Seward adventures pre-Anchorage flight

[MommaK2D2]

Looking for something to do between our cruise debarkation in the morning and our 11:45pm flight out of Anchorage on May 8. The train and many of the busses are not yet running until 5/15  on Monday’s.  Renting a car one way looks like >$500 which is not appealing. 
    One option we have considered is doing a morning Kenai Fjord boat tour. I would love to do their longer tours but the going early in the season the latest bus we have found is 2:30.  Seward Ocean Excursions half day boat tour we could try though (8:30-12:30) and then getting the last ACT bus to anchorage leaving at 2:30.   Does anyone know if we will have time to debark and find a taxi to the get to the tour harbor to get there by 8am?  I am very interested in this if the logistics can be worked out.   And in info on how the taxi or Uber system works on Seward. 

    The second option would be staying with the cruise line transfer we originally added, and then renting a car at ANC to adventure around anchorage for the day (<$100), which would give us a spot for luggage (and to recline and nap in if needed). I am sure the cruise line has multiple times their transfers leave, but I don’t know how to guess when ours will be in order to set a “pick up time”  at the rental car place. 
   Does anyone have any experience that might help us with planning?

        

[Northern Aurora]

Seward is very compact. The distance from the cruise terminal to harbor is short.  Th ere is a taxi service in Seward but whether there will be Uber is variable.  In small Alaskan  communities  Uber is frequently not offered.

 

Your best option may be taking the cruise line transfer to Anchorage.  Is this a motor coach transfer and if so does it include a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center?  Assuming no delays for road construction the drive between Anchorage and Seward takes about two hours and fifteen minutes.

 

 

 

[MommaK2D2]

13 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

Seward is very compact. The distance from the cruise terminal to harbor is short.  Th ere is a taxi service in Seward but whether there will be Uber is variable.  In small Alaskan  communities  Uber is frequently not offered.

 

Your best option may be taking the cruise line transfer to Anchorage.  Is this a motor coach transfer and if so does it include a stop at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center?  Assuming no delays for road construction the drive between Anchorage and Seward takes about two hours and fifteen minutes.

 

 

 

Since it’s early in the season the cruise line contracts with ACT. not sure if they stop at the wildlife or not (last cruise we booked the wildlife tour stop via cruise excursions, but NCL doesn’t show any “excursions” or options from debarking other than a generic “airport transfer” which I assume is the direct bus)?    I don’t know exactly what times the transfers leave to head to the ship- NCL hasn’t provided any info on that, so knowing the 2 hours ish doesn’t give me much info on when we would arrive….  
   
    

[libtrek]

We took the shuttle to the airport. There is a luggage storage place at the airport - fairly cheap. We took Uber to town and shopped, ate. Uber back to airport, pick up luggage and flew red eye home.

[AKJonesy]

10 hours ago, libtrek said:

We took the shuttle to the airport. There is a luggage storage place at the airport - fairly cheap. We took Uber to town and shopped, ate. Uber back to airport, pick up luggage and flew red eye home.

This is a good option

[GTJ]

On 4/1/2023 at 9:15 PM, MommaK2D2 said:

Looking for something to do between our cruise debarkation in the morning and our 11:45pm flight out of Anchorage on May 8. * * * [T]he latest bus we have found is 2:30. Seward Ocean Excursions half day boat tour we could try though (8:30-12:30) and then getting the last ACT bus to anchorage leaving at 2:30. Does anyone know if we will have time to debark and find a taxi to the get to the tour harbor to get there by 8am?

Your research, with respect to the last departure from Seward at 2:30 p.m., is accurate. As to making your way to Seward Ocean Tours, their location is at the boat harbor, dock "M," at the most southeastern part of the harbor (immediately north of the Seward Mariner’s Memorial). If I were to this excursion, I would likely walk from the cruise ship terminal to the boat harbor. It is just over one mile (allow half and hour at ordinary walking speed), and walking is much more reliable than having to depend on taxi service.

 

On 4/2/2023 at 12:16 PM, MommaK2D2 said:

Since it’s early in the season the cruise line contracts with ACT. Not sure if they stop at the wildlife or not (last cruise we booked the wildlife tour stop via cruise excursions, but NCL doesn’t show any “excursions” or options from debarking other than a generic “airport transfer” which I assume is the direct bus)? I don’t know exactly what times the transfers leave to head to the ship- NCL hasn’t provided any info on that, so knowing the 2 hours ish doesn’t give me much info on when we would arrive….

I had thought that NCL made its transfer arrangements with Premier Alaska Tours, Inc., rather than A Alaska Cruise Transfer and Tours LLC, but, of course, as a broker NCL can readily change carriers from one to another. Are you certain about ACT?

