Potential Alaska Itinerary Changes As Skagway Dock Is Threatened By "Catastrophic Rockslide"

[Fly and Sail]

A potentially catastrophic rockslide is threatening the famous cruise dock in Skagway, Alaska and could impact entire itineraries of Alaska cruises effective immediately.

 

This week a study came out, highlighting how unstable the ridge is and that a catastrophic rockslide (which has happened as recently as June) is posing substantial danger to the cruise ships and people staying in the immediate area, alongside the entire dock.

 

Skagway has consulted Geotechnical firm Shannon&Wilson to conduct a study and this is their full report.

 

Alaska Public reports that authorities, city management, and cruise lines are currently on alert to try to find a solution to this problem.

 

As reported by CruiseRadio, Princess Cruises was the first line to announce itinerary changes this week. The Majestic Princess is going to Icy Strait Point rather than Skagway which might annoy quite a lot of cruisers, especially those with pre-arranged excursions.

 

“The July 26 call of Majestic Princess will instead call on Icy Strait Point, but Crown Princess will continue with its scheduled call in Skagway Tuesday, as it docks at a different Skagway pier. This development also will affect the July 27 call of Royal Princess, the July 28 visit of Discovery Princess and the July 30 visit of Grand Princess, the specifics of which are still being coordinated.”

 

Princess is currently working on revising other itineraries as well while monitoring the situation in Skagway. Other cruise lines have not yet published any changes to their itineraries.

 

I'd have expected Celebrity to also react as they have always used the railroad dock whenever I was in Skagway with them (as recently as May this year). So far crickets from Celebrity.

[PRH]

We docked there on our July 15 cruise.  Area was cordoned off and ship containers were used for passenger transit/walking.

[cameronp12]

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Alaska…is there room in the harbor for ships to anchor and tender? Might be the easiest temporary solution…

[Fly and Sail]

13 minutes ago, PRH said:

We docked there on our July 15 cruise.  Area was cordoned off and ship containers were used for passenger transit/walking.

 

The containers don't go all the way though and I believe what has been in place until now is in reaction to the minor rockslides that happened in June.

 

This new report makes it sound like a major event is potentially imminent and that even the ships could be in danger. That little cordoned off area won't do much good if the mountain gets moving.

[techteach]

@Fly and Sail Thanks so much for this post. We sail to Alaska on Aug. 19 and Skagway is day 5. I hope you’ll post updates if you hear more.

[Peteymil]

1 hour ago, cameronp12 said:

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Alaska…is there room in the harbor for ships to anchor and tender? Might be the easiest temporary solution…

When we were there in May we docked, but there was another ship tendered.

[Fly and Sail]

20 minutes ago, techteach said:

@Fly and Sail Thanks so much for this post. We sail to Alaska on Aug. 19 and Skagway is day 5. I hope you’ll post updates if you hear more.

 

Will do but I sure hope that Celebrity is going to inform ticketed passengers in advance.

[rj59]

Princess ships are being diverted to Icy Strait Point and Sitka so far. I would think Sitka is the most likely option for Celebrity, since RCI helped fund a new dock there. It's also the biggest 'real' town with a non-tourist economy, unlike Skagway, so once you bus downtown there are interesting free things, like a seawalk to a totem pole park with bear sightings and a river that should be full of salmon now. Sitka also probably offers more opportunity to recoup excursion income, since there's not a lot of excursion infrastructure in ISP, other than the zipline and some kayaking and whale/bear watching trips. I saw there were going to be 5 ships or so in Skagway on my schedule stop in Skagway on Solstice, so I'd actually welcome an alternate port, since Juneau and Ketchikan are already overcrowded tourist spots. 

[Fly and Sail]

1 minute ago, rj59 said:

Princess ships are being diverted to Icy Strait Point and Sitka so far. I would think Sitka is the most likely option for Celebrity, since RCI helped fund a new dock there. It's also the biggest 'real' town with a non-tourist economy, unlike Skagway, so once you bus downtown there are interesting free things, like a seawalk to a totem pole park with bear sightings and a river that should be full of salmon now. Sitka also probably offers more opportunity to recoup excursion income, since there's not a lot of excursion infrastructure in ISP, other than the zipline and some kayaking and whale/bear watching trips. I saw there were going to be 5 ships or so in Skagway on my schedule stop in Skagway on Solstice, so I'd actually welcome an alternate port, since Juneau and Ketchikan are already overcrowded tourist spots. 

 

Sounds a lot like Ketchikan to me. I've been to Skagway 3x now and another 2x by car so I wouldn't mind to see Sitka instead but for first timers it'd be very sad for them to lose Skagway as a port and with that the opportunity to go on the fantastic train ride.

[Denny01]

Would Really miss Skagway…..the Whitepass rail is just great. And yes, Sitka has more options, but enjoyed walking Skagway and thought a few of the more local art shops were very interesting. 

 

Must wait and see. 

 

Den

[bigbenboys]

In June we did the southern sailing on Millie stopping in Skagway. I think it was our 2nd time their. Overall Sitka might be a better option for most guest. My personal choice would be Icy Strait Point. The zipping lining was so much fun.

[techteach]

I’ve been to Sitka twice and love the walk through the totem poles. But, I was looking forward to a new port and worked really hard to get an excursion in Skagway at the last minute, as in yesterday, a 9 year old would enjoy and wouldn’t cause me bodily damage! I always love a day at sea and have never been to Icy Strait Point. I guess I’ll go where the ship takes me. 🙂

 

[Northern Aurora]

9 hours ago, techteach said:

@Fly and Sail Thanks so much for this post. We sail to Alaska on Aug. 19 and Skagway is day 5. I hope you’ll post updates if you hear more.

