Live From the Grand Princess, 22-Day Alaska B2B, Apr 30 - May 22

[whee-sailing]

50 minutes ago, phabric said:

When I took the train we also switched sides to give everyone a chance to see from both sides.

 

I guess this leads to the question then...is it best to sit on the scenic side for the first half or the last half!?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, EDDY0827 said:

When I took WP&YRR in 2021, they had all of the passengers swap sides of the rail car so that everyone got to sit on the scenic side of the car. At that time, we couldn't go into Canada due to Covid restrictions.

 

44 minutes ago, phabric said:

When I took the train we also switched sides to give everyone a chance to see from both sides.

That’s cool. It will be interesting to see what happens on our train ride. Hopefully it won’t be too crowded this early in the season.
 

But we’ll still try to plan ahead and sit on the left side in the last car just to make sure we get a good seat at the beginning of the ride. 😁

[TM]

If you will be taking pictures, be sure to spend some time on the platform between the cars.  The windows in the train are usually too dirty and/or steamed up to allow for good pictures.

[phabric]

20 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

.

 

But we’ll still try to plan ahead and sit on the left side in the last car just to make sure we get a good seat at the beginning of the ride. 😁

I have taken the train 2x -1) Princess, 2)private tour with - wwwchilkootcharters.com . The private tour had the very last coach and less crowded and was able to spend a lot of time outside.

 

Remember to bring your passport.

[Ken the cruiser]

You all got us to looking at the excursion details a little more closely as we initially thought it was a train ride up followed by a bus ride back down the mountain. To our surprise, it’s a roundtrip train ride, which makes us kind of wonder why we would need to change seats.
 

But we will definitely also go outside between the cars to take pictures if the windows are too dirty. 😁

 

Edited April 29 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

26 minutes ago, phabric said:

I have taken the train 2x -1) Princess, 2)private tour with - wwwchilkootcharters.com . The private tour had the very last coach and less crowded and was able to spend a lot of time outside.

 

Remember to bring your passport.

From what the Special Notes say, no passport is required as we won’t be getting off the train. 

[Alaska05]

14 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You all got us to looking at the excursion details a little more closely as we initially thought it was a train ride up followed by a bus ride back down the mountain. To our surprise, it’s a roundtrip train ride, which makes us kind of wonder why we would need to change seats.
 

But we will definitely also go outside between the cars to take pictures if the windows are too dirty. 😁

 

The train doesn’t turn around so you would get the same view on the return ride. 

Edited April 29 by Alaska05

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, whee-sailing said:

 

I guess this leads to the question then...is it best to sit on the scenic side for the first half or the last half!?

I’m curious about this as well. But if it’s a round trip train ride, you would think some would have the better views going up while the other side would have the views back down the mountain. That is unless it’s a totally different set of tracks heading back down the mountain. The anticipation is really starting to build now for going on this excursion! 😬

[no1racefan1]

24 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You all got us to looking at the excursion details a little more closely as we initially thought it was a train ride up followed by a bus ride back down the mountain. To our surprise, it’s a roundtrip train ride, which makes us kind of wonder why we would need to change seats.
 

But we will definitely also go outside between the cars to take pictures if the windows are too dirty. 😁

 

We took this excursion on our first cruise in 2006. I spent so much time out on the platform taking pictures! You're supposed to take turns so everybody has a chance to be outside (it's small) but hardly anybody else ever wanted to go out there, so DH and I spent about half the ride out there. It's so cool!

[phabric]

22 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

From what the Special Notes say, no passport is required as we won’t be getting off the train. 

I took the train up and bus back with the private tour company so needed my passport.  We just held the passport up in the air and the Canadian Custom/Immigration agent walked down the aisle.  He just looked to might sure everyone had a passport.  As he passed me, he said “Welcome home” as I am Canadian.

 

If I remember when it was the roundtrip train ride, when we got to the end on the one way, we flipped the seats over to face the other way and were asked to switched to the other side.  The train used the same track.

Edited April 29 by phabric

[TM]

We did this on our own through booking directly through White Pass Railroad about 10 years ago.  We took the train one way up to Frazer and then moved to a small bus.  This then stopped at the Alaska desert, Emerald Lake, which is absolutely stunning, with a final stop for a buffet lunch and time to visit with sled dogs and puppies before turning around and driving back to Skagway.  Personally, I would highly recommend that type of tour rather than just a round trip train ride.  This tour did enter Canada so a passport was needed.

[voljeep]

hopefully someone will post about 'flipping the seats' when you get to the top.

 

See previous post.

 

and of course, there might be those that 'refuse' to switch sides ...🤬

[voljeep]

18 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I’m curious about this as well. But if it’s a round trip train ride, you would think some would have the better views going up while the other side would have the views back down the mountain. That is unless it’s a totally different set of tracks heading back down the mountain. The anticipation is really starting to build now for going on this excursion! 😬

maybe google - Mighty Trains - Smithsonian network - they had an episode of the White Pass Railroad.  

Edited April 29 by voljeep

[Ken the cruiser]

10 minutes ago, voljeep said:

hopefully someone will post about 'flipping the seats' when you get to the top.

 

See previous post.

 

and of course, there might be those that 'refuse' to switch sides ...🤬

The anticipation continues to mount! 😂

[phabric]

11 minutes ago, voljeep said:

hopefully someone will post about 'flipping the seats' when you get to the top.

