Just back - recap of our Alaska port days

[karatemom2]

I just posted a review of our cruise on the Princess board and thought I would share the section about our port days here as well. We had such an amazing trip!

 

 

Juneau - rented a car from Juneau Car Rentals which they kindly delivered to port for us which was so appreciated as we ended up being two hours late arriving due to some weather challenges heading up from Vancouver. We drove to Perseverance Trail and did a hike there - the trail conditions were not quite ideal yet this early in the season so we didn't go quite as far as we planned but what we did do was absolutely beautiful. We then took a drive out to the very end of the road and back which was very pretty and by that time were starving so headed back on board for dinner and sail away.

 

Skagway - rented a car from Avis and drove the Yukon highway all the way to Emerald Lake. Keep in mind you need to do the ArriveCan again for this - they did check at the border to make sure we had our QR code. It was the best day! There is still so much snow - more then we have ever seen on previous trips. But it was a beautiful day - the lakes are still frozen so just a completely different look and feel. We stopped at Caribou Crossing and visited the museum and fed the animals and held the puppies! Everyone working there was so kind and happy to have visitors again. It was a great day and we capped it off at the Skagway Brewing Company before dropping off the car and walking back to the ship.

 

Icy Strait Point - We did a whale watching trip with Hoonah Travel Adventures. What a wonderful company! They were so nice - the boat was comfortable and we saw plenty of whales and a brown bear roaming the beach as a bonus. We hung out at the wharf area after our tour and did a little shopping and then back on board where we sat on our balcony and watched eagles and whales all afternoon right in front of the ship in the harbor. Another gorgeous day!

 

Sitka - This was an exceptionally great day! We rented a boat from a local vendor - I'm not going to mention the name as he does not typically rent to cruise ship passengers, but made an exception in our case because after talking to my DH felt comfortable that he had the level of boat operating experience and skill required. This is not for novices. The boat was fantastic - super comfortable for our group of 4 and we just had the best day of fishing in Sitka Sound. We caught multiple ling cod and rock fish - but the absolute thrill was catching a huge halibut, literally as big as full grown adult. We didn't have the tools to weigh or measure to be certain it was in the slot limit so opted to catch and release. It would have been nice to filet it up and send it home - but given our one short day there and not being sure how much it would cost or if the fish was even legal it just seemed the best course of action. We will always have the photos!

 

This launched us into our three glacier days. The weather for Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay was phenomenal. Literally just gorgeous, clear, blue sky days. It was some of the most stunning views we have ever enjoyed. In Glacier Bay we also saw many more whales and otter as well. Our third day in Endicott Arm was also very pretty, but a little cold and rainy, and unfortunately there was too much ice for us to approach the glacier so we had to settle for just a short jaunt into the very beginning area of the fjord - but really, no complaints. What we had been able to see for those three days was truly magnificent.

 

Ketchikan - Given our many trips to Ketchikan, we opted to just stay in town and enjoy doing some of our favorite things again. We went to Cape Fox Lodge for breakfast - you have to try the reindeer sausage! It was quite a hike up to the lodge as the funicular is not working right now - but the food and views are so worth it. We spent some quality time on Creek Street and then did some shopping in town before going to see the Lumberjack Show again - it had been a number of years since our last visit and one member of our traveling group had never been. It's a bit hokey at times, but very fun and entertaining. We got fish and chips at the restaurant next door afterwards and then slowly worked our wayback to the ship with a mandatory stop at Tongass TradingCompany and the brewery. Just a super fun and stress free day. 

[AKStafford]

Sounds like a great trip!!

[carbon]

What were your port times?

 

[karatemom2]

2 minutes ago, carbon said:

What were your port times?

 

Juneau - 1:30 to 10:00 pm (but we didn’t arrive until 3:30)

Skagway - 7:30 am to 8:00 pm

Icy Strait Point - 8:00 am to 6:00 pm

Sitka - 7:00 am to 5:00 pm

Ketchikan - 7:00 am to 6:00 pm

Victoria - 7:00 am to 5:00 pm

[donaldsc]

1 hour ago, karatemom2 said:

Juneau - 1:30 to 10:00 pm (but we didn’t arrive until 3:30)

Skagway - 7:30 am to 8:00 pm

Icy Strait Point - 8:00 am to 6:00 pm

Sitka - 7:00 am to 5:00 pm

Ketchikan - 7:00 am to 6:00 pm

Victoria - 7:00 am to 5:00 pm

 

For a Princess cruise, you did have pretty good port times.  Some of the current AK port times are really awful.  You lucked out on what you did.

