Sitka,Alaska tender or cruise terminal?

[SoBe2010]

Hello everybody,

 

has anybody been in Sitka lately and can report, if the HAL ships usually dock at the terminal or is there a tender ride?

Thanks in advance!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

You will most likely dock. Over the last three years, 2015-2017, when we have visited Sitka on HAL , we have been at the Old Sitka Dock (OSD). However, if there is more than one ship in town, the OSD can only handle one ship, so the other ship(s) will tender. Here is a link the Sitka 2017 berthing schedules. Scroll down to find your ship and date:

 

 

http://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Sitka-SIT-2017.pdf

[SoBe2010]

Thanks so much for your respond. This helps a lot, since I noticed that it´s quite a distance to the center, right?!

[Sequim88]

About 5.5 miles. There are buses that shuttle people back and forth. HAL signed a contract with Sitka to use the OSD dock exclusively. Even with the addition of Oosterdam this year.

 

https://www.kcaw.org/2016/09/15/28337/

[Old As Dirt Mom]

About 5.5 miles. There are buses that shuttle people back and forth. HAL signed a contract with Sitka to use the OSD dock exclusively. Even with the addition of Oosterdam this year.

 

https://www.kcaw.org/2016/09/15/28337/

 

Thanks much for the link to the informative article. On those rare days when there are two HAL ships in town, one ship will have to tender in, as the Old Sitka Dock only has room for one ship at a time. For instance this month on May 11 and 18, when both Oosterdam and Noordam were in Sitka, it looks as if Noordam had to tender in, according to the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska website.. It appears that May's "double HAL booking" may be it for the season, though. You are correct in that HAL gets first dibs on that dock.

 

http://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Sitka-SIT-2017.pdf

[OKCarl]

I was just in Sitka on the Oosterdam on May 25 and we had to tender in. I didn't think it was a big deal, though there was about a 40-45 minute delay (for folks who didn't have a HAL-purchased excursion) between when we picked up our tender tickets and when we boarded the tender boat.

 

I could see it being an annoyance for anyone with a disability or in a wheelchair, but I saw several parents with strollers, etc. managing okay.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

I was just in Sitka on the Oosterdam on May 25 and we had to tender in. I didn't think it was a big deal, though there was about a 40-45 minute delay (for folks who didn't have a HAL-purchased excursion) between when we picked up our tender tickets and when we boarded the tender boat.

 

I could see it being an annoyance for anyone with a disability or in a wheelchair, but I saw several parents with strollers, etc. managing okay.

 

Whooops, I stand (or sit) corrected regarding my previous post.. Apparently, the Norwegian Sun got priority over the Oosterdam that day. And now I recall that CC member Tinknock (Sean) rescheduled his May Oosterdam cruise to June because of the tendering situation. When you tender, you're just off shore of downtown, and the view of Sitka is very nice. But I agree, it's not easy to tender if you're dependent on a wheelchair or scooter for mobility.

[Caribbean Allan]

Although I am a cruiser, I just happened to be working in Sitka for over two months straight. I left Sitka for home on June 17, 2017. This is what I discovered:

 

1. The Sitka Visitor's Bureau has a web page with a "cruise ship calendar." It lists all the cruise ships that will dock, for the entire year.

 

http://www.sitka.org/includes/media/docs/Visit_Sitka_2017_Cruise_Ship_Calendar-1-.pdf

 

Just go to the calendar and find your ship. There is a legend on the side of the calendar that will explain the codes to which dock you'll be at. The Old Sitka Dock is about 10 minutes driving time away from downtown and other attractions. All the cruise ships that use this dock give their passengers a free bus ride to and from the dock. There are many buses that run frequently. The Petro Dock is for small ships of about 64 passengers or less. That is a 10 minute walk to downtown. The Oconnel Bridge docks is for both small and medium sized ships, and is a 3 minute walk to downtown. If your ship is slated for Crescent Harbor, then that means you will be tendered into Crescent Harbor. If the ship is listed on the calendar, then it's usually it's about a 5 to 8 minute tender to Crescent Harbor. I'm not sure where City Port Wall dock is. But it's probably near the Petro Dock and would be a short walk to town.

 

2. Ocasionally, there is a ship that pulls into town and is not shown on the cruise ship schedule. That is always a surprise, and happens about twice a month. The shop owners are always surprised, too, and they rely on the cruisers' business! If you know you have a cruise on a medium or large size ship, and it is not shown on the calendar, then I can assure you that you will be parked far away, and will be a very long tender of 10 minutes or more to Crescent Harbor.

 

3. If you do get tendered to Crescent Harbor, that is bad that you got tendered, but good, because that tendering dock is by far the closest you'll get to anything and everything. In fact, if you take the free shuttle from Old Sitka Dock, they will drop you off at Crescent Harbor. So it takes about as much time to get tendered into Crescent Harbor, and it does to take the free shuttle from Old Sitka Dock. (The Old Sitka dock might be a tad faster than shuttles one of the un-announced cruise ships that park very far away from Crescent Harbor).