 

See previous post.

 

and of course, there might be those that 'refuse' to switch sides ...🤬

The site you posted and deleted shows and explains about flipping the back of the bench seats to face in the opposite way and switching sides.

[Ken the cruiser]

My DW just “squirreled” me away from talking about the train ride excursion, which I might add is easily done when wildlife is involved. In this case there were two scruffy and very elusive Atlanta International Airport pigeons that magically appeared while we are waiting for our flight to Salt Lake City! 😂

 

[voljeep]

7 minutes ago, phabric said:

The site you posted and deleted shows and explains about flipping the back of the bench seats to face in the opposite way and switching sides.

www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Mighty+trains+-+white+pass+railroad&mid=8414FD528F628FF74D4F8414FD528F628FF74D4F&FORM=VIRE

[dreaminofcruisin]

25 minutes ago, no1racefan1 said:

We took this excursion on our first cruise in 2006. I spent so much time out on the platform taking pictures! You're supposed to take turns so everybody has a chance to be outside (it's small) but hardly anybody else ever wanted to go out there, so DH and I spent about half the ride out there. It's so cool!

 

Do be careful and hang onto your phone/camera when outside. We took this excursion in 2004 and one thing I remember about it was there was a woman who accidentally dropped her camera while on the back of the train. All of her trip pictures were on it and of course she was devastated as it was gone.

😮

[Ken the cruiser]

25 minutes ago, TM said:

We did this on our own through booking directly through White Pass Railroad about 10 years ago.  We took the train one way up to Frazer and then moved to a small bus.  This then stopped at the Alaska desert, Emerald Lake, which is absolutely stunning, with a final stop for a buffet lunch and time to visit with sled dogs and puppies before turning around and driving back to Skagway.  Personally, I would highly recommend that type of tour rather than just a round trip train ride.  This tour did enter Canada so a passport was needed.

Thanks! That sounds very similar to the excursion we took about 10 years ago on our first cruise to Alaska on the Celebrity Solstice, which was definitely one we would recommend as well! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

 

Do be careful and hang onto your phone/camera when outside. We took this excursion in 2004 and one thing I remember about it was there was a woman who accidentally dropped her camera while on the back of the train. All of her trip pictures were on it and of course she was devastated as it was gone.

😮

Now you know one of the reasons why I do so many Live From threads! I usually take 100-400+ photos on each excursion with my iPhone SE, post the best ones to my Live From thread when I get back to the ship, and delete the rest! 😂

[XBGuy]

In 2018 the the first port stop on the roundtrip Los Angeles-Alaska cruise was Vancouver, BC.  Since the next port (Ketchikan?) was in the U.S. we went through U.S. immigration prior to reboarding the ship in Vancouver.

 

A few days later we were in Skagway, and during breakfast I met a lady who had what might be considered a sad but educational story.  At the immigration check in Vancouver, her passport was confiscated.  It seems that sometime prior to the cruise she had lost her passport.  She, of course, reported that it was lost, but, then, she found it.  Well, she thought her problem was solved.  Wrong.  Of course, her passport was flagged, and, when she tried to re-enter the U.S., the CBP officer had no option.  He confiscated it, but he made copy that she could use on our return to Los Angeles.  Yes, we did get checked again in Los Angeles even though we had not visited any other foreign ports after Vancouver.

 

Here is the sad part.  Since she no longer had a passport, she could not accompany her friends on the Skagway train trip.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

In 2018 the the first port stop on the roundtrip Los Angeles-Alaska cruise was Vancouver, BC.  Since the next port (Ketchikan?) was in the U.S. we went through U.S. immigration prior to reboarding the ship in Vancouver.

 

A few days later we were in Skagway, and during breakfast I met a lady who had what might be considered a sad but educational story.  At the immigration check in Vancouver, her passport was confiscated.  It seems that sometime prior to the cruise she had lost her passport.  She, of course, reported that it was lost, but, then, she found it.  Well, she thought her problem was solved.  Wrong.  Of course, her passport was flagged, and, when she tried to re-enter the U.S., the CBP officer had no option.  He confiscated it, but he made copy that she could use on our return to Los Angeles.  Yes, we did get checked again in Los Angeles even though we had not visited any other foreign ports after Vancouver.

 

Here is the sad part.  Since she no longer had a passport, she could not accompany her friends on the Skagway train trip.

That’s definitely a lesson learned worth remembering!

[Bemidji Ty]

Took this photo a few years ago on the Skagway train.  Guy next to me was taking pictures at the same time.  He submitted his to Princess for their annual photo contest and won something - maybe a cruise.  Essentially the same picture.

[joydisney]

Train turns around now.  No need to change seats.  We sat in back row last year so DH could go out to platform often.  

[HaveDogWillTravel]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

But we’ll still try to plan ahead and sit on the left side in the last car just to make sure we get a good seat at the beginning of the ride. 😁

The train turns around at the top.  No need to change seats as the folks on the right side are on the outside rail going down. Also some people don’t like to sit on the outside (left going up and right going down) as there’s some really steep drop offs. If you are not a fan of heights don’t sit next to the window on the scenic side.  
 

I’ve taken the train 5 times and everyone has always been super polite and accommodating.  People share the spaces well in my experiences.  
 

Safe travels and Bon voyage.