Skagway excursion timing question in regards to rock-slides construction

[endoellen]

I certainly hope that Radiance of the Seas will be able to dock in Skagway on May 14th!  I have booked with Chilkoot Charters for 12:30pm since our port time was listed as 7am-8pm.  This is one excursion I 

am really looking forward to.  We cruised many times with Royal & when disembarking in ports they

have always let passengers with Royal booked excursions off first.  So I would be afraid to have a 

very early time to meet up for an excursion.  But that is just my opinion!

 

Does anyone know or have a link to where I can find out what dock Radiance would be at on May 14th?  Thanks for any suggestions!

[Northern Aurora]

10 minutes ago, endoellen said:

.....

 

Does anyone know or have a link to where I can find out what dock Radiance would be at on May 14th?  Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Just "google" Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska.  You will easily find the 2024 docking schedules for all Alaska  cruise ports.

[endoellen]

26 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

Just "google" Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska.  You will easily find the 2024 docking schedules for all Alaska  cruise ports.

Thank you!  I found the docking schedule for all our 2023 Alaskan ports!

[jwbrmb522]

My family was on the Bliss the week of 4.15.23.  We booked our excursion through NCL and our meet time was 7:30 am on the ship. Our tour was scheduled to leave the parking lot at 8:30 a.m.  They had all of the early morning excursions in the theater and dismissed from there through the staff walkways to exit to the shuttle.  There is a bit of a walk on the pier inside shipping containers and then you are loaded onto the shuttle.  They did board to full capacity with people standing in the aisle.  They were using smaller shuttle type buses as well as one or two larger charter type buses to move people along the pier.  We were given stickers to make visible we were with an NCL tour group after disembarking the shuttle. This shuttle was free but only took you to the end of the pier.  The shuttle into Skagway from the parking lot had a fee. 

NCL announced the day before that if you were not on an NCL excursion and wanted off the ship prior to 11 a.m. you needed to obtain a shuttle ticket and groups would be announced.  Similar to a port where you need a tender ticket. 

We left the parking lot around 8:45 a.m. on our tour as we were waiting to see if a few missing people showed.  It looked like at the time it was still NCL booked groups arriving on the shuttles as most everyone had stickers.  

If your cruise line also gives priority to excursions booked through the ship it could be a bit of a gamble trying to get a shuttle ticket/ off the ship within the first hour or two.  

[naturelovergirl]

@jwbrmb522

Thank you for your insight

I feel that hearing and reading people’s actual experiences as the Alaska cruise season continues to ramp up helps all of us

[Kathscof]

I emailed Chilkoot about our 7am arrival into RRF for a 7:30am tour, and she said that since they had this situation last year as long as you are on top of it and get a tender ticket in a timely manner, you should be fine and they are aware of things......

 

so, I will be up and rarin to go to get my tickets asap! haha

[Yankeegirl49]

3 hours ago, Kathscof said:

I emailed Chilkoot about our 7am arrival into RRF for a 7:30am tour, and she said that since they had this situation last year as long as you are on top of it and get a tender ticket in a timely manner, you should be fine and they are aware of things......

 

so, I will be up and rarin to go to get my tickets asap! haha

I emailed them about the same and was told that since there was only one ship so far they are still working things out and hopefully within the next few weeks they will have a better idea of how things are going. 
I will be there 5/19 and like you, will do what I need to to ensure I have my tickets. 

[Kathscof]

35 minutes ago, Yankeegirl49 said:

I emailed them about the same and was told that since there was only one ship so far they are still working things out and hopefully within the next few weeks they will have a better idea of how things are going. 
I will be there 5/19 and like you, will do what I need to to ensure I have my tickets. 

I'll be keeping an eye on y'all then, as I will be there May 29th 🙂 

[StrikeEagle]

41 minutes ago, Yankeegirl49 said:

I emailed them about the same and was told that since there was only one ship so far they are still working things out and hopefully within the next few weeks they will have a better idea of how things are going. 
I will be there 5/19 and like you, will do what I need to to ensure I have my tickets. 

Which ship will you be on?  Please let us know how it goes

[Yankeegirl49]

3 minutes ago, StrikeEagle said:

Which ship will you be on?  Please let us know how it goes

Carnival Miracle, I will be sure to post and let you all know how its working at that time.

[StrikeEagle]

3 minutes ago, Yankeegirl49 said:

Carnival Miracle, I will be sure to post and let you all know how its working at that time.

I heard something about ships that scheduled to dock a Rail Rock aft will dock there and there are buses take passengers go past the construction and drop them off.

