White Pass Summit train ride better round trip or down by bus?

[Coral]

On 6/12/2023 at 6:30 PM, Octavias said:

Our cruise line (Celebrity) offers a round trip train ride.  It’s what we have booked.  I looked into going rogue and booking an independent tour but was concerned because of the rockslide.  Not sure we would be able to get to the tour on time. 

I would call Chilkoot. They are familiar with the rock slide and they are working around it. We had half of our bus on a ship that was docked near the rock slide. They deal with this daily and can give you advice. Great company to work with.

[FetaCheese]

Advice please.  Purchase rail excursion on your own direct from WPYR, about $143 on website, or from cruise line, Oceania.  About $30 more from cruise line, net of 25% discount.

 

What does cruise line do?  Have read that train is within walking distance from dock.  Thanks 

[DaveOKC]

We did the train up and bus down, both through Chillkot (spelling?).  Had the train car and bus to ourselves, so it was GREAT!  Cruise line tour people seemed crowded in on their cars.

We departed from the downtown station (quaint place) and bus would drop you off there or at ship.  They did have a shuttle from the ship to the train station.  Great experience!

 

Also, we saw the train coming back into town and it seemed like half of the passengers on it were asleep (I assumed bored)!  

[Coral]

7 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

We did the train up and bus down, both through Chillkot (spelling?).  Had the train car and bus to ourselves, so it was GREAT!  Cruise line tour people seemed crowded in on their cars.

 

Unfortunately that is not guaranteed. I had my sister go with Chilkoot pre-COVID and they were pretty full on the train.

[DaveOKC]

13 hours ago, Coral said:

Unfortunately that is not guaranteed. I had my sister go with Chilkoot pre-COVID and they were pretty full on the train.

I sure it varies by time of year - we went in mid-Sept.

[Coral]

4 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

I sure it varies by time of year - we went in mid-Sept.

They were there the first week in September. Probably depends on how many ships in port, etc.... This was before COVID.

[DaveOKC]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

They were there the first week in September. Probably depends on how many ships in port, etc.... This was before COVID.

We were the only ship in port that day.

[Coral]

9 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

We were the only ship in port that day.

Yea - I was surprised how packed their train car was with Chilkoot. Good thing I didn't tell them it would be less crowded. They enjoyed it - so it doesn't matter.

[triplemom3]

On 6/23/2023 at 12:05 PM, DaveOKC said:

We did the train up and bus down, both through Chillkot (spelling?).  Had the train car and bus to ourselves, so it was GREAT!  Cruise line tour people seemed crowded in on their cars.

We departed from the downtown station (quaint place) and bus would drop you off there or at ship.  They did have a shuttle from the ship to the train station.  Great experience!

 

Also, we saw the train coming back into town and it seemed like half of the passengers on it were asleep (I assumed bored)!  

Dave, what excursion did you do and was it thru the cruise line or did you book on your own?

[DaveOKC]

13 hours ago, triplemom3 said:

Dave, what excursion did you do and was it thru the cruise line or did you book on your own?

We used Chillkot (not sure of spelling).  Very good service and reasonable prices.  We would have used the cruiseline tour, but it did not have the train up, bus down option at that time.  Also, the cruiseline tours board the train right on the dock, which would have been nice, but we had to take the tour shuttle bus into town (1/2 mile or so away).

[Coral]

59 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

We used Chillkot (not sure of spelling).  Very good service and reasonable prices.  We would have used the cruiseline tour, but it did not have the train up, bus down option at that time.  Also, the cruiseline tours board the train right on the dock, which would have been nice, but we had to take the tour shuttle bus into town (1/2 mile or so away).

https://chilkootcharters.com

 

They are a great company!

[bookmomoftwins]

We just did the bus up / train down option and found the views to be different each way.  Appreciated getting out of the bus at scenic spots on the way up and then relaxing on the train on the way down.