What is the status of Skagway for 2023 season?

[SuzieQ521]

5 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Also sailing on the Royal next month. Where have you found the dock location?

 

https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SKG-Skagway-2023.pdf

[Panhandle Couple]

16 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

I'm assuming they are using the ship's tenders as they usually do when tendering.  There is no need for other boats.

We have tendered maybe 5 times, (and never in Alaska) and never used the ships boats for it.  Just our experience, maybe they do when others aren't available.

[wolfie11]

37 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Also sailing on the Royal next month. Where have you found the dock location?

https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1250

[LB_NJ]

3 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

We have tendered maybe 5 times, (and never in Alaska) and never used the ships boats for it.  Just our experience, maybe they do when others aren't available.

I have tendered using both the port's boats and the ships boats.

 

It is usually better with the port's boats but not great in either case.

[erienetuser]

1st time cruiser here. What is the process for tendering? I assume people with an excursion booked through Princess get priority, but what about the rest of  us?  I'm on the Majestic which is a larger ship. Assuming worst case scenerio, what's the longest it will take to  get off?  And I assume the return time will be earlier than what it would of been? Thanks everyone for all of your insights!

[Kathscof]

On 4/18/2023 at 8:38 PM, eileeshb said:

Someone on Norwegian Bliss is posting this week’s daily newsletters on Facebook , here’s a screenshot of the page with the shuttle bus operating at Skagway for Norwegian’s ship docked at RRA.

 

Oooof, needing “tickets” just to get on a shuttle bus.....

 

one would think it would would be easier to corral all the excursion folk, get them off, and just use a line?

 

 

[Kathscof]

i wish they could get the ships in earlier so outside excursions would be able to make the train times 😞

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Kathscof
Duplicate

[Cherful59]

15 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

The Ore Dock is the closest to the camera.  It is used daily for cruise ships.  The Smart bus stops there and the train pulls up to load passengers.  The far dock with the two ships is the Railroad Dock which is causing all the current problems. The middle dock the ferry is passing is the Broadway Dock.

Thanks for the pic.

13 hours ago, SuzieQ521 said:

 

https://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SKG-Skagway-2023.pdf

Thanks 

12 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

https://claalaska.com/?page_id=1250

Thanks for the link, I was able to check my other ports as well.

 

I will be at the RRF dock on 8/21/23 Radiance with a 7 am arrival and 8 am excursion booked thru Royal.  By then, I should know what is happening from others who have experienced it.   Thanks all  Patti

Edited April 20, 2023 by Cherful59
Misspelling

[LB_NJ]

5 hours ago, erienetuser said:

1st time cruiser here. What is the process for tendering? I assume people with an excursion booked through Princess get priority, but what about the rest of  us?  I'm on the Majestic which is a larger ship. Assuming worst case scenerio, what's the longest it will take to  get off?  And I assume the return time will be earlier than what it would have been? Thanks everyone for all of your insights!

The process tends to be cruise line and ship specific.

 

You might want to post a question in the Princess forum.

 

Just as an FYI, it usually takes longer to load and unload the tender than the trip actually takes.  Also, as a guess, if you aren’t on a ship excursion and you don’t have any priority as a passenger think maybe an hour.  Again people who have tendered on Majestic should have a better idea of the process and time.

[hawk1972]

On 4/19/2023 at 10:29 AM, eileeshb said:

Juneau passed a new ordinance or some such limiting the cruise port to 5 ships per day

I just read an article that said the 5 ship limit agreement doesn't take effect until 2024.

[eileeshb]

7 hours ago, Kathscof said:

Oooof, needing “tickets” just to get on a shuttle bus.....

 

one would think it would would be easier to corral all the excursion folk, get them off, and just use a line?

 

 

NCL seem to be treating the shuttle’s like tenders in terms of access. I’ve had one experience of NCL managing tenders for great stirrup cay and it was a complete mess. They’d call for a particular boarding group to go to the theatre, meanwhile all the folks without that ticket queued up through the casino so folks who had been called would join the queue thinking that was what they were supposed to do until some officers would wander by and ask what ticket you had. If it was one that been called they’d then tell you to skip the queue and go into the theatre.

suffice to say a bunch of people missed their excursions because they hadn’t known to skip the queue in the casino, there was a near riot on the island as a result. I had a ticket for the first tender after lol the excursions and priority people and it was 1pm before I made it to the island. NCL suck at managing queues. 

[cruisingrob21]

12 minutes ago, hawk1972 said:

I just read an article that said the 5 ship limit agreement doesn't take effect until 2024.

I saw the same - and the article made it seem more like a good faith request so we will see how well its honored.  Scanning the schedule in 2024 there are only a few days with 6 ships, so this may be more of a message than truly a limitation.  The new player to the region next year seems to be Viking.  In 2025 there were rumors of MSC bringing a ship which would potentially change the dynamic.  There is an unnamed MSC ship on the schedule in spring of 2025 going to Astoria, OR, so it would seem to fit that MSC is planning to make a presence on the west coast in the summer of 2025.

