Alaska May 13 - 20

[thawan]

Ketchikan. The Sun tendered, we had never tendered before but the Sun crew made it painless. We just did a walking tour on our own, including Creek street, interesting little shops. We made it a point to go to Cedar Chest Fine Arts & Gifts on Main St. (we were there last year). A very nice selection of reasonably priced souvenirs. I got a pair of earrings to go with the necklace I got last year. Must have been in the mid 70f when we sailed away.

 

Juneau. We just did a walkabout, then about 11am it started raining – hard. So we went back to the ship to get ready for our Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer excursion. That catamaran sure can move, so if prone to seasickness, take something. We did not get all the way in to Sawyer glacier, two more turns and we would have. But on the way to Tracy arm we saw whales!!. The catamaran stopped for about 15 min. We saw them breeching. It was like they were putting on a show just for us, saying come on in and play the waters fine.

 

Skagway: We were docked at the Ore dock, which was not a problem. We had booked the Glacier Point Wilderness Safari but when we got to the cabin there was a notice that it had been cancelled due to the fact that the lake was still frozen.

 

So the second choice was the Ultimate Yukon and White Pass Railroad. What a delightful trip. There were 3 big buses waiting for us. Very comfortable seats, lot of leg room (dh is 6’ 3”) individual airflow. The young girl (looked 17 & maybe a 100lbs) collecting the tickets was actually our bus driver. The first thing she said after she introduced herself was that she was fully qualified and had been training for 3 months. Karly was absolutely delightful, pointing out what we were seeing and giving history of the passing scenery. We could not have asked for a better guide.

 

Our first stop was Caribou Crossing and a wonderful lunch, barbeque chicken, baked potato, coleslaw, coffee and tea. I saw the 4 other buses and thought oh great we are going to spend half the time here waiting in line to get some food, not going to happen, we’ll have our granola bars first. But we got in line and it was a slow walk and they had lots of tables to sit at. We only got to see the gift shop (wanting something to prove we were in the Yukon) but the other buildings looked interesting.

 

Our second stop was Car Crossing. All I will say is interesting, but beautiful scenery. We then drove to Emerald Lake, It was about 10% frozen, but we able to see the colour. Karly then drove us to Frazer to catch the train. Which was delightful, Dh spent the whole trip on the transom.

 

We took a lot of pictures from inside the bus, Karly told us they were specially designed from Kodak. If you angled the camera slightly you would not get window reflection, but the best was dh sitting on the isle seat, using the zoom to get past ppl..

 

For those that do not want to drive, I would highly recommend this tour.

[cajun-crazy]

Thank you for taking the time to post that. I appreciated it!

[cjnky]

Great report! Thanks!

[debbieinva]

thawan, was the train ride with princess? I didnt see one that would also go to Emerald Lake. That sounds like a nice trip...

debbie

[thawan]

We booked threw NCL. But there was a Princes bus that was doing the same route. We all kinda traveled together (saftey in #'s) It was a good thing for one of our buses. First one leaving Car Cross got stuck in the sand up to the axcels, (only the main road is paved) The cell phones on our buses didn't work , but the Princes driver had a satlite phone, so we were able to phone for help. DH and I are sure he was at Emerald Lake with us.

 

We went on to the train and they sent a bus to pick up the stranded bus passingers. The train waited for them. And they were only about 15min behind us. So we think the spare bus was at Frazer, were the train is.

 

Anyway I just looked at the Princes web sight and they call it the Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway. $179.pp SGY 009

 

 

Hope this helps

 

ps the Princes bus only had 10 people in it. :)

[qiangf2]

 

We took a lot of pictures from inside the bus, Karly told us they were specially designed from Kodak. If you angled the camera slightly you would not get window reflection, but the best was dh sitting on the isle seat, using the zoom to get past ppl..

 

Reminds me that I need to bring my polarizer with my camera. Thanks..

[debbieinva]

Thawan, thank you so much for the information. I wasn't sure that the bus would make it all the way to emerald lake. We are debating now to do that trip or just go ahead and rent a car that day.....I alway feel saver doing an excursion with princess so if we are late they hold the ship!!! but I see lots of people do rent the cars and go off on thier own......

debbie

[tall traveler]

We will be in Skagway with Golden the middle of June and are debating whether we should take this trip or the one that is round trip by bus rather than taking the train back. For those who have done either please give me some info. There is a price difference of around $70.00 pp. with the train return. Is it worth it? Thanks.

[kellywhitehills]

<<Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer excursion. That catamaran sure can move, so if prone to seasickness, take something. We did not get all the way in to Sawyer glacier, two more turns and we would have.>>

 

What tour company did you go through and why didnt you get all the way throgh to the glaciers??

[thawan]

We will be in Skagway with Golden the middle of June and are debating whether we should take this trip or the one that is round trip by bus rather than taking the train back. For those who have done either please give me some info. There is a price difference of around $70.00 pp. with the train return. Is it worth it? Thanks.

 

I think from Skagway to Frazer (Canadian border) the bus and train parrellel each other, one on each side of the river. Once at the border there is a mountain range between the two, so you get two different views. So you get to see more by doing the rr/bus. My dh is a train buff, so that was a consideration. :)

 

ps The train does not offer free bottle water anymore, just a water cooler

[thawan]

<<Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer excursion. That catamaran sure can move, so if prone to seasickness, take something. We did not get all the way in to Sawyer glacier, two more turns and we would have.>>

 

What tour company did you go through and why didnt you get all the way throgh to the glaciers??[/quote

 

This excursion can only be done by a ship that goes into Tracy Arm, I heard it was an NCL exclusive, but don't know if that was hype or not. NCL Sun (Vancouver return) and one of the NCL Seatle return ships.

 

The reason it's offered, is that we got back on the Sun IN Tracy Arm. Tracy Arm is not all that wide and I knew there was a 0 chance that the Sun would make it all the way. And when I booked the excursion a 50-50 chance the catamaran would, waaay to many ice burgs. If I did it right I've attatched a picture,