"To The Summit" in Skagway

[BillyMetz]

Has anyone done the "To The Summit" tour through Princess? The Princess excursion site describes it as: Travel by mini-bus through historic Skagway to West White Pass summit in the St. Elias Range. The Klondike Highway is one of North America's most scenic mountain roads and parallels the historic White Pass railroad into the interior. Your local guide points out the sights and passes on a century's worth of White Pass stories. There are plenty of photo stops along the way, including Dead Horse Trail, the old Brackett Wagon Road, Pitchfork Falls, Moore Bridge and numerous glaciers and peaks.

 

We will not be able to do the White Pass RR for a number of reasons but am thinking this looks like a possible second option.

[Lovharvey]

I would have to go back and look at my pictures, but, I am pretty sure that this is the one that we did because we didn't have time to ride the train. We went into Canada and it was a very pretty drive. We stopped numerous times to take pictures and got a bunch of the train coming through. If you take this tour, I don't think you will be disappointed. Have fun. I am looking at flights now so I can try to plan a cruise to Alaska in Sept.:)

[Putterdude]

I have only done it by train but this sounds like a good second choice. You can certainly can see parts of the highway from the train and therefore visa-versa.

[NancyIL]

Not knowing the reason the train isn't an option, I will still suggest a rail/bus combo - either through the ship or booked with an independent vendor like Chilkoot Charters. (http://www.skagwaysbesttour.com/summitrail.htm) You get to view the beautiful scenery from the train as well as from the highway, and you'll make some stops on the bus portion of the trip.

[Yukon]

The trip you're looking at only goes to Mile 15.3 of the highway (technically you do go into Canada but the Canadian border crossing is at Mile 22.7). It's certainly still an impressive trip (and it's cheap), but the further you go, whether by train or bus/van the better it is. IMO the huge disadvantage of the Princess tours is that you're with a LOT of other people instead of independents with between 6 and 20 people. These tours are even easy to book when you get off the ship, as several companies are doing them.

[BillyMetz]

Thanks everyone for your information. The reason we are not doing the train is because we have a few in our group who are extremely afraid of heights and would not enjoy the trip. However we want to go to the White Pass Summit and see the sights along the way. The chance of there being fog, or other bad weather, the day we are in port also makes it less of a gamble financially to book the much cheaper bus instead of the train if the scenery is obscured along the way.

[Yukon]

The reason we are not doing the train is because we have a few in our group who are extremely afraid of heights and would not enjoy the trip.

 

How afraid? This is the view from the highway at the Summit - http://www.explorenorth.com/library/roads/images/wpsummit2.html

[vbmom87]

Thanks everyone for your information. The reason we are not doing the train is because we have a few in our group who are extremely afraid of heights and would not enjoy the trip. However we want to go to the White Pass Summit and see the sights along the way. The chance of there being fog, or other bad weather, the day we are in port also makes it less of a gamble financially to book the much cheaper bus instead of the train if the scenery is obscured along the way.

 

It is often suggested that when you travel with others, there is no reason everyone has to do the same excursions. Have you considered splitting up the group? We travelled in a group of five and Skagway was the only port we all did the same thing. Everyone got to do what they really wanted to do in each port. My sister went on one excursion all by herself because she was the only one interested in the tour. We all had a great time and we were each able to see Alaska the way we wanted. Just some food for thought.

[Budget Queen]

Thanks everyone for your information. The reason we are not doing the train is because we have a few in our group who are extremely afraid of heights and would not enjoy the trip. However we want to go to the White Pass Summit and see the sights along the way. The chance of there being fog, or other bad weather, the day we are in port also makes it less of a gamble financially to book the much cheaper bus instead of the train if the scenery is obscured along the way.

 

The "hights" are from the Klondike Highway as well. Frankly, split up from those who don't want to go?? I am not in favor of "group" travel in Alaska where the tour options are spectacular, varied and expensive, no sense in missing out or hauling someone with no interest.

 

With the cost of this, I think the too short, "summit" bus trips a poor value.

[Lovharvey]

We couldn't do the train because of time problems. We had taken another tour that morning and the afternoon train tour wouldn't get back in time for us to get back to the ship. The nice thing about this tour is that there were only about 8 of us and we able to stop where we wanted to. Our tour guide was great and pointed out some great spots to take pictures. When we go back to Alaska, we are going to do the train and skip some of the others. My Mother loved the train tour, so it is really a matter of personal choice. Enjoy your trip.:)

[kenish]

You might check with "Dyea Dave"; there is a current thread about his tours. He can arrange a tour customized to your interests and schedule for way less money than a tour arranged through the cruiseline.

[KRN]

We did a similar tour through Celebrity a few years ago. We choose this one because we had a 6 year old who wouldn't sit for a long ride - even on the train. This was a shorter excursion, very reasonable and we all enjoyed it. The scenery was beautiful and the tour guide very informative. This year we're going to take the train (now that the 6 year old will be 11). But for our needs, we were very pleased with the To the Summit tour.

 

Also, the one we went on was a minivan, not a large bus. The group size was small.

[NancyIL]

Since the OP is interested in a bus tour, there are private companies that also offer them:

 

Chilkoot Charters: http://www.skagwaysbesttour.com/

Southeast Tours: http://www.southeasttours.com/

Frontier Excursions: http://www.frontierexcursions.com

[qiangf2]

Have you considered the option of getting a rental car and drive up yourself? It gives you more flexibility