Skagway - No Train, Only Bus - Chilkoot White Pass & Yukon

[pisces223]

Received this email from Chilkoot today (4/6/22):

 

"We have just learned today that White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad has made the decision to cancel all Fraser and Bennett train departures for the 2022 season.  We are terrible disappointed in not being able to offer a train portion for our tours this summer.  We are reaching out to our guests over the next several days to give other options.  

 

We will be offering our bus only tours listed below for your reference.  We are also offering full refunds.  If interested in one of our bus tours, we will be providing partial refunds for the difference. 

😞

White Pass Summit Excursion (By bus only) 

Duration:  2.5 Hours 

Departure:  8:30AM 

Cost:  $49.00 Adult       $39.00 Child (12 & Under)  

Itinerary:  Skagway to White Pass Summit with photo stops all along the way, fully narrated and entertaining, gold rush history with amusing Alaska stories 

 

Discover the Yukon Adventure (By bus only) 

Duration:    6.5 Hours 

Departure:  9:30AM 

Cost:  $110.00 Adult       $75.00 Child (12 & Under) 

Lunch Included: BBQ chicken, baked potato, coleslaw, dinner roll, cake doughnuts, coffee, tea, water 

Admission to the Yukon Wildlife Museum and Husky Puppy Camp also included 

Itinerary:  Skagway/White Pass Summit/Carcross/Emerald Lake and return to 

Skagway with many photo stops along the way, fully narrated and entertaining, gold rush history with amusing Alaska stories."

 

Any thoughts from the CC Crowd? TIA! 

[Alphen]

19 minutes ago, pisces223 said:

Received this email from Chilkoot today (4/6/22):

 

"We have just learned today that White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad has made the decision to cancel all Fraser and Bennett train departures for the 2022 season.  We are terrible disappointed in not being able to offer a train portion for our tours this summer.  We are reaching out to our guests over the next several days to give other options.  

 

We will be offering our bus only tours listed below for your reference.  We are also offering full refunds.  If interested in one of our bus tours, we will be providing partial refunds for the difference. 

😞

White Pass Summit Excursion (By bus only) 

Duration:  2.5 Hours 

Departure:  8:30AM 

Cost:  $49.00 Adult       $39.00 Child (12 & Under)  

Itinerary:  Skagway to White Pass Summit with photo stops all along the way, fully narrated and entertaining, gold rush history with amusing Alaska stories 

 

Discover the Yukon Adventure (By bus only) 

Duration:    6.5 Hours 

Departure:  9:30AM 

Cost:  $110.00 Adult       $75.00 Child (12 & Under) 

Lunch Included: BBQ chicken, baked potato, coleslaw, dinner roll, cake doughnuts, coffee, tea, water 

Admission to the Yukon Wildlife Museum and Husky Puppy Camp also included 

Itinerary:  Skagway/White Pass Summit/Carcross/Emerald Lake and return to 

Skagway with many photo stops along the way, fully narrated and entertaining, gold rush history with amusing Alaska stories."

 

Any thoughts from the CC Crowd? TIA! 

This in contradiction to the official WPYR communication, if you follow the discussion on 

The WPYR is offering roundtrip railroad trips from Skagway for 2022, no bus trips are listed from Skagway!

 

https://wpyr.com/excursions/product/summit-excursion/

Edited April 6, 2022 by Alphen

[JT1962]

Chilkoot Tours is offering bus tours only to the summit or into the Yukon. They are not able to offer the train / bus combination tours. White Pass & Yukon are offering roundtrip train excursions to the summit. 
 

If you want to do the train and bus tour, and are in Skagway for an extended amount of time, it might be possible to schedule separate tours on the train and through Chilkoot tours on the bus.

[Alphen]

4 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

Chilkoot Tours is offering bus tours only to the summit or into the Yukon. They are not able to offer the train / bus combination tours. White Pass & Yukon are offering roundtrip train excursions to the summit. 
 

If you want to do the train and bus tour, and are in Skagway for an extended amount of time, it might be possible to schedule separate tours on the train and through Chilkoot tours on the bus.

Thanks, we cancelled our planned HAL tour and now booked alternative tours, to stay ahead of the crowd that may jump on what is left available.

[sunsetme]

Is it still possible to self drive to Carcross?

[pisces223]

Is there actually more than one train that makes this trip? How can one company cancel all train trips, yet a different company continues to run them? I'm just a little confused and am wondering if I should do it through the Celebrity shore excursions. Chilkoot had a 6-hour tour, but Celebrity's is only 2.5 hours.

