Quantum no longer stopping in Skagway?

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, Hoopster95 said:

I’m just trying to learn…. What exact ports does HAL smaller ships go that Royal larger ships cannot go?

Not necessarily the ports (but could be) - maybe the routes to/through them. For example, there's a detailed conversation about how the larger ships have to go west through the Inside Passage where the smaller ships can go east (I may have that backwards). Skagway potentially limiting number of larger ships but not necessarily smaller ones. I believe routes through Glacier Bay National Park are limited in some places as the larger ships don't go as deep into the park as some of the smaller ones and some Fjords cannot accommodate larger ships.

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

I’m just trying to learn…. What exact ports does HAL smaller ships go that Royal larger ships cannot go?

Here's another comment re smaller ships vs larger ships

 

[Hoopster95]

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Here's another comment re smaller ships vs larger ships

 

 

This is Juneau port photographed from atop Mount Roberts. 5 ships in port. 4 (the maximum amount) are docked. What is the ship out there with tenders running back and forth?

Yes that's a HAL ship. The smallest ship will likely tender.

[Hoopster95]

3 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Not necessarily the ports (but could be) - maybe the routes to/through them. 

Thanks for clarifying. This is partially correct. Any port HAL goes to, the largest Royal ship also goes to. Some current smaller ships (NCL & Oceania come to mind) also visit Prince Rupert & Wrangell. The most interesting port HAL has done in the past (and only 3 times pre-Covid) has been Port Alberni within Vancouver Island, where only the smallest of cruise ships could've gone. It was the Maasdam.

 

https://www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/news/video-port-alberni-welcomes-the-first-of-three-cruise-ships/

 

As far as route, only (most) ships sailing from Vancouver go through the Southern portion of the inside passage. All Seattle based ships, including HAL, head out to the Pacific Ocean and also miss the Southern portion of the inside passage, which is roughly Vancouver to Prince Rupert.

 

Green is the full inside passage from (most) Vancouver based cruise ships.

Red is the route that Seattle based cruise ships follow.

They both do the inside passage in Alaska, the northern portions depending whether they are visiting Juneau, Skagway and/or Ketchikan.

 

 

[woostercruise]

9 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

No offense to RCL fans, but that is exactly why we cruise HAL (Holland America) for Alaska  - being smaller ships, they can go places the larger ships can't go.

Not that HAL (or any cruiseline/ship) is immune to berthing issues or Acts of God/construction delays/...

Truly sorry you will miss out on Skagway. ISP is not a comparable port, but does have unique offerings (nothing can replace the White Pass train ride, so let's not pretend) - we did a bear watching hike a couple years ago that was fabulous and not offered in other port.

No offense taken. I knew Quantum wasn't ideal, but we are taking our 20 and 22 year old sons so the ship choice was more for them. I'm glad to know the bear watching hike was great, I did see that through an independent excursion. Hopefully we will do it again sometime and will definitely be looking at smaller ships.

[wolfie11]

21 hours ago, Ret MP said:

As I suspected, no answer, yet.  Very rude!  At least some type of response even if they tell me to go to ............

You sent an email to the visitor's center in Skagway.  Given the volume of email they get it might be a while before they get back to you.

 

The Town of Skagway doesn't have the authority to "close" the town to a particular ship.  The decision was solely RCI's to make.  

[ace1zoe2]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/royal-caribbean-drops-key-port-from-some-alaska-itineraries/ar-AA1aRHWs

 

This news story explains the reason they cannot port. After the rock slide there is not room for 2 mega ships to port at the dock RCI uses. RCI made the call on which ship.

[CRUISEFAN0001]

Sorry to hear about the Quantum Skagway port move.

 

We're on sister ship Ovation, and Skagway remains on our itinerary as of today (ship is same size as Quantum). Looks like Royal chose Ovation to remain at Skagway and could only keep one of their bigger ships at that port site.

[The Fun Researcher]

It's now 5 full days since they told us we were not going to Skagway, and stopping at Icy Straight Point instead.

 

There are still zero excursions offered in the cruise planner.

[scoodogg]

Eleven excursions for our May 22nd sailing showed up this morning.  Pretty weak choices.  Especially considering I had previously paid $170 pp for the White Pass/Yukon Motor Coach Tour.  They want $234 for the zip line.  Three of those eleven are already sold out.

[The Fun Researcher]

16 hours ago, scoodogg said:

Eleven excursions for our May 22nd sailing showed up this morning.  Pretty weak choices.  Especially considering I had previously paid $170 pp for the White Pass/Yukon Motor Coach Tour.  They want $234 for the zip line.  Three of those eleven are already sold out.

Yeah, I'm not keeping my hopes up for ISP having any decent excursions relative to what we had with Skagway.  ISP is such a small locally owned port stop.  By my research, it appears pretty unspoiled and not commercialized, but that also correlates to less options.

 

BTW, still zero excursions for ISP on our July 10 sailing.  😡

[Lane Hog]

On 5/3/2023 at 6:49 PM, crd27 said:

Our June 19 sailing has replaced Skagway with Icy Strait Point.  We had booked the train and will definitely miss that.  🙁

 

Yup, we're on the same date/cruise and that was the only excursion I wanted to do and the only port I really wanted to see.

Had we known this in January, we would have rescheduled for dates where Skagway wasn't omitted.  But now we have flights booked and dates

Edited May 11, 2023 by Lane Hog

[Merion_Mom]

I’m going to jump in right here without reading four pages of posts. I apologize; I don’t usually do that. 
 

I’m currently IN SKAGWAY. I am on the Discovery Princess (😳, I know 😁). Brilliance of the Seas and Ruby Princess are docked with us. 
 

We received notices in our cabins that after the landslides, there is construction and repair work underway. We are not permitted to walk from the ship to town. They are using shuttle buses. I understand there are workers stationed up the slope, and if they see any renewed land sliding, they have just enough time to radio the bus drivers to get the hell out of the way. 
 

Princess will always get precedence over Royal in Alaska. Remember, RC is still in Alaska’s bad books. 

[Lane Hog]

On 5/9/2023 at 8:33 AM, The Fun Researcher said:

Yeah, I'm not keeping my hopes up for ISP having any decent excursions relative to what we had with Skagway.  ISP is such a small locally owned port stop.  By my research, it appears pretty unspoiled and not commercialized, but that also correlates to less options.

 

BTW, still zero excursions for ISP on our July 10 sailing.  😡

 

Zero excursions at ISP for our June 19th sailing.  

[latebuyer]

Why is RC in alaska’s bad books?

[Biker19]

2 hours ago, latebuyer said:

Why is RC in alaska’s bad books?

If you want to notify someone (not everyone comes back to read threads) either quote them or use the @Merion_Mom call out.

[bonsai3s]

4 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I’m going to jump in right here without reading four pages of posts. I apologize; I don’t usually do that. 
 

I’m currently IN SKAGWAY. I am on the Discovery Princess (😳, I know 😁). Brilliance of the Seas and Ruby Princess are docked with us. 
 

We received notices in our cabins that after the landslides, there is construction and repair work underway. We are not permitted to walk from the ship to town. They are using shuttle buses. I understand there are workers stationed up the slope, and if they see any renewed land sliding, they have just enough time to radio the bus drivers to get the hell out of the way. 
 

Princess will always get precedence over Royal in Alaska. Remember, RC is still in Alaska’s bad books. 

With all those ships there in Skagway...wondering why Quantum is not stopping in Skagway?