 

Go to the Cruise Critic Alaska forum for updates.  For those who read the CC Alaska forum regularly this is old news.  The Skagway rock slide has been discussed in multiple threads on the Alaska forum.

 

We were on the June 17th and June 24th Solstice Alaska sailings.  The slide happened about 48 hours after the Solstice left Skagway on the first leg of our B2B.  

 

When the Solstice called on the June 24th sailing we docked at the rear position of the RR dock and the ship used tenders to move folks to the small boat harbor.  There was no ship in the forward berth.  We were in an aft Sky Suite and could hear the rocks begin to slide from the top of the rock face.  

 

Companies have been handling the situation in different manners.  Some ships have diverted to Haines while others go to Sitka, and yet some others continue to visit Skagway.  It seems to be a rather fluid situation.

 

My understanding is that the Sitka Sound Cruise terminal is primarily owned by the McCraw family of Sitka with the RCCL having a minority position.  During the global suspension of cruising the dock was expanded, and according to an acquaintance in Fairbanks (who grew up in Sitka, still has family there and was in Sitka for the Christmas holiday) that expansion is somewhat controversial.  Sitka has around 9,000 residents and the impacts of a ship like Ovation of the Seas on their infrastructure is a concern.

 

 

[techteach]

@Northern Aurora Thanks very much for the information.

[Arizona Wildcat]

10 hours ago, cameronp12 said:

It’s been a long time since I’ve been to Alaska…is there room in the harbor for ships to anchor and tender? Might be the easiest temporary solution…

There are a total of 4 docking spaces.  One has always been used for freight and a second ferries. The "harbor" within a mile is massive but then you lose one of the docking slots unless they can sort it with Alaska Ferries.

[Purplsmurf]

We are on the sailing from Seward on Friday and will be (hopefully) In Skagway next week. The only information I have received is a time change to one of our excursions there, so I’m expecting we will be going there…unless there is a last minute change.

[kayakcove]

Saw a news story from yesterday July 26 in Travel Weekly. Looks like they are closing the Railroad Dock Forward (RRF) at this time. It appears this most impacts Princess Cruises and they are shifting their itineraries. Not clear whether to Icey Strait Point or Sika. Looking at the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska (CLIA) listing of dockings in Skagway for the balance of the season, the Millennium on their South bound itinerary maybe impacted. Looks like the ORE dock is open on that route August 1 and that is the dock they use on the North bound itinerary. I am scheduled there on August 10th and hope its stays that way. The following is a link to that docking schedule for Skagway.

 

https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.189/2xl.54d.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/SKG-Skagway-2022-2.pdf

 

[Dancing Shoes]

Bummer.  We are southbound to arrive Aug 15th on the Millennium at Railroad Dock Forward.  I'll go to Sitka if we have to.  Will miss my zip line excursion there. 

[Fly and Sail]

FYI some folks in another thread reported that Skagway is now a tendering port and passengers are being dropped off near the city center. Can anyone confirm?

[rboy000]

Yes.  Just got off the Solstice on  8/12 and we were tendered into the small boat harbor.  Process was fairly chaotic and took about an hour from getting in line to getting off in Skagway.  There is some damage to the pier from a couple of the recent rockslides and Celebrity is avoiding the potential for any further problems on the old pier.

[Homosassa]

There are two other piers available in Skagway (Broadway and Ore Terminal).

 

Smaller ships, like the Millennium, have docked at either of those docks this summer.

 

We used the ore terminal dock on our cruise.

[Northern Aurora]

I am somewhat surprised that @Fly and Sail is asking for confirmation about tender operations in Skagway.  This is discussed frequently on the Cruise Critic Alaska forum.

 

 I have posted about our experience on the CC Alaska forum as we were B2B on the Solstice in June.  On the June 17th sailing we were in Skagway prior to the rockslide and so the Solstice docked at the Rail Road aft  pier.  Several days later the south rockslide occurred.  On the June 24th sailing the Solstice docked again at the RR aft berth and tendered to the small boat harbor.  Due to tide conditions at times the walkway from the small boat harbor to shore can be quite steep.  

 

In addition to the two RR berths (forward and aft) there are also the Ore and Broadway piers.  

 

The engineering company Shannon and Wilson has prepared an inspection report.  My geologist husband and I have both read it.  The slide in June is the south slide, with an earlier slide north of it.  The earlier north slide is the one which S&W describes as having potential for a catastrophic event.  

[Whinenowine]

11 hours ago, Homosassa said:

There are two other piers available in Skagway (Broadway and Ore Terminal).

 

Smaller ships, like the Millennium, have docked at either of those docks this summer.

 

We used the ore terminal dock on our cruise.

Agreed. We’re on Millie right now and I was told today by the Retreat Concierge that we’d use one of the other docks (tomorrow) rather than tendering like the larger X ships. 

[Fly and Sail]

13 hours ago, Homosassa said:

There are two other piers available in Skagway (Broadway and Ore Terminal).

 

Smaller ships, like the Millennium, have docked at either of those docks this summer.

 

We used the ore terminal dock on our cruise.

 

Good to know. Last year Millennium docked on the one that is now closed (the same which Solstice used this May).

[NanaPam00]

I’m on the Solstice right now - we have been told we will be tendering.