[PJB3]

I emailed Chilkoot to change my trip in Sept and they quickly reimbursed me the difference and scheduled me for the bus only trip.  Great service!!

[kona_wahine]

55 minutes ago, pisces223 said:

Is there actually more than one train that makes this trip? How can one company cancel all train trips, yet a different company continues to run them? I'm just a little confused and am wondering if I should do it through the Celebrity shore excursions. Chilkoot had a 6-hour tour, but Celebrity's is only 2.5 hours.

From what I understand, the train that runs only in the US is still ok, which is much shorter. The problem was the train that passed into Canada. That is not happening. I called and cancelled my NCL and booked directly through the white pass site. It was quite a bit cheaper, we just have to walk 1/2 mile to the depot. No biggie. 

[JT1962]

56 minutes ago, pisces223 said:

Is there actually more than one train that makes this trip? How can one company cancel all train trips, yet a different company continues to run them? I'm just a little confused and am wondering if I should do it through the Celebrity shore excursions. Chilkoot had a 6-hour tour, but Celebrity's is only 2.5 hours.

There is one company that runs the trains - the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway. Other companies, including the cruise lines, contract with them to sell tours on the trains. You can sometimes get the train ride only cheaper by booking directly.
 

This year, only the roundtrip train trips to the summit will be offered. Other companies, such as Chilkoot, are offering    bus trips into Canada.

[Gramma of Boys]

My husband and I are booked for the "Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway" excursion through Princess.  We've gotten no notification about the tour and it's still showing up as an available excursion on the PCL web site.  Is Princess just not caught up on this?

 

[katrina915]

Thanks for posting.  I am booked with Chilkoot for Bennett train for August and didn't get an email.   I was wondering how I was going to handle complying with giving Canada vaccination info in an app within 72 hours of arriving when I will be on cruise.   I had booked a back up excursion with the cruiseline to Haines.

 

I wonder if our excursions in Victoria will be cancelled.   

[mrsturkelton]

3 hours ago, Gramma of Boys said:

My husband and I are booked for the "Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway" excursion through Princess.  We've gotten no notification about the tour and it's still showing up as an available excursion on the PCL web site.  Is Princess just not caught up on this?

 

 

My husband and I are booked for the same excursion but with Norwegian.  I called them yesterday after finding out the news and they weren't aware of anything yet.  They said chances are they are trying to negotiate a different stop for people to board but I'm not aware of another stop in the US for us to board.  Is there a stop at the Summit?  They did say if they aren't able to negotiate a different option then the excursion would be canceled and to give it a couple of weeks.  I don't want to wait that long and risk other excursions filling up.  Now we don't go until June 19th so we've got some time but I'm a big planner and this really threw a wrench in my plans!

Edited April 7, 2022 by mrsturkelton

[odie1024]

3 hours ago, Gramma of Boys said:

My husband and I are booked for the "Yukon Expedition & White Pass Scenic Railway" excursion through Princess.  We've gotten no notification about the tour and it's still showing up as an available excursion on the PCL web site.  Is Princess just not caught up on this?

 

We also have this booked for our June cruise with Princess. I wonder when Princess will contact us. We had done the train in Sept. 2019 but had not gone all the way up and was looking forward to this. Now to figure out another excursion along with everyone else.

[Gramma of Boys]

57 minutes ago, odie1024 said:

We also have this booked for our June cruise with Princess. I wonder when Princess will contact us. We had done the train in Sept. 2019 but had not gone all the way up and was looking forward to this. Now to figure out another excursion along with everyone else.

We are in the same situation as you are.  We did just the train trip on a prior cruise (enjoyed it a lot) and thought the rest sounded like a nice addition.  We cruise from June 4th to the 11th, so not a huge rush, but not a lot of time either if we have to make a change.

[odie1024]

23 minutes ago, Gramma of Boys said:

 We cruise from June 4th to the 11th, so not a huge rush, but not a lot of time either if we have to make a change.

We start our land piece in Fairbanks on the June 10th and board the Royal Princess on the 18th. 

[Sandyrella]

7 hours ago, pisces223 said:

Is there actually more than one train that makes this trip? How can one company cancel all train trips, yet a different company continues to run them? I'm just a little confused and am wondering if I should do it through the Celebrity shore excursions. Chilkoot had a 6-hour tour, but Celebrity's is only 2.5 hours.

