Posted April 7, 2022 #3 Share Posted April 7, 2022 There is a city bus route through Ward Cove and shuttles from WC to the 4 piers in the tourist center of Ketchikan. Posted earlier: Posted February 3 Ketchikan Silver Line Bus Schedule: Silver Bus TheBus Kethickan Schedule - RideSchedules Bus from Ward Cover - to Totem Park - turn around point is Clover Pass (Church) Browse for more detailed information As for the Cruise line shuttles NCL and your R/C check with cruise line for more info ! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare karatemom2 Posted April 7, 2022 #4 Share Posted April 7, 2022 (edited) Yes, Ward Cove does have shuttles that, at least last year, were provided for free after the first disastrous attempt to charge people. They were plentiful and ran regularly. You do need to factor about 20-30 minutes each way into your planning for your port day. Edited April 7, 2022 by karatemom2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldsc Posted April 7, 2022 #5 Share Posted April 7, 2022 (edited) 3 hours ago, karatemom2 said: Yes, Ward Cove does have shuttles that, at least last year, were provided for free after the first disastrous attempt to charge people. They were plentiful and ran regularly. You do need to factor about 20-30 minutes each way into your planning for your port day. Since many of the Ketchikan stops are only half day stops, that is a significant piece of your port time. If I was going to do AK on R/C, that would impact my decision as to which cruise line to use. Add to that loss of time the fact that some cruisers feel that for some reason they have to go back to the ship for lunch and the move would make this impossible. DON Edited April 7, 2022 by donaldsc 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeattleAl Posted April 7, 2022 Author #6 Share Posted April 7, 2022 8 minutes ago, donaldsc said: Since many of the Ketchikan stops are only half day stops, that is a significant piece of your port time. If I was going to do AK on R/C, that would impact my decision as to which cruise line to use. Add to that loss of time the fact that some cruisers feel that for some reason they have to go back to the ship for lunch and the move would make this impossible. DON We're in from 7am to 4pm, so that helps. I get you have many huge ships that want to visit in the busy summer months, so you need more space. Sucks we got the short straw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseygirl629 Posted April 8, 2022 #7 Share Posted April 8, 2022 (edited) I just posted this in another thread but I never received an email about this! Major bummer as I literally just booked an excursion in Ketchikan this afternoon with an 8am start time. Guess I need to cancel it. This might explain why half of the excursions became unavailable to book on their website. Edited April 8, 2022 by jerseygirl629 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donaldsc Posted April 8, 2022 #8 Share Posted April 8, 2022 11 hours ago, SeattleAl said: We're in from 7am to 4pm, so that helps. I get you have many huge ships that want to visit in the busy summer months, so you need more space. Sucks we got the short straw. Ketchikan could solve that problem by limiting the number and/or size of the ships they allow in. They could also have the smaller ships anchor and tender in. However we all know that these options would never occur. DON Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RW20 Posted April 8, 2022 #9 Share Posted April 8, 2022 I am on the Ovation this summer and was diverted to Ward Cove. I did a little digging and found that there is a complementary shuttle to Ketchikan from the port (source https://wardcoveak.com/about-us) the drop off location was discussed at City Council and they debated a mix of drop off at beth 2 vs the Ketchikan Southeat Discovery Centre. Looks like it will be the latter which appears to we walking distance to many areas downtown and the lumberjack show. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack2 Posted April 8, 2022 #10 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Avoid Ward Cove cruises. They will eat into your valuable time in Ketchikan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glaciers Posted April 8, 2022 #11 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Ward Cove does seem to be the booby prize for Ketchikan cruise ships, particularly with the Seattle round trips with short port times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SightCRR Posted April 8, 2022 #12 Share Posted April 8, 2022 The Discovery Center is free if you have a National Park Pass and is nice for free. Maybe not so much if you have to pay. sightcrr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseygirl629 Posted April 8, 2022 #13 Share Posted April 8, 2022 15 hours ago, jerseygirl629 said: I just posted this in another thread but I never received an email about this! Major bummer as I literally just booked an excursion in Ketchikan this afternoon with an 8am start time. Guess I need to cancel it. This might explain why half of the excursions became unavailable to book on their website. Just wanted to post an update… I reached out to Alaska Shore Excursions to see if my excursion would still be possible (My family booked a private Hummer tour with guide) as there is at 8am departure and they said it shouldn’t be a problem because I have a “whole hour” to get there in time. I hope they are right. 😕 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare karatemom2 Posted April 8, 2022 #14 Share Posted April 8, 2022 9 minutes ago, jerseygirl629 said: Just wanted to post an update… I reached out to Alaska Shore Excursions to see if my excursion would still be possible (My family booked a private Hummer tour with guide) as there is at 8am departure and they said it shouldn’t be a problem because I have a “whole hour” to get there in time. I hope they are right. 