Railroad in Skagway, AK?

[LB_NJ]

Does Cunard typically offer the train ride in Skagway (White Pass & Yukon Route) as an excursion option or do i need to arrange that myself?

[safarigal]

19 minutes ago, LB_NJ said:

Does Cunard typically offer the train ride in Skagway (White Pass & Yukon Route) as an excursion option or do i need to arrange that myself?

It is offered as a Cunard shore excursion.

[neeuqdrazil]

The advantage of booking through the cruise line is that you board the train at the dock, instead of having to walk into town to the depot. (Not that it's super far.) 

 

This tends to be more useful for morning departures, as if you're on the afternoon departure, you're likely to already be in town. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 8/6/2022 at 1:14 PM, neeuqdrazil said:

The advantage of booking through the cruise line is that you board the train at the dock, instead of having to walk into town to the depot. (Not that it's super far.) 

 

This tends to be more useful for morning departures, as if you're on the afternoon departure, you're likely to already be in town. 

 

That depends on which dock you're at. On both of my QE Alaska cruises we were at the Broadway Dock at the end of the main street, not at the "railway dock," part of which is closed because of rock slides. 

 

I would book through the cruise line because if there are changes to the itinerary, you'll get a refund easily. 

Edited August 8, 2022 by 3rdGenCunarder

[Essiesmom]

I would book the afternoon departure, because if there is fog in the morning, a lot of your viewing is gone.  EM

[Bell Boy]

And you'll need to take your passport with you , I believe they remind you in the booking procedure. 

[david,Mississauga]

3 hours ago, Bell Boy said:

And you'll need to take your passport with you , I believe they remind you in the booking procedure. 

 

It depends on how far up the line the train is going. For the basic round-trip excursion that most people take, the train does not enter Canada. It turns at a point called Summit. (For operational reasons the train does enter Canada for a short distance, but because no-one entrains or detrains this is not considered a border crossing.)

 

The longer journeys that enter Canada - which were cancelled for this season - do require passports and under the present rules ArriveCan forms. I have taken the Summit trip and passports were not required.

[Bell Boy]

Thanks, I must have taken the longer journey. I remember we had to alight the train at some point and walk over to a Hut and present our passports to a very intimidating US border force officer. 

To be honest the  border force experience spoilt the day, apparently If I remember, there was a problem with my passport due to not having an exit Stamp  ( not my fault) when I passed through the immigration just before embarking the ship in Vancouver   QE ( 2018 ?)  

Our return journey back down to the dock side was delayed for a good half hour much to the consternation of the rest of the tour passengers. 

[WorkforBeerGuy]

We were on a Princess cruise in 2019 and took the WPYR train all the way to Carcross YT and a motorcoach back.  The border patrol came to us both ways.  They only looked to see you had a passport.

For that trip we did not get stamped on arrival at YVR or by the US in the embarkation hall.  And the passports were only scanned in LHR and Brooklyn on our just completed TA.

[gentlemancruiser]

18 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

That depends on which dock you're at. On both of my QE Alaska cruises we were at the Broadway Dock at the end of the main street, not at the "railway dock," part of which is closed because of rock slides. 

 

Skagway recently closed 2 piers because of rock slides.    They are moving the railways boarding further away from the piers because of the risks.    

[kmerlin14]

I thought no one was offering the trip up to Canada this year and the rock slides are another issue.

[3rdGenCunarder]

On 8/9/2022 at 4:48 PM, kmerlin14 said:

I thought no one was offering the trip up to Canada this year and the rock slides are another issue.

 

That's correct. The only train option this year was up and back on the same train. The White Pass Railway website was very clear about it early on, after the decision was made (by Canada, not the railroad). But cruise lines lagged behind, still selling other options even though they wouldn't be running. There were a lot of confused and unhappy posts on the Alaska board about it.

 

The rock slides--I think it's now up to 3 or 4--are going to be an ongoing issue. That slope is very steep and it will be difficult to stabilize it. With both berths on that dock unavailable, Skagway has only two berths. They were allowing a ship to dock at the end of the railway dock and tender passengers over to the ferry dock, but I don't know if that's still an option after the newer rockslides.

[david,Mississauga]

6 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

,,, With both berths on that dock unavailable, Skagway has only two berths. They were allowing a ship to dock at the end of the railway dock and tender passengers over to the ferry dock, but I don't know if that's still an option after the newer rockslides.

 

The other docks, Broadway and Ore, may not be available next year. It has been reported that the WP&Y lease on those docks expires next March. If their property is not removed by then their property will become the property of the city of Skagway.

 

I don't understand what the problem is. Does the railway not want to renew the lease or does the city not want them to renew it? Does the railway not want to run trains to the end of those docks or does the city not want them to? Does no-one want those docks to be available for two ships? 

 

Another Cruise Critic forum has a link to a radio interview with the mayor. I still couldn't understand what the plans or hope for next year is. There was some vague reference to a possible law-suit which the city wants to avoid. Google was of no help to me.

 

I'm sure someone will be able to tell us what is going on.  I have another QE cruise booked for next year  so I am curious. A glance at the schedules of various cruise lines shows a lot of calls planned for Skagway next year.  It will be a huge problem if the Railroad Dock is not safe and the other two are off-limits. It has been reported that due to the depth of the fjords anchoring and tendering is not feasible.

 

https://khns.org/wpyr-closes-half-of-skagways-busiest-cruise-dock-plans-to-disable-other-docks-before-next-spring