Prince William Sound advice needed

[UF G8R]

2 weeks from tomorrow we depart for anchorage! We have been planning for nearly a year and it is almost here.

On Monday June 2 we are taking the train from Anchorage to Whittier, which I think departs at 10 and arrives at 12:20. We will be traveling on the Coral Princess and I believe that will be the only large ship in Whittier that day.

I have decided not to book in advance because if the weather is bad I prefer to skip it. But if the weather is OK, I would like to take a Prince William Sound cruise but need advice about logistics. Previous advice has told me that I can walk with my bags to the ship but:

• Should I board the ship and then leave it to get a PWS cruise?
  
• Should I stow my luggage someplace else instead of the ship?
  
• Will I have enough time to board the ship and then find a day cruise?

Any and all advice will be appreciated.

[Budget Queen]

Tag your bags properly for the ship before you get on the train and they will be delivered to your cabin without you. With you NOT booking in advance, I suggest, you either get yourself to the boat operators timely and see if there is any availability rather than wasting time getting on and off the ship. Better would be to have phone numbers and call when you get there. You don't want to be lugging anything more than a light carry on.

[UF G8R]

It sounds scary, give my bags up on the train and expect to see them in my stateroom? There is a program for that?

 

I love the idea about getting the phone numbers into my cell so I can call as soon as we get off the train.

 

Any other thoughts? I was optimisitc that I'll be able to get on a boat without reservations because we are the only ship in port that day. What am I missing?

[inkmahm]

2 weeks from tomorrow we depart for anchorage! We have been planning for nearly a year and it is almost here.

 

On Monday June 2 we are taking the train from Anchorage to Whittier, which I think departs at 10 and arrives at 12:20. We will be traveling on the Coral Princess and I believe that will be the only large ship in Whittier that day.

 

I have decided not to book in advance because if the weather is bad I prefer to skip it. But if the weather is OK, I would like to take a Prince William Sound cruise but need advice about logistics. Previous advice has told me that I can walk with my bags to the ship but:

 

• Should I board the ship and then leave it to get a PWS cruise?
  
• Should I stow my luggage someplace else instead of the ship?
  
• Will I have enough time to board the ship and then find a day cruise?

Any and all advice will be appreciated.

 

Whittier is a rain forrest and there's a really good chance it will be raining. I think it rains something like 20 FEET per year there. (We learned this on our PWS trip back in 2005.) Even if it is raining, GO! You'll never get as close to the glaciers on the cruise ship as you will on a smaller boat in PWS. We added a day to the beginning of our cruisetour this year just so we could do an independent trip to PWS to do the 26 glacier tour.

 

My advice would be to book in advance and GO. You really don't want to miss the opportunity to be so much closer to the scenery than you will be on the huge ship. There is no comparison between the two.

[Coral]

This was a couple of years ago but we couldn't decide to book the 26 glaciers or PWS cruise. We decided to wait until we were on the ship (doing a B2B from Vancouver). I called both companies and they both indicated they didn't want walk-ups but wanted a call early that day or the day before (this was very early in the season and there was space on both).

 

It turned out that Princess wanted us off the ship that turn around day so they had all of us on a B2B go on the PWS trip and they paid for it. It all worked out well because we couldn't decide which one to go on.

 

So I would call and see if they will take walk ups and also check on availability. One of the companies did not have the ability to pay for the reservations in Whittier and it had to be handled at the Anchorage office. Sorry I don't remember which one.

[Coral]

 

Any other thoughts? I was optimisitc that I'll be able to get on a boat without reservations because we are the only ship in port that day. What am I missing?

 

The majority of people who book both of these tours are not necessarily cruise people out of Whittier. The majority of them are doing day trips out of Anchorage.

 

BTW - I don't think there is ever more then 1 cruise ship in Whittier. These tours often fill up with no ships in Whittier.

[Budget Queen]

It sounds scary, give my bags up on the train and expect to see them in my stateroom? There is a program for that?

 

I love the idea about getting the phone numbers into my cell so I can call as soon as we get off the train.

 

Any other thoughts? I was optimisitc that I'll be able to get on a boat without reservations because we are the only ship in port that day. What am I missing?

 

Yes, there is a "program" for your bags going to the ship in Whittier. IF you don't want to consider this, then don't. Use your time, to claim your bags and take it to the ship yourself.

 

As already mentioned, PWS tours are gone on by far more people than cruiseship passengers. Also they are very popular and more known by those ship passengers as well, who a few years ago, didn't even know about them.

[Glaciers]

We took a PWS cruise yesterday out of Whittier. We were pretty full. There were many day trippers from Anchorage as well as several folks who were departing on the Diamond Princess that evening. There were also several who were departing on a Holland departure on Sunday out of Seward.

 

As for the cruise, it was a gorgeous day and the waters were very calm. We saw a humpback whale, several bald eagles, dophins, kittiwake rookery and several rafts of sea otters.

 

The highlight was Surprise Glaicer. We were incredibly close at 1/4 mile. It seemed much closer due to the massive size. We could have stayed there all day.