😕 Just be up and ready to jump off the ship as soon as all clear is called and you should be fine. There were a lot of shuttles waiting for the passengers getting off first thing based on our experience last year. As long as your ship arrives on time it should work out for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dancing Shoes Posted April 9, 2022 #15 Share Posted April 9, 2022 On 4/8/2022 at 11:05 AM, Glaciers said: Ward Cove does seem to be the booby prize for Ketchikan cruise ships, particularly with the Seattle round trips with short port times. True. Most people wouldn't think to check where their ship docks at popular ports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare seagunthera Posted April 19, 2022 #16 Share Posted April 19, 2022 For anyone interested in looking up the port info in Ketchikan: https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1551 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack2 Posted April 19, 2022 #17 Share Posted April 19, 2022 Always good to know in advance where you will be docking and how many other ships will be in port that day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerseygirl629 Posted April 19, 2022 #18 Share Posted April 19, 2022 11 hours ago, quack2 said: Always good to know in advance where you will be docking and how many other ships will be in port that day. In this case, RCL was scheduled to dock in Ketchikan, it did not change until recently. If I had known it was going into Ward Cove, I would have picked another sail date and/or cruise line. Unfortunately, it is now too late to switch. 😞 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack2 Posted April 19, 2022 #19 Share Posted April 19, 2022 48 minutes ago, jerseygirl629 said: In this case, RCL was scheduled to dock in Ketchikan, it did not change until recently. If I had known it was going into Ward Cove, I would have picked another sail date and/or cruise line. Unfortunately, it is now too late to switch. 😞 It probably won't happen, but I think you deserve some form of compensation for this unfortunate change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare 3rdGenCunarder Posted April 19, 2022 #20 Share Posted April 19, 2022 1 hour ago, quack2 said: It probably won't happen, but I think you deserve some form of compensation for this unfortunate change. The "fine print" gives the line the right to make changes. It's disappointing, but they can do it. It might have been Ketchikan's call, not RCL's, so we don't know whom to blame. The out-of-town docks can be a hassle, especially if you have to get into the town to pick up an independent tour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glaciers Posted April 29, 2022 #21 Share Posted April 29, 2022 Interesting post from someone who lives in Ketchikan and reported issues with one of the first ships at Ward Cove this year. “Just a heads up Ketchikan travelers, that Norwegian Cruise Lines has developed an exclusive new dock some 7 miles from downtown Ketchikan with an old pulp mill building acting as a visitors center after a multi-million dollar remodel. The visitors center has some shopping, some entertaining diversions and a few local shops setting up kiosks. Travelers today were outraged to find out they had to take a shuttle to town, arriving only at Berth 4, a half mile walk from downtown and Creek St., and could only stay 90 minutes as NCL wants to stagger return times. One enterprising family called a cab and found it was $40 each way to town and back. Our one Uber driver had no comment. Not a great situation for the NCL passengers. That said, if you are doing excursions only, you might find it a better option because it's closer to many drop off points and flight seeing operations.” Posted by rainbirdreader on Trip Advisor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kattybiz Posted April 30, 2022 #22 Share Posted April 30, 2022 We were on the second NCL ship into Ward Cove and didn't have any of those problems. Shuttle dropped us off at berth 2. Easy walk to Creek Street, and could return at any time - should be in downtown for about 4 hours. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwatts15 Posted May 4, 2022 #23 Share Posted May 4, 2022 We are thinking a booking NCL and it goes to Ward Cove. We are traveling with a couple with mobility issues and use scooters. Does anyone know is the shuttle accommodates scooters so they can see the town? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMKakaThing2 Posted May 4, 2022 #24 Share Posted May 4, 2022 3 hours ago, cwatts15 said: We are thinking a booking NCL and it goes to Ward Cove. We are traveling with a couple with mobility issues and use scooters. Does anyone know is the shuttle accommodates scooters so they can see the town? Currently docked at Ward Cove. The shuttles are charter buses…think greyhound buses. They may be able to put them in the luggage compartment below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMKakaThing2 Posted May 4, 2022 #25 Share Posted May 4, 2022 On 4/29/2022 at 8:59 AM, Glaciers said: Interesting post from someone who lives in Ketchikan and reported issues with one of the first ships at Ward Cove this year. “Just a heads up Ketchikan travelers, that Norwegian Cruise Lines has developed an exclusive new dock some 7 miles from downtown Ketchikan with an old pulp mill building acting as a visitors center after a multi-million dollar remodel. The visitors center has some shopping, some entertaining diversions and a few local shops setting up kiosks. Travelers today were outraged to find out they had to take a shuttle to town, arriving only at Berth 4, a half mile walk from downtown and Creek St., and could only stay 90 minutes as NCL wants to stagger return times. One enterprising family called a cab and found it was $40 each way to town and back. Our one Uber driver had no comment. Not a great situation for the NCL passengers. That said, if you are doing excursions only, you might find it a better option because it's closer to many drop off points and flight seeing operations.” Posted by rainbirdreader on Trip Advisor Currently docked at Ward Cove and they’ve had buses running all day. Drop off and pick up was at berth 2. 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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