Statendam June 3 thoughts on Skagway

[nofrown]

I will be on the June 3 Statendam Alaska cruise which stops at Haines AK from 7:00 am to 4:00 pm. There are high speed ferry trips to Skagway but the HAL trips all then go someplace with little time in Skagway. We have been with HAL to AK but the in thing a number of years ago was Valdez so we have not gone to either Skagway or Haines.

That was the background. Now to the question. If I don't want to take a trip from Skagway but just stay in town is it worth going to Skagway at all or should I just stay in Haines? If the answer turns out to be "Yes go to Skagway but by all means go on a trip." which is the recommended trip?

[garydm]

I have not been to Haines so I would probably opt to stay there and check it out. If you do go to Skagway, you might consider renting a car and driving to Emerald Lake/Carcross, which is in Canada. It is a beautiful 2 hour or so ride each way on a great highway. We rented from Avis (Honda Accord) for about $60 per day with unlimited mileage. Avis is walking distance from the pier.

Gary

[c-cruise]

They are both very small towns who's real value is in the excursions they offer outside of town. It is fun to wander around the boardwalk in Skagway, but if you are not in to shopping there really isn't a lot in the town (imho). Skagway tends to feel extremely crowded when there are even a couple ships in port. Not nearly as many ships call at Haines so you may get lucky and be the only ship in port.

In my opion the White Pass and Yukon railroad trip in Skagway is not to be missed (if the weather is good).

[Budget Queen]

Both are worthwhile city's to explore. You don't really have a lot of time in port to get back and forth to Skagway - certainly not enough for a car rental. No guarantee you will get the first available ferry and you will have to be back on the ship by 3:30pm. If of interest, you can also drive into the Yukon on the Haines Highway? No major car rentals but at least 2 independents I have used. Rafting is just excellent here if of interest? Request their visitor guide- http://haines.ak.us/

[nofrown]

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and suggestions. The impression I get is that if the ship came into Skagway it would be nice to visit but I am not going to miss a whole lot if I don't visit. So it sounds like I either want to go on one of HAL's trips to Skagway in which case it is their problem to get me back to the ship in time or just stay in Haines. We are into more sedentary exercise than rafting so that is not an option but perhaps a car ride would be nice. And that is something we could decide at the last minute and if no car is available, so be it.

[Budget Queen]

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments and suggestions. The impression I get is that if the ship came into Skagway it would be nice to visit but I am not going to miss a whole lot if I don't visit. So it sounds like I either want to go on one of HAL's trips to Skagway in which case it is their problem to get me back to the ship in time or just stay in Haines. We are into more sedentary exercise than rafting so that is not an option but perhaps a car ride would be nice. And that is something we could decide at the last minute and if no car is available, so be it.


There will not be any cars available without reservations, Haines, that I know of, only have 2 independents with very limited number of cars.