Westmark Anchorage

[Hoosierheadhunter]

It seems to me that I read somewhere that HAL has a desk/representative inside the Westmark Anchorage Hotel. Can someone confirm that?:confused: If so, do they do ship check-in there? If anyone has taken the cruisetrain from Anchorage to Seward before, can you describe the routine for me? Do you take your luggage with you? How far from the terminal is the cruise ship? Is check in facilitated because you arrive later? We leave in two weeks. . .that is if we ever get our cruise documents:mad:. In fact, that is the point of my question about the rep at the hotel. It would be a relief to know that someone was available to assist you with the rest of the trip if we didn't get our documents in time.


Hoosierheadhunter

[dakrewser]

It seems to me that I read somewhere that HAL has a desk/representative inside the Westmark Anchorage Hotel. Can someone confirm that?:confused: If so, do they do ship check-in there? If anyone has taken the cruisetrain from Anchorage to Seward before, can you describe the routine for me? Do you take your luggage with you? How far from the terminal is the cruise ship? Is check in facilitated because you arrive later? We leave in two weeks. . .that is if we ever get our cruise documents:mad:. In fact, that is the point of my question about the rep at the hotel. It would be a relief to know that someone was available to assist you with the rest of the trip if we didn't get our documents in time.

Yes, HAL owns the hotel and has a permanent desk in the lobby.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That's where we stayed for one of our HAL cruises. At that time there was no pre-check in for the ship at the hotel. When you get to the hotel, you will be given a packet telling you when to have your luggage outside the door on the morning you go to the train. All luggage is collected and put on a truck and taken to the ship that way. Keep your carry-on with you. Once the train arrives from Seward, those people are put onto buses for the various hotels, etc. As those people are dropped off, those going on the train to Seward get on. I am assuming that you bought the train tickets through HAL. When we did this, the train left at 1. We were suppose to have gotten into Seward at 5 - we got there at 6:45. This train goes right to the cruise ships. Then we all dashed from the train to the check-in and dashed onto the ship. At that time life boat drill was at 7:15 - we just barely made it - others did not and had to attend the one the next day. Hopefully things have changed since we did that train. It went so slow.

[Hoosierheadhunter]

Krazy Kruizers, thanks. Do you remember if you had to reclaim your luggage after you got off the cruise train? I couldn't tell from your post if you enjoyed the cruise train experience or not. The last time I was in Alaska, I took the coach and the scenery was beautiful. I thought we would try something different. Would you recommend it?

Hoosierheadhunter

[Krazy Kruizers]

[B][I]The luggage was taken by truck to the ship. It was already in the cabin by the time we got there. Our cabin stweard told us that it had arrived by 2 PM.

We would never take the train again. It was too long of a time on it. They closed the bar and food areas around 4:30. We watched the buses passing us by since the railroad and highway parallel each other much of the way. The train people were the last to arrive at the ship. By the time we finished with lifeboat drill, we had to wait until 8 to have dinner. Others have taken the train and got there by 5 PM and loved it. No one ever told us why we were so late. The train was packed. There were 4 cars assigned to HAL and 4 cars for RCI.

[Hoosierheadhunter]

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience on the cruise train. Hopefully, that was a one time problem. 5 years ago, we did Alaska with a week land tour that included train travel from Fairbanks to Anchorage and enjoyed it very much. Anyway, thanks for sharing your comments with me.

HH

[Krazy Kruizers]

HH

The train you did 5 years ago is entirely different than the one from Anchorage to Seward. Your's was designed for all day traveling compared to just getting people from one city to another.