Along with the two tours in the original post, Chilkoot also as a roundtrip train option as per the email I received today:

 

White Pass Summit Train and City Tour (City Bus Tour and Round-Trip Train)
Duration: 3.75 Hours
Departures: 7:45am, 11:45am
Cost: $159.00 Adult $79.00 Child (12 & Under)
Itinerary: Skagway City Tour, fully narrated and entertaining, gold rush history, board the train for a 40-mile round trip train journey with full narration and beautiful scenery along the White Pass Summit

[JT1962]

For those booked with Chilkoot Charters, they said they are working to contact everyone affected, with those booked earliest taking priority. I was scheduled on May 5 and got an updated booking today for the new tour I chose and notice of a refund for the difference in price. If you are booked later in the year, it may take them a few days (weeks) to contact everyone, but they said they are working on it. 
 

I am sure the cruise lines will contact those affected as well and may be working through the same process by notifying those cruising in the next 2 months first. 

[jerseygirl629]

This is so sad. We are having such awful luck with our Alaska excursions 😞

 

We are on the Ovation in August and unfortunately the new tours Chilkoot is offering don’t align with our itinerary (we dock at 11am and are in port until 8pm). 
 

Unsure what to do now. Feeling defeated as we have been unable to book the excursions we want in Ketchikan either. 

[JT1962]

2 minutes ago, jerseygirl629 said:

This is so sad. We are having such awful luck with our Alaska excursions 😞

 

We are on the Ovation in August and unfortunately the new tours Chilkoot is offering don’t align with our itinerary (we dock at 11am and are in port until 8pm). 
 

Unsure what to do now. Feeling defeated as we have been unable to book the excursions we want in Ketchikan either. 

The White Pass & Yukon train is still well worth doing the roundtrip to the summit, especially if you have not done it before. You should have plenty of time for that and still time to explore downtown Skagway. 
 

If you are not interested in the train, see if  an excursion to the Kroschel Wildlife Center in Haines is offered. It requires riding the ferry to / from Haines, so I would book through the ship. It is an interesting and unique experience. 

[jerseygirl629]

13 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

The White Pass & Yukon train is still well worth doing the roundtrip to the summit, especially if you have not done it before. You should have plenty of time for that and still time to explore downtown Skagway. 
 

If you are not interested in the train, see if  an excursion to the Kroschel Wildlife Center in Haines is offered. It requires riding the ferry to / from Haines, so I would book through the ship. It is an interesting and unique experience. 

We are definitely interested in the train. RCL currently doesn’t have the option to book available, presumably because they’re offering it to passengers who booked the CAN trips to this one. Worried if we don’t book anything we will get shut out.

 

if we book through WPYR directly, how do we get to the train from the cruise port?

[JT1962]

32 minutes ago, jerseygirl629 said:

 

if we book through WPYR directly, how do we get to the train from the cruise port?

If you book directly, you may have to walk up to 1/2 mile or less to the station vs getting on one of the cars closer to the ship that are reserved for ship excursions. 

[jerseygirl629]

22 minutes ago, JT1962 said:

If you book directly, you may have to walk up to 1/2 mile or less to the station vs getting on one of the cars closer to the ship that are reserved for ship excursions. 

 

Hmm ok. Thanks 🙂 It doesn't seem to matter anymore though, as they are apparently now sold out on the WPYR site too  😞

[don't-use-real-name]

The Summit trains should still board at the docks next to the cruise ships.

The Fraser train/bus tours are the ones that require a walk and check-in at the Depot.

A bus then takes you further up the tracks to a siding where your train is waiting.

In any event need assistance ask find out about the golf cart shuttles 

 

 

There are three train sets moving to the Summit at one time -

one from the Cruise ship pier - either ore dock or railroad dock

then we followed in our Fraser tour train

and then the last train set followed us up the grade to the Summit.

 

At mile 11 (Bridal Veil) we could see the first train ahead and then pass that

point could see the third train behind us.

 

When we reached the Summit the first train was waiting for us to pass to Fraser

and the last train to arrive on the siding so it can start back to Skagway.

 

As noted this year the Fraser train/bus tours DO NOT OPERATE - bus only !   

[Wavesprite]

On 4/6/2022 at 2:43 PM, sunsetme said:

Is it still possible to self drive to Carcross?

If you are fully vaccinated there is no testing for travel into Canada.  You just need to be registered on the ArriveCAN app. 

[Kitty Ellas Mom]

I'm uncertain whether I should keep my excursion booked through Princess or cancel it.  There is no doubt that it is one of the ones affected.  I'm thinking maybe I should go ahead and cancel and instead book only the train, going up to the White Pass, as that is the main thing I want to do.  I'm worried the train will sell out.  Is that a reasonable worry?  Right now all tickets seem to be unsold, on the Princess website, and the day I'm in port is also available directly through the train.