B2B question.

My DW and I are doing a B2B on the Island Princess in May and was wondering what to expect on turnaround day in Whittier. Thanks in advance. :)

Princess will give you the specifics a day or so before you arrive in Whittier. In general, you will need to leave the ship and re-board going thru immigration. If you have the same cabin, you will not have to pack or take anything off. If you are changing cabins, talk to your steward in advance, they will help with the move.

If you are heading off for the day, you can get off once customs clears the ship probably 7 or 8 am. You will not be able to reboard until all departing and continuing passengers are off.

Also there is not alot to do in Whitter. And it is a little distance from Anchorage.

We've done B2Bs in Florida before. Very easy, if you stay in the same room. A tad bit more to do if you are moving to a new cabin.

If moving, you will have worked things out with your steward(s) about what you need to pack up for the move. (Friends did this this past winter with us) They took their valuables out of the safe and got them stored in the new one right away. The steward and possibly your new one will come early in the morning and just pull the drawers out and replace with the ones from your new room. Hung clothing will be placed on a rod and rolled along with the drawers to your new room. Simple! They were done in about 30-45 minutes.

If you plan on getting off the ship, you can go down to the main dining room, have a 'civilized' breakfast and then get off the ship. Take your cruise card as well as the slip of paper you will receive the night before saying you are a returning passenger. When you return, to get back on the ship, there is usually a different door you go through so you don't have to go through the long lines of those checking in for the first time. Show your card and paper, go through the security, and you get back on. (Usually an employee entrance, so look for other employees getting back onboard)

If you plan on staying aboard, there will be a time and place listed to be so that the ship passenger list can be closed out. I highly recommend that you are not late to this. You will stay in that room until all passengers are accounted. You don't want to be the one who comes in late! Bring a book or something to do as you might be there for awhile. . . or not. Once everything goes back to zero, you are free to go back to doing whatever you want to do!

If staying in the same room, we have told our room steward to skip our room that day. We ask for fresh towels the night before and when they have all rooms done and have greeted the new passengers, for our ice bucket to be filled again. (We know how to make our beds and tidy our room and they are so overworked on turn around day.) This is our personal feelings. You can do yours!

As was mentioned earlier, you will get written instructions the day before Whittier about where to meet and when to clear the ship. Occasionally there will be tours offered for returning passengers. If there are, I would recommend the tour to the Portage Wildlife Center tour.

Did this last fall. No customs in Whittier since you were cleared when you boarded in Vancouver. People start boarding the train around 6 AM, so you could get off then. But there isn't much to see in Whittier. There are actually lots of van tours offered from there. Take a look at the Phillips 26 Glacier Cruise. This leaves at around noon and gets back around 5:30 and is offered as a shore excursion. But it is around $30 less if you book directly. Little white building on dock to right of the terminal as you are getting off. Book early with them and you will get better seating (although most seating is 6 around a table so you will likely share with others). Seating is really only for the chicken/fish dinner - you spend very little time there when not eating. Fast boat, lots of wildlife and close-up glacier viewing.

I don't know where people are getting the idea you have to "clear the ship" or "go through Customs"... they're not true.

I've done a couple of B-T-Bs with a turnaround day in Whittier. A nice trip is to take the Alaska RR 'Glacier Discovery Train' at 12:45 PM to Spencer Whistle Stop (1 hr.) where you can get off and walk 1.3 miles with a national park ranger to Spencer Glacier and the lake (full of icebergs). There is an option to raft on the river back to the tracks... or walk back to the stop to catch the train on it's way back to Whittier about 3 hours later. Alternatively, you can stay on the train the whole time and do the 'Grandview Loop' arriving back at Whittier at 6:05 PM.

This is slightly off topic for this thread but I'm curious if any other frequent B2Bers with Princess has had a similar experience. We did B2B 7-day cruises out of LA on the Ruby end of Feb into March. We went to the Muster drill the first day as usual. Then on turn-around day, we just hung out in our cabin until the muster drill was completed (as we always have). That night when we got back to the room, we had a letter saying something like "our records indicate you did not attend the muster drill today". Then it went on for a full 2 pages of why it's so important to attend the drill and basically a printout of the entire drill copy. Even the transit instructions we got said we didn't have to attend. We felt like we'd been chastised for skipping. We took the letter to the desk because we didn't want our names marked with "non-compliant" or anything. The guy at the desk didn't understand why we thought it somewhat offensive to get the letter. We've done over 30 cruises with Princess and many, many B2B's. Just wondered if anyone else has had this experience?

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This is slightly off topic for this thread but I'm curious if any other frequent B2Bers with Princess has had a similar experience. We did B2B 7-day cruises out of LA on the Ruby end of Feb into March. We went to the Muster drill the first day as usual. Then on turn-around day, we just hung out in our cabin until the muster drill was completed (as we always have). That night when we got back to the room, we had a letter saying something like "our records indicate you did not attend the muster drill today". Then it went on for a full 2 pages of why it's so important to attend the drill and basically a printout of the entire drill copy. Even the transit instructions we got said we didn't have to attend. We felt like we'd been chastised for skipping. We took the letter to the desk because we didn't want our names marked with "non-compliant" or anything. The guy at the desk didn't understand why we thought it somewhat offensive to get the letter. We've done over 30 cruises with Princess and many, many B2B's. Just wondered if anyone else has had this experience?

 

 

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We did a B2B2B this winter (January) from Ft. Lauderdale. Went to the first, remains in room for remaining two drills. No letter in our room. I'm thinking they just put this letter in the wrong room.

No, our names and cabin number were on the letter. The desk guy said the room steward put it there. We tried to tell him we knew that was probably true, but who did the letter come from. He just kept saying it was standard. We told him no, we'd never gotten one before and the tone was kind of snarky. He knew we weren't pleased to get it.

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There is not a lot to do in Whittier, it is a very small town. The 26 glacier cruise is a good choice, I've done it a couple of times. Can be booked independent for a little cheaper but you run the risk it may be sold out. I usually have a lot of on board credit to use up so I book thru Princess.

Princess does usually offer several other tours but my experience has been most are cancelled because not enough people sign up. I've tried to book the bus ride to/from Anchorage and have had it cancelled 3 out of 4 tries.

There is a nice small museum in Whittier at the far end of town from the ship, maybe a 20+ minute walk at most, another 30-45 to see the whole things. That's about it for Whittier :)

Be sure and be out on deck in the evening after sailaway from Whittier, IMHO the first couple of hours are among the most scenic on the cruise. Most people miss the sights as they are tired from travel getting to the ship.

If you see the Coral Princess wave, I'm on her the last two weeks in May :)

I've never got the a letter when I don't go to

the second muster drill on a b2b. Like you said

the transit letter says they would like you to go

but that you don't have to.

Especially staying in the same room for both.

You didn't deserve the letter. I to would on gone to front desk and said I'm a b2b didn't have to go and don't appreciate the letter.

I hope you enjoyed your cruise and the letter was

just a "bump in the ocean"!:D