 

DON

[karatemom2]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

For a Princess cruise, you did have pretty good port times.  Some of the current AK port times are really awful.  You lucked out on what you did.

 

DON

Yes, the generous port days as well as three glacier days were the main reason we chose this cruise. It was wonderful to have so many ports and full days to enjoy them. 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing.

[Myscruf]

Thanks for your recap. We are heading to Alaska in 2 weeks. We are renting a car in Skagway and use Murrays guide. I have a couple of questions for you.  We will have the car from 8-330. Wanting to be realistic about how far can we travel up the Klondike. How long did it take you to drive up and back?

[Myscruf]

OOPs. Forgot to add my 2nd question. Thank you for the heads up about having to do ARRCAN 2 x if traveling by car into Canada.When you said you had to do ARRCAN for the roadtrip in Skagway, what did that entail? Can I do it before the cruise or will I have to do it after I have boarded?

[jerseygirl629]

On 5/17/2022 at 10:32 AM, karatemom2 said:

Skagway - rented a car from Avis and drove the Yukon highway all the way to Emerald Lake. Keep in mind you need to do the ArriveCan again for this - they did check at the border to make sure we had our QR code. It was the best day! There is still so much snow - more then we have ever seen on previous trips. But it was a beautiful day - the lakes are still frozen so just a completely different look and feel. We stopped at Caribou Crossing and visited the museum and fed the animals and held the puppies! Everyone working there was so kind and happy to have visitors again. It was a great day and we capped it off at the Skagway Brewing Company before dropping off the car and walking back to the ship.

 

 

We will be in Skagway on Ovation of the Seas from 11am-8:00pm. Right now, we have a 12pm train booked, a 1pm train booked, and a car booked. We have never been to Alaska and the train is a bucket list item for my Mom however, after it shortened the trip I am wondering if we are better off with the car as we will be able to cover more ground, get out for photos, etc.

 

My question is- Are we guaranteed the car with the Avis reservation? I did not put down a card on file as it was not required. I have had a terrible experience in the past with booking a car (Through Hertz) and one not being available in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm worried if we cancel both train tours and rely solely on the car, if we will run into a car not being available? 

[cruising7]

This sounds amazing.  I am looking everywhere for a fishing guide for Sitka or Ketchikan, but you gave me a new idea - my husband and son are experienced fisherman and we are having trouble finding a guided trip.  Maybe we will just look for a boat and gear rental now!

[tinkr2]

Your trip sounds amazing and how my family likes to travel. That being said, this trip is my granddaughter and I and we have never been to Alaska. I was going to book the same whale watching tour but then thought , maybe there are whales everywhere? And is it necessary? should I book to look for bears instead?

We love to hike and was hoping to walk off ship and find some trails income ports? Is that a thing?

And lots of questions about Icy Strait Point, if I do whales at 11 is there more to see? like ziplines, trails etc? I have 2 choices 11 or 130 .

[karatemom2]

5 hours ago, Myscruf said:

Thanks for your recap. We are heading to Alaska in 2 weeks. We are renting a car in Skagway and use Murrays guide. I have a couple of questions for you.  We will have the car from 8-330. Wanting to be realistic about how far can we travel up the Klondike. How long did it take you to drive up and back?

 

5 hours ago, Myscruf said:

OOPs. Forgot to add my 2nd question. Thank you for the heads up about having to do ARRCAN 2 x if traveling by car into Canada.When you said you had to do ARRCAN for the roadtrip in Skagway, what did that entail? Can I do it before the cruise or will I have to do it after I have boarded?

 

In terms of the time it took for our round trip drive with plenty of stops along the way I would say around 5 to 6 hours is a safe plan. We hit the road around 10:30 a.m. and were back in town by around 4 p.m. So if you pick your car up as soon as you get off the ship and get on the road you should have plenty of time to have a nice drive up within your time frame.

 

In terms of ArriveCan, we had to set up our account with all 5 of our travelers prior to flying in to Vancouver. You are required to input your specific travel plans (modes of travel, dates, time, point of entry, etc.) within 72 hours of arrival. So we had entered our flight plan for arrival in Vancouver, but then had to update at each additional point of entry. It was pretty easy because you just select all your travelers and provide the updated travel plan - for Skagway it was via car at the Fraser point of entry and for Victoria we had to do it again for entry into Victoria via cruise ship. For our Skagway visit, I just did it the day before. You can't input the travel information any sooner then within the 72 hour window. It provided a QR code for our whole party and they scanned it as well as our passports at the border.

