Completely confused on the Skagway scenic railway situation

[Kitty Ellas Mom]

Not to get too off topic, but when does Emerald Lake unfreeze?  I know that at the beginning of the Alaska season it's often frozen.  Would it be thawed by mid June?

[JT1962]

On 5/6/2022 at 5:25 PM, SightCRR said:

JT, Thanks for the photos, Did you have to use ArriveCan and if so did you use the app and how did that go? Take Care. sightcrr

I did complete ArriveCAN prior to boarding the ship in Seattle and again once onboard for the land crossing at Fraser, however, Canadian Customs never asked to see it, just the Passports. Chilkoot Charters did ask for my passport information a few days before the tour and said they had to provide that to Canadian Customs prior to the tour. They said since we had done ArriveCAN to board the ship, it was not needed again. 

[JT1962]

16 hours ago, Kitty Ellas Mom said:

Not to get too off topic, but when does Emerald Lake unfreeze?  I know that at the beginning of the Alaska season it's often frozen.  Would it be thawed by mid June?

I believe it should be thawed by mid-June. This year seems to be an exception since they had a colder Spring than usual. I was at Emerald Lake in 2017 the 3rd week of May and there were no signs of ice and nothing like the amount of snow still on the mountains this year just 2 weeks earlier. 

[kaerofan]

Just did the roundtrip train from Skagway last week and absolutely loved it.  Wasn't sure if I should cancel but so glad I didn't - still lots of snow and beautiful.  Lasted approx. 3 hours.  Booked it through Princess because it was basically the same price and we boarded very close to the ship.

 

[Kitty Ellas Mom]

kaerofan, do you mean the one where you don't get off the train and it is only in Alaska?  That is the same one I booked when I realized my bus up / train down excursion probably wouldn't happen.

[Gramma of Boys]

I see that Princess finally dropped the bus/train combo excursion off of the choices for our cruise.  Glad we switched our tour when we did.  It still shows up on the website as available for other cruises though.  So confusing...

[RSWBADGER]

[Kateybell]

On 5/8/2022 at 12:07 PM, JT1962 said:

I did complete ArriveCAN prior to boarding the ship in Seattle and again once onboard for the land crossing at Fraser, however, Canadian Customs never asked to see it, just the Passports. Chilkoot Charters did ask for my passport information a few days before the tour and said they had to provide that to Canadian Customs prior to the tour. They said since we had done ArriveCAN to board the ship, it was not needed again. 

When they pull up your passport on the computer all of your arrive CAN info will show up. 👍 they rarely ask for it. Just passports. But yes, you need to fill out attiveCAN for every entry into Canada. 

[ImGoingFirst]

On 5/8/2022 at 11:10 AM, JT1962 said:

I believe it should be thawed by mid-June. This year seems to be an exception since they had a colder Spring than usual. I was at Emerald Lake in 2017 the 3rd week of May and there were no signs of ice and nothing like the amount of snow still on the mountains this year just 2 weeks earlier. 

I was there 3 days ago and it's iced over but you can see the thaw and the green. Very pretty. I used Chilkoot for a tour from Skagway because I wanted to see Carcross and Emerald Lake. A wonderful day and an easy trip into Canada with them. I didn't miss the train experience. 

[llarsen]

Can someone tell me...Is this the Yukon Train that people are referring to?

This will be our first time in Alaska and I could swear I saw a train up and bus back or vice versa but now keep hearing it is all train and you don't go up to Canada?

Anyone who know...I'd appreciate some help with this.

 

[DaveOKC]

23 minutes ago, llarsen said:

Can someone tell me...Is this the Yukon Train that people are referring to?

This will be our first time in Alaska and I could swear I saw a train up and bus back or vice versa but now keep hearing it is all train and you don't go up to Canada?

Anyone who know...I'd appreciate some help with this.

 

Due to some Covid related issues (I assume), the train is only going up to the border and back for this season.

[SightCRR]

The first part of April 2022 the WP&YR said that they would only go to the summit and stay in the US. Any tour info before April 22 is wrong about 2022. Now train to summit round trip is the only train. Bus to Yukon round trip is available from other venders. There are no roads at the summit for a bus to make connection. Map on post #32 above shows bright red to summit and rest greyed out which is normally where bus would make connection. My guess is they didn't want to bother with ArriveCan app and possible quarantine issues. sightcrr. 

[Kitty Ellas Mom]

From what I've read it was because of the volume of passengers they thought they wouldn't be able to screen everyone in a timely manner, with the new covid measures in place.  I was booked on a Princess bus up / train down, into Canada, excursion for a long time but I canceled it as soon as I saw this news.  Princess only just recently removed that excursion from the list. 

[GloriaF]

On 5/8/2022 at 3:07 PM, JT1962 said:

I did complete ArriveCAN prior to boarding the ship in Seattle and again once onboard for the land crossing at Fraser, however, Canadian Customs never asked to see it, just the Passports. Chilkoot Charters did ask for my passport information a few days before the tour and said they had to provide that to Canadian Customs prior to the tour. They said since we had done ArriveCAN to board the ship, it was not needed again. 

So, for crossing into Canada on a bus excursion on the Yukon Hwy, FRASER is the entry point to put on the ArrCAN form?  We are booked with Princess for a shorex on the Yukon Hwy into Canada in June.  Confused about what to put as entry point. Thanks for clarification.

[JT1962]

1 minute ago, GloriaF said:

So, for crossing into Canada on a bus excursion on the Yukon Hwy, FRASER is the entry point to put on the ArrCAN form?  We are booked with Princess for a shorex on the Yukon Hwy into Canada in June.  Confused about what to put as entry point. Thanks for clarification.

Yes, Fraser is the first Canadian Border Station after crossing the border, although it is several miles past the border at a lower elevation.

[GloriaF]

Thanks!  Just want to know what to write to fill in the form.