 

The standard travel time for transfers from Seward to the Anchorage airport is 2 hours 30 minutes. The ACT departure at 2:30 p.m. is direct, with an arrival time at the airport at 5:00 p.m., and with additional stops in downtown Anchorage between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. The NCL-arranged transfer would certainly include service direct to the airport, but the times during which transfers would be provided, whether NCL would also arrange additional transfers that include a stop at the wildlife center, or if service continuing onward to downtown Anchorage would be provided, are all questions that only NCL can answer . . . and yet I would not expect any of their telephone sales agents to have any useful information. Given that nearly all passengers on the entire vessel will be dependent on NCL's transfer, I would anticipate a continuous stream of bus departures. I would expect that buses would depart Seward as loaded, as opposed to a firmly fixed schedule, and thus dependent on how disembarkation proceeds on that specific morning. In any event, I would expect that the last NCL-arranged transfer to depart Seward at around 11:30 a.m. (such a departure would arrive at the airport at 2:00 p.m., turn-around with an airport departure at 2:30 p.m., arriving back at Seward at 5:00 p.m., in time for NCL's departure from Seward at 8:00 p.m.), but this is entirely speculative on my part.

[wolfie11]

Last summer there was a free shuttle bus that looped from the dock and train station through downtown Seward to the Sea Life Center and up to the Safeway store.  I don't know how early in the season it starts though.

[MommaK2D2]

1 hour ago, GTJ said:

Your research, with respect to the last departure from Seward at 2:30 p.m., is accurate. As to making your way to Seward Ocean Tours, their location is at the boat harbor, dock "M," at the most southeastern part of the harbor (immediately north of the Seward Mariner’s Memorial). If I were to this excursion, I would likely walk from the cruise ship terminal to the boat harbor. It is just over one mile (allow half and hour at ordinary walking speed), and walking is much more reliable than having to depend on taxi service.

 

I had thought that NCL made its transfer arrangements with Premier Alaska Tours, Inc., rather than A Alaska Cruise Transfer and Tours LLC, but, of course, as a broker NCL can readily change carriers from one to another. Are you certain about ACT?

 

The standard travel time for transfers from Seward to the Anchorage airport is 2 hours 30 minutes. The ACT departure at 2:30 p.m. is direct, with an arrival time at the airport at 5:00 p.m., and with additional stops in downtown Anchorage between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. The NCL-arranged transfer would certainly include service direct to the airport, but the times during which transfers would be provided, whether NCL would also arrange additional transfers that include a stop at the wildlife center, or if service continuing onward to downtown Anchorage would be provided, are all questions that only NCL can answer . . . and yet I would not expect any of their telephone sales agents to have any useful information. Given that nearly all passengers on the entire vessel will be dependent on NCL's transfer, I would anticipate a continuous stream of bus departures. I would expect that buses would depart Seward as loaded, as opposed to a firmly fixed schedule, and thus dependent on how disembarkation proceeds on that specific morning. In any event, I would expect that the last NCL-arranged transfer to depart Seward at around 11:30 a.m. (such a departure would arrive at the airport at 2:00 p.m., turn-around with an airport departure at 2:30 p.m., arriving back at Seward at 5:00 p.m., in time for NCL's departure from Seward at 8:00 p.m.), but this is entirely speculative on my part.

Thank you so much! This is very helpful!  I have booked the 2:30 bus and an 8:30-12:30 kenai boat!  Getting excited. Haven’t seen any reviews about Seward Ocean excursions,  but the timing is good. (The bigger companies aren’t running their early boats until later in the season).     The only thing yet to figure is luggage…they don’t have a place to store it like the bigger tours. They mentioned orange bike deliveries has a luggage service where the will pick up/store/deliver your things so may have to look into that. We will each have a carryon sized rolling suitcase 😬. And it doesnt sound like the port has the ability to store luggage

[MommaK2D2]

29 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

Last summer there was a free shuttle bus that looped from the dock and train station through downtown Seward to the Sea Life Center and up to the Safeway store.  I don't know how early in the season it starts though.

Thanks so much- this is good info about the shuttle. My sis and I are only in our 40s so are fine to walk, but my dad doesn’t do as well on longer distances. 

[libtrek]

So we booked June 12 cruise today. We reserved a room at the Seward Breeze hotel for the 19th and will tour the town and enjoy fish dinner at the bar by the hotel. Will take a shuttle to Anchorage on the 20th. Depending on time of arrival, we will check bags at airport and tour Anchorage until midnight flight. ML

[adventuremom1970]

Loved Seward.  I ended up on a fishing charter with them a few years back with my family. Great town, and Seward Breeze Hotel is a great spot for chatting with locals

[libtrek]

17 hours ago, adventuremom1970 said:

Loved Seward.  I ended up on a fishing charter with them a few years back with my family. Great town, and Seward Breeze Hotel is a great spot for chatting with locals

Well, plans change. I discovered the shuttles don’t run often on non-cruise days. So booked train transfer for after cruise. Now have hotel in Anchorage and will visit museums until flight.