[StrikeEagle]

We can monitor if the ship scheduled to dock at Rail Rock dock aft will actual dock there or tender by using this live Marine Traffic map tracker along with the port schedule.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-135.325/centery:59.448/zoom:15

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

[Yankeegirl49]

Just now, StrikeEagle said:

I heard something about ships that scheduled to dock a Rail Rock aft will dock there and there are buses take passengers go past the construction and drop them off.

Yes thats how it worked when the Bliss docked last week. My concern is that should the ship decide those with excursions booked directly through them get priority debarkation, we wont get a bus early enough to make the 7:30 excursion. I know many people on the ship have the same excursion booked so I cannot imagine Chilkoot not waiting or changing things up a bit if they see this is a problem.

[Kathscof]

22 minutes ago, Yankeegirl49 said:

Yes thats how it worked when the Bliss docked last week. My concern is that should the ship decide those with excursions booked directly through them get priority debarkation, we wont get a bus early enough to make the 7:30 excursion. I know many people on the ship have the same excursion booked so I cannot imagine Chilkoot not waiting or changing things up a bit if they see this is a problem.

we're on that 7:30 one as well, May 29th....I know it coincides with the rail schedule, the rail might realize it will be harder to get everyone on in time and move it back....one could only hope! haha

[Yankeegirl49]

16 minutes ago, Kathscof said:

we're on that 7:30 one as well, May 29th....I know it coincides with the rail schedule, the rail might realize it will be harder to get everyone on in time and move it back....one could only hope! haha

I guess we shall see. I will make sure to let you know how it goes on the 19th. No matter what happens I will make the best of it. Im excited to be checking a whole lot of things off my bucket list.

[ship2short]

15 hours ago, endoellen said:

I certainly hope that Radiance of the Seas will be able to dock in Skagway on May 14th!  I have booked with Chilkoot Charters for 12:30pm since our port time was listed as 7am-8pm.  This is one excursion I 

am really looking forward to.  We cruised many times with Royal & when disembarking in ports they

have always let passengers with Royal booked excursions off first.  So I would be afraid to have a 

very early time to meet up for an excursion.  But that is just my opinion!

 

Does anyone know or have a link to where I can find out what dock Radiance would be at on May 14th?  Thanks for any suggestions!

Please keep us informed.  Radiance of the Sea on May 14 is the first ship of the season scheduled to be at the Railroad dock forward berth on a day in which 4 ships are scheduled to be in port.  We'll all want to know about any pre-announced schedule changes and the mechanics of "hot berthing" on your port day.

[eileeshb]

RRF = Railroad Forward is the berth that’s the open question right now as that’s the one Ship Rock could hit if it falls. A ship can’t move quickly enough to dodge if it drops so the local authorities have to convince the cruise lines scheduled for that berth it’s safe. 

RRA = railroad Aft is the berth that’s been used by NCL last week and this week with the shuttle buses. 

[SuzieQ521]

4 hours ago, eileeshb said:

RRF = Railroad Forward is the berth that’s the open question right now as that’s the one Ship Rock could hit if it falls. A ship can’t move quickly enough to dodge if it drops so the local authorities have to convince the cruise lines scheduled for that berth it’s safe. 

RRA = railroad Aft is the berth that’s been used by NCL last week and this week with the shuttle buses. 

 

Thanks for the info.

Our Royal Princess is currently set to be at RRF all day on May 23rd. I would assume that the only alternate berth that could fit a ship of this size is RRA?

[wolfie11]

36 minutes ago, SuzieQ521 said:

 

Thanks for the info.

Our Royal Princess is currently set to be at RRF all day on May 23rd. I would assume that the only alternate berth that could fit a ship of this size is RRA?

You are in with the Solstice.  As both ships are over 1000 feet, be prepared to hot berth (spend half the day there instead of the full day).

[SuzieQ521]

31 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

You are in with the Solstice.  As both ships are over 1000 feet, be prepared to hot berth (spend half the day there instead of the full day).

 

Yes, you're probably correct.

 

One would think they will tell us soon to let us make changes to any reservations; as of now, our itinerary still shows a full day.  We are doing white pass railroad in the morning so will see what happens...

Thanks

[endoellen]

5 hours ago, eileeshb said:

RRF = Railroad Forward is the berth that’s the open question right now as that’s the one Ship Rock could hit if it falls. A ship can’t move quickly enough to dodge if it drops so the local authorities have to convince the cruise lines scheduled for that berth it’s safe. 

RRA = railroad Aft is the berth that’s been used by NCL last week and this week with the shuttle buses. 

Well this is depressing news.... Radiance is scheduled to dock there on May 14th.  We have had no notice from Royal as of yet that the port may be cancelled or time change.  From everything I've read recently trying to reach Royal for any information is next to impossible!

