Alaskan Railroad - Question

[bunnybear]

We are taking the train from Anchorage to Seward to meet the Celebrity Summit on September 3rd. There are no seats listed. Is it first come first serve on the seating or are the seats assigned at check in?

 

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

Karen in Houston

[42trvl]

We have made reservations for this trip in a couple of weeks, also to take the Summit southbound cruise from Seward. I was told by a rep at the RR that we would be given our seat assignments when we checked in.

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

When we were on the Ryndam a couple of years ago, we took the train from Anchorage to Seward. Both cruise lines use the same train. So many cars were assigned to HAL and so many to RCI.

Once we got on our car, there weren't any assigned seats. We ended up in the cocktail car with another couple from RCI who had lived where we come from.

:)

[42trvl]

My understanding is that the cruise lines have their assigned cars when you are booking through them, however, ours was done directly with the Alaska Railroad and they will assign seats to their own passengers, separate from the cruise lines. You are then able to move about the train to certain other cars.

[Poohb]

Just got back from Summit Southbound. Boarded private Celebrity doomed cars in Fairbanks to Denali and again Denali to Talkeetna. The upper domed section is for seating. Lots of room for passengers, not for luggage. The lower section with large windows is for dining. There were 2 Celeb cars and we had 3 busses so 1 1/2 bus of ppl into each car. We had to stay in the same traincar for the whole trip. They were full but very comfortable. As we boarded they asked us to walk forward & take the forward most seats so those boarding behind us didn't have to walk past and cause a bottle-neck. The rear stairs are for us the front stairs are for staff only. Bathrooms & small outside platform for smoking or viewing are downstairs. It is a lovely trip. Hope you enjoy as much as we did. If you are booking thru Alaska RR, the dome sections is much smaller and I'm not sure how the seating arrangements are.

[KRN]

We just took the train from Seward to Anchorage. We booked directly with Alaska RR. The seats were assigned. They printed our boarding passes separately from another family we were traveling with and we ended up in different cars. There was room in our car and the conductors were very accomodating in allowing them to move. You were free to move around to any available seats (which there may not be any). The seats in the dome section were not assigned - they were open for people to move up into as they wished.

 

I was very impressed with Alaska RR. I wish the northeast corridor trains were half as pleasant to ride.

[Budget Queen]

Seats are assigned before you get on the train. IF you are on the regular run of the ARR- strongly consider a 11:30am Kenai fjords boat trip- just a top tour in the area and opportunities for close up viewing of varied wildlife not viewable from your cruiseship.