[hawk1972]

1 minute ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I saw the same - and the article made it seem more like a good faith request so we will see how well its honored.  Scanning the schedule in 2024 there are only a few days with 6 ships, so this may be more of a message than truly a limitation.  The new player to the region next year seems to be Viking.  In 2025 there were rumors of MSC bringing a ship which would potentially change the dynamic.  There is an unnamed MSC ship on the schedule in spring of 2025 going to Astoria, OR, so it would seem to fit that MSC is planning to make a presence on the west coast in the summer of 2025.

We were there on the NCL Sun in September and had to tender at Juneau.

[eileeshb]

22 minutes ago, hawk1972 said:

I just read an article that said the 5 ship limit agreement doesn't take effect until 2024.

And yet there are cruiselines using that as an excuse. 
btw on the days there’s 6 you might notice 2 from a single cruiseline: one in the morning and the other in the late afternoon. 

[dd57]

20 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

I saw the same - and the article made it seem more like a good faith request so we will see how well its honored.  Scanning the schedule in 2024 there are only a few days with 6 ships, so this may be more of a message than truly a limitation.  The new player to the region next year seems to be Viking.  In 2025 there were rumors of MSC bringing a ship which would potentially change the dynamic.  There is an unnamed MSC ship on the schedule in spring of 2025 going to Astoria, OR, so it would seem to fit that MSC is planning to make a presence on the west coast in the summer of 2025.

I wouldn't say Viking is new to the area - we were on a Viking Alaska cruise in 2019.  They also have one of the slots in Glacier Bay.

[cruisingrob21]

1 hour ago, dd57 said:

I wouldn't say Viking is new to the area - we were on a Viking Alaska cruise in 2019.  They also have one of the slots in Glacier Bay.

Oh, my mistake.

[Panhandle Couple]

Feedback from the 2 early NCL cruises is that they are bussing from the end of the RR Aft into the small park that is past RR Forward.  Maybe 1/3 mile in all.   But the lines for the busses have been long, and of course not good for limited mobility people.

 

Note the busses are run by the town of Skagway, and not the cruise lines.

 

It still seems the RR Forward will be tenders, as the any assembly location would be where the landslide has happened.  It will be a very short ride to the small marina at the end of the RR dock, or they may take you to the Broadway dock, I haven't seen anything saying where you end up.

 

[SuzieQ521]

13 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

Feedback from the 2 early NCL cruises is that they are bussing from the end of the RR Aft into the small park that is past RR Forward.  Maybe 1/3 mile in all.   But the lines for the busses have been long, and of course not good for limited mobility people.

 

Note the busses are run by the town of Skagway, and not the cruise lines.

 

It still seems the RR Forward will be tenders, as the any assembly location would be where the landslide has happened.  It will be a very short ride to the small marina at the end of the RR dock, or they may take you to the Broadway dock, I haven't seen anything saying where you end up.

 

Thank you. Is that tenders as in the small boats or busses? We are supposed to be at RRF in a few weeks.

[Kathscof]

4 hours ago, SuzieQ521 said:

Thank you. Is that tenders as in the small boats or busses? We are supposed to be at RRF in a few weeks.

The operations last year meant small boats….and that’s what I had understood from the communications from tour companies already this year

 

but….check the schedule, your ship might have changed docks (ours did) 

[Crow9]

@Kathscof Thank you for the heads up, on Thursdays it looks like Quantum of the Seas is no longer docking at Skagway and Discovery Princess has been moved to RRA.  Only 3 ships in that day now.

[lindsay0526]

Yup, we just got cancellation for Skagway in July and I'm not happy about it. We are going to Icy Strait Point that day instead... and it does not look appealing.

[Hllb]

1 minute ago, lindsay0526 said:

Yup, we just got cancellation for Skagway in July and I'm not happy about it. We are going to Icy Strait Point that day instead... and it does not look appealing.

ISP is well known for excellent whale watching. so you may want to switch plans around if you were whale watching somewhere else.

[yankeemike1]

Our stop in July on the Quantum has just been cancelled, and we will be going to Icy Straits instead.

[Kathscof]

45 minutes ago, Hllb said:

ISP is well known for excellent whale watching. so you may want to switch plans around if you were whale watching somewhere else.

That is a fantastic idea!  We are doing both ports and whale watching in both, but for folks who don't want to, it frees up Juneau for something else awesome! 

 

For all the ISP newbies, don't miss the Salvation Army donuts, the tribal dance presentation, the totem carver in Hoonah, and the Fisherman's Daughter Salmon Tacos! 🙂

[maritzarogerp]

1 hour ago, lindsay0526 said:

Yup, we just got cancellation for Skagway in July and I'm not happy about it. We are going to Icy Strait Point that day instead... and it does not look appealing.

We thought it was one of the best stops ever in Alaska