[endoellen]

13 hours ago, Kathscof said:

I emailed Chilkoot about our 7am arrival into RRF for a 7:30am tour, and she said that since they had this situation last year as long as you are on top of it and get a tender ticket in a timely manner, you should be fine and they are aware of things......

 

so, I will be up and rarin to go to get my tickets asap! haha

I certainly hope they get things worked out! Our ship Radiance will be at RRF dock on May 14th if it doesn't get cancelled all together.  And now I'm finding out that is where Ship Rock is located! Yikes!

Radiance is a smaller ship so hoping we won't have to miss this port.  I've been looking forward to this port & excursion with Chilkoot!  Our excursion is at 12:30pm & with my luck we'll probably be switched to docking 1/2 day in early morning....

The instructions I have from Chilkoot for Railroad dock is to walk to the end of the pier and go through security checkpoint to the "Skagway Small Boat Harbor" sign near public restrooms.  I'm wondering if

this will be different due to the construction??

So far we have not received any changes from Royal.  I sure hope they don't wait & spring the changes on us after boarding.  I don't plan on paying for wifi on the ship & we would need to be able to communicate with Chilkoot charters.

[Kathscof]

8 hours ago, endoellen said:

I certainly hope they get things worked out! Our ship Radiance will be at RRF dock on May 14th if it doesn't get cancelled all together.  And now I'm finding out that is where Ship Rock is located! Yikes!

Radiance is a smaller ship so hoping we won't have to miss this port.  I've been looking forward to this port & excursion with Chilkoot!  Our excursion is at 12:30pm & with my luck we'll probably be switched to docking 1/2 day in early morning....

The instructions I have from Chilkoot for Railroad dock is to walk to the end of the pier and go through security checkpoint to the "Skagway Small Boat Harbor" sign near public restrooms.  I'm wondering if

this will be different due to the construction??

So far we have not received any changes from Royal.  I sure hope they don't wait & spring the changes on us after boarding.  I don't plan on paying for wifi on the ship & we would need to be able to communicate with Chilkoot charters.

As they shared with me, they did this exact situation last year, parking at RRF and tendering....so it’s possible, and they expect to do that again.  Unless there is something completely crazy that happens, their plans are still in place.  There’s nothing really to “work out” unless something changes.  Don’t fret about anything that hasn’t happened yet 🙂 

[SportsFanatic]

On 4/24/2023 at 6:26 PM, wolfie11 said:

There is a good possibility that the ships will be hot berthing.  One ship will come in and tie up for 5-6 hours and then leave while the other ship comes in and stays their 5-6 hours.  Operationally, this is the safest solution, since if there was a major slide, the forward ship would have little chance to get off the dock before being hit.  This would negatively impact passengers' experience in Skagway, as given that at least an hour would be needed to get people off and bus them to the parking lot and then back, maximum time for tours would be limited to 3 or 4 hours.  Another possibility might be to dock and discharge passengers then anchor out and allow another ship to dock, but I haven't seen this discussed anywhere.  

 

Many of the tours go over to Haines.  I don't know how these will operate given that it is around 1.5 hours transit to Haines and back unless the ship stops by Haines to pick them up.

 

I don't think anyone knows for sure how this will be resolved.  It will probably evolve during the season or there could be a big landslide and the dock could close permanently.  I think we just have to wait and see and roll with the punches..  

 

Please support local tour companies and businesses if you can.  Covid literally closed the town down and now this.  

I don’t think our ship will be hot berthing . In fact, the extended the time in Port showing an additional 15 minutes.

Edited April 27, 2023 by SportsFanatic

[SportsFanatic]

10 hours ago, endoellen said:

I certainly hope they get things worked out! Our ship Radiance will be at RRF dock on May 14th if it doesn't get cancelled all together.  And now I'm finding out that is where Ship Rock is located! Yikes!

Radiance is a smaller ship so hoping we won't have to miss this port.  I've been looking forward to this port & excursion with Chilkoot!  Our excursion is at 12:30pm & with my luck we'll probably be switched to docking 1/2 day in early morning....

The instructions I have from Chilkoot for Railroad dock is to walk to the end of the pier and go through security checkpoint to the "Skagway Small Boat Harbor" sign near public restrooms.  I'm wondering if

this will be different due to the construction??

So far we have not received any changes from Royal.  I sure hope they don't wait & spring the changes on us after boarding.  I don't plan on paying for wifi on the ship & we would need to be able to communicate with Chilkoot charters.

We have an excursion booked with another tour company, and our instructions were also to meet at the small boat harbor. As it gets closer, I will ask if there is an update.