Skagway- White Pass to Bennet Lake cancelled. Help me plan alternate excursion!

[Jlhutch6]

I’ve never been on a cruise before and have MS so have trouble getting out in mountains/hiking etc. I was so excited about the Bennet Lake extended trip which is a no go now! So our Crown Princess June 25 cruise will be in Skagway June 28th from 7am-8:30pm. I’m about to book the Chilkoot Yukon bus from 8:30am for 6 hours, so 2:30pm. Then the Princess White Pass Railroad round trip from 4pm-6:30pm (through Princess so if something goes wrong with the train, the ship will wait for us). Does this sound like I’ll see what I want and will work out to plan both excursions? I really want us to see the train, but some of the Yukon sites as well still. 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Jlhutch6

[JT1962]

Those 2 tours should give you a similar experience to the tour that was canceled. 

i have used Chilkoot tours in the past and am booked again with them for my May cruise on the same tour you mention. 

Edited April 18, 2022 by JT1962

[Coral]

See if Chillkot can do a combo tour for you.

[don't-use-real-name]

The latest - - - - -

 

The trains are ONLY operating round trip Skagway to the Summit - there are NO bus connections.

The buses are operating to the Yukon interior but NO rail connections.

 

Depending on the cruise line port schedule it is possible to do an early round trip by bus to

the Yukon interior and the later (last) train ride to the Summit - this is not a combo deal -

it is two separate excursions.

 

If you can manage this - this is your best option to see both.

The WPYRR is the main attraction for the port call at Skagway - for first time cruisers

I would not miss it as opposed to the Yukon interior bus trips.

 

The main thing is there enough port time to pull off both ?

If not take an earlier Summit train trip to have time to browse around Skagway town. 

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

16 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

The latest - - - - -

 

The trains are ONLY operating round trip Skagway to the Summit - there are NO bus connections.

The buses are operating to the Yukon interior but NO rail connections.

 

Depending on the cruise line port schedule it is possible to do an early round trip by bus to

the Yukon interior and the later (last) train ride to the Summit - this is not a combo deal -

it is two separate excursions.

 

If you can manage this - this is your best option to see both.

The WPYRR is the main attraction for the port call at Skagway - for first time cruisers

I would not miss it as opposed to the Yukon interior bus trips.

 

The main thing is there enough port time to pull off both ?

If not take an earlier Summit train trip to have time to browse around Skagway town. 

 

 

It appears that OP has enough time, but doing both is a long day, even though a lot of it would  be sitting. I love trains and dislike long bus rides, so I would go with this suggestion to do the RT train ride and enjoy Skagway. There are some nice LOCAL shops and a great microbrewery for lunch.

 

[Sailin Gal]

On 4/18/2022 at 4:54 PM, don't-use-real-name said:

 

The main thing is there enough port time to pull off both ?

If not take an earlier Summit train trip to have time to browse around Skagway town. 

 

If the Princess excursion booking page will let you book the B2B excursions, then there is time to make both.  We were booked for the train to Bennett Lake Princess excursion for this August, so I asked that exact question to our PVP because we were thinking of switching to an AM excursion to Haines, and the 4pm train excursion.  

[GTJ]

11 hours ago, Sailin Gal said:

If the Princess excursion booking page will let you book the B2B excursions, then there is time to make both.

But an interesting and important detail. If a Princess-booked excursion operates late, then the vessel will wait for the return of the excursion. But if a morning Princess-booked excursion operates late, and that results in an arrival back at the vessel later than the departure time of a subsequent Princess-booked excursion, then it may not necessarily be the case that the second excursion will wait for the return of the first excursion. In other words, it is possible that the passenger could take the bus excursion first, but then miss the railroad excursion second. A situation I have not heretofore considered, but I would be interested in hearing from others who have booked back-to-back excursions that have run late.

[Sailin Gal]

@GTJgood point.  I seriously doubt the 4pm train would postpone departure if the ferry back from Haines broke down and there were pax on the ferry who had booked B2B Princess excursions.  We ended up not booking the B2B for other reasons, but that is a very good point.  Stuff happens.

[GTJ]

6 hours ago, Sailin Gal said:

I seriously doubt the 4pm train would postpone departure * * *

The White Pass Route necessarily has to operate on-time because it is a single-track railroad where trains operate in both directions. It is not like a tour bus operating along a two-land highway. Delays incurred by one train may reverberate throughout the entire system, delaying other trains as they hold back from being able to enter the mainline, either at the White Pass summit loop or any sidings (there's an old employee timetable on the White Pass Route website for railfans, but neither it nor the track map on the Wikipedia page indicates the location of any sidings). In short, the White Pass Route train might wait for passengers who are alighting from a vehicle used by another operating that arrives at the station right at departure time, but otherwise I join the doubt of departure time otherwise being postponed.

[Coral]

I have had a delay in the White Pass train returning to Skagway.

 

We had a medical emergency on the train and a helicopter had to land next to the train somewhere in the Yukon. I was amazed that the helicopter could land where it did (among trees but it squeezed in and landed beautifully and took off beautifully) but there was definitely a 30-45 minute delay in returning due to this unusual circumstance. 

[Coral]

12 hours ago, GTJ said:

But an interesting and important detail. If a Princess-booked excursion operates late, then the vessel will wait for the return of the excursion. But if a morning Princess-booked excursion operates late, and that results in an arrival back at the vessel later than the departure time of a subsequent Princess-booked excursion, then it may not necessarily be the case that the second excursion will wait for the return of the first excursion. In other words, it is possible that the passenger could take the bus excursion first, but then miss the railroad excursion second. A situation I have not heretofore considered, but I would be interested in hearing from others who have booked back-to-back excursions that have run late.

If you book a B2B excursion with Princess and you miss the 2nd excursion if your first one is late, they will cover the cost for you. Well - they have in the past.

[Eaglecw]

On 4/18/2022 at 8:13 AM, Jlhutch6 said:

I’ve never been on a cruise before and have MS so have trouble getting out in mountains/hiking etc. I was so excited about the Bennet Lake extended trip which is a no go now! So our Crown Princess June 25 cruise will be in Skagway June 28th from 7am-8:30pm. I’m about to book the Chilkoot Yukon bus from 8:30am for 6 hours, so 2:30pm. Then the Princess White Pass Railroad round trip from 4pm-6:30pm (through Princess so if something goes wrong with the train, the ship will wait for us). Does this sound like I’ll see what I want and will work out to plan both excursions? I really want us to see the train, but some of the Yukon sites as well still. 

JT1962, we are on the June 25^th sailing of the Crown out of Seattle. We’ve done the White Pass many times and was looking forward to taking it to Bennett Lake and on into Carcross this year until it was canceled do to logistic problems. We did the White Pass train last year, 20 miles up and back. I thought it was rather lame. I recommend that you take the bus excursion either with Princess or Chilkoot up to Caribou Crossing, have the BBQ chicken lunch, visit the museum, see the dog sled puppies. It continues up to Emerald Lake and stops at Carcross on the way up or on the way back. If you’re lucky you might see a bear or 2 eating dandelions along the road.