Excursion help

[bubbapuck]

Hello Everyone!

 

Its been a long time since I have cruised and need some help. I am not sure if this is the right place. If not, please let me know where to post.

 

My wife and I have a 14 day Alaska cruise out of LA scheduled for 4/23/23. The main excursion I wanted to go on was the Skagway Rail but it is sold out. Is it really sold out already? That seems very fast. 

 

Does anyone have a third party they trust to schedule the Railway excursion. I always like to book through the cruise line and am worried I get an unreliable company. Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

Thank you!

[mondello]

@bubbapuck The White Pass and Yukon Railway excursion is definitely one of the highlights of an Alaska cruise. Sad to say but, they announced April 5 they would not be operating and crossing into the Yukon due to uncertainty of being able to provide great service in a timely manner. Border restrictions have been eased but they were not comfortable going forward yet. I went in 2016 and booked with Chilcoot Tours, if I remember correctly. Thought I booked direct with the railway but when I looked it up and saw the Chilcoot name, pretty sure we used them. 

[mondello]

May be showing sold out until Carnival knows what is available. Although they may not cross the border into the Yukon, a trip from Skagway to the Summit would still be a great 40 mile trip. The story I found mentions the no crossing for this year but, doesn't say if they're running round-trips to the Summit or not? With the loop, they don't have to go into the Yukon to turn around.

[kennystwin]

I too was looking forward to taking the railroad on my cruise in May following yours and have been following this closely (Carnival still has me confirmed on a rail excursion that definitely won't happen). The only train trip that will be running is the Summit trip which still shows available on my cruise. It appears there are also trips available through the WPRR at various times when you are in port (you need to select a time before it shows availability). Any other train trip or train/bus combo will not be happening, though a few are still showing up for my cruise. Chilcoot Charters has cancelled all their train/bus combo ( except for their Summit + city tour). They are a reputable company. They have replaced some of their rail/bus tours with all busses and seem to be more on top of it than Carnival.

[bubbapuck]

4 hours ago, kennystwin said:

I too was looking forward to taking the railroad on my cruise in May following yours and have been following this closely (Carnival still has me confirmed on a rail excursion that definitely won't happen). The only train trip that will be running is the Summit trip which still shows available on my cruise. It appears there are also trips available through the WPRR at various times when you are in port (you need to select a time before it shows availability). Any other train trip or train/bus combo will not be happening, though a few are still showing up for my cruise. Chilcoot Charters has cancelled all their train/bus combo ( except for their Summit + city tour). They are a reputable company. They have replaced some of their rail/bus tours with all busses and seem to be more on top of it than Carnival.

 

I thought they only cancelled this years. I am going in 2023. Hopefully they do get it worked out.

 

Is that your picture? You do look just like Kenny Rogers!

[kennystwin]

1 hour ago, bubbapuck said:

 

I thought they only cancelled this years. I am going in 2023. Hopefully they do get it worked out.

 

Is that your picture? You do look just like Kenny Rogers!

Everything should be back to normal by 2023, but I wouldn't expect Carnival to have the excursions up until after this season.

 

Actually, that is a picture of Kenny, but I do look just like that when I trim my normally full beard into a goatee.