[karatemom2]

3 hours ago, jerseygirl629 said:

 

We will be in Skagway on Ovation of the Seas from 11am-8:00pm. Right now, we have a 12pm train booked, a 1pm train booked, and a car booked. We have never been to Alaska and the train is a bucket list item for my Mom however, after it shortened the trip I am wondering if we are better off with the car as we will be able to cover more ground, get out for photos, etc.

 

My question is- Are we guaranteed the car with the Avis reservation? I did not put down a card on file as it was not required. I have had a terrible experience in the past with booking a car (Through Hertz) and one not being available in Ft. Lauderdale. I'm worried if we cancel both train tours and rely solely on the car, if we will run into a car not being available? 

 

Your Avis reservation is guaranteed as long as you pick up the car close to the time you specify in your reservation. We had reserved for a 9 a.m. pick up and were running a little late after having breakfast onboard. I just gave them a call to let them know we were coming so they wouldn't give our car away.

 

In your case, since you are doing the train and car you could either book your car pick up time for after your train ride or a better plan might be to pick up your car first thing before your train trip and just park it, do your train ride and then have it waiting there for you when you come back. There are plenty of parking places in Skagway where it would be fine while you were doing your train ride.

[karatemom2]

1 hour ago, tinkr2 said:

Your trip sounds amazing and how my family likes to travel. That being said, this trip is my granddaughter and I and we have never been to Alaska. I was going to book the same whale watching tour but then thought , maybe there are whales everywhere? And is it necessary? should I book to look for bears instead?

We love to hike and was hoping to walk off ship and find some trails income ports? Is that a thing?

And lots of questions about Icy Strait Point, if I do whales at 11 is there more to see? like ziplines, trails etc? I have 2 choices 11 or 130 .

 

Icy Strait Point is a great place for whale watching - you will definitely see whales. Hoonah Travel Adventures is an excellent company. They also do bear watching trips, but your mileage may vary on those sightings. We have done a couple in the past there with no luck. But on this trip we did a whale watch and got a bear viewing as a bonus. So you just never know with wildlife - but the whales there are a virtual guarantee. There are some nice nature trails in Icy Strait Point as well as the Zip Line and Adventure Park they just opened. You can also just take the Gondola to the top of the mountain and there is a hiking trail up there as well. If you have a long port day you should have time to do at least a couple of options.

[Dancing Shoes]

I would pick up the car as early as possible.  We did.  You won't save any money on the rental by picking it up later, as you pay for 1 day anyway.  Avis is very reliable in Skagway.

[jerseygirl629]

19 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

 

Your Avis reservation is guaranteed as long as you pick up the car close to the time you specify in your reservation. We had reserved for a 9 a.m. pick up and were running a little late after having breakfast onboard. I just gave them a call to let them know we were coming so they wouldn't give our car away.

 

In your case, since you are doing the train and car you could either book your car pick up time for after your train ride or a better plan might be to pick up your car first thing before your train trip and just park it, do your train ride and then have it waiting there for you when you come back. There are plenty of parking places in Skagway where it would be fine while you were doing your train ride.

 

Oh, picking it up before the train is a GREAT idea!!! Thank you! Maybe we will do the 12pm train then and stick with the car for afterward. Not sure we would have enough time though to get up to the Yukon / Emerald Lake as it says it's an hour and 30 away, though. We'd like to be back on the ship by 7pm. 

[nursinadream]

 Thanks @karatemom2what a great post.  Several times you mentioned the beautiful days you had.  Sounds like one day a little rainy and cool.  No mention of cold, wet days wearing boots, scarves, mittens and rain pants.  I know its unpredictable but seems like you had some great weather days and fantastic experiences.  My mind is a little boggled though over the ArriveCAN.  I'm sure I'll ace it once I put my mind to it.

Deb

[karatemom2]

18 hours ago, nursinadream said:

 Thanks @karatemom2what a great post.  Several times you mentioned the beautiful days you had.  Sounds like one day a little rainy and cool.  No mention of cold, wet days wearing boots, scarves, mittens and rain pants.  I know its unpredictable but seems like you had some great weather days and fantastic experiences.  My mind is a little boggled though over the ArriveCAN.  I'm sure I'll ace it once I put my mind to it.

Deb

 

The weather was exceptionally good most days - but it was quite cold, even when it was clear. We definitely still used our hats and gloves on some days and we did get hit with some intermittent rain in Juneau and Ketchikan - but nothing that interfered with our activities. We were very fortunate with the weather overall. 

 

And don't stress about ArriveCan - it is actually pretty intuitive once you get all your travelers entered. It is really pretty easy to use.